Why is the rest of the world faster than the USA?

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I think the truth is that we just care more about other sports. top 3 sports here are football, basketball, and baseball. not racing.. and nascar?? Not racing if u ask me. But the rest of the world has soccer, and.... more soccer (worlds most popular sport) once its over all u guys got left is racing!! I own a G35 hate suvs, and only like about 5 american cars. But for everyone that posted "its because Americans are fat" well u must have little brains cus were are all playing on a playstation behind a logitech (or remote) wtf does that have anything to do with is?? Lol, the rest of the world is faster tho..
 
otago
Light, nimble? Name one modern japanese car under 1400 kg with 2+ liters engine (except MX 5)

Seriously, except Mazda all other japanese carmakers now produce some family crap with a very little concern about how it drives.
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Mazda RX-8 for a car currently in production and the 350Z weighed 1446kg

and there are slightly older cars if you consider 2002 "modern"

The Supra was made until 2002 and it weighed 1500kg and the Mazda RX-7 was made until 2002 as well and it weighed under 1300

O also S2000, MR2 there are plenty.
 
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Earth
In addition, there is a common phrase in America "Only rednecks and Europeans care about racing". Very stereotypical but true in some ways.

Racing is generally looked down upon by sports media in the United States. "If I want to see fast cars I'll look at the highway" is what you get alot from sports fans and sports media here.

I highly doubt that is the attitude held by European sports media and sports fans.

The Indyracing league, American LeMans, even NASCAR gets little media attention and are generally shunned. Formula 1 appears to be huge in Europe and across the world by not just fans but media too but not in the United States

Europeans and the rest of the world seem to respect and care more about racing from what I've seen therefore there's more of them that try to be better at Gran Turismo so they dominate it. Not to mention THE WORLD outnumbers the United States 25:1 ?
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Anyone who says this deserves a splash of hard liquor in their eye.
 
American cars wet themselves when they see a corner, while EU and Japanese cars squeal with glee. In a straight line we dominate the racing circuit.
 
I noticed the Japanese players are ruling the roost when it comes to the drifting. They like drifting do the Japanese
 
You guys still have GTP_timeattack...big racing talent.
Still you should have about 100 drivers like him wich is strange that you dont.
 
Earth
What type of lower level racing does the US have? Around here it's quarter mile ovals or a drag strip.

A talent is nothing if it is not tuned to something particular from an early age. For example Lewis Hamilton was groomed to be a F1 driver since he was 12 or something?

How many US kids get an opportunity to be groomed to be a F1 driver? Scott Speed, an average at best American talent, when groomed to race in F1 did so and did OK. The path to being a top international driver in the US is very tough compared to some areas mainly because the feeder systems over here aren't that great or are broken. Europe has how many Formula ???? openwheel series again to groom openwheel drivers?

Also racing tradition is deep in places like Brazil or Germany where all the young kids want to be the next Senna or Schumacher. There is no international racing history for American kids to want to follow. It's NASCAR or nothing basically. Young openwheel aces like A.J. ALlmendinger are giving up opnewheel careers to race NASCAR because how bad the feeder sereies are in the US. If he was in europe he would be working his way up the many openwheel divisions enroute to F1

Top NASCAR talents like Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon could have gone the openwheel route and perhaps made it to F1. But because the IRL is not a great training ground for F1 nothing ever happens. Not to mention once racing in F1 you have to embrace the European lifestyle, something Michael Andretti refused to do which eventually doomed him. Can you imagine a F1 driver moving to NASCAR country and trying to embrace the NASCAR lifestyle? Theres more to it then simply how heavy your right foot is. Juan Montoya is barely surviving in NASCAR because he's use to, a nd more importantly likes the American lifestyle.
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This is perfect.
 
Jake_The_Snake
This.
But when the Ford F-150 is the best selling car WORLDWIDE...you can't say that the yanks that love the sporty European style get a fair shake at it.
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Once again americans thinking they ARE the world. Ford F-Series is the best selling in AMERICA with around 450,000 last year. Best selling in the world is the Toyota Corolla (0.9 million) followed by the Ford Focus (0.78 million) and Ford Fiesta (0.72 million). The F-Series isn't even in the top 10
 
wordhomiegdog
I will apologize ahead of time for not reading the rest of the posts before commenting, but the video I am quoting is probably the best driving I have ever seen.
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Welcome to Europe ;)

Why are so much Skandinavians World Rally Championchip-winners? Because most of the roads are on gravel and they can train to handle their cars on it very often.
 
scott-speed.jpg
 
I don't know what USA might be lacking or not compared to the rest of the world when it comes to producing racing drivers but i can try to give some insight what we have here in Finland that propably does contribute to the fact that we have most rally world champions than any other country and more F1 champions relative to the population of a country.

It is a combination of conditions (road quality and seasonal changes) and culture that propably contribute the most. As conditions can be quite bad the basic car control is considered important. Combine this to the young male (usually) bravado it becomes a matter of braggin rights what guys can do on dirt or snow in their usually dangerous FR machines. This mainly shows in rised road fatality numbers more than in quality of drivers though. :p

However there will be day when those young blokes with race driver dreams grow up and have families. And when their children grow up enough to be able to hold a steering wheel and their feet can reach the pedals these parents will try to give their children every possibility to get behind the wheel, be it karting or everyman rallycross. And time behind the wheel is the most important thing that matters (i do not believe in talent). Trying to become a pro race driver after the age one gets his licence is too late. One has to start young.
 
CSLACR
Hogwash.
You're comparing all of two continents to one underpopulated mass.
There's more people in germany, uk, france, and Italy alone than the US.
Add to that the lack of interest of the general American public in Motorsport, the comparable lack of raceways per mile in the US, and we're looking at 1 US driver for every 30 EU drivers.

Logical study concluded.
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Germany, UK, Italy and France add up to around 250 million people....USA has around 310 million. Thats more drivers to start with. Also America has ALOT of good race tracks not just NASCAR tracks. I think people on here need to stop with all the "facts" without the research. Thee are many good drivers from the USA as well, especially rising drivers (Ken Block is one of the most famous drivers in YouTube world at the moment and rising through the ranks of the WRC at a steady pace as well)
 
I like how someone referenced the GT40 as an American car winning Le Mans. It was designed and built in the UK by Lola.
 
marshy10156
Ken Block is one of the most famous drivers in YouTube world at the moment and rising through the ranks of the WRC at a steady pace as well
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first year in WRC:

Kimi Raikkonnen: 25 Points (10th)
Ken Block: 2 Points (23rd)

Best he sticks to Youtube to be honest
 
Eksle
I like how someone referenced the GT40 as an American car winning Le Mans. It was designed and built in the UK by Lola.
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Only the one that won.... err. lol
Im guessing he was thinking of the Mk IV.
 
MadduckUK
first year in WRC:

Kimi Raikkonnen: 25 Points (10th)
Ken Block: 2 Points (23rd)

Best he sticks to Youtube to be honest
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My exact though when I saw him stuffing his WRC Focus every event.


humpo
I noticed the Japanese players are ruling the roost when it comes to the drifting. They like drifting do the Japanese
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I think this is the crux of it. It's a cultural thing. From what I've seen, motorsport is quite marginalised in the US - it's really not a mainstream sport at all and gets very little converage in the media. Whereas, you only need to look at a decent weekend's TV and you will be able to find (on major channels): F1, WRC, BTCC (normally with some one-make race coverage chucked in), Superbikes etc. For the F1 alone, BBC1 (which is the most watched TV channel in the UK) will show practice, all qualifying then the live trace, with a fair bit of opinion and analysis either side of it.

So, what I'm getting at here is that we seem to be more into our motorsport than the US, it's a bit more ingrained into our culture and a bit more "socially acceptable". Even my missus keeps up wth the F1, and she hates sport (though this may or may not have something to do with the fact she fancies on of the presenters on the BBC).
 
MadduckUK
first year in WRC:

Kimi Raikkonnen: 25 Points (10th)
Ken Block: 2 Points (23rd)

Best he sticks to Youtube to be honest
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Lol very true but you can't deny he has unbelieveable car control. Not much of a racer but driving still comes as second nature to him and you can tell if he had stepped up to WRC earlier rather than sticking to a lower league (the American Rally) for so long he could at least be challenging for a top 10 spot
 
Rocket Punch
:dunce:

Ben Spies
Nicky Hayden
Kevin Schwantz
Wayne Rainey
Freddie Spencer

US kids suck at racing cause they spend too much time playing video games like GT5 or complaining in video game forums about why they can't put wheels on standard cars than actually venture outside to do racing stuff....... LOLOLOLOLOL
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All motorcycle racers, none are car racers
 
marshy10156
Lol very true but you can't deny he has unbelieveable car control. Not much of a racer but driving still comes as second nature to him and you can tell if he had stepped up to WRC earlier rather than sticking to a lower league (the American Rally) for so long he could at least be challenging for a top 10 spot
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The fact is there is people far more talented than him in many motorsports, the fact that he drives around an airport sideways is moot as the majority of them don't have the sponsorship to do so, I bet you anything that they could do it just as good if not better as WRC is all about car control.
 
Eksle
I like how someone referenced the GT40 as an American car winning Le Mans. It was designed and built in the UK by Lola.
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Yes and no.

The GT40 was based on a Lola chassis and ran a Ford engine (as did most Lola's at that time), and while the early models were competitive at Le Mans they were also un-reliable.

It wasn't until Carol Shelby got involved and the modification work carried out by his team that the GT40 was both competitive and reliable.

The GT40 is not a British car, its not an American car, its arguably a product of the work of both sides of the Atlantic. Without the chassis developed first by Lola and then further by ex-Aston Martin staff and the engine (a pure Ford product) and the work carried out by Carol Shelby's team it would not have won.

So how about we leave the rather inaccurate nationalism out of this one (and I'm as English as they come).

In regard to a US racer who was capable in almost every discipline he entered, I have of course just been talking about one.

Carol Shelby certainly meets that criteria.


Scaff
 
Earth
Also racing tradition is deep in places like Brazil or Germany where all the young kids want to be the next Senna or Schumacher. There is no international racing history for American kids to want to follow. It's NASCAR or nothing basically. Young openwheel aces like A.J. ALlmendinger are giving up opnewheel careers to race NASCAR because how bad the feeder sereies are in the US. If he was in europe he would be working his way up the many openwheel divisions enroute to F1
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Like you said, there are much more feeder series for young openwheel drivers in Europe then in US.

But I can`t aggree with your statement, that someone like Allmendinger would make it into F1, if he were born in europe.
The level of openwheel racing in US is very low compared to europe because you guys have no real feeder series. Just look at the CV of drivers like Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Kubica and Hülkenberg. Those guys have won almost everything they could until they reached F1. Those guys were destined to become F1 drivers. They beat hundreds of other drivers in karts, formula bmw/ford, formula 3 euroseries, world series by renault or GP2. So its alot of speculation to say "Allmendinger would be working his way up the many openwheel divisions enroute to F1"

Just look at Bourdais. He was great in champcars, but in F1 he was trashed by two rookies (Ok, Vettel is a great talent, but Sebastian Buemi certainly not). For example, oval racing is pretty small in europe, there aren`t many european NASCAR drivers right?
Also, I doubt that F1 drivers would dominate NASCAR (and vice versa of course).
 
wordhomiegdog
I will apologize ahead of time for not reading the rest of the posts before commenting, but the video I am quoting is probably the best driving I have ever seen.
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You might enjoy these too :)









I do think that the different kinds of roads have an impact on the form of racing. The US doesn't have roads like these so naturally you won't see this kind of racing in America.
It's also very easy to recognize the skill level of the drivers in the videos I posted. It's not so obvious with things like Nascar or drag racing because there are no big slides, narrow roads and things like that.
 
Guys, racing has nothing to do with straight or curvy roads.

Races are held on race tracks. Lewis Hamilton didn`t trained his skills on public roads. Without competetive feeder formula racing series, the level of race driving will fall.

America has no equivalent to WSbR, GP3, GP2, F3, FBMW, etc. Also, karting is much bigger in europe. That`s the reason why almost no american open wheel racer managed to prove himself in europe. It has nothing to do with the lack of talent.
I repeat myself, oval racing is pretty small in germany. I haven`t checked stats and datas yet, but Im sure that there weren`t many german NASCAR drivers in the past, right?
 
Comparing real life driving to a video game and saying it makes a difference = priceless.
 
Having lived in Florida and now living in Amsterdam I can say that the difference in Drivers Education is HUGE. Getting your license in Holland is like trying to get a college degree and it costs a fortune as well... They only give lessons in a manual and the theory tests are HARD. I think its like this in most Euro countries. When I was growing up in FL, Driver's Ed. in 1st period during High School is a JOKE compared to what you have to do here... I even remember the practical test to be so easy I couldve done it with one hand behind my back and a blindfold. Only learning automatic doesnt help also I believe.... Just my 2 cents and the way I look at it.... Getting your drivers license in Europe is a much more serious thing than in the USA imo...

Disclaimer: In no way am I saying that American drivers suck... These are just my impressions and I believe the schooling of young drivers has a lot to with it. :)
 
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Jake_The_Snake
This.
I live in the southeastern US...many, many fatties(not me fortunately). The US, especially rural US, is full of big, slow trucks/SUVs that many people favor mostly due to the safety factor of traveling at 70+ mph. Most of the people who favor said cars are indeed large hairy beasts that use their vehicles for outdoor work/play or to pickup their chubby offspring from soccer practice. When ANY automaker views demographics of top selling vehicles here in the states...an easy conclusion is reached. Most Americans like big, nasty rides. Nothing was wrong with that in the 60's and 70's when a big, nasty muscle car from the US was on almost every driver's wishlist. But now the Chevelles, GTO Judges, and Dodge Chargers have gone the way of the dodo in exchange for gas efficiency and safety. I myself don't subscribe to the Made in America thing because frankly we make cars I don't like to drive...certain exceptions apply. I own an Infiniti and a BMW and love both dearly. But when the Ford F-150 is the best selling car WORLDWIDE...you can't say that the yanks that love the sporty European style get a fair shake at it.
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I like the some of the old cars even though the handle like crap. I myself wouldn't buy a new American car of today though. I just got a Evo 9 for Christmas and i still have my civic.
 
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