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Gran Turismo Gamer Becomes Pro Race Driver

Posted by samzenpus on from the practice-makes-profession dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Back in 2008, Lucas Ordonez lived what seemed like an ordinary existence. The 22-year-old Spanish student was an avid motorsports fan, but he lacked the suitable investment necessary to become a professional race driver and had virtually given up on racing. Besides, he was already knee-deep in trying to complete a Master of Business Administration (MBA). But it was Ordonez' passion for virtual racing, particularly his love of Gran Turismo, that made him stand out from his peers — both off the track and eventually on it. In just a few months, Ordonez' life was transformed from console dreamer to racing the real thing at a real race track in Europe. And Ordonez managed to do the unthinkable: go from the couch car to the race car, and win."

7 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. The otherway is true too by Drethon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like you hear sometimes from NASCAR, I worked on the race car of a guy who uses Papyrus Nascar Racing 2003 to practice running at Berlin Raceway. He says the ARCA (or was it ASA?) mod cars have a very similar feel to driving a Sportsman at the track.

    Wouldn't want to jump straigt into a racecar after driving games in arcade mode though...

  2. It's different by realmolo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Driving a car in a videogame and driving a car in real life are very different, but the actual *racing* part is pretty similar. Controlling the car is important, but it's not what wins races. Racing is all about knowing the lines and racing techniques, and a video game can definitely teach you that.

    1. Re:It's different by Thelasko · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Racing is all about knowing the lines and racing techniques, and a video game can definitely teach you that.

      Actual F1 teams train their drivers using simulators. Basically a very expensive version of Gran Turismo.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    2. Re:It's different by frosty_tsm · · Score: 4, Insightful

      More importantly, racing is about car control. A mass-marketed sim like Grand Turismo does not approach the levels of realism required to be an adequate sim for learning this.

      I think you underestimate the realism of the GT series. While the abstract some of the car characteristics, they do depict the handling of the cars pretty well.

      While not a proof, one of the parts shops hosted a GT tournament for the local autox people. The racers were able to apply what they learned while pushing their cars to the limit back to the video game. I had thought I was good, and then I saw what the others could do.

    3. Re:It's different by hardburn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In many ways, the parts lacking in realism make the game harder then real life. Standard gamepad controllers don't have nearly the range of motion of an actual wheel, and smoothly applying acceleration through a corner is almost impossible. While that much can be fixed by buying a good racing wheel and pedal setup, there are more fundamental limitations, too. It important to be able to feel how the car responds via g-forces, and until somebody invents artificial gravity, it's simply impossible to simulate this except through very crude methods. The effect becomes more dramatic as the car's performance goes up. Shutting off one of your senses is bound to have an affect.

      On the plus side for games (that is, things that increase your times over the real world), the simulation will remove any fear you might have from smashing into a wall. This is probably the main reason why game times tend to be higher than real world times around the same track.

      The best way to think about Gran Turismo compared to real racing is to consider a similar but different type of racing, much like difference between a track day car and a go kart. Go karts need many of the same skills, but they're not exactly alike. That hasn't stopped F1 teams from recruiting promising young go kart drivers before they're even old enough to have a license. The differences can be smoothed out later with training.

      --
      Not a typewriter
  3. Error in the summary! by dzfoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    >> but he lacked the suitable investment necessary to become a professional race driver and had virtually given up on racing

    Actually, it seems that he had physically given up, and virtually taken up racing.

            -dZ.

    --
    Carol vs. Ghost
    ...Can you save Christmas?
  4. Re:Oh God by stewbacca · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No they don't. I develop Army training, and most of the stories you hear about soldiers playing video games for training are exactly that...stories.