Limiting the contest to U.S. participants only was based on a couple of factors. Canadian laws for contests and sweepstakes (particularly in Quebec) are very different from those in the U.S. We had a limited amount of time in which to develop the legal documentation for the contest rules, and ensuring full compliance with Canadian law would have pushed out the start date of the event past the window in which we were able to run it. Given these factors, we had to make the difficult decision to restrict participation to U.S. residents only. We understand and appreciate that there are many dedicated GT fans outside the U.S. and are sorry that we were not able to accommodate everyone in this particular event. Also, we are paying attention to all the feedback we’re seeing, and hope to use it in
future events and contests.

-Chris

Thank you for coming out to the forums to address the wall contact issue. I would like to offer my best insight in to this contest. I am active at the Playstation.com GT forums (Gee, thanks for not choosing to post there, and going to the more Euro-centric GTPlanet, but I forgive you, as we’re a tight community), and by active, I mean I’m involved in organizing the weekly competitions we’ve been holding for forum members, with proper, clean racing as the main focus. I’ve been involved in the selections of both Time Trial and Online racing venues and car selections, and I’m currently in the middle of organizing a select GT class divided in to two subgroups of GT1 and GT2.

As you can probably tell by the level of enthusiasm around this contest, and the concerted effort by forum members to keep it as legitimate as possible, in our eyes, that there is a seriously devoted fan base around GT. The majority of whom are of the hardcore racer type, more so than the average gamer type. We want the most realistic experience possible in a racing game, and we’ve chosen GT as our means to satisfy the racing disease. Of course, with the ultra realism and overwhelming car count, GT attract a lot of people from both the racer and the gamer camps. Where there’s a clash of interest is in adhering to rules of racing, both unwritten and written. Obviously that has reared its ugly head here over this issue. I think most of us understand that the only fair way to run the contest is to leave the policing up to the rules system currently in place. That’s PD’s fault for not having a flawless penalty system. Eiger and Suzuka should prove to be far better grounds for competition. I recommend staying away from High Speed Ring altogether, until PD gets their stuff together. Suzuka East would have been a better choice IMO.

The tire issue is a bit of matter of contention, but the majority of regular GTers seem to prefer cars with reasonable levels of grip, compared to their performance level. N tires of any kind have always proven to be less than popular, in my experience. We understand the desire to make it a challenge, but any car with more than 200HP, that plans to go on a racetrack, should be on sports tires of some kind. Normal cars, normal tires. Sports cars, sports tires. Race cars, race tires. Its just logic. No one downgrades the tires on their Ferrari F430, for a more challenging driving experience. S tires create enough of a challenge for the normal, ranked arcade mode TTs. I don’t remember hearing anyone say “Gee, I wish I had less grip.” The competition will be just as fierce on Sport tires. The fast will just go faster. Trust me. Having run all sorts of cars, the fast guys are always fast.

Now. Here’s where I have a serious problem. I’m Canadian. I am more than willing to go to bat for my fellow GTers, to get them a fair contest, where the best drivers win. But it’s really heartbraking to not be allowed to win, despite seeing the challenge on my online events page every day. The latest Resistance tournament just announce is inclusive of the U.S and Canada, so why can’t your contest be as well? This only gets worse as more and more contests are announced all of the time, for different games, and PS Home. So, if it’s up to you to take the steps to include all of North America, I implore you to please do so, and soon. If it’s up to SCEA, please tell them your customers are pushing you to include Canada.

Thanks for answering some of the questions. But i must ask, why are Canadians excluded from this competition? They are in the same region are they not?

The issue of wall contact is a tough one. While Logitech does not at all approve of cheating in GT5:P or any other game, we won’t be reviewing ghost laps for wall contact as it would add a significant element of subjectivity. As such, there will be no disqualifications or changes to player rankings for racing line decisions. The decision to uphold the game’s own penalty system for this event was made in the interest of ensuring a level playing field for all drivers.

The goal with the physics model selection is to allow drivers of all levels to compete and have a shot at winning. As the weeks progress, the difficulty will increase. For week 2 (Eiger), the physics model will remain at standard, but racers will be required to use cars with more horsepower and will be restricted to N2 tires, which have less grip and will make keeping a clean line more necessary. For week 3 (Suzuka), the physics model will be set at professional, you’ll be racing supercars, and those cars will be restricted to N3 tires – again, more slippery tires with greater horsepower for more challenge.

Hope that answers your questions,
Chris

Also, standard physics? Why?

Darin Gangi
Inside Sim Racing TV