After the toughest day of the competition so far, the fate of the eight Gran Turismo® racers left in GT Academy 2010 has been decided. Jordan Tresson from France, Marco Calvo from Spain, Luca Lorenzini from Italy and Daniel Collins from Ireland will all progress to the final two days of the Silverstone ‘boot camp’. The four will keep their hopes alive of being one of two drivers that will undergo an intensive race training programme to qualify for an International C Race licence. One winner will then progress to drive a Nissan 370Z GT car in the European GT4 Cup.
Day three began with a 6.00am wakeup call for participants. They were taken to Silverstone’s off-road experience area to be put through an extreme fitness test. Three ex-marines guided them through an assault course that would be tough at any time. In temperatures of less than two degrees, with driving rain, wind, mud and lots of water it became almost unbearable for some of the competitors. Mental and physical strength were pushed to the limits but all eight hopefuls made it through.
“This was not really a test of fitness, but more one of mental stamina,” explained ex-Royal Marine Commando Ben Mason who ran the assault course. “In that respect, they all did very well. Some of the guys might not have been fit by our standards, but they pushed hard to the end in difficult conditions.”
France’s Jordan Tresson had both the physical and mental aptitude required to take first place. He was followed home by Italy’s Giacomo Cunial and Ireland’s Daniel Collins.
After a much-needed hot shower and breakfast, the competitors met with Nissan athlete Geraldine Fasnacht. The Swiss gave the racing hopefuls an insight into her life as an extreme sportswoman and what it takes to survive at the top.
Former ITV Formula 1 presenter, and ex-Jordan Grand Prix press officer, Louise Goodman then enlightened the participants in the ways of the media. She gave them a brief but impressive media training workshop to prepare them for a possible life as a racing driver.
Back at Silverstone the competitors were back on track, albeit a damp track. They continued to hone their car control with a drifting test in the rear wheel drive manual Nissan 370Z. The contestants enjoyed the pleasure of lapping Silverstone’s National Circuit in the GT-R set-up in race mode. The final, and perhaps most challenging, on-track session of the day took place in Silverstone’s single-seaters on the new Stowe Circuit. The GT Academy instructors assessed all activities to feed back to the judges.
In a packed day, there was no let-up for the competitors on their return to the hotel. They were taken straight to a class room to undertake their ARDS (basic race licence) exam before a mind-coaching session with a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) expert.
A welcome addition to the Academy judging panel today was former Formula One team owner, Eddie Jordan. The BBC F1 presenter, who counts Michael Schumacher as one of his former protégées, was impressed with the competitors: “I’m staggered by the standard,” explained the experienced Irishman. “I didn’t believe that it was possible for people from the virtual world to have that relationship with the car. They are undoubtedly the quickest and best on PlayStation 3, but to come here and display such immediate talent, speed, commitment and understanding is impressive. I underestimated them. They are racing drivers in disguise!
“It’s going to be an interesting couple of days with these four guys. If it is as difficult to get them from four to two as it was to separate this eight, it is going to be very hard for us!”
| FINAL 4 | ELIMINATED ON DAY 2 |
| Luca Lorenzini, Italy (Mantova) 26 | Roberto Otero, Spain (Mininos) 21 |
| Jordan Tresson, France (Villers La Montagne) 21 | Dan Holland, Australia (Brunswick West) 25 |
| Marco Calvo Acedo, Spain (Madrid) 22 | Benjamin Peron, Belgium (Hainaut) 29 |
| Daniel Collins, Ireland (Limerick) 31 | Christian Giere, Germany (Bremen) 27 |
| John Moorby, UK (Macclesfield) 32 | |
| ELIMINATED ON DAY 3 | Tony Autridge, New Zealand (Paraparaumu) 19 |
| Filipe Barreto, Portugal (Lisbon) 32 | Steffen Christein, Germany (Baiersbronn) 20 |
| Giacomo Cunial, Italy (Treviso) 20 | Alex Ingram, UK (Harrogate) 22 |
| Oliver Simon, Switzerland (Hausen Am Albis) 27 | Marko Moisio, Finland (Tampere) 25 |
| Jeroen Kesselring, Netherlands (Rotterdam) 26 | Robert Wawrzyniak, Austria (Salzburg) 25 |
The GT Academy 2010 continues tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday with the on-track action intensifying. The judges will be scrutinising all four competitors before a final decision on the two winning drivers is taken on Tuesday night. Check out all the photos from the day on the GT Academy Flickr Photostream.
See more articles on GT Academy 2010.
“weed out the trouserplanks”
Amusing, if not entirely missing the point. It’s very easy to pass judgment on someone else without knowing their their character. It looks great on a board where people have anonymity, can claim what they want and be as tough as they like, but it’s a bit of facade.
This boot camp stuff is alright for training cannon fodder, in fact it’s probably the only sort of treatment that these people respond to, but this is a competition designed to be fun. In this situation I have zero respect for anyone who just bent over and did what they were told here. It demonstrates a complete absence of character and backbone. Maybe they should have seen what else they could get them to do? Strip them all to their underpants and make them bark like dogs? If in order to get where you want in life you have to degrade yourself by doing whatever somebody tells you, then where you are trying to go isn’t worth getting to. That’s my opinion, but a lot of people are completely shameless and won’t see it that way.
The physical aspect of what they had to do was childsplay, and I push myself far beyond that every day because I want to do it, not because I have to, because someone is telling me to, or because I will get a scooby snack at the end of it.
what the hell?? this is racing not the army….
You seem to have no trouble retorting in news comments. I have retorted quite a bit here, how am I trying to avoid retortion? Psychoanalysis of my fears and motives based on a few comments – priceless. The part where I said I just chime in here to vent is the shining ray of truth you ought to gleam from this conversation. Make no mistake, I check this site once a day sometimes more. I am a GT enthusiast, not a GT fanboy. The difference is being able to objectively identify flaws in the GT series that hold it back from perfection, can you honestly tell me that habitual delays aren’t a major issue with GT?
Before you throw the “I” word, let me pre-tort: I would be impatient if I expected a new Gran Turismo every couple of years, even though most franchises tend to manage this task. I recognize the extreme amount of work that goes into this series, but by now PD and Sony should have pulled their heads out of their asses and invested exponentially more manpower in development to meet the consistently KILLER APP demand of Gran Turismo. You’d be right to call me out for whining if the game had a concrete release date this year. I could live with that, I think anyone could. I resent being fed details with an eyedropper over a 5-year period. They call that torture some places.
“icant55 Says:
March 1st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
KAZ should out there with then getting dirty ! Great smoke screen PD !”
@icant55,
Even if Kas was to go to Silverstone and get himself dirty, The same crowd would still bitch and moan about him wasting time going there.
Fredo Says:
March 1st, 2010 at 7:44 pm
“I have no desire to log in and beat the hibernating horse that is GT at this point.”
@Fredo,
And yet, you take the time and effort to post your thoughts here. Clearly there is still some desire left in you to “beat the hibernating horse that is GT at this point”, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, occasional comments or not. Perhaps you feel safer venting in the comments section in order to protect yourself from any retort that would certainly be forthcoming in the forums.
I personally have no problem waiting even if it’s for another year or more. there are many other interesting things to get involved in if you’re dedicated to the game, GT Academy being just one example, and it’s not as if I purchased the PS3 under contract that stated GT5 would be with me by a certain date after purchase, and those who think they are owed something is, quite frankly, laughable.
FREDO wins teh comments!!
lol
@Sphinx – I have had an account here for years, but I haven’t logged in in months because of the perpetual ass-dragging going on with GT. I’ve flogged the buttons off my PSP playing GT, and I pick it up now and then, and I haven’t touched GT5p since last Oct. I have no desire to log in and beat the hibernating horse that is GT at this point. I do, however, feel the need to vent in comments sometimes. You’ve got to know the pulse of the disinterested, too.
THEM ^^^^
KAZ should out there with then getting dirty ! Great smoke screen PD !
hope we get this course in GT5! :p
Call of duty GT ? hahahahha nice.
@Fredo,
you won’t becuase you know they won’t agree with you.
Here is the Day Four Report that I just posted:
http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=126012
They are clearly being treated badly, as you say. :rolleyes:
@Eschey – the numbers after their names, I assume, are their ages.
It’s like slamming your finger in a drawer to relieve a toothache. It works. Temporarily, but surefire.
@Fredo
I dont want to add fuel to your fire, but your mission to take your mind off the above ‘injustice’ only reminds me that Porsches are not in the GT5 cut! Enjoy.
BTW- if anyone wants to take their mind off of this injustice:
h ttp://www.911spirit.com/porsche-918-spyder-plug-in-hybrid-concept-our-kind-of-green-car/
MADE MY DAY, WEEK, AND POSSIBLY MONTH!
No, sorry. Here’s the simple truth, plain for all to see: I load the homepage of the world’s best website for the world’s best racing game, hoping for some encouraging news on Gran Turismo 5 and I’m hit with a group of elite worldwide GT experts reduced to mud wrestling. Honestly, I believe they might have a point. Why not? That’s what it’s come to. Might as well debase yourself in muck as sit on your hands waiting for this GD GAME!!!!
@zuggerat,
GT Academy is sponsored by Sony and Nissan and therfore has nothing to do with the development of the game, that role is of course down to Polyphony Digital.
@Fredo,
you have a strange way of thinking. Feel free to register at GTP and ask the finalists if they share your view.
And just think, they could be using the money wasted on this garbage to FINISH THE GAME!
… what the F**k is this?!?
Isn’t it bad enough that the game is in a constant state of delay and uncertainty, now they are literally tossing some of their biggest fans into the mud, both abusing and humiliating us PHYSICALLY?!?
Today. TODAY I am buying a 360 core and Forza 3. I’ve had enough of this SH*T!!!!
Does anyone know what the numbers after the brackets mean? Is it something related to the competitors?
I think I don’t have to be sad anymore because Slovakia couldn’t participate in GT Academy. :-) I regularly hike and consider myself to be in generally in good shape, but I don’t think I could ever win something like THIS. Don’t kill them, judges. ;-) (“And, the winner of GT Academy 2010, is late , in memoriam, rest in peace!” )
… Damn, so this is how they keep the europeans interested while they wait for GT5? With stupid “reality” shows?… ” You could become the next Lucas Ordonez” … yes a racing driver that STILL doesnt have the game like the rest of us. Im tired of all this sensationalism… We only want the game to play… I mean, they owe us only that
They could do real, focused, effective training. Or they could do this for reality-tv style photo opportunities. Sony chose the latter, but is that very surprising? They’ve made it clear every step of the way that this is a promotion first and a competition second.
I hope the competitors are having a good time!
As for the ‘durr ain’t you been to the army?’ crap… No, we haven’t been, and we don’t care :)!
Good to see a fellow Irish man in there!!
Fingers crossed for Daniel Collins!
International C Licence? I’ve already got the Internation A ;) Nah jokes aside, good luck to the rest of the guys left it.
So many opinions that believe they know better than the professionals in this field. The assualt course is clearly designed to test stamina and the character of each member of the group. This was done in order to help the organisers to help determine who is likely to progress to the next stage and thus weed out the TrouserPlank’s of the group.
The weather condiitions was unfortunate and was very tough on the group, but to cancel the assualt course due to the weather would show weakness, which is the very thing the organisers were atempting to weed out, so they could hardly show weakness themselves, could they?
To pick up on TrouserPlank’s comments regarding that this was all done for the media and therefore “Pointless, sensational nonsense”; It of course played its part and always will. Do you actually believe that without media Motorsport would be where it is today? Look around you and notice all the sponsors names everywhere in the sport. Without media equals no sponsors, and without sponsors equals no Motorsport as we now it today.
Maybe the prize will be a working complete version of GT5? Because we sure aren’t getting it.
LOL, Eddie Jordan isn’t taking notes, he’s just playing with the pen and looking to the nowhere. I guess F1 was more exciting than GT Academy to him. :D
Besides, camping is a funny thing to do with friends and your girl, and I must say that GT Academy boot camp is far away from what I can call of fun. Having a normal job and a normal life seems better to me.
the PS3s are not broken, the problem is in PSN, something think it should be 29-02-2010 by now… it sucks, cause I got my PS3 connected to a HDTV of a friend and now I can’t play online :@
Maybe they’ve knackered up the clutches on the real cars and I guess they’ve discovered that their fat PS3s are all broken (for now) so they’ve gotta give them something to do !
I go through pain barriers day-in, day-out with my training and I’m under no obligation to push myself to do the things I do. This would have been a walk in the park to me, but I wouldn’t have done it because it’s being done for the wrong reasons. It’s purely being done for the cameras to sensationalise “how much it takes” to be a racing driver, when this in fact has little relevance to it.
These bootcamps never seem to be forced upon people when the group in question consists of 16 stone rugby types, but are always there when it’s 10-stone armchair racers. I wonder why that is? They are usually run by former school bullies with severe self-esteem issues.
Speaks wonders of the new facilities at Silverstone to see that they can still find a mud-drenched field without even having to look far. I believe this is called the “car-park” XD
from italy
Forza Luca!!
That should build endurance.
I’m so happy I’m a “slow” driver :D
DrTrouserPlank that is exactly why they do this kind of training. Do you think racing cars has any correspondence to an assault course… No its has nothing physical, but it is a mental test. Do they the competitor have what it takes to do something that they would not usually want to do. It is to test your mental endurance, so that at the 23rd hour of Le Mans can they push though that barrier, instead of chucking in the towel – because there tired or its to hot in the car or its raining out there. What they did only lasted a couple of hours and was a cakewalk! Probably why you wouldn’t have succeeded at this event methinks!
i really hope for lorenzini… i’m italian …. :-)
Stuff like this boot camp is done for no other reason that the TV programme that will follow. Pointless, sensational nonsense. I wasn’t aware systematic degradation was part of becoming a racing driver. They all should have told them to stick it, thus rendering the filming of the entire show completely useless.
Sounds pretty intense so good luck to them. I just hope that the events we have seen in these GT academy days make it into GT5. Seems a bit weird to have go karts and open wheel race events then get to GT5 and you can’t actually play them.
As the article said, that was a test of mental strength. In other words, they were trying to see who was and wasn’t going to whine like a child when they get down to the real deal.
If any of them didn’t understand and complained, they were most likely eliminated.
massivechicken LOL. Spider pig?? no age restricted upwards (maybe 70!?)
No really, this sounds really great. Sure it’s need effort to get to the goal, this isn’t racing from the couch. I would have given so much to be in there, but my bad no benelux allowed, just bene, no lux.
And the boot training wasn’t long. Got up at 6. boot. breakfirst. Boot = 2 hours = ok
I love how eddie estimated virtu (al ) racers, and how he sees it now.
I cross my fingers so my country is eligible next time. Would love to participate in such a competition
lol. Gran Turismo Bootcamp. XD
If i had made it that far…id be furious having to even walk in the mud. Im stupidly ocd about being clean lol…not to mention im just a thin weakling =P
Granted, my million push ups on 130degree pavement in high school marching band….thats close!
Oh come on, boot camps are fun! I’d give my left nut to have practiced a little more and make it to the finals and experience this. And if I was that close to the prize, I’d do anything they asked, even suspending a pig with diarrhea above me.
Sincerest congrats to all that have made it this far. Very impressive.
Does anyone know if there’s an age limit for this comp? You wouldn’t think they’d give the prize to some 50 year old that happens to be incredibly quick at GT and real life cars.
Actually, compare to racing a GT class in Le Mans series for 2-3h in a 70°C cockpit where just a small mistake can end your race seems to be far more difficult than this bootcamp…
This might have for goal to detect which one is not able to take physical efforts on a long time.
I’ve been doing endurance races on Go Karts for the pas three years, and one thing i can tell is that even for this type of race you better be trained a minimum. I do remember that for my first race i just came like this confident on my skills… After one 40 minutes run i was almost dead and i still had to do 5 other runs with less than an hour n half to rest… Was a damn long day…
Now, with good training its far easier !!!
So they did push ups, carried each other around, did a little course and got to a hot shower, so what? Have you guys ever been in the army? I can tell you it’s the same but without one warm thing, can you guess which…
Wow, I didn’t know this was gonna be a bootcamp. Good luck to all those guys :D
Seriously, these guys are hardcore. Best of luck to the final four!
Is this for real…? O_O
The prize better be worth it, haha
Huh? What is this ****? The International Army Academy? There having a go at the chance to learn how to become race car driver’s and this looks like there training to join an army? What twisted, sad, screwed up person thought of this ****?
Honestly training to become a race driver means alot of cardio endurance and muscle toning…usually done in a gym…not push ups in the mud FFS!!! *Shakes head*
R*
wow.. that looks like hard work.. its good that i didnt make it lol