El Capitan exist in real-life...

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phillip

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Look, either i lived under a rock when this was announced... or..... :dunce: im like.. incredible at goolgeism

El Capitan

This bunch of people seemed to have found the mountain... :sly: They even point out that there's something called Cathedral Rocks

DSC06383%20El%20Capitan%20reflected%20in%20Merced.JPG

Beautiful isn't it?


The racetrack itself is fake... but still awesome.. :)
 
That's cool! Not to mention a fun track. :)
 
I think it's located in Yosemite National Park. You gotta hand it to PD's creativity, giving us a chance to take our cars out to places such as El Capitan and the Grand Canyon. If we can't do it in real life, at least its there in the world of Gran Turismo.
 
So how come I knew it was real? Was it just because it was in Star Trek 5 - The final frontier?

It's Stardate 8454.130 and a vacationing Captain Kirk faces two challenges: Climbing Yosemite's El Capitan and teaching campfire songs to Spock. But vacations are cut short when a renegade Vulcan hijacks the Enterprise, and pilots it on a journey to uncover the universe's innermost secrets.
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I find it hard to believe that you people didn't know that El Capitan wasn't real... the English guy, OK, but it's a landmark in Yosemite Nat'l Park.
 
At 3300', El Cap is one of the most massive slabs of sheer granite in the world and the goal of many climbers.... especially "doing the Nose in a day". There are others slightly taller but they're all fairly remote and suffer from serious weather issues (southern Patagonia, Baffin Island, Greenland, Trango).

"The Nose" is it's most famous route, first ascended in 1958 in 47 days spanning 17 months (they had to find a route ;) ), second ascent carved that down to 7 days. In 1975, it was ascended in just under 24 hours. The current record is now down to about 2 hours and 45 minutes IIRC. Typical ascents are usually in the 3-5 day range.

One one person has ever climbed it free: Lynn Hill. (It's normally climbed as a tough Aid route, meaning you sometimes have to rely on gear for forward progress. Free climbing means, gear is just for protection, you can only use your body for forward progress)


For those interested: Here's a good place to get more info and see pics of crazy people! :crazy: :D

http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/988
 
CMcMahon
I find it hard to believe that you people didn't know that El Capitan wasn't real... the English guy, OK, but it's a landmark in Yosemite Nat'l Park.
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lol, well for us American people, we should know. You should figure that the rally track Cathedral Rocks and El Capitan are part of the same track. In Special Conditions Hall, the races for Cathedral Rocks say "Yosemite" somewhere in it. Have a look for yourself. If you're American, you should have recognized this, I agree with the guy I quoted

Edit: im still giving credit to Phillip though, it's cool that you're making people around the world (I guess) aware of Yosemite. Good job 👍
 
Being from the west coast I was gonna say "Duh" but then you guys arn't. :dopey: It IS a very nice park, I've ran from the ground level ( can't remember the name for it :dunce: ) to the very top of El Capitan for Cross Country. I forget how far it is though, only like 20-30 miles?
 
Man you guys in the west (USA) are lucky. You've got Seattle, El Capitan, Laguna, Infineon, and Grand Canyon. When am I gonna drive by and see members of the GT crew measuring our awesome cornfields for their next fantasy track on GT5? :sly:
 
lol, you never know man. A background full of cornfields and stuff could look pretty sexy if it's done the right way. I think I've seen some roads for car advertisements before that had country style backgrounds and they actually looked pretty nice. Just add some pavement and make it turn in desireable ways, and boom, you got yourself a fantasy racetrack.
 
Yes, it's in Yosemite Nat'l Park, but I doubt it is a real track. Look at how the road is set up and you'll know in America that 2 lane highways don't normally look like that.
 
I'll guarentee it's not a real track. Being a californian I first saw El Capitan when I was about 7 years old, and I've been back twice since. And being the urban adventurer I am I still go camping at least once a year (real camping, meaning no gas stoves, and we consider ourselves lucky to have an outhouse. When we first started going where we go you had to dig).

It's really a beutiful place, among the best sites in cali. SF doesn't really impress me anymore, and there isn't much in socal as far as attractions go. The redwoods are cool too.

And yes, i'm surprised some of you americans didn't realise it was a real place. El Capitan is as popular as Half Dome.
 
dougiemeats
Man you guys in the west (USA) are lucky. You've got Seattle, El Capitan, Laguna, Infineon, and Grand Canyon. When am I gonna drive by and see members of the GT crew measuring our awesome cornfields for their next fantasy track on GT5? :sly:
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Yeah... that's why I got the hell out of the Midwest :lol:

Wow, the ultimate track would be the old Route 66 from Chicago to LA.
Not exactly possible for GT or fitting it's style but I can dream can't I! Maybe PD could make a version of their game Gumball Rally style :D

Seriously, for good Midwest tracks, it would damn nice if PD did Road America.

As for El Cap... no, the track isn't even close to real.
 
El Capitan 9and the Cathedral Rocks tracks) are set in Yosemite National Park. Like the city tracks (except SSR5), they don't actually exist in real life, but rather, the track is based on the location.
 
sumbodycool
lol, you never know man. A background full of cornfields and stuff could look pretty sexy if it's done the right way. I think I've seen some roads for car advertisements before that had country style backgrounds and they actually looked pretty nice. Just add some pavement and make it turn in desireable ways, and boom, you got yourself a fantasy racetrack.
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"If you build it, they will drive..."
 
Well...who wants to trace the outline?

(Courtesy of Google Maps.)
 

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i live a 4 hour drive from yoesmite national park. and been there around a million times, er, i mean liek 20 times. mostly backpacking. i agree a race track would ruin it. and for the peopel say that this place is NOT real, they need to take a step outside and watch the travel channel. ok mabe u don't need to watch the travel channel but stop sitting on ur lazy boy drinking beer playing GT4 endurce races until ur eyes pop out. but that does sound fun, anyways thats not my point.


The point is to PAY ATTENTION! :dunce:
 
There may be chunks of the road that are there and pieces that are "like" what you'll find there, but I can guarantee the roads are not configured like the track.

Easiest thing to point out would be... the tunnel on the right side of the track doesn't exist. There are two tunnels similar in style coming in to the park well before you pass El Cap on the left hand side (El Cap being on the left for reference) as you come into park. There are some graded roads on the way in, but by the time you're past El Cap it's all flat.

It would have been nice if they at least tried harder to reproduce the familiar landmarks. I'm disappointed that Half Dome isn't there. It seems like you should see Yosemite Falls to the left of El Cap. And it'd be nice if they had Curry Village and the Ahwahnee Hotel instead of those random blobs that they put up instead.

But... oh well... the track is still awesome, including Cathedral Rocks 👍
 
I’m only a little embarrassed to admit that back in the day I’ve thought El Capitan was a fictional racetrack in a fictional landscape setting. What makes me feel better is that some people used to think that the Nordschleife is a figment of illegal substance fuelled fantasy 😉

Going to Yosemite this September for the very first time in my life to see with my own eyes if El Cap is actually there.
 

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