LUCAS ORDOÑEZ
 
How long would you spend on one session before taking a break?
Normally it’s about 2 hours, 1 and a half, 2 hours.
 
How do you approach learning a new track?
I take my time with the first laps to get to know the corners, and then after the 3rd or 4th lap I try to go for the limit.

Would you recommend watching replays of faster drivers?
Yeah definitely, it helps a lot to watch the top 5 or top 10 guys to know which lines they take and where they brake to get some references. If this existed in real life, it would be the best thing for training! It’s really helpful in Gran Turismo®.

How do you decide what gear to use on a particular corner?
What I learned this year in real racing is that if you have any doubts about taking a corner in 3rd or 4th gear for example, do it in 4th. The thing is to know what revs you have in the middle of the corner at minimum speed, you need to spend time trying 2nd or 3rd or 4th. It’s tricky, but the normal thing is to use the higher gear, as it will be better to have less wheelspin at the exit.

When you know you are on a good lap, how do you stop yourself getting nervous and messing it up at the end?
(Laughs) That happened to me so many times when I was doing the GT Academy. It was quite hard because you always try try try and you know you are on a good lap, and then two corners before the end of the lap you’re getting more nervous and feel more pressure because you’ve spent a lot of hours before to do that perfect lap and sometimes you make a mistake in the last corner. You need to be calm and you need to be confident that if you make a mistake on that lap, there will be another opportunity. So be calm, and practise a lot to have 100% confidence.

If you have a slow start to the lap, would you restart the lap or carry on?
It depends, if it’s a very slow start, a big mistake on the first or second corner, I would restart. Sometimes it’s good to do a full lap. It’s better not to restart when you first come back to the PlayStation®3 and make a lot of mistakes in the first few minutes. Even if you are making mistakes or crashing keep doing full laps to practice, then, when you are warmed up, you can restart and not lose time doing full laps.

Do you have any tips on mentally preparing yourself for a competitive time trial?
 The best thing is to try to have enough time to practise every day. In terms of mental preparation, the most important thing is to practise every day and not 4 hours one day followed by 3 days off. What I found in 2008 when I won GT Academy was to practise every day, even if it was 15 to 30 minutes.

How do you know when you've reached your limit?
 You never reach the limit. I’m sure no one has reached the limit in the game. It’s difficult but I remember the first few days after I bought the steering wheel I was about 3 to 4 seconds off the pace, a few weeks later I was a tenth of a second off the pace and then I was faster than the top guys. You never reach the limit, it’s just practice and practice and when you are quite competitive you are not fighting for seconds, you are fighting for half a tenth or quarter of a tenth and then you are close to the limit. It’s very difficult to know where the limit is.

Do you prefer to chase a ghost or just judge your speed from the split times?
To be honest, I was using my ghost, yes. It was a good reference, but sometimes you get nervous and it puts you under pressure. When you start the lap and you are in the first or second corner, and you don’t see your ghost, you tell yourself that you are doing a good lap. The suddenly it appears! Sometimes it’s quite bad when you see the ghost, so honestly when you are on top or one of the fastest in the time trial, I don’t recommend using your ghost. To learn in the first days of the time trial it’s very very useful, but when you are at the top or you are fast enough to fight for tenths of a second, it puts you under pressure and you get nervous when you see the ghost come in front of you, you can make mistakes.

Which driving view/camera position do you use when time trialling?
The front camera without anything else.

Is there particular equipment or clothing that you use or would recommend for serious time-trials?
 No, definitely not. I saw people using gloves but I thought that was ridiculous for me, because the steering wheel is not so hard to use without gloves. It depends on your motivation. One thing that is very useful is to drive without your shoes.

Would you recommend initially using the driving line aid to help learn a circuit?
If you don’t know the track then it’s useful in the first few laps, but then no more.
 
Are there any real-life driving techniques you could apply to GT5? (for example: Left-foot braking, slow-in-fast-out)
Yeah definitely, in terms of line it is very realistic. For a corner you should start from the outside, then head to the inside, and head out for the exit. Use the whole track, don’t hang around in the centre of the track. You need to enter at the best angle, like in real life. The most tricky thing is that you have to brake a bit earlier than you think and then start to use the throttle as soon as possible. Sometimes people like to brake later and harder than I would recommend, it’s better to brake smoother and softer and stay on the brakes to the apex and then use full throttle as early as possible.
 
When did you first find out about a possible LMP2 drive with Nissan and the possibility of running the Le Mans 24 Hours?
Well, you know I still can’t believe this is going to happen! When PlayStation® and Nissan put me in an LMP last year to see my performance and to see how well I could do, that was amazing. I was so nervous there and after the race I was quite happy, everybody was quite happy. After that race I thought “Lucas, maybe you can do it”, maybe I could realise my dream and maybe I could do the Le Mans 24 hours one day. I never thought that in the 3rd year of the GT Academy that would be possible. It’s unbelievable.
 
What are your expectations for this season's Intercontinental Le Mans Cup?
 I don’t know (laughs), first I want to learn more about the car which is brand new. We are here today in Paul Ricard to test the car but I have had no chance to test the car, unfortunately. We are happy because the car has run 100km, 15 laps, without any problems. Unfortunately I didn’t drive the car today. I am looking forward to Sebring, and it will be a big big challenge. Sebring is a very difficult track, very bumpy. It’s an American track with the walls very close to the track, a bit dangerous for the first race. I am confident with myself, I know I did well at Silverstone and the team is happy with me. My expectations are to improve every time I’m in the car and to do the best for Nissan, to learn learn learn and be ready for the race of the year, which is Le Mans.
 
How does the LMP2 machinery compare to anything else you have driven before?
It’s a completely different car. You have carbon brakes, aerodynamic downforce, much more powerful than anything I drove before like the GT4 Nissan. It is miles faster and braking points are very close, everything is different. I need to get used to that. The team and teammates are helping me to improve everytime I am near the car, like today, to check the data with the engineers. It’s much more efficient in terms of speed in the corners, so I need to train every day in the gym. It’s completely different to a GT car. The most different things are the carbon brakes and the aerodynamic downforce. It requires a completely different driving style.
 
How far do you think your career can progress as a GT Academy champion considering the amazing things you have achieved so far?
I think the biggest goal I can have with GT Academy is to do the Le Mans 24 Hours, but you never know. It’s the 3rd year of GT Academy and this year I will do Le Mans, Sebring, Petit Le Mans so I don’t know what the limit of this project is! Right now I need to think about the first race at Sebring which is getting closer, so I need to be ready for that.
 
Who do you think will be your biggest rivals this year?
I don’t know. I don’t want to think about that, I want to improve my driving and we will see at Sebring if we will fight to win the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, that’s our goal. I don’t want to think about who will be our rival.
 
What would you say to someone who is waiting to try GT Academy for the first time in their bedroom on their PS3™, reading about you racing in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year?
To know who Lucas Ordoñez and Jordan Tresson are, and what they are doing now after trying hard in the Gran Turismo® simulator, they will know what they can achieve with Nissan and PlayStation®. If they knew only mine and Jordan’s results, they will be motivated to enter the GT Academy and try to become the next champion. For me they have to be really focused and concentrated on this, I know some people think playing on PlayStation® is a hobby, but to win GT Academy you have to be serious, you have to be really focused on training not only on PlayStation®. You need to be fit, professional, a good guy, a good communications guy, to work as a team, it’s everything. To be a racing driver and the winner of GT Academy you have to be all of those things.

Which of the famous racing circuits you will be racing at in 2011 are you looking forward to the most?
 Le Mans, of course!

Will GT5 help you to learn La Sarthe (none of the others are in the game)?
Yeah, definitely. I think I’ll do the 24 hour race on the PlayStation®! Although I’m not sure as my eyes will be dead! I’ll try to practise.

Will you continue to play GT5?
Yeah when I have time, I still play. I hope to get close to Le Mans and practise seriously on GT5.




JORDAN TRESSON

How long would you spend on one session before taking a break?
I can spend hours on the PlayStation®, I guess you know! It depends, sometimes for hours, sometimes I get bored after half an hour. It’s worth spending hours and hours just to qualify for the Silverstone final.
 
How do you approach learning a new track?
First of all you have to go round and learn the basics, there is no particular technique and try different things the whole lap. I start flat out and if I hit the wall I slow down next lap (laughs), of course in reality you just can’t, it’s not a good approach.

Would you recommend watching replays of faster drivers?
Yeah of course, you can learn a lot. I have learnt a lot watching Arnaud Lacombe, it’s very constructive. You always think “How can they do that, and go so fast?” By watching them you can learn their lines, it might help of course.

How do you decide what gear to use on a particular corner?
It depends on how I feel the car. For example, in lower gears you can have wheelspin so it’s good to shift up early. It depends on the engine revs, if they are too high then go one gear up. It’s worth shifting a bit earlier sometimes, mainly in hairpins and slow chicanes.

When you know you are on a good lap, how do you stop yourself getting nervous and messing it up at the end?
It’s really an issue for me what you have just described, because you think “don’t make a mistake! Please not now!” and most of the time you make a mistake. Sometimes it’s better to turn off the ghost and just drive. I think the best way is not to think about it and contuinue.

If you have a slow start to the lap, would you restart the lap or carry on?
Most of the time, I know I shouldn’t, but I’ll restart the lap even if I’m only one tenth behind. The thing is, when you do it all of the time, at the end you know the beginning of the track really well but don’t know the end of the track as well. So you might be on your best lap but haven’t been at the end of the track for 15-20 mins, so it could get complicated. I recommend completing all the laps unless you make a big mistake. But it’s not what I’ve been doing!

Do you have any tips on mentally preparing yourself for a competitive time trial?
 Be ready to play for hours. Even if you don’t want to play, and you know you won’t be very quick, just play. Every minute that you play, it’s a bit better for the time trial. For GT Academy I played through the night, I stayed up until 3 in the morning. I knew I wouldn’t be able to set a fast laptime, I was just playing for playing’s sake. I think it’s useful.

How do you know when you've reached your limit?
 I don’t think you ever reach your limit, you can always go at least one thousandth faster! This is the main problem, you can see where you made a small mistake and you think you can go faster. Then you gain in one corner and lose in another. You always want to go faster, but I’d say if you can’t set a better laptime during 1 hour, you have nearly reached your limit.

Do you prefer to chase a ghost or just judge your speed from the split times?
What I do with the ghost, I set it off and then turn it on after certain corners to see if I’m faster or not.

Which driving view/camera position do you use when time trialling?
In GT4 and GT5 Prologue I was using the bumper camera like nearly everyone else. I like the onboard camera, it’s much better from a relative point of view. But for time trials, bumper camera.

Is there particular equipment or clothing that you use or would recommend for serious time-trials?
If you’re really hardcore you could use gloves with your steering wheel. Also I drive barefoot, that’s all, nothing else in particular.

Would you recommend initially using the driving line aid to help learn a circuit?
You can try, but it’s better to have your own racing lines. Even in Formula 1 you can see different racing lines in some corners, so try your own lines and see what you prefer.

Are there any real-life driving techniques you could apply to GT5? (for example: Left-foot braking, slow-in-fast-out)
Of course you can use the same lines you would in reality. Heel and toe is useless in GT5, so nothing in particular.

Will you continue to play GT5?
Yeah I think so, Sony asked me to do a specific time trial, not the Academy but a different one. Of course, I will try to play just to see where I am compared to the best laptimes.