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I bet you’ve heard rumors before that Gran Turismo was used as anactual training tool but have you ever seen proof? Well thanks to the Japan Times we now have quotes from big time racers that actually use it to memorize the curves of tracks they haven’t been to in awhile.
Quote:
“Formula 1 racing drivers such as Toyota’s Jarno Trulli andBMW’s Kazuki Nakajima have been seen practicing in front of a console.Whenever a new track comes onto the racing calendar, like Fuji Speedwaydid last October after a 30-year absence, and drivers cannot get thereto practice for real, many fire up “Gran Turismo.” They say it’s theonly way to memorize the track layout and braking markers — the pointswhere you must start killing the speed to take an upcoming corner.”
Now while that’s impressive on its own, the next bit this interviewpresents is even more incredible. Apparently GT creator KazunoriYamauchi clocked over 1,000 laps on a famous German track and then hada go at it in real life. In his first 12 laps he was driving at 90%capacity and after a few more he was clocking times that rivaled thatof the pack. This test and interview definitely shows that Gran Turismohas finally come of age as more than a game and can be considered areal-life simulator.
Here’s one more test that will boggle the mind:
Quote:
“And how did Yamauchi do in his first race driving the MazdaMX-5? Not bad at all. Having done more than 2,000 laps of the TsukubaCircuit in his game, Yamauchi only needed a dozen laps of real-worlddriving before he was clocking the same times as the rest of the field— many of whom had been circling that track regularly for years. Butthen, as I mentioned, Yamauchi is a good driver. The same year, he wasonly 0.4 secs behind Loeb’s best Le Mans lap time when they battled itout on “Gran Turismo” at maker Polyphony Digital’s Tokyo headquarters. “
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