First off, I would like to thank everyone who participated in this round of the Livery Editor Competition. It is such an honor to lead this site, and to see so many of you — 40 people! — working to create liveries that pay tribute to this special community is amazing and humbling to me. I also want to thank
@Cytoria for his outstanding work in managing these competitions.
Now, I realize I have kept you guys waiting long enough, so without further ado I will get down to the judging of our finalists. Although it might sound cliché, each one is truly exceptional, and very special in its own right. They all closely align with GTPlanet's color scheme and prominently feature the logo, which are essential. That leaves me to judge them on other criteria which will be more subjective, but I will try to be as objective as I can and explain my reasoning as much as possible. They are discussed below in no particular order.
Baliwa
First, I'd like to talk about
@Baliwa's stunning work on the SF19. The SF19 is the hottest car to arrive in the Gran Turismo series in a long time (seriously, the numbers on our articles about GT Sport's inclusion of the SF19 were off the charts), and selecting it as a canvas for this competition was a smart, bold choice.
The extreme complexities of the shapes in the bodywork on this open-wheeler makes it all the more difficult to put together a beautiful, coherent design for one of these cars, but that's exactly what
@Baliwa was able to do. Every time I come back to look at this livery, I find some new detail to appreciate. I was particularly fond of the use of red and blue, and how the colors alternate on either side of the car in surprisingly complex ways. It is a masterful piece of work which continues to reveal itself on successive viewings.
Cytoria
Of all the entries,
@Cytoria's Ford GT LM Spec II is the one that most warms my heart. As you all know, the Ford GT is one of Yamauchi-san's favorite cars, and its prominence in Gran Turismo 4 means that it holds a very special place in the history of the franchise. To see it expertly dressed in a GTPlanet livery brings a big smile to my face.
The livery itself is one of those rare designs that makes you step back and take a second look at a car you've seen thousands of times before. The image above is my favorite angle, as the white section draws your eye straight to the GTPlanet logo before plunging into the side intake. I particularly love the contrast of the black and white line as it curves across the car's hips, up to the edge of the rear spoiler. It highlights the timeless lines of the Ford GT in a way I have never seen before.
Azabear6
@Azabear6's McLaren F1 GTR is an absolute
stunner. The F1 GTR is one of my all-time favorite cars, which I have actually had the chance to see in person. (I may be biased, but it would have looked a lot better in Azabear6's livery — sorry, Ueno Clinic!
) Although I have rarely seen any real-world race car that looks this good, I actually find this livery to be the most "realistic". I think that comes down to the diversity in the smaller logos around the car, exactly as you see on real racing machines that come together through the support of a wide range of sponsors.
I particularly like the "GTP LEC" logo, and the spelling out of "
www.gtplanet.net" on the underside of the rear wing. I was also pleasantly surprised by the use of silver throughout: it is a beautiful detail which nicely matches the gray background of our current site layout. Similar to the Ford GT's livery, the angles accentuate the lines of the car in novel ways that will forever change how I look at the F1.
And the winner is...
I wasn't just being funny earlier: the quality of this year's entrants make this a very difficult decision. Indeed, I have changed my mind several times alone while writing this post. Every time I make a decision, I look at one of the others and think to myself,
"How can I NOT choose that one as the winner...?" It is a testament to the excellence of all the finalists.
Part of what makes it so difficult is that looking at the liveries in the images above (shoutout to
@Cytoria's excellent assembly of all the images of the finalists!), I find my preferences changing based upon what photo I'm looking at. Ultimately, I decided to look at which livery most consistently impressed me in every single image, and that was
@Baliwa's Honda SF19.
^ This image, in particular, is one that brought me over the top. The continuation of those curves, down the side of the car and onto the wing, is extraordinary. And, as I mentioned earlier, the challenge of creating not just a coherent — but stunning — design on a car which features so many different surfaces and angles is a demonstration of skill that makes this livery all the more worthy of first place.
Congratulations, @Baliwa, and thank you so much for sharing your talents with us here on GTPlanet!
I will be giving all of the finalists,
@Baliwa,
@Azabear6, and
@Cytoria free lifetime
GTPlanet Premium memberships and free copies of
our books. I also have a new batch of GTPlanet vinyl stickers in production as we speak, and I will be sending all of you stickers in the mail as soon as I receive them from production. I will also be featuring the finalists in a post on our homepage and across our social media channels in the coming days.
Once again, thank you and congratulations to all the participants!