FIA Events '18 - World Finals Monaco Finished! Congrats to Team Lexus and Igor Fraga for Brazil!

  • Thread starter Wardez
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ABSOLUTE MADLADS.
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I presume they will give the used wheels on the whole event to the players. I always wondered what they did with them after it.

They're almost brand new tho. Amazing gift from PD! Congrats!

Imagine what those that declined the invitation to Monaco are feeling right now...
 
Imagine what those that declined the invitation to Monaco are feeling right now...
They feel enjoyment of driving on their TGT everyday and very very much look forward to take the whole week of work in 1 week time, to see family and friends after 7 months and even more look forward to a small break and relaxing with loved ones between Christmas and New Years eve, instead of spending most of that time at work because of Monaco! ;)

@Congrats on the gift Lewis and to others that will get them perhaps, well deserved!:cheers:
 
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Something strange on Nico's fantastic lap on Nurb 24 H during last Monaco event.
When you check the brake gauge , it only light in red showing his pressure on the pedal. Why can't we see the white column of the ABS effective braking power ?
Or am i missing something because i just wake up a minute ago and my brain is not 100% already just like Lucie.:lol:
 
Here's Cody Nikola's write up of the World Finals, pretty comprehensive (plus now we all know what's the story behind his motto).

Link to the post on fb is here.

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For me, the FIA-certified Gran Turismo World Finals in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, last month was a week made of dreams and the result of 15 years worth of preparation. I hope what I mention here will do all of it justice.

 
Beginnings.

 
Reaching the highest level of simulation racing had been one of my main goals for some time, since the moment I was introduced to the world of Gran Turismo at the age of three by my father. He was the one that really kickstarted the fire inside of me to only aim higher, to always keep improving, and to aspire to be among the best. I may not have seemed so special back in the Gran Turismo 3 days, but now seeing how far I've come over the years, I will always be grateful for what he's done for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed driving in Gran Turismo 3 and 4, but I had started taking things a bit more seriously when GT Academy arrived on Gran turismo 5. My setup to tackle the challenge, a dualshock 3 controller, quite the ordinary. This is about the time that me and my father had realised that there were only certain limits a controller can reach, and so we invested in our first wheel. We've never looked back since. My driving became more consistent and precise over time, and as a result, my laptimes kept dropping too.

Despite my age disadvantage, which has kept me away from being able to enter the GT Academy, I would always try to be the best, almost every day, year after year, chasing the Top 10 wherever possible. I wanted to drive with the best, and this is around the point that the motto I live by, "Driving with The Best!" came to be.

Moving into Gran Turismo 6, I still persisted with showing my speed to the world, still focusing on time trials offered through the Seasonal Events as well as the GT Academy. However, it was then that I had gotten a taste of what racing really is, both virtually, by entering online leagues and championships, and in the real world, in the form of karting. This showed me the beauty of racing with others, of strategy, and real competitiveness, and that it's not just about doing countless laps around a track to chase a particular laptime.

From GT6 onwards, my speed had gone to a new level as I raced with faster and faster drivers, and there's no doubt that without that experience, there's a quite a significant chance I wouldn't be as strong of driver as I am now. For those of you that I met and raced with back then, I want to thank you for giving me a challenge, and for pushing me even further.

 
Gran Turismo SPORT. Proving myself.

 
Then came Gran Turismo SPORT. At this time I knew that I could really be up there, that I could challenge the fastest, and that this was my chance to shine. When the FIA-certified Gran Turismo Championships were announced, I dedicated a lot of my time to practicing and improving wherever I could, all so I could make my mark in every race, to do my best for Australia and prove my loyalty for my favourite manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz. I gave every single race of the Test Seasons my best, and the motivation from the results I achieved there, as well as my hope to reach the Regional Finals kept me fighting to be the best for the final Online Seasons.

Once again, my age disadvantage was working against me, cutting off my chances to succeed with the introduction of the Star Player driver ranking. Unable to participate in Top 24 Superstar races meant that maintaining my spot to be eligible for the Regional Finals was somewhat challenging, but I nevertheless did my best and made it. All the effort towards getting somewhere with my driving had finally paid off.

But it doesn't end there. Reaching the Regional Finals is one thing, but getting into the World Finals is also another. My Block Final race was a good performance, and I'm very happy that my spot to the World Finals was secured there. Later on in the event, the Regional Final races were not such a strong showing for me. My car choice wasn't the greatest due to having the 8th pick of the 10 finalists for each race, but grabbing 4th place starting from 8th in the final race at Fuji and ending up with 5th in the rankings was a nice way to end it off. Still, Tokyo was a big wake up call to how much more mature I needed to be in terms of driving style, keeping calm on track and planning moves in-front. During the few odd weeks back home before the World Finals, I worked on fine tuning these factors considerably in the Exhibition Seasons.
 

The FIA-certified Gran Turismo World Finals in Monaco. A dream come true.

 
Day 1 (Thursday - 16th November) - Qualifying

Trying out the Red Bull X2014 Standard with a unique set of specs was surprising to say the least. It is truly a car that only few can master, and I found it a little difficult to find the limits of the car on that first day. Qualifying didn't go quite as it should've, I always braked too early and accelerated later than I would've liked, so I knew my performance was not going to put me anywhere too spectacular. I also didn't time my pitstops and out laps right, and in the end I missed out on one last fast lap to possibly improve my position. 11th overall, not so bad. Still, I looked forward to improving my position from 6th in the Semifinals.

 
Day 2 (Friday - 17th November) - Semi-Finals and Repechage

My semi-final at the reverse variant of Dragon Trail Seaside started off well, I was keeping up with the frontrunners on Racing Mediums in the AMG GT GT3 so it looked all set that I would make it into the finals. However, an incident on lap 2 after the tricky double chicane meant that I dropped down to 9th and became occupied with a feisty Nick McMillen. Everything pretty much went downhill from there, my tyre strategy didn't favour my position on track and I kept leaving open doors for other drivers so all I could manage was a lowly 12th. Seeing Mikail Hizal win the race was nice, although I knew I could've been right behind him fighting for the win, since we both started next to each other.

Removing that bad race from my mind, I focused everything I had on the Repechage. Starting from 3rd with a solid car meant that it shouldn't be too hard to maintain position behind Nicolas Rubilar and Adam Suswillo. No pitstops, no tyre strategy, just pure racing. In the end I overtook both Adam (he went a little wide in the last 2 corners earlier in the race) and Nicolas (with the ol switcheroo coming out of turn 2) to win the Repechage and bag 4 points towards the final races on Sunday. I was satisfied that I had gotten top 16, but I knew I needed to do better than this for Sunday.

 
Day 4 (Sunday - 19th November) - Nations Cup Final

Race 1 (N500 - Tokyo Expressway South Inner Loop)

From the get go I knew there would be a lot of work to do if I wanted any chance of acheiving a good result. The new Tokyo Expressway layout suited me particularly well, and the McLaren F1 did a good job handling the corners. Starting in 11th, with Mikail in the Porsche 911 just infront resulted with us two rapidly progressing through the field. Staying out on the Sports Soft tyres was the name of the game so almost everyone went for the same strategy, and slowly but surely I made my way up to 4th, with a last minute move on Yoshida san (with the new Ferrari F50) in the last corner of the last lap and brought it home. A very good start to the finals.


Race 2 (Gr.3 - Autodromo de Interlagos)

Setting off in 4th in the Vantage V12 gave me a lot of motivation to keep improving, since the Aston Martin is good mid-pack car, but it isn't one of the fastest for sure. Lap 2 was one of the more interesting laps, as me and Yamanaka san both overtook Carazza entering turn 1, but with me on the inside and Yamanaka on the outside with his BMW. Really great fun pulling off moves like that, and the crowd seemed to like it too. Another nice moment is me and Yamanaka fighting for second about 4 corners later, changing places, and doing the exact same thing a lap later. Almost everyone pits in lap 4 for some new tyres and from then on things get a lot more interesting. There's quite a lot of action in the out lap, with the first 5 having to get through the other drivers who decided to stay out an extra lap on the harder compound tyres. Lopez in his very fast Porsche goes for the move on the inside at T1 for 3rd and on the final lap he even manages to pass Igor Fraga before the final corner, leaving the door also open for me to grab 3rd right at the finish line.


Race 3 (Gr.1 – Autodromo Nazionale Monza (No Chicane))

Being given the Peugeot 908, a solid car for this track, there was a chance me and Igor (in his charging Sauber C9) could've had a nice battle for 2nd, but after escaping the small pileup at the first chicane meant that it was pretty much smooth sailing for the rest of the race, just managing the gap from Mikail who did a great job coming through the pack into 3rd place. Yamanaka in the Audi R18 was very fast, and he had a faultless drive to take the win for a second time in a row.


Race 4 (Red Bull X2014 Standard – Circuit de la Sarthe)

Before the final races the Top 16 drivers did get some more practice for each respective race earlier in the day, and those extra 30 minutes at La Sarthe proved to be very helpful for me. I felt much more at home in the car with every corner I took, and I knew that this race would be a good one for me, I just needed to stay away from any mistakes and keep it as clean as possible.

I think that one of the biggest mistakes I made in that race was starting on the Racing Soft tyres, as the slipstream offered by the long straights at Le Mans meant that the difference in the corners due to the tyre advantages was minimised, and guys driving on Racing Mediums could easily keep up with drivers on Softs. Still, I enjoyed fighting with Mikail for the first couple of laps which reminded me of the battles we once had back in GT6 together. Great fun.

Another pile of mistakes was staying out for another lap in the Softs, not utilising the Medium compound for 3 laps, and keeping the Hards for last. My lead and the possibility of winning the World Final had slipped away in the last couple of laps, so I focused on doing my best to stay on the podium instead and getting past Mikail, but despite catching up to him within the 1 second barrier, I didn't have another lap to make the move. 3rd was the most I could manage, but had I not ruined my strategy I could've realistically fought for the win overall.

Congratulations to Igor for pulling off a really great drive and winning the World Final, his tyre strategy was spot on, and being able to work with his countryman Carazza shows how important it is to not hold up others, but instead, work together. Well done to Mikail on securing second place, you deserve it!

 
Some extras and summing it all up.

 
Seeing many of the drivers I had only raced against online and putting a face to a name was really a great experience. Along with Tokyo, getting to know Monaco and see the sights with my fellow competitors, as well as some of the commentators, made for some awesome moments that I will always remember. I definitely made a lot of new friends, and I think this event has brought us all together, just like one big family. Thank you for the good times!

Another very pleasant surprise was meeting 5-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton! He is one of the people I respect and look up to for motivation to keep pushing towards perfection and I'm honoured to have been in his presence. I was able to ask him a question during the Q&A session on Friday, shake his hand, and even have a small chat on the podium while taking our picture together! Really great guy.

Meeting Mr Kazunori Yamauchi and the whole team of Gran Turismo that was present at the event and responsible for making this championship a reality was amazing! Their continuous work to go above and beyond is something I'm proud to have been part of and I can't wait to see what they will do next. Thank you!

In the end, 3rd place in the World was my reward for all the effort put into those 4 final races, those several months of Test, Championship and Exhibition seasons in the game, those countless races and laps driving with the best to make me eligible for the Regional and World Final, and the 15 years of dedication and love that I have put into The Real Driving Simulator. I’m grateful that Gran Turismo has given me this opportunity and I hope that I can come back next year, to show my speed to the world once again.


“Driving with The Best!”
#GranTurismo #ThisIsSport #DrivingIsForEveryone #FIAGTC
 
I know it’s late but I found a nice gem in my phone I forgot about. Here’s a live reaction of my friends and family during the last two laps of the Vegas Final after I had to do my comeback after getting wrecked (shocker) sorry for the language of them having definitely a bit to much to drink since it was 1:30am for where I live. Enjoy!
 
I know it’s late but I found a nice gem in my phone I forgot about. Here’s a live reaction of my friends and family during the last two laps of the Vegas Final after I had to do my comeback after getting wrecked (shocker) sorry for the language of them having definitely a bit to much to drink since it was 1:30am for where I live. Enjoy!


To be honest that race was quite boring,Igor flew so much i thought he was going to lap someone the real race was for second place and it was glorious,great battle.
 
I know it’s late but I found a nice gem in my phone I forgot about. Here’s a live reaction of my friends and family during the last two laps of the Vegas Final after I had to do my comeback after getting wrecked (shocker) sorry for the language of them having definitely a bit to much to drink since it was 1:30am for where I live. Enjoy!


I like how this is one of the exceptions of the popular stereotype that Canadians are always nice. Never have I imagined it was possible for them to be so, so... passionate, or maybe hostile? XD

@LLOYDZELITE69 I take it your family wasn't too fond of Igor winning the finals either right? :lol:
 
K32
I like how this is one of the exceptions of the popular stereotype that Canadians are always nice. Never have I imagined it was possible for them to be so, so... passionate, or maybe hostile? XD

@LLOYDZELITE69 I take it your family wasn't too fond of Igor winning the finals either right? :lol:
Now i'm curious to see the reactions of Igor's family

"YAY OUR SON WON........he won again................and again....................yay he won"
 
New video up from team GT about the event in Monaco:



Very nice video, great in general, but I can't get past the fact that they didn't include anything about the Manufacturer drivers, at least something from one of the members of team Lexus, as well as the 3rd place driver in the Nation's cup.
 
Nice fact for anybody that's interested.

I just thought you would want to know a nice little touch Thrustmaster did to their thank you card for all the world finalists that were in Monaco:

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As you can see from the picture, the Thank You itself is in the mother tongue of all (go the GT website and check it yourself if you don't believe me) the competitors that were present in Monaco (how cool is that!?), but also one of them stands out. The writing on the right side just under the Japanese thank you is thank you in Macedonian.

Proof:
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There's no other language that gives the same result, so it can't be a coincidence. I wonder who's that for?

The only driver thats has any Macedonian background is Cody Nikola, so that's pretty cool!

It's a subtle touch and a nice surprised that PD have recognized the Macedonian half of him. :)

Found it out after looking at Mikail's post about the present a bit more closely.
 
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