GT4 vs. Real Life - Edmunds.com and Ford/SVT Sponsored Test
How realistic is GT4? We head to Laguna Seca to find out.
by Justin Kaehler
cars.ign.com
http://cars.ign.com
Everyone and their mom likes to talk about how "realistic" Gran Turismo is. Every time we hear the words Gran Turismo mentioned in any conversation, the words "realistic handling" and "photorealistic graphics" usually follow. We'll admit that we're guilty of hyping up the realism of the game, too. After all, Gran Turismo sure as hell seems a lot more realistic than any other racing game, so it really is the ultimate driving simulator, right?
We wanted to find out just how realistic Gran Turismo really is. We thought it would be a cool idea to take some cars, abuse them in the game, abuse the car in real life and then write about it. However, we weren't sure if we could pull such a feat off, as well... all we're really good at is watching JDM Option DVDs and ogling race queens. Luckily, our friends at Edmunds.com and Ford/SVT had similar thoughts of doing a GT4 vs. real-world comparison. And much to our surprise, both companies thought it would be cool to get IGN in on the action. Yeah, we couldn't believe it, either.
To ensure a fair comparison between the game and real-life, a track that exists both in GT and in the real world had to be used. As we all live in California, it was decided that this little shindig should be held Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Laguna Seca is a real track, and it's in GT -- it's perfect. Besides, no one wanted to pony up the cash to fly everyone to Germany to do this test on the Nurburgring. Dammit. Oh well, hopefully we can do a follow up test in Deutschland when GT5 hits. At any rate, Laguna Seca is one of our favorite tracks in Gran Turismo, so we were looking forward to racing it in real life.
In addition to holding this event at a world-class race track, we were going to get to drive some of our all-time favorite cars. Some of the cars we'd be driving include the Dodge Neon SRT-4, Mazda RX-8 and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 RS. If you read our reviews on those rides, you'd remember that we loved driving these cars on the street, and now we get to run them at full-throttle -- and not get in trouble with the law! It's times like these when we really realize how much we love our jobs.
Of course, with SVT and Ford on hand to help organize things, the Blue Oval brought out some of its finest machinery, too. Naturally Ford brought out its Mustang GT coupe. The last time we got to drive a Mustang, the conditions were wet and slippery so we couldn't really see what the car would do. Needless to say, we were eager to unleash all 300 ponies on the track.
As if those four cars couldn't satisfy our need for speed, Ford actually brought out its GT. Yes, that GT; as in the Ford supercar based on the old GT40. More importantly, we were going to get to drive it -- as fast as we want.
Anyhow, the experiment was set up to see who the better driver is in real life, and who the better driver is in Gran Turismo. Would it be the hard-core gamer (represented by IGN)? Would it be the real Auto Journalist (represented by Edmunds head-honcho Karl Brauer)? Or would it be the actual race driver (Champ Car Series driver AJ Allmendinger)?
As this was the first time any of us had set foot at Laguna Seca, Ford had us run a hot lap on the track with Ford Racing Product Manager Andy Slankard. Andy was behind the wheel of the RX-8, and he was just casually chatting away while he proceeded to show us the track.
This run in the RX8 before the "experiment" began proved that Laguna Seca is a scary track. It is a lot more narrow/claustrophobic feeling than it is in the game. The blind crests (one on the straight and one before the Corkscrew) add a severe fear factor, too. The real track has a lot of elevation changes which can't be felt in the game (duh). It's a lot different to feel the car get light (while in the passenger seat) in a real corner. It's impossible to feel the car's weight change in the game -- for obvious reasons. We were told to keep our foot planted right after the Corkscrew, for if we let off the gas, the car would want to spin. With all of these elevation changes, we thought for sure that we would spin or crash one of these cars in one of these corners for real.
Article Source: http://cars.ign.com/articles/652/652233p1.html
Part II - Dodge SRT-4:
http://cars.ign.com/articles/652/652257p1.html
RX-8 Teaser:
http://cars.ign.com/teasers/652/652458.html
