How realistic are the lap times in GT5?

Sandy106

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Sorry if this has been posted, tried searching for it.

I was wondering how realistic the lap times are on GT5, I saw this horrible lap on youtube get a 1:21, which is about the same as what the Stig did when they tested the car.

Can't wait to pick up the game, was going to get it Wednesday but got distracted, closed Thanksgiving, today is Black Friday, probably wont get it until Monday :/
 
Part of it is the rolling start, part of it is help from the invisible barrier.... we don't know what tires he's running either.
 
i was able to take the Gallardo LP540 around the track 1-2 seconds faster than the Stig's lap in real life. Cant remember what the weather was like in real life though, think it was dry.
 
its called the "digital effect". things are different when you actually sitting in a MP-460 going through the follow through or diving into the second to last turn. i dont care who you are, you will be slower. have you guys tried a lap from the cockpit view?
 
Theres the GTR Trophy, where you have to beat the official time set around the ring.
 
I did 7:30ish in a modified SLS AMG (not sure how much it was modified, but it had a rear spoiler) Mostly clean, solid lap.

This was in the AMG driving academy.
 
I did 7:30ish in a modified SLS AMG (not sure how much it was modified, but it had a rear spoiler) Mostly clean, solid lap.

This was in the AMG driving academy.

I did a 7:30 flat in that car and I completely overshot the karussell almost hitting the outside wall haha
 
Well in the digital world it's always faster because, first, you have no worry at all about wrecking the car so you can take whichever more aggressive line you wish, and if it sticks, that's 0.1 seconds right there, if it doesn't, press pause-> restart, no harm done to yourself or the several hundred thousand dollar car.
And then there's no effects from the G-forces, the heat inside the cockpit, the vibration... you get access to more unobstructed views such as the bonnet view...
 
Well in the digital world it's always faster because, first, you have no worry at all about wrecking the car so you can take whichever more aggressive line you wish, and if it sticks, that's 0.1 seconds right there, if it doesn't, press pause-> restart, no harm done to yourself or the several hundred thousand dollar car.
And then there's no effects from the G-forces, the heat inside the cockpit, the vibration... you get access to more unobstructed views such as the bonnet view...

thank you, please see my above post.
 
I think what you are calling the "digital effect" is more an element of risk compensation, because you have no or little amounts of feel for the speed and feel safe because it's a video game with a reset button so any action you make in it has no real consequence on you. That's why you attempt to take the follow through flat out in the game but if take that scenario and transplant it to the actual follow through you would most likely lift as you see the tire wall getting closer and closer and feel your speed increasing through the seat.
 
I think what you are calling the "digital effect" is more an element of risk compensation, because you have no or little amounts of feel for the speed and feel safe because it's a video game with a reset button so any action you make in it has no real consequence on you. That's why you attempt to take the follow through flat out in the game but if take that scenario and transplant it to the actual follow through you would most likely lift as you see the tire wall getting closer and closer and feel your speed increasing through the seat.
Clarkson had a nice segment on this in Top Gear. He drove an NSX in GT4 on Laguna Seca, then attempted to match his time in the real thing. Didn't happen. His explanation was that although he technically had the skill to achieve that time, he couldn't make himself brake as late in real life due to the fear and consequences.
 
Real drivers don't have that problem. You really think we're scared to brake that little bit later, or carry 1 more MPH into that 90 MPH corner? The bravery factor is tiny for anyone with racing experience. At most it's worth a half second.

The time discrepancies are mostly due to geometry of the track (which has an amazingly profound effect on lap time - racing drivers already have vastly different lap times simply based on the small line adjustments we make in the existing real world geometry), weather (a 10 degree difference in weather from game to real can easily be a second - a good wind might add another second depending on where it's blowing from), dynamics (differences in tires being the biggest hit to the dynamic accuracy of a virtual car), and lack of feel.

I don't feel that Clarkson's piece was honest. He allegedly did a 1:57, in the dry, during the spring in the middle of racing season. Laguna was as prime as it's gonna get, and yet he still set a time that a track day virgin could have set in a stock Miata in the wet, and he had a much faster car AND a Skip Barber driving coach right there in pit lane. Hell, I did a faster lap in 60 degree weather in a bog standard Mazda 3, and I wasn't even trying. I know for a fact that a stock first-gen NSX can do a 1:42 around Laguna - I've seen the timing sheet. Granted, it had Nitto NT01 sports tires on it, but even if it had slicks that wouldn't be worth 15 seconds. Sport tires over the stocks are probably worth 1, maybe 2 seconds if the pressures are shitty on the stock ones.
 
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Clarkson isn't a great driver.
 
I still think you push harder in a game than in real life. The danger of wrecking a car that's not yours, getting yourself injured etc... Plus not being bouncing around your eyesight shaking having other cameras available like the over the bonnet cam which is much easier than being inside the car with all that obstruction to your view...
 
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