Laguna Seca Wrap-Up
Final thoughts on a killer event. Plus, times and top speeds of the REAL cars!
Wrong.
While GT does do a good job of recreating the tracks and the behaviors of all the cars, it really doesn't capture the actual feeling of racing around in a real car. Gran Turismo, while an excellent piece of software, is just a game. One just passively sits at home, in total comfort, and watches some pretty graphics whiz around a television screen.
Racing a real car on a real track, on the other hand, is a much more involving experience. Of course, the one thing Gran Turismo will never be able to do is have the physics affect the driver/controller directly. It's one thing to race around the virtual track and accidentally spin the car into a wall. It's another matter entirely to be in the actual car hurtling towards that same wall in real life. Just feeling the inertia and the G-forces as the car hurtles around a track makes one take a different approach to driving.
In other words, as there is no penalty for mistakes while driving in Gran Turismo, one is able to drive with much more confidence and take a lot more risks while driving. So what if you brake too late heading up to the corkscrew and overshoot the thing entirely? Just pause the game and restart the lap. If one makes that same mistake in real life, cars are damaged and people get injured -- or possibly killed. Knowing that something bad can happen for real makes one a slower driver in real life.
So about those numbers... we got 'em. Let's take a look, shall we?
Go to Page 2 for the numbers!
More numbers and figures than your Math class! All for your reading pleasure.
Car: Dodge SRT-4
Driver: Karl Brauer (Edmunds.com)
Lap Time (GT4): 1.55.505
Lap Time (Real Life): 2.00.290
Top Speed (Real Life): 97.4 mph
Driver: Justin Kaehler (IGN Cars)
Lap Time (GT4): 2.05.181
Lap Time (Real Life): 2.16.080
Top Speed (Real Life): 77 mph
Driver: AJ Allmendinger (Champ Car Driver)
Lap Time (GT4): 1.46.784
Lap Time (Real Life): 1.54.630
Top Speed (Real Life): 103.7 mph
Car: Mazda RX-8
Driver: Karl
Time (GT4): 1.55.679
Time (Real Life): 2.00.850
Top Speed (Real Life): 87.7 mph
Driver: Justin
Time (GT4): 1.58.939
Time (Real Life): 2.12.750
Top Speed (Real Life): 82 mph
Driver: AJ
Time (GT4): 1.46.536
Time (Real Life): 1.55.220
Top Speed (Real Life): 99.8 mph
Car: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX RS
Driver: Karl
Time (GT4): 1.46.556
Time (Real Life): 1.54.790
Top Speed (Real Life): 103 mph
Driver: Justin
Time (GT4): 1.50.076
Time (Real Life): 2.07.660
Top Speed (Real Life): 88.6 mph
Driver: AJ
Time (GT4): 1.39.680
Time (Real Life): 1.49.580
Top Speed (Real Life): 108.8 mph
Car: Ford Mustang GT
Driver: Karl
Time (GT4): 1.50.124
Time (Real Life): 1.57.810
Top Speed (Real Life): 102.2 mph
Driver: Justin
Time (GT4): 1.51.824
Time (Real Life): 2.10.590
Top Speed (Real Life): 85.6 mph
Driver: AJ
Time (GT4): 1.40.220
Time (Real Life): 1.52.32
Top Speed (Real Life): 101.8 mph
Car: Ford GT
Driver: Karl
Time (GT4): 1.38.537
Time (Real Life): 1.52.62
Top Speed (Real Life): 105.8 mph
Driver: Justin
Time (GT4): 1.37.707
Time (Real Life): 2.11.63
Top Speed (Real Life): 97.1 mph
Driver: AJ
Time (GT4): 1.30.110
Time (Real Life): 1.45.210
Top Speed (Real Life): 115.2 mph
Go to Page 3 for our final thoughts.
Justin's final thoughts...
So what did we learn from all of this? Well, I can only tell you what I learned... and I learned that I am slow. Like embarrasingly slow. I was the only driver of the day to not break the triple digit barrier on the straight, and I am appropriately hanging my head in shame.
As mentioned earlier in the piece, it's a lot easier to drive Laguna Seca in the game. After all, there is no penalty at all for messing up -- Gran Turismo 4 is fake. Comparing the times of all the drivers, it's obvious that we all felt more "invincible" in the game, so we were "better" drivers. Hell, I was able to even beat Karl in a few cars in GT4. In real life though, actual seat time and driving skill is what reigns supreme. Both Karl and AJ have hundreds more hours of track time than I do, and thier performances reflect that.
Even though the virtual times are a lot faster, notice how everyone's real time is still somewhat consistant with their times in GT4. The time differences remain constant for each driver in each car. The driver that is faster by 5 seconds in the real game is 5 seconds faster in real life, too.
I feel that some of the cars do need to be tweaked in Gran Turismo so that they better reflect their real-life counterparts -- the Mustang being a shining example. For example, if the Mustang had less understeer in GT4, would I have pushed the real car a little more? I still wonder about that.
While not perfect, GT4 does an excellent job of providing a "virtual" racing experience. The feel and flow of Laguna Seca is recreated quite well. While some areas feel more "claustrophobic" in real life than they do in the game, all the important markers are there. I can aim for the "tree with no bark" around the corkscrew both in GT4 and in real life, I can use the markers to learn when to brake, and I had to make sure that I kept on the gas on that sweeping left after the corkscrew both in real life and in the game.
I don't feel that one can master Laguna Seca only in GT4 and then expect to kick ass on the real track. However, if one has experience on the real thing, GT4 can be used as a good training tool for the real deal.
If the PS2 version of Gran Turismo is this good, I can't wait to see what the PS3 version will be like. I'll be so bold as to say that the next Gran Turismo can be used as a training tool for future generations of racers. We'll just have to wait and see...
When it does come out, hopefully Ford will let me drive its GT again. Man, I miss that car...
Wanna know more? Check out more coverage of this event courtesy of our friends at Edmunds' Inside Line. Click here to check it out!