I walked R246!

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Speedy Samurai

Speedy Samurai

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So, I moved to Japan several months ago. I needed to go to the Canadian Embassy to take care of some immigration issues. I find the embassy at Aoyama Iccome. After completing my business I exit the embassy and look around. 'Hey, this place looks familiar', I think to myself. I start to walk down the street and can't shake the feeling that I know this place. So I turn around and look, and lo and behold, there is the SCEA building. Now I know where I am! I am on the straightaway on Tokyo R246! With nothing better to do I decide to walk the entire route. I start heading east. (what would be reverse) I walked the entire route, taking pictures with my cellphone. I walked by the Stadium and there was a huge lineup of people waiting to get in to see the Fifa World Cup qualifier game between Japan and Bahrain. Eventually,I got back on the main straightaway and found the other SCEA building. This building has a lobby where you can come in and sit and play Sony games. I take a seat at the GT4 station, in front of a 42 inch plasma tv, and race away. Next to SCEA is a Maserati/bentley/ferrari dealership. Some nice rides in there! A couple of doors further down is a Honda dealership. You can see it in the game if you go slow enough you will see some hondas parked on the other side of the fence. I come to what would be the Start/Finish line and then hop back onto the subway. I thought I would share this with you all. I will try to add the pictures I took on my phone when I get a chance.
 
Must've been quite a strange and awesome feeling..
Very cool - so there is room for pedestrians all the way around the 'circuit', unlike in GT hey?
 
I live in Japan and stayed in Tokyo for periods as long as a month but the idea of walking along the R246 track never striked me! 💡 I know what to do next time I go to the metropolis, well, usually for recreational purposes! :dunce:

However I have lived in Japan long enough, so when I got a chance I did a half-way cross-country road trip from Fukuoka to my current location - Chiba. I drove all the way and it took me almost a week, because I took no expressways whatsoever. Unbelievable sceneries by the way! :cool:

To make a long story short I was able to stop by Suzuka raceway and must I say that was certainly some of the most memorable moments on that trip. On a sidenote, I also took a detour up north of Tokyo, during the same trip, to Gunma-ken. I went to all those Initial D mountain passes and did some runs myself. God I am a happy man! 👍 👍
 
:drool: Great stuff!... (and well remembered!)... so the 'Red Road' section is for real!? I just assumed to R246 circuit was mostly imaginary... i stand well and truly corrected! :)

Look forward to seeing your pics as well speedy_samurai... 👍
 
The Canadian embassy is right on Aoyama Dori (Route 246) and about 500 meters down from Polyphony Digital if I remember correctly. It would look down right into the pit exit or thereabouts. I used to work for a company where there Tokyo office was about 500 meters behind the Canadian embassy at Akasaka subway station so I know that area quite well and get to Japan about twice a year or more.


speedy_samurai
So, I moved to Japan several months ago. I needed to go to the Canadian Embassy to take care of some immigration issues. I find the embassy at Aoyama Iccome. After completing my business I exit the embassy and look around. 'Hey, this place looks familiar', I think to myself. I start to walk down the street and can't shake the feeling that I know this place. So I turn around and look, and lo and behold, there is the SCEA building. Now I know where I am! I am on the straightaway on Tokyo R246! With nothing better to do I decide to walk the entire route. I start heading east. (what would be reverse) I walked the entire route, taking pictures with my cellphone. I walked by the Stadium and there was a huge lineup of people waiting to get in to see the Fifa World Cup qualifier game between Japan and Bahrain. Eventually,I got back on the main straightaway and found the other SCEA building. This building has a lobby where you can come in and sit and play Sony games. I take a seat at the GT4 station, in front of a 42 inch plasma tv, and race away. Next to SCEA is a Maserati/bentley/ferrari dealership. Some nice rides in there! A couple of doors further down is a Honda dealership. You can see it in the game if you go slow enough you will see some hondas parked on the other side of the fence. I come to what would be the Start/Finish line and then hop back onto the subway. I thought I would share this with you all. I will try to add the pictures I took on my phone when I get a chance.
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msako
This is my website. I've walked this course twice now and those pictures are about two years old. It's a long walk, especially if the weather is hot and humid but it really is pretty cool to be there and see all of the buildings and stadiums in person.
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That's a really cool walkthrough of Tokyo R246. I never knew the course was fully real and seeing those real life images is very interesting. 👍
 
msako
This is my website. I've walked this course twice now and those pictures are about two years old. It's a long walk, especially if the weather is hot and humid but it really is pretty cool to be there and see all of the buildings and stadiums in person.
Click to expand...


Sorry for not giving you credit on the first time
 
That photo slide show of the race was amazing. PD did a pretty good job. If your able to remove the people, cars, posts and everything else that wouldn't be there in a race, you can almost run the track in your mind as you look at them.
 
Integrafan
That's awesome, I so jeleous!!!
If I wasn't married, I'd pack my bags in a heartbeat and move there as well!
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We know your lieing :)


This is a pretty cool fact, anyone live in New York? Maybe we could find the same road and takes some photos!
 
Best Motoring did a video where they actually drove the entire track (Tokyo )in real life to compare it to GT3. I have the video somewhere, but can't really upload it.

I used to live in Japan too! Got a chance to see Motegi and Suzuka in real life which was pretty cool.
 
Thats a pretty awesome thing to have done.

I myself one day plan to visit Japan and its surrounding islands. I wanna check out the country where all my favorite films are from and one day visit the island Battle Royale was filmed on and get some merch from the 2 awesome films.

Cant wait for the piccys of the real area just to see how much of a good job PD did with R246
 
windom
Best Motoring did a video where they actually drove the entire track (Tokyo )in real life to compare it to GT3. I have the video somewhere, but can't really upload it.

I used to live in Japan too! Got a chance to see Motegi and Suzuka in real life which was pretty cool.
Click to expand...
What episode number!?
 
I think the New York course is set on Broadway and 7th, says somewhere in the game I believe.


And about travelling around R246, sounds like fun.
 
I remeber reading somewhere that the companies along r246 wanted PD to make the course slower and a little safer in GT3 than in real life, so as not to lead people to believe that R246 is dangerous, or that you can actually do those crazy things. i Think this had to do mostly with the corners and certain parts of the straights....
is Asimo in gt4 (he was in front of the honda bldg in gt3, along with some cars)? i haven't looked....i also haven't walked the 246 yet, as right now i'm in aoyama gakuin about to take a class......i wonder if i'm in the right room....
but still, i'ma check out the route in real llife too, and then sit and play games at SCEJ for a few years
 
Thats crazy!, I didn't know R246 was real. I live 40 miles from Seattle, I haven't walked the track but those streets are real, I have gone over the rail road tracks that are between Safeco and the kingdome (which doesn't exist anymore, they blew it up, now its the Seahawks Stadium) So I thought that was pretty cool.
 
New York course map:



NYC streets are just way too crappy to race, though I would like to see PD expand the course down to Park Ave, through the Met Life building then back up to Time Square.... :dopey:
 
I love Tokyo. I love Tokyo R246. Say all you want about street courses, but the feel of this course is just right. It actually has a healthy blend of high-speed sections and semi-technical corners. Although I'd personally want to see Tokyo come up with a street race in real life featuring the JGTC/Autobacs Super GT machines racing around the course. Maybe for a little more yen (Japan's currency, of course), they can call it the "Gran Turismo 4 GP of Tokyo." Street course racing requires a degree of concentration and car control. One mistake and you can pay for it, sometimes you pay a BIG price. But Tokyo R246 balances the lovely nature of Tokyo's Aoyama District, with the National Stadium where you can see some baseball action, and who can forget that nice drive down the backstretch? Not to put anyone down, but I'd rather drive around it than walk around it. I'm sure it's still pretty fun whether you drive around it or walk around it. Great track. Might last a few more Gran Turismo games. I'd still want to see the track around the same time of day as the Motegi tracks, the Seattle course, Special Stage Route 5, or GT1 and GT3's Special Stage Route 11. Want to do some night racing with R246 in a future GT game.
 

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