Sphinx
I'm sure I've said this elsewhere, but I think it's worth pointing out again;
All the fast drivers you see online from GTRP, GTNDC, GTIRN, GTWeb etc; are all hotlappers. There are those who can consistently hotlap within one second of their Personal best without error, and then there those who can't. There are those who hit their hotlap limit within 30 minutes, and then there those who need to do "100-200" laps to reach their limit and not even come close to top guys.
The Dutch LAN has just finished, with Hugo Boss winning every race he took part in. Yet another hotlapper.
My beef isn't really with hotlappers, it's with the emphasis PD seems to put on time trials in GT5P online but they totally ignore everything else about online.
Heck, even the offline mode's events are nothing but a large time trial in disguise.
I've raced in a couple of hot lap "races" with GTRP drivers and even they admitted that they, like me, tried for hours on end to improve their time. That's the problem, time trial/hot laps usually get to a point where it is just rediculous.
For example the Rotary Wankel Midfield Fun Day lap time comparison that was very popular in GT3. Everyone was spending 2 hours a night running hundreds of lap around Midfield in the 787b trying to improve their time. Anyone who claimed to have gotten a top 10 time there in just 30 minutes is lying. I ended up with a 56.350 or something, which was at the time .4 off the fastest time at that date, but a few weeks later someone ran a 55.450 or something.
It just got out of control. To go that fast I was driving a car that was scraping the ground everywhere and handled awkwardly but was very fast but inconsistant due to the poor handling. I ended up spinning and crashing or restarting lap after lap because I hit the final exit wrong which hurt my speed for the next lap.
Another thing I don't like about time trials is the 'Restart' button. Now if GT5P had qualifying online and some guys ran some fast laps over 1-2 lap period with no restart I would be impressed. Now I'm not saying hot lappers aren't fast under pressure or in a race etc etc. It's just that when I download the ghost replay of top time to see him getting pushing the car to it's absolute limit where anymore would result in a crash or spin it is impressive, but for someone like me now who prides himself in not spinning or crashing I can't see myself ever pushing a car that hard anymore. I'd rather drive it like I bought it, not like it's just a plastic toy to throw around and maybe ram a barrier once or twice.
In NASCAR 2003 I was always 1-1.5 seconds off the pole in qualifying on road courses and .5 on ovals (due to shorter distance), but I almost always caught the leaders in the race. I'm a better racer then hot lapper, and I think alot of that has to do with the idea I try and drive the car at 95% to avoid damage or mistakes, and the pole sitters etc also drive at 95% for the race to avoid damage and mistakes so we become more equal. That's why I'd prefer GT5P to focus on racing and not hot lapping.
Sphinx
There's hol101 who took part in the ESWC (Electronic Sports World Cup). Before entering all he did was hotlapping, never even raced in a LAN before. I believe he came 4th.
Haha what's the point in trying to beat someone like this in time trial or on the track. You practice long enough and have some sort of ability you will be fast
But that brings me to another point
REAL (well only partly real due to rubber band physics) racing has finally come to Gran Turismo.
I've started to grow more and more upset with the Long Race Series over the past year, to me the "racing" wasn't real or fair. Why? Because just like hot laps everyone including myself would just push the restart button if they made a mistake that cost them time. Then we would just run the race over and over until we made no mistakes and had the perfect pit strategy then we would submit our time. Lately I would only run the race once and it would show in my time as I would be beat quite soundly.
I've been tempted to start a GT5P long race series here in the forums but I have stopped myself knowing it wouldn't be real racing until we have private rooms and can actually race eachother "live"
In the GT5P Subform "Race Events" there is a hot lap time trial there disguised as a "Spot Race". I don't see how "Race" should be associated with this. It should just be called "Time Trial" and thats it. As we speak drivers are piling up the laps and crashed cars trying to improve their time there. I'll pass.
I've recently became a huge fan of endurance racing because I figured out I could outsmart/outlast the hot lappers.
In qualifying for an online Le Mans 24 hour race the pole sitter ran a 3'28.xxx and I ran a 3'32.xxx. 4 secons slower. But when you watch their replays what do you see? Erratic racing line due to over driving the car, locking up the brakes consistantly, and other mistakes. In due time most of the 'hot lappers' who could run fast laps broke gears in their transmissions and damaged their cars by pushing them too hard and crashing into a wall or a backmarker. Alot of the incidents they were in would have finished the car if the damage was as realistic as real life. As for me I hit no cars/barriers/guardrails etc and spun just once in the ford chicane for an unknown reason in my 4 hours of driving in that race.
That resulted in our 'slow' team moving up to as high as 5th place in the 33 car event at the 17th hour before a bug in the track wrecked the car.
If I want to improve my driving I'll use "free run"
Mabe I'm just upset that it's impossible to have a half decent "real" race in GT5P online or offline because of the lack of damage, tire wear, fuel usage, and qualifying.
So here's my final message
Hotlappers your time has almost come to an end, the days of GT4 hotlapping are almost over, and soon, once GT5P has private lobbies the "Hotlapper" will become extinct! or most likely put into his rightful place behind races
You go on as if all 'hotlappers' know nothing about racing against your perfect style of driving ... you don't know many 'hotlappers' who can race also I take it? ... maybe the evidence you need is to set up a race where a few select 'hotlappers' are going to be at an arranged meeting and i'm sure you will be put right in your place which will not be at the front of the track 
If you wait a few more days I should have my NTSC version through the post as it was sent over a week ago! and I will create an account and take up the challenge also, I consider myself a seasoned hotlapper and feel I can race pretty well also 
