Over the Winter, 53,000 players signed up for "GT Academy," a Gran Turismo 5 online racing championship sponsored by Sony and Nissan. America’s 32 best finishers were flown to Florida in March for eliminations, then the top 16 went on to Silverstone in Britain to race it out in real cars.
The guy who won it all is a humble, dark horse autocrosser named Bryan Heitkotter. One of us. Just really, really good.
http://wot.motortrend.com/recliner-race ... 85497.html
He drove his MR2 to Solo Nationals for the first time in 2006, and won E-Stock from left field. He came back in 2009, co-driving a RX-8 in B-Stock, then again in 2010 behind the wheel of a borrowed MX-5. Same result: total domination. You might have read a recent SCCA article on him.
http://solomatters.wordpress.com/2011/0 ... eitkotter/
Bryan is a friend of mine through Solo and Gran Turismo. I ran into him walking course at Nationals last year, and he was sheepish on his chances of doing well in C-Stock. After the first day, he had the lead by a second over autocross alien Ryan Buetzer. He can drive.
This is a moonshot story, a one-in-a-million affair. Rarely is raw talent united with a professional drive without access to the secret ingredient (hint: money). Bryan was all talent, no money. Here's a case of genuine skill and determination being rewarded with a shot at what for most of us is a dream career.
Recliner to Racecar: video "games" pay off
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Recliner to Racecar: video "games" pay off
Jim Rowland - Your friendly OMR volunteer at large
'92 Sentra SE-R / '15 FR-S / '04 Silverado HD
'92 Sentra SE-R / '15 FR-S / '04 Silverado HD
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