GT Academy July 2013!!

Wow, what a race!

Myself and some others watched the race from a stand that allowed us to see all the action down Wellington straight to the entry of copse corner, so we saw a lot. Adam qualified toward the back but if you have ever raced him you know that it means nothing when the lights go out.

He took 2nd in the first race with a beast of a move. Going into the final race, we knew it would be tough for Adam starting at the back, but he showed us why he was the UK champion with a great launch and killer instinct to take 2nd. After fighting to secure the position, the chase was on, and Adam began to catch. We timed the gap and it got lower and lower until the laps ran out. Miguel held onto first though and he showed great nerve to secure the win in tricky conditions.

No doubt, Team GB go away knowing our team was strong and the best of us gave it everything. I've enjoyed my time here greatly and despite going out first, I walk away with confidence and the knowledge that I'm a good driver who was too cautious when it mattered. I wish all members of Team GB the best for the future, there is talent here and in every team at the EU final, thank you Nissan and PlayStation for everything, I hope team GB will produce a winner next year!
 
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It'll be on TV, though I don't know when.

Keep your eye on the Nismo.tv Youtube channel.

Great article on the front page Famine. Look forward to seeing season 5 episodes on TV or online 👍

I'm not sure if it's been asked but what did the guys who were at race camp this week think of the GT Academy demo's realism compared to the actual cars and the Silverstone Circuit?
 
One of the challenges was a "benchmark" test, where they drove the Nismo 370Z around GT6's Silverstone National circuit and then went out to the real thing in the real thing and drove it without tuition...

Should be fun to have them answer that question :D


Oh, incidentally when we went to Rockingham on Tuesday morning and they were doing timed laps behind the GT-R pace cars... I was allowed to sit in the pace car during the timed runs (thanks to GTHQ_Stef actually, who suggested it to me)... So this is a photo out of the back window of a GT-R doing 110mph being chased by Neil Williams:

gta2013racecamp_rockingham.jpg
 
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Ok I don't want to be an 'ass ' or something but about the italian finalist i saw he has got a youtube page where he is posting videos of himself driving race-cars or partecipating into some real races.... my guess is: wasn't GT ACADEMY supposed to be an event where people with no experience ( except the 'virtual one' ) were racing and fighting for having the opportunity of becoming a real racer ?

I guess they should have some more restrictive rules about people being able to be involved in it, cause that is not a guy that came from driving a NISSAN on a PS3 to driving the real one... as for example Jann Mardenborough did.

Btw i'm really happy for the winner, i envy him so much : )
 
No.

The rules have, for a number of years, been that entrants may not have more than 2 seasons' experience in national level four-wheeled motorsports events (including karting) or any higher FIA-recognised licence than national B:
1.2.To enter this Competition, each Entrants must:

(a)have qualified from the Territory Final Competitions and accepted their place in the Competition pursuant to Section 4 below;
(b)be aged 18 years or over;
(c)hold a valid passport and be capable of obtaining the appropriate visa to enter the country hosting the relevant Territory Final Competition, the Competition and each aspect of the Prize;
(d)have a Sony Entertainment Network account (a “SEN Account”) (previously known as PlayStation®Network (“PSN”) account) registered in the same country as the Entrant’s current country of permanent residency, and that country must be listed as part of the Territory;
(e)hold a fully unrestricted (not provisional) and valid driving licence, with the appropriate category of vehicle (car) clearly indicated, issued by the relevant national driving licensing authority in the Entrant’s current country of permanent residency (e.g. the DVLA in the UK), and that country must be listed as part of the Territory;
(f)have not been convicted of any criminal offences;
(g)be in good general health in accordance with Motor Sports Association (“MSA”) medical requirements (details can be found at http://www.msauk.org/uploadedfiles/msa_forms/Comp_Licence_Notes.pdf);
(h)not have an existing competition driving contract with any motor sports team, body, agent or management company that conflicts with his/her ability to accept the Prize;
(i)not previously held a National A or superior MSA license or equivalent in another Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) recognised National Sporting Authority (ASN) or Recognised Motorsport Body;
(j)not have competed in any form of 4 wheeled motorsport at a national championship level for more than two full seasons (the Promoter reserves the right to judge what classes as national level motorsport);
and
(k)not have competed at the GT Academy Race Camp stage (or equivalent or similar stages) in any previous GT Academy competition.
We actually had a similar conversation about the European winner last year, Wolfgang Reip. He posted video of himself driving a car not too far removed from an LMP2 prior to GT Academy - but it turned out to be an arrive-and-drive trackday and he put himself through a National C licence to be eligible to drive it.

And that's exactly the intent of the rules. You might get a guy who did two seasons of karting as a kid but then had to give it up, finding his way back through GT Academy. He might have some racecraft, but he still has to beat the other guys first at gaming, then fitness, proper cars, proper race cars and a whole suite of mental challenges which include reading his mind now... I say good luck to the chap.


This year there was a finalist who has a contract with a management company to race... in games! He's a Red Bull athlete in gaming, but not in motorsports so he didn't fall foul of 1.2h.
 
Ok the rules for GT academy are fine. I think its normal for a potential race driver to spend his money on driving at low level motorsports, race schools ,track days or karts.

Personally I think any Uk contestant has the ability to get hold of say £5-10k to practice before attending race camp even in a low paid job it just takes 110%

I ve been told about previous GT Academy finalists who have tested real cars but are not know to have had experience before attending race camp. Its an impossible thing to police and its not just the guys with a you tube channel :sly:
 
One of the challenges was a "benchmark" test, where they drove the Nismo 370Z around GT6's Silverstone National circuit and then went out to the real thing in the real thing and drove it without tuition...

Should be fun to have them answer that question :D

Did you mean the Tuned GT Academy 370Z? I figured that virtual car was used as inspiration for the Nismo 370Z...unless of course they've got the Nismo 370Z in GT6!

But yeah hopefully some of the race camp finalists can shed some light on what they thought of the game's realism relative to the real thing. I always felt that Gran Turismo teaches people basic theory but not too much beyond that.
 
Yeah man, definitely keep your head up Adam! You came so far and pushed so well for your country, time to use your contacts to get started!

Just look at what guys like Hugo from last year are doing, all you have to do is stay hungry, you're too young to bow out!

I'm sure all the instructors, your mentors, and especially Rob Barff, will tell you the same thing + a lot more. Job well done!

Mr Barff wasn't at Silverstone this GT Academy, I spoke to him this weekend at Zandvoort for the BritishGT Championship. Very nice to speak to him one year after our GT Academy experience :) He will be around for the upcoming GT Academy weeks!
 
Oh cool, good to know!

Kinda weird he wasn't there for the big Euro Racecamp. Funny guy, that Barff :D
 
Thank you to everyone who supported me here throughout the week and especially on race day. :cheers:

I was so happy and proud to be picked to represent team GB on the final day. First we went out on the national circuit (all the racing took place here) in the Nismo 370z. 1 out lap, 1 flyer - I think was just to get us warmed up for using the race prep'ed 370z's. We'd done this combo earlier on in Race Camp in the benchmark test. However this time, the traction control was turned off.

The track looks and feels identical to the GT6 version. The braking points are also nearly identical, which helps the transition that much easier. With the TC turned on in the 370z Nismo for the benchmark test, and it being really restrictive, the car itself felt nothing like the 370z tuned on GT6. We had more weight and really grippy, wide (275s I think) tyres. And even on the final day with the same combo with the 370z Nismo with the TC off, you couldn't really get the car sideways. At least I couldn't, because I felt it was faster to leave it in 3rd for Becketts and Luffield. But GT6 does teach alot of the theory required to be able to go fast in real life.

So after the initial practice in the Nismo, we switched to the 370z race car. We had 4 runs of 1 outlap, 3 flyers and 1 inlap, each with a different instructor. I spun on the exit of Brooklands pushing a bit too hard on my first practice run, but better to do it in practice than in the race! Each instructor suggested different things to me, which I took on board which helped me go faster, and I could see this as each practice run went on. The last 2 instructors said I had the best lines out of any of the contestants.

I was feeling confident going into quali. But after lunch and race briefing by the race director, it started to rain, as forecasted. I heard from someone (or Romain himself) that he has had wet racing experience around Spa. And Miguel could heel-toe. Whereas myself, with zero racing experience and only just having cured my downshifting problems from the previous day's practice around the Stowe Circuit, was about to go out on a wet, greasy track. I think 4 guys went out for quali first, when the track wasn't as wet. By the time the other 3 guys, including myself, went out for quali, the rain continued to fall. My 4th to 3rd gear changes were horrendous and no matter what I did, either by braking earlier, bringing the clutch up slower, my rears would look and I would spend 2-3 seconds gathering the car up before even focusing on the exit of the corner. My windscreen was also fogging up badly throughout this session and it nearly got so bad I came in, but the quali session was only 10 mins. (Filip later had this problem, but in the race, even though I had warned the instructors of this beforehand, they must have forgot to turn his blowers on).

So I think I qualified last, but 3rd in the second heat race. Then again, I was only a car length behind the car in front, who was parallel with the 2nd place car on his left. In the race briefing room, they said that the 5 second board would be shown, and at the end of that 5 seconds, the red lights would come on for between 7 and 10 seconds, until turning off signaling the start of the race. The board was shown, I made sure I was in 1st, got my revs up and the lights had already turned off! (One of the instructors later pointed out that it was between 2 and 7 seconds for the lights, even though I wasn't the only contestant who heard 7-10 in the briefing). So I got a bad start, but got on the back of the guy in front pretty quick. On the 3rd or 4th lap, I got a slight run coming onto the Wellington straight. I nailed the 3rd-4th gear change, and he changed up to 5th which gave me an even better run. I went round the outside of Brooklands (Baz, one of the instructors told me there was loads of grip round the outside there in the wet, cheers dude!) and finished the move by holding the inside for Luffield. It was only 6 laps, but was starting to catch Romain by the end, as well as setting fastest lap (on the lap I did the overtake :lol:). It felt good to get my first overtake in a proper race under my belt!

Onto the final race I got the best start, and moved up to 3rd immediately. I actually missed 2nd gear (still getting used to left hand drive, though I only made 2 mistakes with regards to gears in the final race, was getting more used to it). I could have got a little higher up i.e. along side the 2nd place guy, but I would have been on the outside to copse so I think it would have led to the same outcome. I was close to the guy in front going into Becketts, and ducked out from behind him to pressure him, but outbraked myself instead - car wasn't up to temperature etc. So Filip went by me, and I knew I had to get by him early. Got him on the inside of the next corner, Brooklands, I think, and finished the move on the exit.

By the time the 2nd lap came round, Romain made a mistake, and the gap between me (2nd) and Miguel (1st) was about 5-6 seconds. Having to defend slightly from Filip for a lap or 2 by having to take a slightly tighter line at a few of the corners, rather than the wider, ideal wet line, I matched Miguel for a few laps. Then I took 3-5 tenths out of him each lap, up to the point where at the end of the race it was 2-3 seconds. He was making way more mistakes than me, his car was making all sorts of shapes. If he hadn't have quickly recollected each mistake, I would have been on his backside pronto. Miguel even said to me he saw me getting bigger in his mirror which made him make mistakes. But the fact is, he won both of his races (Edit: he won just the final race), and you'd feel hard done by if you did that and didn't get the overall win (as WRP rightfully pointed out). Maybe if I had qualified a bit better, I could have done it. I qualified in tough conditions, tougher conditions than 3-4 of the other competitors, but as Wolfgang Reip said to me, "winning GT Academy is 70% skill, 30% luck".

But waiting around for 2 hours, and then stepping up on the podium knowing I had a real good chance at winning GT Academy was surreal, and an amazing experience. The whole week was an amazing experience. I got to drive Nissan Micras around an oval, do 145-150 mph in the new GT-R in the wet and fire paintballs from my 370z race car from the inside of the car, amongst other great experiences.

I would like to thank Playstation, Nissan and GT Academy and staff for putting on such a great competition. It really is one of a kind. I would also like to thank Paul O'Neill, Tiff Chittenden, Jann Mardenborough and Simon Fitchett and all of the racing instructors for the support and advice they gave me throughout the competition, and also after the race.

All the competitors were very friendly and respectful. It was great to meet everyone, especially some of the GTP members here. Team GB was the most competitive group to be in, so it was an honour to represent them and the UK (and GTPlanet :D) on the final day.



Congratulations to Miguel for winning. He's a great guy with a lot of skill. I wish him the best of luck for the future. :)👍

 
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I think I'll also tell a little about race camp, focusing on the last day :)

I was also very happy to be announced as the region winner, I knew it was a tough decision for ours judges, they could choose me (with steep learning curve with no experience) or the other finnish guy (with more experience from real cars, raced in formula ford).

On the final day we began driving the 370 nismo, the car used in the benchmark test on the first day. On my timed lap I was exacly 4 seconds faster than on my first day (1:13.1 to 1:09.1), I think I set the fastest lap time of all of us.

Going into the 370 race cars, we first did practise runs with many intructors, they all said I was fast but that I was always on the limit and when downshifting I locked up the rear many times (because I coudn't do heal and toe). In the qualifying I managed to set the fastest lap time and started in pole position in the first semifinal race, miguel overtook me on the inside through luffield, it had rained a little just before the race so I braked too early. I stayed behind miguel the rest of the race.

In the final race I got a bad start and was down from third to fourth position immediately, I managed to overtake adam but the he went on the inside through luffield (very tight). I had some huge problems with the fogg on my windscreen, it was very hard to see and I missed braking points many times and I began to slide more and more for example through copse was a long one, I think Adam saw it in his mirror. I could also feel that driving on the racing line in the wet was not good because, as my judge said afterwards, the racing line is like flat and water will remain on the tarmac. Outside the racing line water can sink through and you get better grip.

I finished third in the last race, I think I could have done better but miguel was a fast guy indeed, congrats to him 👍

Also, I had some problem with shifting down from 5th to 4th gear through copse. One time with an instructor I shifted to 6th and realized that so I tried to quickly change to 4th but put in 2nd by mistake! The engine revved up quite alot and I got a slide immediately but as I have some sort of reflex when getting a slide I pushed down the clutch directely so no damage to engine I hope. I also did similar mistake in qualifying, but I shifted to 2nd directely and got a VERY big slide (I hope they have it on camera), had to do a lot of work to correct it! This time I also pressed down the clutch. I'm glad I live in Sweden and we have a lot of snow :)

In the end I have learned so much, I came here knew nothing how I was going to perform as I never have had the oppurtunity to do all thing we have done, I want to thank Polyhony and Nissan for letting me drive these awesome cars and I hope more racing games will do something similar in the future :)
 
Thank you to everyone who supported me here throughout the week and especially on race day. :cheers:

Great write up and congratulations on an amazing showing Adam!

Wow, just wow, you have an amazing attitude and level of maturity that matches your skill level. That's pretty rare. I'm sure all the contacts you made will have noticed and I hope you have many opportunities in racing that will spring from this.
 
Thanks Tim. I told my mentors I wouldn't disappoint on race day and don't think I did. It's a shame the races weren't broadcasted live.

Being respectful is the least I can do when competing in such an amazing, well organised competition against great guys with just as much respect, on and off track. I hope something comes up, too. :)

And Filip, I haven't forgotten about your huge oversteering moment on the exit kerbing of Copse in my rear view mirror aha!!
 
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Yeah congrats to Adam on great performance and bad luck on not winning,
Really did step up a gear towards the end of the competition, day 5 was in a dog fight with myself, and in all honesty I fancied my chances I had been upping my game as the competition went on and Adam had a couple of bad events.
I had previously been I believe 4th fastest at Stowe overall out of the final 35, however being wet I always seem to struggle more, I drove fairly well but was fairly well beaten in all honesty and he managed to go from strength to strength after that it seemed.

I let myself down in previous events being too cautious and that but me bottom two, that's the annoying part on my behalf, but Adam defiantly deserved the gb win best overall driver, and probably deserved overall win but Miguel won the race so there's no way they could not give him the win,

I had a amazing time thanks to Nissan and Sony and had a great time with the gb team it was very tough competition, best of luck to Miguel , good future ahead, also think filip, Adam and couple of others have great prospects for the future.
 
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GT Academy boot camp really was an amazing experience, and I echo what has been said already!!

Personally I won 1 event, and made mistakes on others, but mistakes will happen in that environment, even if you chucked some of the biggest talent in the world into that environment (And with our experience) they would have mistakes, some people have good days, some have bad, and in the end it's like wolfie said, 70% skill 30% luck.

For me the first day of racing, I had a mistake on the benchmark. I came out of luffield and went from second to third but the gear just slipped out, so definitely cost me a fair amount of time, especially as it was 1 timed run! This instantly put pressure on me for the Micra racing, which I won. A bit due to the car as I had one of, if not the best car in the field but also did have to still come through the field, pick of moves and also dominated the second race! The race director even made a comment about that when I pulled up, which was nice as I think that was one of the biggest wins :)! My line and aggression in that race was really good apparently, so I was very pleased!

Day 2 stuff, saw me make a mistake in the gymkhana, just came into the doughnuts to aggressively and forced myself to reverse! Unfortunately I couldn't get it into reverse for a good chunk of time, so cost me 15/20 seconds for sure! Which also led to a few other minor ones while trying to get the time back, not to much with the minor as I was being very aggressive!

Knowing I made that mistake, the 370zs round stowe led me to be over aggressive in the middle section (I also found this out when I was eliminated as I backed it off a little and spoke to the instructors and I suddenly was fastest on track with the other eliminated guys!). But that's racing, mistakes happen, over aggression happens but it was still an enjoyable experience!

42 into 1 doesn't go, but we still had an amazing experience! I was cheering for Adam or Filip for the final race, but what I saw adam do in that race was nuts! I was going nuts in the room and race control, cheering on, was awesome to see :D!

Team GB was awesome, the judges were awesome, in fact all 42 guys were awesome :)! Was great meeting everyone and good luck to miguel!

O and I think Me Marky and Shane have probably one of the most popular stories going round Race camp this year, but we will leave that one to see if it makes the TV edit! Not the wisest choice at the time, but can see the comedy/drama that it could bring now!
 
Great write ups guys! I'm really looking forward to our camp next week 👍

Congrats Adam, sounds like you put up a hell of a fight.
 
Ok I don't want to be an 'ass ' or something but about the italian finalist i saw he has got a youtube page where he is posting videos of himself driving race-cars or partecipating into some real races.... my guess is: wasn't GT ACADEMY supposed to be an event where people with no experience ( except the 'virtual one' ) were racing and fighting for having the opportunity of becoming a real racer ?

I guess they should have some more restrictive rules about people being able to be involved in it, cause that is not a guy that came from driving a NISSAN on a PS3 to driving the real one... as for example Jann Mardenborough did.

Btw i'm really happy for the winner, i envy him so much : )

I think the rule is perfect as it is, no need to fix it. It doesn't really matter who have race real car or not as long as they are not Fernando Alonso. Anyone can win.
 
I should just point out that we now have a Russian champion - Stanislav Aksenov - but with no background on the finals themselves, it's going to have to be a standalone bit of information :lol:

As with last year, we now know the European and Russian champions, while the German and USian ones are under cover still...
 

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