Located between Great Britain and Ireland, the small Isle of Man annually hosts one of the most dangerous and thrilling motorcycle events in the world: The International Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Race. Although the race is entirely devoted to motorcycles, for the last several years Subaru has been coming to the course in order to challenge the four-wheel lap record. Their latest entry saw a significant improvement, beating the 2014 record by more than 100 seconds!
Taking full advantage of Prodrive’s 600BHP Subaru WRX STI, British rally driver Mark Higgins conquered the 37.73 miles long course by setting a rapid lap of 17:35.139 with an average speed of 128.730 mph on Monday. This broadly outclassed his previous record – set two days prior – of 17:49.75 with an average speed of 126.971 mph. This brings him closer to Michael Dunlop’s new motorcycle record of 16:58.254, the first Isle of Man TT course record set below 17 minutes. You can catch the action in the video above.
In addition, it seems that this year’s run was partially sponsored by the Gran Turismo series. As spotted by GTPlanet member Dionisy, the new Impreza arrived on the stage with small GT logos on both left and right side of the front bumper. Although we heard nothing of any possible Polyphony Digital involvement with Subaru’s annual tradition, we now have more reasons to believe the presence of SCEE programmers on the island two years ago wasn’t for nothing. After all, with the 20th anniversary of the GT series around the corner, what would make a better celebratory gift?
If the inclusion of the circuit receives a green light, it would be by far the largest course ever made by Polyphony Digital, surpassing both the Nürburgring 24H (15.5 miles) and Circuit de La Sierra (16.78 miles) tracks by over double the length. With or without motorcycles, the Isle of Man TT circuit would undoubtedly become a hit for Gran Turismo gamers.
See more articles on Isle of Man TT, Polyphony Digital, and Subaru.
At the begenning Subaru shield and then GT?
that’s what I noticed too. Must be two cars.
No. Not at all a sign of things to come. Gran Turismo probably hundreds of cars in many different series.
17 minutes lap?! This is going to be a pain in the a**! Picture yourself in a boat on a…, no, yourself in time trial with a N group car going offtrack on the last corner!
Looks to be two runs in one video. In one you can see the Subaru banner in the windshield @0:25, in the other the GT one @1:19
He had two runs within a couple of days. They must have split the video between both runs.
Am I the only one that noticed/believes that @2:27 – 2:57 is actually Gran Turismo footage???
Probably.
Time to get new specs.
Well at 2:41 there is a man standing in the right top corner and he doesn’t show any movement at all whatsoever. A bit curious.
That’s just super-slow mo for ya!
Fantastic sound
Can anyone even imagine a Tomahawk X or a Red Bull on this track?
Nice catch, thanks for sharing
If i reckon, the subaru levorg at the btcc also had a gran turismo banner on the front window
Unfortunately no GT logos on the Levorg. Only Silverline is displayed on the window banner. Would be great to see BTCC cars past and present in GT again.
It always makes me smile when I see a professional race driver using paddle shifters like I do in sim racing.
Any time I’ve seen this car I think it’s in a game, just the colours, lighting, and the way the picture is taken ot just doesn’t look real in pictures.
It’s actually because the simulators had reached to the point in graphics that it has the chance to trick someone thinking that it’s real X)
So when we look at the real pictures with cars in it – sometimes it makes you think it’s from a game because the simulators graphics still has it’s touch in our minds XD
It will never be too late for Tourist Trophy 2. I’d rather have it in five or ten years than never. Hopefully after GT7 :) And if there is a even a single bike in GT7…
17 minute laps when driven by a pro? Casuals will lap the track around the 20 minute mark then if it does come to GT. It will be good for bragging rights but I’m sure it will be run once and forgotten by the majority of players.
Right. But I guess they could just divide the track by a couple of sections. Maybe even in-game.
Like they do with the Nordschleife and the Zahara track? Oh wait…
Zahara has sectors you can drive independently in offline.
GT4 had sections of Nordschleife, later games didn’t. While the longer tracks would be better with such functionality, it’s unclear whether they carry over.