Does it mean anything that half of these are on my PSN friends list? lol. I know all of these are fast, clean racers but I didnt realise that some of them were so well regarded. Makes me feel honoured that they added me, lol.
I think it means that the best rise to the top. As has been mentioned previously in this thread...all of those guys are "fast" but that doesn't mean the same thing it did back in the day when OLR was only hotlapping (generally). All of those guys, in my book, have amazing "race craft" as much as we can discuss it in GT5p.
There are racers I have met that I had known or known of in OLR since GT3. They were always at the top of the leaderboards...but when I met them on the track, in a actual race, they might of had the speed but little more than that. As I said...being "fast" doesn't mean what it once did on OLR. There are also some racers you see ontop of many of the online leader boards in GT5p posting amazing time that are clean (there are many dirty hotlappers on the boards too) but when you race them they don't seem as deadly. I've noticed this with alot of the Japanese drivers that are on the top of the leaderboards.
For example;
-Truth123 is fast, we all know that and have read that here...but the thing that makes him so deadly as a racer is his consistency. Even if he is behind you he knows how to cleanly and fairly pressure you to the point where you make a mistake to open the door which he will always come in and take.
-kain90 is also fast but more on the aggressive side. He will force his way around time to time and by doing that creates opening for himself but it's not driving I'd consider dirty by any means, jsut aggressive. You need to be on your toes around him.
-Rudi, is fast and is well known from OLR...but he always seems to be on the fast line on the track and no matter where he starts he will be on your rear bumper quickly, especially in that Evo X of his.
-Mr.geez, is just solid and consistent..always there and never count him out...he'll sit behind you an entire race and when you think you've got it won he'll pass you on the line. Really some great racing.
-GTRP_Hugo, I've never seen someone who can pass like he can. it amazes me sometimes. Even when you protect your line he can find a new one and be past you quickly.
I could go on and on...but every driver is different and they all prefer different cars, and driving styles. Some will pressure you into a mistake, some will bait you into one, some will simply pass you without you even knowing how they can go so fast.
the 3 lap races we have had online are sprint races. Race craft plays a slight role but outright speed plays a bigger one. When we get longer races, with tire wear, damage, pit stops, etc etc...then we will see true race craft and how good drivers manage all those variables. I have no doubt alot of the names that will pop up in this thread will still be the top guys out there, but what we have seen thus far is but a fraction of what we eventually will
he has a unique ability to keep his head in the first few moments of the race while everyone else including myself is flailing wildly and this lets him pull out impressive leads even in cars you wouldn't normally think capable of such a feat, the guy is supremely clean and has A-Class track awareness and if you don't have his slipstream by the time you get to denger... well, he'll be long gone. Every race with Pru is an absolute joy make no mistake about it.👍
....I've raced approximately thousands of races @ Suzuka, and it takes something to make me remember the first encounter (I have really bad memory). Maybe it was because you were ahead of me that you don't recall it 
