A whopping 830,000+ people downloaded and played the online qualifying demo for the Nissan PlayStation GT Academy 2012 by the time entries closed last week. The UK headed the nations entering, with over 161,000 hopefuls taking part followed by France and Spain as drivers attempted to record the fastest one lap time trail in a Nissan 370Z around the new version of the Twin Ring … [Read more...]
Gran Turismo 5’s Nurburgring Nissan goes up for sale
You could own the Shulze Motorsport Nissan GT-R N24 #71 which was co-driven by Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi at the 2011 Nurburgring 24 hour race, and was then added to GT5 in the Spec 2.0 release back in October 2011. That's assuming you have 120,000 Euros or $155,000 to spend, plus sales tax. The car recorded a class victory at the 2011 event, driven by the team … [Read more...]
MotoGP stars Rossi and Lorenzo take battle to Gran Turismo 5
The 2011 MotoGP season may have ended, but two top motorcycle racers are continuing their racing rivalry via Gran Turismo 5 during the break. Valentino Rossi endured a tough first season riding for Ducati, failing to record a single victory for the first time in his 15-year career, so was possibly trying to boost his morale when he issued a Gran Turismo 5 challenge via … [Read more...]
ORD hits the Wales Rally GB
Despite playing almost every rally game ever released over the years, I have to confess that I've never actually been to watch rallying live - my experience of rally cars was the circuit-based Rallycross alternative when the legendary Group B cars needed an outlet after being banned from the world stage. However, that changed last weekend, thanks to Black Bean and Milestone, … [Read more...]
GT5 creator finishes first-in-class at Nurburgring 24 Hours
Gran Turismo 5 creator Kazunori Yamauchi raced at the real 2011 Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend, and after a dramatic series of events, finished first-in-class with team-mates Tobias and Michael Schulze, and Yasuyoshi Yamamoto. Despite mechanical problems which cost them some time, the team were able to put in consistent lap times to bring themselves back to 36th place … [Read more...]
GT Academy wins big award
The GT Academy competition has not only led to Lucas Ordonez finishing in second place at the LMP2 class at the 2011 Le Mans 24 hours with Signatech Nissan - now it's gone and won a prestigious award in marketing and advertising. It picked up a Cannes Golden Lion at the equivalent of the Oscars for ad types, for 'Best Use of Branded Content'. The reasons included being … [Read more...]
The importance of simulators in Formula 1
In case you wondered whether simulators really benefit Formula 1 drivers, then take note of new Scottish driver Paul Di Resta, who started driving for Force India this season, and in his first three races, finished in the points twice. For the past few seasons he's competed in the DTM championship in a works Mercedes saloon, and yet has produced three great performances in … [Read more...]
GT5 Nurburgring: Gameplay vs Reality
ORD: F1 at Spa and F1 2010 comparison
Last week I went to the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. And you can see the pictures I took to provie it in the gallery below. I came back from one of the world’s best circuits after three days’ camping very happy (go Lewis!), very tired and very wet, but with my appetite even more whet (yes you do spell whet like that, even if it does look like a silly word when it’s … [Read more...]
RIP Shoya Tomizawa
Japanese Moto2 star Shoya Tomizawa sadly died today following a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix, and we'd like to pay our respects to the talented 20-year-old who had made history by winning the first ever Moto2 race at the start of the season. Tragically this follows the death of 13-year-old rising 125cc star Peter Lenz, who died after an accident in the support race for … [Read more...]
ORD at the NHRA Nationals
Greetings ORD fans around the world! Time for a little show and tell at this years BIR Lucas Oil Full Throttle NHRA Nationals in Brainerd Minnesota two weeks ago! This is the motorsports event of the year in the great north woods, and one I always attend with my trusty and knowledgeable sidekick "Cuda500" (a.k.a. Warren). Rather than give you a boring list of names of … [Read more...]
Looking forward to the best F1 game ever made
September 24th 2010. Get that date in your diaries – for it’s the release date of what looks set to be the greatest Formula One game of all time. Five developer videos have been released to whet our appetites, and after watching them I’m bloody hungry. Each will wet your pants for different reasons: the first is a general introduction, the second explains the handling physics, … [Read more...]
From virtual racing to the Spa 24 hours
The GT Academy competition was created by Nissan and Playstation to find new GT racing drivers from virtual racers on Gran Turismo. Lucas Ordonez was the first winner in 2008, and now he'll be part of a four man team for the Spa 24 Hours. He'll drive a GT4-spec Nissan 370Z prepped by RJN Motorsport and sponsored by Polyphony Digital and Playstation. Pic of the RJN Motorsport … [Read more...]
MotoGP at Laguna Seca this weekend
The MotoGP championship hits America this weeked with the race at Laguna Seca in California. Sadly the American round will miss the 125cc and Moto2 classes, as they never make the Atlantic trip, which is a real shame with the current level of excitement and drama in Moto2. Then again,the prospect of 40 completely unpredictable lunatics from Moto2 all arriving at the … [Read more...]
Real World Racing Round-Up: F1,BSB,WRC,etc
It's been a big holiday weekend of racing, hence why this round-up is coming on a Monday, following the first British Superbikes meeting of 2010 on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. Tommy Hill took the first race win at the Kent circuit after following Japanese rider Ryuichi Kiyonari clear of the field and pouncing when Kyonari made a minor mistake after 22 laps. Several riders … [Read more...]