GTPlanet is partnering with GTChannel and PlaySeat USA to host a special online race event – streamed live on GTChannel’s popular YouTube network – and there are over $1,000 in prizes up for grabs.
We’re calling it the “PlaySeat Challenge”, and anyone eligible can get a spot on the grid for this race – but you’ll have to earn it!
To qualify, be among the top 10 fastest GTPlanet members in the United States in Round 2 of GT Academy 2014 as of May 21st. These 10 fastest drivers will then be invited to compete in the live race event on May 26, 2014, at approximately 6:00pm Eastern Time (EDT).
The race will be live-streamed here on GTPlanet and GTChannel, and managed by the expert stewards from our Weekly Race Series.
Here’s what the podium finishers can take home:
- First Place – Grand Prize
- PlaySeat Evolution (Gran Turismo Edition)
- Thrustmaster T500RS Steering Wheel
- GTPEDIA: GTPlanet’s Guide to the World of Gran Turismo
Second Place
- GoPro HERO3+ HD Camera
- Limited-Edition GT6 Jacket
- GTPEDIA
- Third Place
- Limited-Edition GT6 Jacket
- GTPEDIA
To enter, just keep playing Round 2 of GT Academy 2014 in Gran Turismo 6, and set the fastest lap that you can. On May 20th, another announcement will be posted, with a link to submit your best lap time. The fastest laps will be verified, then preparations for the live race begin.
Please review the official contest rules for more information and details.
As always, be sure to check out our GT Academy forum for more discussion and analysis on how to improve your times in Round 2. We also have a dedicated PlaySeat Challenge discussion thread to chat with other competitors. Good luck, and have fun!
See more articles on GT Channel and gtplanet.
Maybe they should have restricted to controller only, maybe someone who doesn’t have a playseat or wheel at all would benefit from it more than someone who already has a thrust master….
Nice list of prizes, I’m in.
Might as well send the Racing seat to this guy’s house now…
Yea! Like my best of friends awards from GT5. Do I now dare to dream… haha, who the hell am I kidding ;)
Great idea GTPlanet.
Way to go doodle!!
psssssst. I’m not 18 yet.
When it says a GTP member does that mean a member with an account on this website, or I need a PSN GTP_XXX account?
You only need to be a member on the website – a GTP_ tag is not necessary. See the official rules for details.
This is quite a nice offering of prizes, should be a fun race to participate in for sure. Very cool!
US only… :( I’d love any of those prizes.
I have a DFGT with makeshift table, but Im using the controller with stick in automatic for the competition just to see where it will stand. I got a 1:36.04 around 60miles on the odometer. Im pretty sure with the stick I can pull off a 1:35.7 under 100miles because I was 0.3sec on top of my time on one lap (screwed the s-curves at the end), but to be honest, there is no chance in hell anyone with a controller is getting those top 10. It’s not even a matter of precision, its the limited range in movement & sensitivity from the controller. Sometimes I wish there was a more fair way of evaluating a person’s driver skills other than grinding away at hot laps. A series of race tournaments comprised of short endurance races is the only thing that comes to mind. Any body got any other ideas?
Best combined total time of 3 different drivelines, 3 different tracks, limited PP, era and tires. Must be accomplished within a specific time frame… say a Saturday afternoon..? Between noon and 1pm. That’s what I’d do.
Isn’t it rather pointless offering a playseat to the top 10 runners in GT Academy, considering most if not all of them will have better equipment for the job anyway?!?!
Cheer up, Andy. Maybe, if they regionalize the competition (statewise?), we’ll have a chance with our controllers ;)
I bet someone from the first gt academy will win it. I also bet they already own a playseat if not a better. What about the racer x competition?
Not only do the fast gamers get a chance to win a professional racing driver job, now they also have a chance to win more new equipment to play that game. Even though most of these guys already have wheels and/or seats that they are currently using to win these events.
New time 1:35.354
Ranked 4th in US
Awesome prizes! Too bad it’s US limited, any chance there will be GTP contests like this for the EU in the future?
I get the feeling I’m not going to be one of the top 10 US players on GTP but just as I foolishly did with with Taco Bell PS4 promotion (and previous GT Academy attempts), I’ll try it anyway just for the idea that I could get a wheel for free instead of paying a ridiculous price for one.
This is cool :tup:
Just a note – our friends from GoPro have decided to join the fun… Second place now gets a GoPro HERO3+ camera! :)
That’s actually better than first prize, given that I prefer my G27.
Now I really wish I was 18.
Don’t wish your life away. Oh to be young again.
ok now I see it the grand prize you do get a sterring wheel but I don’t think anyone in the top ten uses a DS3 anyways and I’m willing to bet at least 2 of them already have a Thrustmaster T500RS anyways and maybe even that same rig too Jordan you you kinda failed on this one.
No. As nice as it would be to award this to someone who only has a DS3 controller (and there is nothing to stop that from happening), that’s not the point of this competition – this is about getting the fastest U.S. GTPlanet members together and putting on an amazing show of high-level online racing with a big prize at stake.
You and others are also significantly over-estimating the hardware used by top drivers. 2011 champion Bryan Heitkotter used the cheapest wheel – a Logitech DFP – to qualify for his national finals, and 2012 champion Steve Doherty qualified with his Logitech G27 clamped to a table.
To say those guys – or anyone like them – is unqualified to compete because of hardware they already own would be absolutely ridiculous.
Great prizes.
This is really exiting stuff!! Should be lots of fun.
also have to agree with everyone on this one the people who are the fastest usually already have some type of nice rig it would be better if the competition was for anyone that wanted to enter and then have whoever is the fastest out of them get the new rig.
That’s how it works, anyone on GTP can enter.
I have to agree with everyone else here about the DS3 controller. I use one because I can’t afford a whole racing rig right now. I know I’m one of the fastest when compared to my friends with a DS3 but I am atleast 5 or more seconds behind anyone with a wheel set up. They should have made this challenge for players who only use DS3 controllers. If someone uses a wheel then they should either be disqualified from this challenge or looked over. It’s not fair to have the prizes be what someone is using(if that makes sense) the reason they’re on the top is because they have the best equipment already and don’t need a whole rig. This is totally a failed challenge and I won’t even bother trying. I’ll just get my good on GTAcademy and be done with it…
You are assuming everyone with a wheel has a setup like whatever you have in mind. I have a g27 but i use a coffee table and i sit on a mini stool. So if anything i desperately need a rig.
You also seem to forget there are people at the top who use a controller. Doodle used a controller last year if I’m not mistaken, and was one of the top placed Americans in the final round. I used a controller in 2012 until the final round and continually placed in the top 250. There are many more examples globally from last year as well who were in the top percentile of times. One of the national finalists in 2012 used a controller to get there.
Using a controller is tougher due to the lack of precision, but it is still possible to be very fast using one. People who are fast are not fast simply because they have the best equipment. They work hard, practice, focus, and fail continuously to get better.
Not nearly everyone with a wheel has a rig. Rigs cost hundreds of dollars and almost anyone that plays this game cannot afford one. I use a cheap office chair that is very old and worn, my desk, and I use a power strip in between the pedals and my wall in order to keep them in place and move them close enough to me.
You use what you can, and you make the most of it, that’s one of the keys in racing. All you can do is keep practicing. As I said, using a controller is more inherently challenging, but it is not a complete suppressor of speed and ability.
Agree, this compation should have been for DS3 users only. All the top guys are on wheel’s alrerady.
To Vindictivescrub, wheel is far superior equipment over controller. Dosn’t matter how much you practice you will never achieve the same numbers as you get on a wheel.
I agree with FiaRua, I had a carpenter build me a table and I’m using a folding chair. I want a PlaySeat too.
Now this would be great if I was 18. Oh well, maybe next year.
Jeez, you have been saying this phrase for a while! :p
I could stand a chance at this if I was in the USA to begin with!
Dammit!! T_____T I have a DS3….. I don’t stand a chance no matter how fast I am. *Sigh’s* Its gonna be the usual people at the top. :/ All with full racing sim setups as it is.
Oh well….. Maybe I’ll get one some day…………………….. if I hit the lotto. -___-
Aww, would be nice if this was only towards DS3 controler users…i mean, the guys who are gonna win are those with sterring wheels and the prize is a sterring wheel…us DS3 users dont stand a chance against them, especially since controlers dont even have a clutch.
Any wheel that has a clutch cannot be used as you cannot even use the H-Pattern with it either.
Don’t give up the controller because the guys on the wheel discourage you! Keep trying and you can get a really good time with the controller!
I believe 11th place right now is on a controller(this is in the world rankings).
Having a DS3 does not mean you can’t put in quick laptimes. There are people in the GTAcademy RD2 leaderboard with DS3 that put up a faster time than the current top US ranked gamer. 1:34.837 is currently the fastes DS3 time.
You know the people that come in the top ten probably already have something like this, if not this unit exactly. Give it to the top ten who used standard controllers instead so they can compete with those who have racing wheel setups.
yeah but if they dont have a wheel to begin with then its kind of useless to them other than a comfy seat to sit in while playing GT
Think marketing, my friend. If the person gets a comfy seat to play in, what’s the likelihood of them doing all they can to get that pretty wheel to go with it?
The winner also gets a Thrustmaster T500RS.
Where can you buy Gran Turismo things like shirts?
Ooh, I desperately want something more comfortable than my 10 year old cheap office chair to sit in while racing… here’s hoping I can win the race
Oh, hell yes! I’m coming for it this year!
Had high hopes and then I saw “top ten”
Well, I guess 26,000th won’t cut it..
The only time I ever got top 10 in a GT event was when I was one of the first 12 people to start the event… Now if they would open up the prizes to the top 2,000, we’d be getting somewhere. :)