Have you learned something by playing GT?

  • Thread starter tomcat66
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While you may be right, a game isn't real life but devs are pushing toward a solution to trick our mind into think it is, I don't know where you were the last few years but there's something out there called Oculus rift and it's the first step toward a deeper immersion for gamers.

And seriously, you know that GT has made some real race car drivers for a while now, right? it's called GT Academy in case you're wondering.
I've been in the same world as you. Oculus rift is nothing more than a screen "in your face".
And the GT Academy winners happen to be fast in both game and real life
 
Have you ever tried to race a super car or race car in real life in a real race track? I tell you no game will ever compare, like... never. Its a game and always will be. Even the super advanced F1 simulators that cost lots of money dont compare to the real thing.
I have, yes. I also raced karts competitively for many years. No game currently can compare to the real thing, that's why it's called "immersion" and not reality. The ability to get lost inside of a game because as many sensory inputs as possible closely represent reality. The human mind has a great capacity for imagination and suspending belief, all it needs are the tools to work with. A pessimist like you can't see this, many of us see it, believe it, and experience it regularly.
 
I've been in the same world as you. Oculus rift is nothing more than a screen "in your face".
And the GT Academy winners happen to be fast in both game and real life
No, a TV screen thrown your way and your possible inability to avoid it in time is a screen in your face.

You probably don't get it, but Oculus Rift is much more than that, Oculus Rift is progress (something you clearly reject) it makes you lose yourself in the game, you can look around the car as if you're the actual driver, it tricks your mind into believing that you're part of that 3D world surrounding you.

Oculus Rift is a device that is going to push the limits of immersion and imagination as far as possible until something greater comes along. Gamers are asking for more immersion, to be thrown into that world created by the devs, Oculus Rift is just the way to connect us to the game to a certain extend.

Do you see how close it usually is during seasonnal events? Some of the top times are so close, a simple mistake on your lap can make you miss the next part of GT Academy, only a tenth and you move up/down 100s of spots, there are a lot of quick drivers on GT6 not all of them will make it, some may even be better than the GT Academy winners. Hell, some of them will not even take part of any of those events, maybe they will not even try to be race car drivers via GT Academy or even via anything else, they're happier being racers behind they're TV.
 
Have you ever tried to race a super car or race car in real life in a real race track? I tell you no game will ever compare, like... never. Its a game and always will be. Even the super advanced F1 simulators that cost lots of money dont compare to the real thing.

For us, the sofa-drivers, the imagination is a very important thing... Already happens to me, after a hard racing, when i realized, i was in my sofa...
 
Gran Turismo isn't a game, it's journey, and in taking this journey I know more than I did at the beginning, whether it's something to do with cars, tracks, the principles of driving, or even photography. Also it's inspired me to learn about a number of other things, not directly related to the game.
Talking of journey, i became a virtual turist_on youtube, of course _of the places that we find in the game-like Lucerne (Luzern), Mürren (that small village in the valley of Eiger) or Zermatt, on the Matterhorn... and many others...
 
It was like racing school for me, before i played games like NFS, Ayrton Senna Monaco GP and Virtua racing which learned me a bit about driving a car fast, but it was GT which completely captured me to try and get to grips with racecraft in general. I was also 16 when it came out, so old enough to start using my brain playing games :)

Now elementary school is over though, GT is at a stalemate with regards to realistic racing (or dare i say got a lot worse), so i'm with the big boys now on sims like AC, R3R and the soon to be released PCARS.
 
I learned how to brake a car... as in I was 13 when I learned to play GT6, and the first thing I did was expect the Clio that was the tutorial car to brake for itself... well that was intelligent *cough* F1 2012 *cough*. I also learned quite a bit about how many different cars were in the world, when I started I had never even heard of the:
Abarth 500
Abarth Punto
Audi RS6
...
I only knew about a hundred of the cars like the M3 and 8C, the ones you see in mags and a few that are really common on the roads (March, Demio, Fit etc.)
 
It was 1 day in 1998 that started it all for me. I'd heard about this new car racing game that was claiming to be "THE REAL DRIVING SIMULATOR" I'd played Toca Touring cars, V Rally and Colin Mcrae Rally before on the PS1 among other racing games but this was different. It was something completely new that I had never seen before EVER!

I was hearing news that this game had "eleven race tracks", "11 highly detailed tracks", "In-depth simulation mode - purchase new/used vehicles, as well as vehicle parts". "Realistic Vehicle physics - All cars replicate actual performance, hanlding, drive-train and real engine sounds". "Customization - All vehicles are totally customizable". "Over 290 licenced cars from the worlds top manufacturers". "The most detailed and absorbing racing simulator ever".

I was suddenly hooked from all the news on this new game, I had to have it. This was something so radically different and fresh from ANYTHING else I'd ever seen before, I was hooked. I thought to myself "I have to buy this game!" "It's amazing!" I couldn't think of words of the venacular that could explain my feeling of want in ordinary words. So I went and bought it.

The game arrived in a small CD sized plastic jewel case, I sniffed it because I'm weird that way.. I have to sniff new gadgets and things I buy, gotta love the smell. I unwrapped my shiny new box of Gran Turismo from its plastic wrapping, in fact I tore it and couldn't tear the wrapping off it quick enough! I felt like a little kid with a new toy, I ecstatic!

Upon playing the game for the first time I was hooked for days and days. This game was the only game I was playing, everything else was gathering thick piles of dust. I couldn't wait to purchase new cars and drive them. I was exploring the game features, looking at the dealerships and was upgrading the cars to see how much BHP they would have, what else could I do with my cars such as fit all these race parts, upgrade it to a race model.

The licence tests were brilliant and so much fun I couldn't put the game down or turn it off. And there started my love and passion for this new car racing game that could do virtually anything to the car and there was so much to do that no game came close with the amount of things to do. I went on to eagerly await GT2, GT3 and so on and so forth. Yes it was Gran Turismo that brought me to a new place with racing games. I started to crave addiction and my vigour for all that was new and different. And they kept getting better and better and better.

I'm not exactly sure how many games I put down or put off buying to play GT all the time. For this I thank PD for the amazing ride they have given me on this journey upto GT5. GT5 was the best game with the FIRST EVER new online multiplayer element and then Spec II came along and I was hooked all over again. I spent lots of time tuning for top speed races and out of this world top speeds with LMP cars and normal cars. With a friend I was tuning and creating unofficial speed records with these LMP cars, Toyota GT1, Peugeot 908 HDI FAP, Bentley Speed 12. See spoiler for videos.







People started to drag race and I literally only played the game for this feature and so I then started 3K drag racing. I eventually quit 3K and was hooked with tuning for top 1/4M times for the online leaderboard. GT Planet Drag leaderboards were created and I am glad to have been a part of it. And so besides learning to track tune, I've also learned to tune pretty good with these other disciplines aswell. It's such a shame I can not do this on GT6. If only GT6 was to get a Spec II in which we get Speed Test and Course Maker, then that would bring GT6 nearly upto par with GT5.

Course creator was also really good because my Drag racing buddies and I would occasionally do random races on random generated tracks which was a lot of fun and a was a partial break-away from Drag racing.
 
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A lot! First, it got me into video gaming. Till this day it is the only game that has EVER been in my PS3. I also bought a PS2 for GT4 and only some game called "Uncharted" replaced it for a day or so (my X-Box loving kids bought it and wanted to try it out. I ended up buying them their own PS2 to end that nonsense).

Second, it entrenched my love for cars that I had formerly NEVER even considered. I am 41 and have only ever had one car at a time in real life ...and always a BMW. In the years I have played GT, I have built a collection of 4 cars (two BMWs, one 80s Alfa Romeo and a '76 Beetle). Before GT, I had no concept of a multi-car garage. I always saw it like "one-man-one-car" ...much like "one-man-one-vote" lol. But after playing GT, and building a virtual collection in GT4, I KNEW that I HAD to have a car collection in real life. It was the best decision I have ever made ...

I have tried PCars, Forza, F1 and have also recently bought Assetto Corsa. I only played them once or twice. There is nothing wrong with them but I need a car encyclopedia and not just a racing game. I need a game that can help me to visualize things that I can make happen in real life. I have VERY LITTLE interest in shoulder-to-shoulder racing. In pure racing terms, I am more of a Time Attack guy that a "rubbin is racin" kinda guy. Forza comes close to my requirements but I am not going to invest in another driving setup (wheel and seat) when the one I currently have serves my purposes just fine. The danger though is that PD is not keeping the car list up to date. If we fall behind even more in the near term, I might be forced to make the Forza investment.

I also hope PD does not completely give up on cars of the past. I recently decided to add a 2005/2006 E46 M3 to my "weekend car" line-up and to purchase it this year. It really would be helpful if it was premium in-game but oh well ....
 
Trying to be realistic I guess I would say the biggest thing is proper racing line. More recently in GT6 perhaps some aspects of weight transfer. Along with both of those things is the realization that turn-in is much sooner than you think and slow in is fast out. They're all things I knew in concept but never really got to try on a race track before.

I agree with a few here that you can learn something from the GT series as the physics are "good enough" to work on some of the basics before you go turn yourself into a greasy spot on the tarmac with a real car.
 
Actually yeah, I've learned about so many types of cars at a very young age thanks to GT2. I knew about Ruf before discovering Porsche for instance. I also did learn some basic factors about driving such as the apex, when to brake, and to not be such a led foot when getting off the line in a car.
 
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