GT Academy winds it up another notch today as the third round goes live and it’s a level playing field as there’s a new car in the mix.
This fortnight, gamers get the chance to take on an LMP2 car for the first time in Gran Turismo – and not just any LMP2, but the Greaves Motorsport Zytek-Nissan car as used by Jann Mardenborough, Lucas Ordoñez and Michael Krumm to take a podium at the 2013 24 Heures du Mans.
Academy hopefuls won’t be tackling Le Mans, however. For this round the location is the fearsome Spa-Francorchamps circuit, nestled in Belgium’s Eifel forest and forebodingly an event in which the Greaves car – albeit the #41 – crashed out of qualifying.
Round 3: Event Details
Availability: 19/5/2015 07:00 UTC – 16/6/2015 06:59 UTC
Prizes:
Gold (2’13.000) 700,000 Cr.
Silver (2’16.000) 330,000 Cr.
Bronze (2’25.000) 120,000 Cr.
You’ll need to score a Bronze or faster time to qualify for the next round, but any completed lap of any kind will award you the car in Gran Turismo 6 – so watch out for those cones which will instantly disqualify you! To learn more about the official rules and regions for GT Academy 2015, click here.
As always, GTPlanet’s GT Academy forum contains hints, tips, tricks and video on how to improve lap times from players and Academy finalists of the past all over the world, so be sure to join the discussion. Good luck!
See more articles on GT Academy 2015 and Spa Francorchamps.
I see a lot of pad players complaining that they can’t take Eau Rouge flat, I think the important thing to remember is that the steering is speed sensitive. ie: the faster you go the less steering lock is available. If you don’t believe me check out Rfactor on a PC and try playing it with the steering speed sensitivity set to off and see how you get on.
I play on a wheel mainly (T500RS) and have noticed that on a pad I can’t get the front to turn in flat out. I have to lift, quite a lot, to get set up and aimed at my favourite tree, ready for the left at the top. On the wheel I’m flat and can feel the car loading up but not understeering.
I’d like to know if the speed sensitivity is a global setting or if it’s tailored to each car. I reckon the might have it wrong or set too conservatively.
Re-did my lap yesterday from my silver lap. I did a 2:12.693 on the DS3 yesterday. Was a pain but I did it!
Just did a 2.11.5 with G27. I’m thinking there is another second in there somewhere. Looking back at the last few years the LMP2 pole time was above 2m08s. I’m pretty sure they would use sticker tyres as well. All in all I think anyone posting times below 2m12s is doing a good job.
Got it down to a 2.10.7. Tried it with RS tires in free run and got a 2.07 easy. It really is a sweet car to drive.
I would like to tune this Zytec Nissan LMP2 with a turbo, like other race cars, it needs more power, handling is perfect!
Well, I don’t know about you lot, but this LMP2 is my new favorite car now. Already done 488 km in it
I’ve been playing GT since the original and since the original I have used all digitial control, x,o, d-pad, and R1, L1 for shifting. Not since first begining to play GT almost 20 years ago have I had an issue getting gold in an event since this one, and even got gold on the Chapparal event prior to the handling fix update. How are people going basically full speed through Eau Rouge and the final High Speed left when I can’t manage more than mid 140s through either. Also as far as the cones being in dumb places, they may not be, but that doesn’t mean the collision detection is perfect. They are all near curbing and you can feel a distinct difference between curbing and grass and I have been dq’d plenty when I could clearly tell I was still on curbing. That is all, now back to going for gold.
I managed 2:11:804 with a DS3 with no aids, except ABS on 1. The car feels good even with a controller, but has his limitations of course. After two hours I think this is my limit.
Nobody reaches their limit in 2 hours. Unless you’re driving an oval. :)
Yes, maybe you’re right. I watched my replay and saw that I can improve in some sections , despite the DS3 limitations (and mine too!). The hard part will be to make a “perfect” lap time without making any mistakes , and the problem is that I always make a mistake at some point or I end up hitting a damn cone. After a while the patience runs out. Later I will try again.
Personally I absolutely luv this car! It has to be among the sweetest, right out of the box hotrods GT have given us. The Toy TSO30 “was” my favorite of all but this Zytec Z11 has taken that #1 spot – for me. No, it’s not as fast nor as quick as the TSO30 but the handling is awesome. The TSO handles like a dream but this one is just a little better. We ran some GEEZER Club TT’s at NBRing and at Sierra and WOW!! On RS tires very sub 8 minute laps is par and pretty EZ. There will be some awesome tunes on the planet for this car very soon you can bet. Yes, we did the usual,, cut the camber and toe to zero’s, set the dampers to “1”,, ARB to “7”, brakes to “4” – set the differential as you like – personally I prefer a quite high setting but everyone has their own preferences. Anyway, this is not intended as a tuning forum so will cease discussing it here. As for the Academy event in this car – PD have done an awesome job!! No, I’ve not yet made gold,,, BUT I WILL!! The TOP drivers as always are setting laps that are in a word – SPECTACULAR! – lap times most of we mere mortals can only wonder at HOW in the blazes can they do that!! But, all in all this group of Academy events is very challenging – but achievable for a very few,, as it should be and a testament to the excellence in a driving game we GT fans expect. Thank you GT for another fantastic driving event!
Update: took wayyy too many laps to count and even more DQ’s and a forced RESTART,, but finally,,, FINALLY a 2:12.06. Those elusive 1.4M GOLD credits are now tucked away, a couple fist pumping YES!!!’s,, settle down and get the nerves ready for more laps looking for just a little bit quicker lap after a good night’s sleep. How in blazes those guys/gals trip the lap timers at a blistering 2:06 is,,,, shall we say AWESUM!!
Keep on Keep’n ON race fans!
turned off all aids and after about 10 disconnected invalidated lap times, I managed three consecutive clean ones of 2:11.600, just in time to catch the end of Wheel of Fortune with my wife, for supper.
tips:
left foot brake in current gear, drop the rpms real low prior downshifting, it won’t reduce your speed into corners too drastically.
eau rouge: flat out towards it, as soon as you go up the first right hander, downshift to 5th, then about half an alligator second later, upshift back up to 6th, to take that entire section stress free, still pulling out strong.
final chicane: throttle blipping in 3rd is your friend.
disappointment: the leaderboard is still 5 seconds faster than me, where in there $@#*SPA is there 5 seconds to gain.. I should see someone in realtime to believe it’s not hardware firewall tampering to get their times.
Damn…. a 2:14 time…with the controller….if only real cars had controllers haha
SPOILER ALERT
A little disappointed with the car. Up to a little over 600pp….
*sigh* hope the next one is better. At least I don’t have to struggle like mad to win a car compared to last year. The cone positions are just stupid and unfair IMO.
Last time I checked the comes were all off the race track. Stay on the race track and ya won’t have a problem ;)
And idk what your complaint about pp is, 615 is fair for an P2 car, it’s right where it should be.
Eau Rouge, Eau Rouge, Eau Rouge. Why, oh why Eau Rouge!? I cain’t spell the name of this section no more than than I can get through there at 160 let alone 150mph. So costly to break into this mind bogglin…
But the replys show it is possible. Could it be some sort of rouse that favors steering wheels? It reminds me of the days when the red AFX slot car racing controller offered more power than the blue one.
Though it never improved my times anywhere, I will have to blow the dust off of the Logitec lap wheel this weekend. Wish me luck
Yeah I have a controller and with the joystick I just struggle to flick back quick enough, it real does require a wheel. I feel your pain on that one.
Pulled a clean lap right off the bat… 2:17, whhhooooaaaa. Had to actually TRY to get gold. I’m glad I’m not using a DS3?
Tried this for like an hour on the DS3 then gave up and dragged the rig out. Within 10min I went from a 2:18.xxx to 2:12.xxx
Good enough for me. Back to storage until the 2nd.
Edit: The 2:18 was best on DS3. I opened at 2:14 on the wheel.
I use a DS3. The car handles nicely. Off throttle, the front end grip is awesome. Doesn’t feel as fast as the GT-R GT3 but, I got Silver. Good enough for me.
I’m pretty sure I could torch any GT3 car in this thing so I don’t see how you think the GT-R was faster
This is hilarious. Everyone whining about how the car handles with a controller. It’s not like you people have a chance in the competition. If you set a fast enough time with a controller, what are you gonna do at the regional finals? They won’t let you use a controller, you gotta use a wheel. Are you expecting to be able to acclimate to the wheel within the first lap or something?
And who complains about a sim that is better to play with a wheel. IT’S A SIM!!!!
Exactly, I was thinking the same thing
Yall know as well as everyone else does that no real race car uses a controller. But there was the Chapperal fix. Just saying. Doubt it will happen here though. The car handles fairly well.
Then there is Eau Rouge…
If there were no driving aids such as ABS (with EBD simultaneously inside to abs) traction control, etc., as in fact is… the most difficult part to controling the car with this horsepower for that kind of prototype is the braking and corner entry, so the ABS (with EBD) help alot all drivers to drive on limits, special and more the players with DS3 (this is normal)… the steering wheel with pedals sure it was necessary for top lap times, with realistic race car driving without ABS.
using DS3 and can get a 1:14.93X but i have to say the car is utter rubbish, twitchy, aero is awful at high speed and the out right feel of the car is just wrong.
I’m on a DS3 but was able to get down to get down to a 2:12.307. The car actually feels very great to me. I dunno where it felt awful at high speeds cause it felt like the car was MORE stable at higher speeds than lower. And even at the lower end the car had great traction coming out of corners.
I use the default controls. Dunno if that has something to do with it or what.
I’m using the X for throttle and O for braking. i’m normally pretty quick on a DS3 but this one really has court me out. Ill have to settle for silver which for me is annoying.
The car’s brilliant. The only thing that’s rubbish, and twitchy is your control method (DS3).
Even worse is the fact that you’re using X and O for throttle/brake. That’s crazy.
Throttle control is incredibly important. Even the triggers aren’t good enough let alone the face buttons.
You should be using the right analog. It gives you 256 times as much input control compared to the X button, and 16 times as much control as R2.
” The only thing that’s rubbish, and twitchy is your control method (DS3).”
Pretty ignorant comment i have to say
I’ve played with X & O from my GT1 days and its what im comfortable with, im quick with the old control’s, just not on this one and I’ve hated the analog from the day Sony introduced it. I dont get the same feel as using X & O.
Actually, the buttons are pressure sensitive too – and have been since the second DualShock controller – while the mushrooms are only pseudo-analogue 10 bit efforts. I almost exclusively drive with X & O – my Round 1 & 2 videos for the news threads were D-Pad, X & O.
This one I’ve gone with the wheel, because it makes for a smoother video.
Sorry, but i’ve been playing GT since its first incarnation too and using X and O instead of the right sticks is just plain mad, trust me, i’ve been through all the DS and the previous controllers that Sony threw at us to know that using buttons to accelerate and brake is sheer nonsense by comparison……
First of all, it’s not 10 bit, it’s 16 bit. And you say only? 16 bit is ONLY 512 degrees of input. Only 512?
The triggers on the other hand only have 16 degrees of input, and the X and O buttons only have what, 4?
The sticks from center to any side has 256 degrees of input. If you plug it into iracing, it’ll show you that when you configure it as an axis for throttle or braking.
I don’t care how long you’ve been using the D Pad and face buttons, 256> 1 or 4.
The fact that you’ve been using them so long is exactly why the fact that you’re comfortable with them is irrelevant. If you took time to get comfortable with the analog sticks, you’d be much faster, guaranteed. The same way everyone is faster with a wheel once they’re comfortable with it. More control means smoother driving, and faster lap time. You can’t deny that no matter how stubborn and stuck in your ways you are. No offense but it’s true when you call me ignorant for suggesting something that is in fact better.
I can play Guitar Hero better with a Guitar, racing games better with a racing wheel, what’s next?!?!?!? First person shooter with guns?!?!?!?
Where’s the waaaambulance at around here?
Your comment made me laugh out loud dude.
So true. Everyone’s whining about how the car is with controller, while it’s brilliant with a wheel. It’s like someone with a Dodge Omni complaining that it doesn’t handle like a McLaren P1.
And they should be thankful it’s not worse. As pCars proves, GT6 is probably the best sim when it comes to how the controller is calibrate. Most other sims are ten times tougher to play with controller. They don’t even realize how easy they have it.
No no no, when you buy the game the steering wheel is not a requirement, this and guitar hero are not comparable situations.
@Amac500 – You aren’t required to use a wheel to play GT6, or to enter GTAcademy, the latter of which is highly debatable considering DS3-piloted cars don’t exist.
No one’s saying it’s a requirement (although if you want to win GT Academy, it obviously is), but to say there’s something wrong with a car when it’s not easy to drive with a controller is just ludicrous. It shouldn’t be easy to drive with a controller, don’t you get it?
This is a sim, and any cars that require a lot of precision to drive are gonna be easier to drive with an actual wheel since you know, that is what cars use in real life.
On the other hand, there are gonna be certain cars that are easier to drive with a controller like 4WD cars or cars that understeer really bad. Someone with a wheel like me might have a harder time with something like that than a twitchy car like this LMP 2.
You need to know your input method instead of just blaming the car
you can debate the controller/wheel issue until hell freezes over, it will just make you angrier/smugger and we still wont get anywhere!! let me try and put a different view on it though!! I use a ds3 with square and X, my 9 y/o son uses a logitec wheel, I cant use the wheel and hes rubbish with the ds3! I can drive a REAL car he cant!! its a game!!! have fun at what ever level you play and don’t stress!! there is always someone faster!!!!
For those complaining about the wheel vs controller, although a separated board would be nice, you don’t drive real race cars with a controller and I don’t believe that PDI and NISMO are looking for controller experts to do their race program.
Then why allow people to use a DS3 then? they might as well say only wheel uses can do the GTA TT’s
Sorry, but “Belgian Eifel forest”…? Being a Belgian that’s offensive! ;)
Agree completely (and I’m Dutch).
It must be corrected ;)
I’m not the best at this game nor do I claim to be. But I’m also no slouch either. I just don’t think this is fair in any means. What I’m getting at is controller vs. Steering wheels. Like XSRacing111 described People who use steering wheels can take corners at full speed with ease and people with controllers have to brake or let up off the throttle. Where is the fairness in that. I made gold with ease like I always do but for once I would like to compete with other people on a level playing field. Now I do admit I’m not good with a wheel I have tried a few times and just can’t get the feel for it. So I guess that is on me. But there are people out there like me that are good with a controller and horrible with a wheel. That doesn’t make us suck at racing or don’t know what we are doing or know what to do in a real race car if that time ever came. I just think this game needs the same control in both fields with the controller and the wheel. I just don’t think its fair in anyway. Just like this GT Academy contest what if a person that uses the controller is better race car driver than all of the people who uses wheels. Well you’re not going to find out cause the contest doesn’t allow a contestant use a controller on a level playing field which isn’t right. Ok I’m done whinning just had this to get out of my chest for a while.
i feel u on tht one mate, i use both but primarily a controller guy, its wat most of us have used growing up back in the old gt1 and gt2 days, i would at least show two seperate leaderboards for controller and wheel to be ultimately fair given the game can distinguish if said player uses the wheel or controller, plus those top times produced in the 1st two rounds where the cars were practically sliding around half the damn track is jus too unreal, your brakes and tires would get overheated, and your body would catch serious whiplash
Oh btw I got 2:09.801 with my DS3 controller. as of this comment was made I was ranked 549th in the world rankings. I have checked from rank 1 to my rank and only two people with controllers not including myself are in the top 600. So ahead of me and the two other people that were using controllers there are 546 contestants using wheels. As I stated in my first comment where is the fairness in this?
@RoylKINGz I agree a separate leaderboard would be a very good Idea.
If you’ve tried the wheel before and got frustrated that you were slower at first – that’s normal! Don’t worry about being slow through the transition into getting used to it, it can take a couple weeks of playing before it feels natural to you, but it’s so much more rewarding than the controller once you get used to it.
Alternatively, I do know a few aliens that usually use the wheel (and are faster than me) but can also use the DS3 (and still be faster than me), so there’s always room to improve no matter what type of controller you’re using.
GT Academy tends to have the cars set up in such a way that you have to have it 107% on the limit on entry, and rotated before apexes which is very difficult on the controller because it simply is not as precise as a wheel, they’re too touchy. Slight over correction will cause immediate understeer. Going in too slowly because you’re not trail braking/rotating the car aggressively will also mean you have less downforce through the whole corner.
That’s why it will seem like you have to brake more than someone using a wheel, they are killing that understeer by increasing the slip angle of the rear tires. If you don’t do this, you’re not using all the grip that the rear has to offer (say 100% in the front but only ~85% in the rear), and going more slowly because of it. (and slower also = less grip from downforce)
I tried doing a lap WITHOUT sliding at all in the Greaves car, 2:09.5. Almost a full second slower than my fast lap where I’m sliding juuuust a bit for all the slow corners and most of the mid-speed corner entries. I could probably go a bit quicker without sliding if I get the timing of releasing the brake down better, but if you can get to the ~2:09 range on the DS3 you’re doing very well.
Try trail braking/releasing the brake earlier than you think will work, and trying to use the downforce, and grip in the rear.
I agree that at least being able to split up the leaderboard by adding a filter for controller type wouldn’t be too difficult. The same could be said for filters of any kind (region, pls?), however, and they haven’t added any at all besides “friends list” lol.
Just got Gold with a crappy third party Logitec controller that’s covered in dust and is falling apart. The turning of this machine using a controller is tighter than G-String while I saw replays of people using steering wheels and they go around the corners top speed like, la-di-da whoo-hoo, whilst I have to brake a bit just to stay on the track.
So unfair.
Well, Gold is always the target for me and I got it even with a terrible controller. For those with a DS3 or those unfortunates like me who only have/can afford a third party controller that are still chugging along in silver land, adjust your line. That’s the only advice I can give really. I found going about 90 in the midway s-curves definitely helps.
well realistically u have to admit them suckers can turn pretty.nimble around some.corners at fast speeds, which is insane most times
Well, RoyalKINGz I would produce fast lap times like that too if I had a steering wheel. I just can’t afford one. Like you said, separate leaderboards would be a nice addition…to GT7.
@RoyalKINGz Oh the cornering of the car is perfectly fine, it’s just the act of turning with a joystick that prevents Eau Rpuge from going flat out. The rest of the corners I’m more than fine in and have actually got quicker in to compensate for time loss in Eau Rouge
Got gold after a million tries.
Anyone notice that the car still has that “IGNATION” misspell error? It’s supposed to say “IGNITION”, not “IGNATION’. Still a very cool car!
I noticed that too. Weird. I wouldn’t be surprised if PD released a patch to correct that. They are that anal.
Looks like I’m gonna have to finally break out the wheel. I doubt I’m good enough on the DS3 to gold this one unlike the others.
dnt b so quick to admit defeat mate, its all about consistency
Brought out the wheel, shaved 6 seconds within 10min. Gold and done. I’m not worried about defeat on the wheel… I was just being lazy using a DS3.
It seems PD’s been working on these engine sounds! :D :D
Its hard to get gold with DS3 :/. Nice car btw
if you cn believe you can achieve
@Famine, yeah, I’ll try more times :)
Took me atleast an hour, but i got 1:22:8xx with the DS3. I have to say: it’s damn hard.
My time is way off :d, i meant i got 2:12:8xx
Can this be my first academy race, or did I have to participate in the prior race to access this one.
You need to get at least a bronze in each of the previous two rounds to unlock this one. All rounds are open until the end of GT Academy.
one good thing about the car is that the fuel guage piece actualy works so itll help wen i drive wit no huds so i can know how much fuel i gt left
Does it have a base model you can buy? If you can buy it?
I’m not seeing any version in the dealership or special cars area. I hope it’s added later. For now you’re going to have to drive the one you win.
A bronze and the car is mine!?! Did I read that right?
Just like the Vision cars, just complete a lap, not even bronze and you win the car. You need bronze or better to move to the next stage though.
You just need to complete a lap, the time doesn’t matter.
You don’t even need bronze. I DQ’d my first run and it still gave me the car for completing a lap.
What type of tuning did people apply to overcome the oversteer?
all i did was tune the dampers a bit, turned down camber and toe waaaaay down, fixed the lsd, and it works for me, hauls thru corners at nurburg
Car is excellent. Has some oversteer issues, but can be fixed with an easy tune. Did a 2:08.9 at Spa with a steering wheel :)
No oversteer issues at all. Maybe you’re having a controller issue.
car handles well and goes rly fast for how much power it has, stock it tends to hella oversteer in 2nd thru corners, but a slight tune made it better tamed, pulled a 2:12.7 on my stick so i gotta pop the wheel in later to test
Wait a minute, you can tune this car?
Oh lord. So now people who can tune have advantage over those who can simply drive whatever they’re given. That’s real nice.
no u cant tune it in the gt academy challenge i meant afterwards in online or free run
Yup I see that now ;)
That first photo looks amazing
arghh! yes! i wanted to drive this car since i saw that was coming! gtr lmp, last round???
Cool!