I've seen a few top pad players turn to using wheels but from time to time use the pad to set really fast times with them. You say yourself most fast times are set with wheels and can also see really fast times can be set with pad that can win TTs in GT or come really close even on stock setup against probably the best GT wheel players in the world.
First, the point of the discussion is to establish why wheels dominate the top of the leaderboards, so of course it's relevant, not sure I get the question.
Well, I am sure that cars are meant to be controlled by a wheel. Kaz wants to make the game as realistic as possible so. As far as controllers go the PS controller is lacking quite a lot IMO. I used the controller on Forza up through Forza 3 and was faster with the controller than with the wheel everywhere except ovals where the more precise steering input of the wheel made me a tiny bit faster though I could still win using the controller there as well. The PS controller design is harder to get smooth inputs on than say the Xbox 360 controller so the gap is bigger on the PS but still some people are very fast using the pad.
That depends on the car and what you consider tuning. If like many here you consider tuning as throwing parts on the car then obviously even a poor driver with 900hp is likely to beat a good driver with only 400hp on a track such as Lemans. If on the other hand the cars are built the same way and the gearing is at least close to where it should be then the best tuner is not going to beat the best driver on any track that has any complexity to it unless the one with the good tune is also a really good driver and the bad tune is causing the great driver a problem.
The difference between an ok tune and a great tune (for you) might be a half to a full second on most tracks, not including the full Nurb and LeMans of course. The difference in driving skill between an average GT driver and a really good GT driver is several seconds a lap on most tracks. Looking back at GT5 TT's it's not unusual to have a 2 second or 3 second or 4 spread just in the top 200, forget about the next 50,000. There isn't a tune in the world that is going to gain you that kind of time on your average length tracks, assuming you at least know the fundamentals of tuning.
I think both of you misunderstood. No matter how skilled you are, you can only push a car so far. If you then make a setup that suits you, you will be faster.
BTW, Ayrton Senna didn't know how to tune or test to tune his race-cars. Prost did the testing and Senna went with whatever it was. And Prost "should" know the car better since he drove it a lot for tuning. But Ayrton would win anyways.
No I did not. Since skill and tuning are not mutually exclusive, the thread is actually kinda pointless. Like screwing something together that requires nuts and bolts, but you can only choose nuts or bolts. Makes no sense.
that's my point. Driving skills plus tuning is the fastest way to go. You don't have to be a driver to tune either.
Most highly skilled players are also good tuners because they are into driving fast and they either learn how to tune out of necessity or because they love it. The basics of tuning in GT are pretty simple and well known, and haven't changed much in 4 years so I doubt there are many really good drivers out there who don't at least know how to tune a transmission and LSD and add the right parts to maximize power for given PP. That's the majority of gains from tuning right there, most of the rest is just fine tuning for your own individual style.
Ask an f1 engineer.
can you tune the car for B-spec driver? Someone should device a test to figure how slow you can make B-spec driver go hampering hes driving by giving him crooked suspension and LSD that would be brilliant way to tell how much the tune matters, what you guys think 
