Game Development Giant

Kazunori Yamauchi did not speak very fast.

Moreover, he was speaking in English. Japanese people have a very strong English pronunciation, so it is not easy for European and American reporters to understand him.

“This selection will be divided into three divisions, the Asian division, the European division and the North American division, and the scope of the test will cover all aspects of a professional driver, including not only driving skills, but also psychological tests, and, The testing is very rigorous because we are selecting real racing drivers, not playing house games with you, and we are very cautious and serious about this matter.”

Hearing what Jester said, the reporters became more and more interested.

"Is the selection at a designated location?"

Immediately, someone asked a follow-up question. This question was a supplement to Yamauchi Kazunori's answer in the previous competition area.

Therefore, Kazunori Yamauchi did not hesitate, but explained directly: "Yes, the selection place for the European competition is in the United Kingdom, while the selection place for the Asian competition is in Japan, and the selection for the North American competition is in the United States."

"All players who want to become professional drivers must go to designated countries and locations to participate in your selection?" Another person asked quickly.

"It's not just that."

But Kazunori Yamauchi did not nod this time, but shook his head.

"Only those who have passed the qualifiers are eligible to go to our designated location for the final test. There are not too many places. Generally speaking, only a dozen or so players in each division can obtain this qualification. As long as they obtain For players who participate in our final division selection, all their participation expenses will be contracted by us."

"Selection?"

This left reporters a little confused.

How can I conduct the selection without being on site?

Faced with this problem, Kazunori Yamauchi smiled: "In fact, there is no need to hide this problem. When we first developed the game "GT Racing", its positioning was real. It is not so much a racing game. , it might as well be said that it is a racing simulation software, and all the data about racing in it are true and correct..."

After bragging about his story for a while, Yamauchi Kazunori finally solved the mystery.

"Moreover, our Dreambox 3 will have a feature that no other console has, and that is the online mode. In other words, players can completely connect to the Internet via network cable, and then compete with other players around the world... Exactly For this reason, we set up the "GT Academy" mode. This is not only the name of our plan in reality, but more importantly, it is also a mode in the game and a preview of our real-life professional drivers. Selection mode, that is to say, you can only get a chance for our second round of real-life selection if you get enough outstanding results in the "GT Academy" in our "GT Racing" game."

If you don't answer, you will be fine, but with Kazunori Yamauchi's answer, his answer immediately caused an uproar among the reporters.

Even better than when Jester first spoke of the GT Academy plan. It also makes people feel surprised and unbelievable. After all, it is too childish to select professional racing drivers by playing games, right?

And you said this is not playing house? This is not playing house. What is playing house?

"You're fooling everyone!"

Someone immediately questioned Kazunori Yamauchi unceremoniously. After all, what he just said was a bit too shocking. When Jester said that he would select professional racing drivers through "GT Academy", they Although it seems a bit crazy, I still think it is feasible. After all, they used to think that this was through oath selection, and the so-called GT Academy was just a gimmick for their own game.

but. Now when I heard Yamauchi Kazunori say this, I realized that what Mars Entertainment was trying to do this time was far from simple.

Facing the questions from many reporters, Kazunori Yamauchi did not show any nervousness at all. He said unceremoniously: "How do you know this is definitely a house game? Why can't we conduct preliminary auditions through our game? I've said it before. Our racing game strives to be extremely realistic in every detail. It is a genuine driving simulation software, not just a game, especially in our GT Academy mode. , and my biggest motivation for developing "GT Racing" is that I hope that one day a real driver can come out of my game. For me, this is not just playing games or joking, it is very serious. thing."

Although Kazunori Yamauchi said this, the reporters still couldn't understand that the final result could only be an unhappy breakup.

"Selecting drivers through a game? Ridiculous!"

This is the title of Kazunori Yamauchi’s answer to GT Racing by the big game media. Obviously, they all think that Mars Entertainment, Jester, and Kazunori Yamauchi’s matter is nonsense, and those car manufacturers, especially those in Japan, They are all fooling around with Mars Entertainment. They don't think that just because Jester can succeed in other aspects, he can succeed in all aspects, right?

Moreover, this matter is on the Internet, and players have different attitudes towards Mars Entertainment. Many racing game players cheered for Mars Entertainment’s decision, calling it the greatest thing in history, but there are still More players - probably the vast majority of them are not loyal fans of racing games. Like the media, they conduct auditions through games, which is simply a mess.

The two sides also quarreled fiercely on the Internet.

After all, Jester is the head of Mars Entertainment. On the day Dreambox 3 is released, he cannot be absent from his headquarters. This not only gives confidence to his employees, but also to the players.

Regarding the uproar caused by Kazunori Yamauchi just before, Jester is happy to see the result, because the heat caused this time is much greater than what he caused originally. As expected, he still wants this Only a topic full of controversy can arouse more heat.

Even Jester is confident that among the first games of Dreambox 3 this time, the sales of "GT Racing" may be soaring. His own "Heroes" may not have as good results as this game, because the current controversy of this game is really It’s too big, especially as Kazunori Yamauchi said before, what I make is not just a game, but a driving simulation software. So we can select real professional drivers through the game I developed.

This is of course a bit of a lie.

However, this is really not too much, because Jester knows. "GT Racing" is indeed a racing game with extremely high authenticity. It can even be said without hesitation that it is the most professional racing game so far.

His professionalism and authenticity were unparalleled in Jester's memory. He has read many interviews with people who have become professional drivers through the GT Academy program. They all call "GT Racing" this way. Their extreme love for this game seems to be close to crazy. They have their own little world. It has the ultimate pursuit of cars, and many times, they even seem to compare it to a racing simulation software rather than a racing game.

In Jester's memory, he remembers a "GT Racing" player named Heitkod, before he joined "GT Academy". He is just a very ordinary person, an ordinary American living in Fresno, California, but he loves racing games and dreams of becoming a professional driver. Later, Sony, Kazunori Yamauchi and some Japanese car manufacturers opened "GT Academy" plan.

He defeated more than 50,000 competitors in GT Academy, the online platform of "GT Racing", and won the opportunity to go to the British Silverstone Circuit for final training.

After that, he successfully completed the training. He became a professional racing driver, and was also the holder of numerous racing records and champions, and even... Before that, he had an unemployment crisis.

Later, when Heitkod recalled how he got in touch with car skills, he said that a year after he came into contact with "GT Racing", he decided to bring his training results in "GT Racing" to real racing, that is, participating in A cross-skills show jumping event at the local SCCA chapter. After all, only practice can produce true knowledge. This comprehensive skills competitive obstacle course is actually very different from traditional racing competitions. It is more like a warm-up exercise for people preparing to go on the field. There is no tit-for-tat confrontation or excessive speed competition. There are only relatively basic skill training and strict requirements for car control.

To his surprise, he actually achieved good results in this competition.

In the past 12 years since then, Heitkod has been honing his basic driving skills through "GT Racing" and comprehensive skills competitive obstacle courses. It can even be said that he does have a different kind of talent in this area. In addition to winning multiple In addition to winning the comprehensive skills competition obstacle course, he also won the Super-Stock title awarded by the SCCA World Championships in 2010.

The later story became even more legendary. As an ordinary racing game player, Heitkod felt that he could go a step further, for example, become a real racing driver. At this time, the selection plan of GT Academy was being held. It's going on in full swing.

In the interview, Heitkod said this.

"The problem is, you can't always go on like this. Competitive obstacle racing can indeed bring me a lot of fun, but it is also expensive and has no return. This also means that I can't make a living from it, at best. I can only treat it as a hobby." Subsequently, Heitkod resigned from his job and found a casual job specializing in delivering auto parts, but six months later, he was unemployed again.

Heitkod recalled that he could actually continue doing it, but he still wanted to pursue his dream. But life is not a drama, it is dull and cruel. When it gradually becomes unsatisfactory, people will begin to deny themselves and think about themselves whether this persistence is really worth it. Heitkod also had the same thought and had doubts, but he did not give up.

The intermediate process will not be detailed.

Eventually, he became a real racing driver.

Of course, the selection process is very arduous and rigorous. From the launch of the GT Academy program in 2008 until Jester's Crossover, many people have completed this selection event to transform from ordinary gamers into professional drivers. They have truly become professional drivers. In fact, their strength is quite good. In some events, they have even become the main force of the Nissan team.

For example, in the 2011 edition that Heitcoder participated in, 53,000 players had to first compete in the online qualifiers of "GT5", and then the top 32 players could go to Orlando. A screening showdown will be held at Walt Disney World in the city, and only the winning 16 warriors will be truly qualified to go to the British Silverstone Circuit for the final one-week selection. But for the players, the test has just begun. At Silverstone, these 16 players will be the first to learn how to face the pressure of the media, just like a real professional racing driver, facing the doubts of the media All interviews and related interviews should be conducted calmly and with ease.

After that, everyone will have to undergo a written examination, a health examination and a basic physical fitness test. It can be said that the players will not even have a chance to breathe. The ultimate purpose of all training based on this is to let the players learn to cope with the huge psychological and competitive pressure. And give full play to your personal potential and achieve the best results on the field (including lap record races and qualifying races).

"After the whole process, you won't even be able to continue walking very attentively, but this is a necessary process, because it is very valuable to be able to persist," Heitkod said, and the reality is that , he persisted until the end.

In fact, in Jester's view, the development of this matter and the things he encounters now and may encounter in the future are not much different from the original history he is familiar with.

Whether the emergence of GT Academy is accidental or an inevitable product is no longer important. After all, its success is obvious to all.

But at the beginning of the GT Academy project, just like whether Blair Hetkord could move from "virtual" to "reality", there was an endless stream of cynicism from the industry, but time and courage finally broke everyone's doubts. Just like Kazunori Yamauchi used the sales of "Gran Turismo" to convince Sony executives who at the time did not believe that this game could bring much benefit to PlayStation.

Their success constitutes the unique racing culture of the entire GT series, a kind of dedication and persistence for cars.

In Kazunori Yamauchi's documentary "Shortening the Virtual Boundary", he has a passage that impresses people: "Is Gran Turismo really just a video game? Is it just that?" (~^~)