Here's something you may have heard before, but never believed.

Real racers actually use Gran Turismo to train. In fact, Formula One drivers like Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Kazuki Nakajima (BMW) have publicly admitted to having used Gran Turismo to train and learn the track layouts, as well as where to brake. Now if THAT didn't impress you, listen to this. Kazunori Yamauchi, director of the series, has driven about two thousand or so laps around Tsukuba circuit in the Gran Turismo games. Well, after just 12 laps of driving a Mazda MX5 in real life around that very circuit, his lap times were rivaling those of professional drivers.

I don't know about you, but I really want Gran Turismo 5 now...

“Formula 1 racing drivers such as Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and BMW’s Kazuki Nakajima have been seen practicing in front of a console. Whenever a new track comes onto the racing calendar, like Fuji Speedway did last October after a 30-year absence, and drivers cannot get there to practice for real, many fire up “Gran Turismo.” They say it’s the only way to memorize the track layout and braking markers — the points where you must start killing the speed to take an upcoming corner.”

Now while that’s impressive on its own, the next bit this interview presents is even more incredible. Apparently GT creator Kazunori Yamauchi clocked over 1,000 laps on a famous German track and then had a 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 that of the pack. This test and interview definitely shows that Gran Turismo has finally come of age as more than a game and can be considered a real-life simulator.

Guticb via jgadgets.com »