GT Academy National Finals - Venues, Dates, Drivers & Discussion Thread

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I attended the Australian final as the guest of GTP_Devie. Thanks for the invite Steve, it was a great day, though I must admit it was exhausting... and I was just watching.

I do need to comment on the presentation and conduct of the event. For Sony this was a promotional event. It was about publicity. For the participants it was a potentially life changing sporting event. These two approaches do not fit well together.

For example I saw photographers taking pics, with flash on, while kneeling in front of & just to the left drivers. This happened to Devie during a race, a few seconds before he went off.

I saw another racing incident that put Dan's participation in the final in question happen right in front of Glen Seeton (the guest racing car driver steward), but he was on his mobile phone at the time and didn't notice.

Each driver had a steward looking over their shoulder to judge whether race behaviour was fair. None of these stewards had any real knowledge of GT. Only one had racing experience (Seeton). Towards the end of the day when people were growing tired the steward job often fell to young girls on the Sony publicity team.

This is completely unacceptable. Racing rules, stewards and scrutineers at events like this must be drawn from people experienced in Gran Turismo. Protests should be handled seriously by a panel rather than by a marketing manager who is more concerned about keeping to the event timetable.

I don't begrudge Dan's win in the Australian final in any way. He is an excellent driver, a great person and he drove with great skill and intelligence on the day to record a deserved victory. That said at least two of the other drivers in the final, either of whom were fast enough to win, suffered from incidents that in my humble opinion should have required the race to be rerun.

In my view we should insist that an agreed set of competition rules be applied to all formal competitions and that these rules and the racing itself be overseen by stewards who are experienced in GT and willing to take on this role. What do you think?
 
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@vrrm: i think you have a good point! maybe with some rules setted before the races things could work better... its a shame these accidents were not penalized :ill:
 
Hey guys, just got home from the NZ final.
It went very smoothly for me. Results in my heat were 1st, 1st, 3rd.
Moved onto the semi finals, and got given pole position for having the fastest total lap times over the heats.
The semis were a breeze, 1st and 1st with no dramas.
Then came the final 8 laps to decide the winner. I stated from pole (fastest times in the semis) and held the lead for the first two laps. Tizzla made it past me, and got out to a 2 second lead. I managed to start pulling him in, with 6/8 laps down the gap was 0.8, and he was starting to make a few mistakes. Unfortunatly I got very sideways into the last complex at indy, and ended up on the grass. I could hear the audience's reaction through my headphones, it was pretty gutting, and it was the only real mistake I had made all day.


Tizzlaa, well done. You deserve it man and good luck for the finals.
 
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Well done Tony! great meeting everyone at Hampton, thanks guys. I had to leave to catch my plane so missed his lap on the track, how did he go?
 
hurricane-nzl
Well done Tony! great meeting everyone at Hampton, thanks guys. I had to leave to catch my plane so missed his lap on the track, how did he go?
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Really really well. It was very impressive. Gave it heaps around the track, even quicker than johnny reid down the straight. Ill put a video of it up shortly
 
Well that seems like really poor guide lines for a world event, where challengers are competeing for their dream.👎

If Sony are able to organize an event that invovles a major car company and a race program, an oversite of this incompetent calibre is in a sin.

It doesn't take too much GT knowledge to see if a driver knocks another off the road. 4 in a race you say, it doesn't take an Einstein to work out if a driver is guilty of a mistake of their own or if they have been unjustly removed from the circuit, by their body language for starters.

Anyway , I can only hope there is enough voices sounding this, and eyes and ears being alerted, for some more professional action toward this obvious lack of attention.

You say P.R. girls were taking up these posititons . What the.

Thanks vrrm for the insite into the day as some of us will never see it for ourselves. 👍
 
Lots of complaints about the ONE lap of practise too. They say they are trying to replicate what a real driver experiences, but no real driver get one lap, or less (ahem) of practise.
Again, not to deny those who took their opportunities and made them stick. Under the conditions, they were the fastest on the day, they crossed the line first, and won.
For a first attempt at this in New Zealand, it was a decent effort by the promoters, but there could be a little work done to smooth out the edges.
Difficult to say anything bad, cos it was free. Everything. 👍
 
Hey guys... just got home. Had a great day, but agree wholeheartedly with vrrm's views on the day. Very amateurish in many respects, with the incident review ruling differing from race to race.

I can't beleive the NZ guys were able to run with headphones.... it was strictly offlimits to us. The shed we were in was hot as hell all day, and bugger all fans to try and cool things down (no aircon on the floor).

My day was ok. Heats was 2nd - 4th (my race at Tokyo was easily the worst i have driven in my 2yrs playing GT5:P and the Demo) - 2nd, moved to the semi's and was punted off track in Race 1 of the Semi's whilst 2nd... finishing 4th.

Race 2 was an absolute debacle, for many reasons which i will not go into for fear of all out war on here, but i drove very poorly due to tiredness and lack of enthusiasm..... finished 3rd.

Anyways, congrats to Dan, he was P1 for the TT, and managed to fight back from some adversity through the day to take the crown.

I'd also like to give a shoutout to joshmuggo...... he qualified 28th for the TT yet finished 3rd in the final, all after moving away from a pad and buying a DFGT on the 20th of January!!!!

Incredible.

Thanks to all the guys i met today in the Top 20 for making it a great event....
 
osrg
Hey guys... just got home. Had a great day, but agree wholeheartedly with vrrm's views on the day. Very amateurish in many respects, with the incident review ruling differing from race to race.

..SNIP...

Thanks to all the guys i met today in the Top 20 for making it a great event....
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This is very sad to hear, but I think also the thing we all need to live with. :( Too bad this is not about getting the fastest player, but more just a PR stunt - and in things like these it shows.

We just need to remember that cold fact. :scared:
 
Sony are trying to get their money worth.

Fair? not always.

Better than nothing? For sure!
 
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Daniel and Tizzla certainly already deserved that price, now they only have some Europeans in their way to the GT4 championship.

I noticed the bottles of champagne. :)

Congratulations to the winners.👍
 
Just had a phone call saying that due to peole who are ineligable, I am now being offered a place at the UK final.

I'm waiting for a call back now but it looks like I might not to be allowed to compete due to my previous drifting experience.

I've got my fingers crossed, but if not, oh well. I'm glad I at least got into the top 20 who were eligible in the first place.

I'll post again when I know the outcome. :)
 
Dessy182
Can someone confirm which version of the Nurburgring the final takes place on?
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There was no Nurburgring in the Finals down under. I thought it was Daytona Road, but then heard it was Indy F1. Not having actually seen the final race I can't confirm, other than to say it was not the Nurburgring.
 
1 thing i dont get... in german finals it says: Indianapolis and Road course Indy!? whats the difference? both are the same or is it Indianapolis oval... if so... with the GT slipstream thats not racing... :lol:
 
Well done to everyone who made it to their National Finals, and :cheers: to Dan and Tony for having made it through to Silverstone.
 
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Anybody who made it as far as the nationals should be congratulated, even moreso those who triumphed under such pressure and intense competition 👍

All the best
Maz
 
Timppaq
This is very sad to hear, but I think also the thing we all need to live with. :( Too bad this is not about getting the fastest player, but more just a PR stunt - and in things like these it shows.

We just need to remember that cold fact. :scared:
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It is a bit like that Timo........ The Final was filled with controversy as well. But that's a whole novel on it's own to written.

I will say though that the first 3-4 laps of that final from GTP_DHolland and GTP_Devie was some of the most impressive stuff i've seen under immense pressure.

If anything, the main thing i gained from yesterday was how bloody hard it is to focus under extreme mental pressure, and how well the top guys can. I had it in little portions yesterday, I drove probably as well as i've driven at Fuji in Race 3 of the QF rounds but by Race 2 of the SF i was mentally and physically spent.

Timppaq
Ah, the slipstream. Any comments on that?? Is it like in GT5p or is it toned down?
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It was massive. A huge, huge disadvantage to lead onto the straight with under 1.5 seconds lead, especially at Fuji.... and to an extent Indy as well.
 

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