Kazunori Yamauchi Goes Racing on ‘Ring
November 15th, 2009 by Jordan
Kazunori Yamauchi’s participation in the VLN’s BFGoodwrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft event on the Nurburgring Nordschleife last month is carefully documented in the latest issue of Auto Express. Editor Owen Mildenhall, who shared the car with Yamauchi and Peter Lyon during the 4 hour endurance race, has posted about the experience on the magazine’s website. Unfortunately, the differential on the team’s Lexus IS-F wasn’t up to the task, forcing Yamauchi to retire the car after just 40 minutes behind the wheel.
It wasn’t all for naught, though: Yamauchi still learned from the intense experience, which he hopes to be able to simulate in Gran Turismo 5:
“I feel like I am in a dream, driving as fast as I possibly can. The only time I get in this trance-like state is when I am racing a real car. I want to understand what makes me feel like that, and ultimately feed it back into Gran Turismo 5.”
Of course, this actually isn’t Yamauchi’s first event on the Nurburgring – he also competed in another VLN race in the IS-F last August, with the team finishing first in their class (Yamauchi blogged on preparations for the event here and here). His ultimate goal is to compete in the Nurburgring 24-hour Endurance race next May, and, hopefully, we’ll all be able to follow along at home with fresh copies of Gran Turismo 5!
Tags: Kazunori Yamauchi, Lexus IS-F, Nurburgring Nordschleife
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November 15th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
whats “Langstreckenmeisterschaft”?????
November 15th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
It translates roughly to “Endurance Championship”.
November 15th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
I we we can do that on GT5 soon …the “ring” in wet weather endurance 12/16 players online that Shizznit would be crazy,with pits and all the goodies…
November 15th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
pretty sweet…. now get me gt5.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
KY jumped into that Lexus with almost 0% racing experience and showed he could run with them. Just shows how close to reality GT5 is going to be.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
I hope they’re not still writing code for the game at the moment. They should be well into testing by now… Even with the 2011 release date that we’re sure to see.
November 15th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
“Even with the 2011 release date we’re sure to see.”
God forbid.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:45 am
He the man!
November 16th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Good to see the man enjoying himself.
I mean, come on, he doesnt have to work on GT5 everyday right. He had done an awful lot in the past 5 years, and I am quite positive that GT5 is pretty much finished.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:52 am
@Sam Ny…Uh KY as driven many cars before and has plenty of exp driving in real life. So I dont know where your coming from saying he has zero…
November 16th, 2009 at 2:40 am
I belive this to be the best work Kaz can do for GT right now. I hope he is “killling time” waiting for the rest of PD to finish polishing the game. D differential failures seem like something that would add value to the series?
November 16th, 2009 at 3:44 am
… we’ll all be able to follow along at home with fresh copies of Gran Turismo 5!
Hehe, well said, but I think this is an illusion. Japanese will difinitely get it on March, rest of us … maybe December next year. :S
November 16th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Yeah, GT5 next May – sounds good.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:16 am
@Viper
I said ‘racing’ experience, not driving, big difference.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:26 am
I can imagine how GT5 will be realistic. Watched yesterday GT5P video, California on Suzuka in 720p and 60FPS, I finally watched first GT5 gameplay in full experience!
November 16th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Sam__ NY Says:
KY jumped into that Lexus with almost 0% racing experience and showed he could run with them. Just shows how close to reality GT5 is going to be.
What are you talking about?
He doesn’t have almost 0% racing experience.
You can see, that he raced before if you actually read what it says above the video.
And would you think, that he just started driving the car with no practice?
November 16th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Really nice video. I wish all the best to Kazunori Yamauchi.
November 16th, 2009 at 9:32 am
http://www.vln.de/
That is the webpage of the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft. Translated = Long Distance Championship.
You can change the language on that website to english. So, take a closer look if you wish.
The VLN is something like 10 “small 24h” Races. The Races are actually 4 h long. One of them is 6h long.
Good race series and cheap tickets. At the Nordschleife you can watch for free ;)
November 16th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Mr. Yamauchi raced there before and 1 time even won his class. But well only their car reached the finish. If I remember right it was 2 cars in that class in the beginning of that race ;)
November 16th, 2009 at 10:30 am
bring the Senna’s 190e 2.3 16v to the gt5!
November 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
I hope this isn’t just for Kaz having fun, I hope he translate all of his experience from racing in all weather to GT5. Even though Kaz is kinda old now, I hope he get a chance to race with the pro’s one day. Grand Prix or Le Mans? Who knows.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
The M1 around 2:30?! That would be hot in GT!
November 16th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
ky is looking at gt5 from another prespective most of us including me are looking at new features like damage rewing etc as why gt5 will be huge but what ky is doing is bringing racing on video games as close to realism as possible and that is what gt5 is all about man i can’t wait for the game
November 16th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
nice video. get’s me hyped. i’d like to participate in something like that.
just a dream… :)
November 16th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I think that this may be a hint that there will be weather conditions as the announcer/driver stated that not being able to finish because of weather conditions is “part of racing”.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:21 am
See, this is what separates Gran Turismo from the crowd. One man’s mission to perfect the driving simulator.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Nick “I think that this may be a hint that there will be weather conditions as the announcer/driver stated that not being able to finish because of weather conditions is “part of racing”.”
actually they retired due to car failure, think he said over heating transmission even though text write up states differential
November 17th, 2009 at 8:01 am
@iCyCo
@Nick
guys think about it. If your competing in a race at the Nurburgring( or anywhere for that matter), you can expect weather. This is mother nature, not some hint that there’s gonna be weather in GT5.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I keep waiting for the PPV of Kazunori Yamauchi versus Dan Greenawalt racing event.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I hope he’s still alive! otherwise, we’re screwed out of GT5!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Here’s Kaz’s hot lap at the Nordschleife (the 25km version): http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/videos/featuresvideos/245125/the_real_gran_turismo_hotlap.html
November 18th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
LMFAO @ 1:30. “The founder of the computer game, Kazunori”. Can’t believe no one has mentioned it, rofl