Gaming
Gaming
How to be a GT Academy champion
GT Academy Champion Jann Mardenborough tells us how Gran Turismo prepared him for his racing career.
Jann Mardenborough tries the Hill Climb on GT6
© [unknown]
“To race against Mark Webber who has been in Formula 1 for years is incredible,” says Jann Mardenborough, the winner of GT Academy 2011. The gamer turned racing driver is still struggling to beat Sebastien Vettel’s best time in Gran Turismo 6, but a few weeks before we met at The Goodwood Festival of Speed, he had raced on the same circuit as Vettel’s old Red Bull teammate at the famous Le Mans 24 hours race.
“There are a lot of ex-F1 drivers and amazing sports car drivers in general there and to be able to compete with them and be on the same track as them is really nice – you don’t think about it when you’re in the car as you’re in the zone, trying to go as fast as you can but to be in the same paddock as these guys shows that I’m on the right path and that GT Academy is doing a fantastic job.”
It certainly is. Jann isn’t the only gamer to have raced at Le Mans. Former GT Academy champions Wolfgang Reip and Lucas Ordonez have also taken part in the world’s oldest endurance race and, this week, more Gran Turismo players will be hoping to follow in their footsteps as they head to Silverstone for the GT Academy Final in a bid to fulfil their dream of becoming a professional racing driver. Don’t let anyone tell you that playing games is a waste of time.
From Gran Turismo to Goodwood
The Gran Turismo 6 pod at Goodwood
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For many people, the journey to becoming a pro racing driver begins with kart racing but Jann’s started in a bedroom on Bonfire Night when, frightened of the loud fireworks, he decided to play Gran Turismo on his friend’s Playstation. Immediately hooked, he would return after school to play the game until the friend’s family finally gave him the console and a copy of the game. It not only made him a fan of gaming, but also of motorsports and fast cars.
Until reaching the GT Academy Final, Gran Turismo was the closest he would get to these cars. “I liked to race, I liked to drive the cars that I can see on the road, on the TV screens and then drive them in my bedroom. I’m driving a car that I’m never going to drive and I’m driving it in my bedroom and that’s the closest I’m going to get to it. That’s the next best thing for a child growing up other than getting a passenger ride in that car which, again, is rare, or driving it for real, which is ultra-rare. So it’s the next best thing.”
Of course, Mardenborough would get the opportunity to drive fast cars in real life and it’s all thanks to GT Academy which he entered in 2011. He wasn’t thinking about driving a GTR when he entered, but seeing how he compared to the best Gran Turismo players in Europe. “It was the first ever time trial I entered in Gran Turismo. For me, I got my enjoyment out of Gran Turismo from racing against other people living across the world. It didn’t really interest me at the time to be sitting at home doing one car, one track.”
Despite this, he took to the time trials quickly and was determined to reach the final. “The first week, I was top 15 in the UK. It was on for six weeks and I thought I’ll work harder at it to see where I come and eventually finished ninth in the UK and was invited to go to Brands Hatch to go to the National Regional Finals. Won that and got invited to Silverstone for the main event where there’s no gaming at all – it’s all sat in cars with instructors. GTRs, 370zs; to be let loose as a 19-year old around Silverstone in a 485 horsepower GTR is pretty insane considering it was the first time I’d ever driven on a track.”
Considering Jann had never even driven a sports car before it seems incredible that he won at Silverstone, let alone forged a successful racing career but Gran Turismo gave him a good grounding.
“My Mum taught me how to drive." he laughs. "I just played racing games and what I learned on the racing games - how to control a car and slide - is what I used when I got to GT Academy. At the regional finals there was a driving element and that was the first time that I ever drove a sports car.
“My Mum’s car was a 1.6 litre Hyundai Coupe with 10 horsepower. I was a car fan – I know all the stats and stuff but I’d never been sideways before and when I got to the finals, I drove this 370z sideways and all I did was do what I did in the game and it worked.
"The training we have from there on the GT Academy really prepares you to be a racing driver – the fitness, the nutrition, the dedication, what to expect from a race weekend, how to prepare for a race weekend, but the core driving, how to balance the car and stuff, I learned from Gran Turismo, and it’s refined by the instructors.”
Jann's GT Academy tips
Jann Mardenborough
© [unknown]
So, having won the GT Academy three years ago, does he have any tips for players going for the title this week? “There are some people we call aliens in the game world – these are people who can just jump on and be quick straight way. For me, I was quick at the game but I was never an alien and I worked really hard to get myself up that leaderboard and I think you’ve got to have a lot of determination – that is priority number one.
“Priority number two: you’ve got to have a lot of belief in yourself. You’ve got to want to improve every time and you’ve got to have discipline. It’s very easy to walk away from the time trial competition and think: ‘screw this, I’m going to watch telly with my mates.’ You’ve got to have a lot of commitment and dedication to get to Silverstone. People who get to Silverstone are going to put in the legwork and they’re the ones who are going to get the rewards when they win because they’re determined to improve themselves, they’re committed to the competition, they’re committed to the programme and they’re determined to be the best racing driver that they can be.”
Of course, not many Gran Turismo players will go on to be a racing driver but, thanks to the rise of eSports, top gamers have another way of making a living. However, pro gaming isn’t something Mardenborough would have considered.
“There are a few players of Gran Turismo who get paid to compete. In shooting games you can earn quite a lot of money out of it. I think it’s fantastic that you can earn a decent living out of playing games but I don’t think that I would have [done that]. No, I don’t think my parents would have been too happy. I would have finished my university degree and done a job that isn’t my passion but probably supports my addiction to cars.”
He may be addicted to fast cars but Jann hasn’t forgotten his roots. Still a fan of games, he leaps on a Gran Turismo 6 pod straight after our interview to practise the Hill Climb before he takes it on in real life just 30 minutes later. The perfect preparation.
