Sources: playstationlifestyle.net (first picture), gtplanet.net (second, third, and fourth pictures), and digiads.com.au (third picture)
Gran Turismo games do a good job of getting you active in the racing process. But in the act of considering alternatives to current GT practices, one such thing has to change. To me, you have to practice your skills before considering the license tests. Think about it. When you were in grade school (or if you are in grade school), do you take a test BEFORE getting the lesson? Taking a test before being taught the lesson doesn't result in learning anything. Gran Turismo Academy was something I thought of as expanding the greater scope of the License Test facilities to include practicing certain aspects rather than just taking the license test cold turkey.
--- How Would This Work? ---
For each license test and all the different tests, going to this GT Academy will allow you to practice certain tests. Once you have a license test unlocked, you can have a chance to practice certain elements. The issue at hand here is how to integrate this feature to make it useful in addition to taking license tests. With a good system in play, you will be given advice based on racing line, acceleration, braking, and things like that. The Analyzer allows you to analyze your runs in GT games since GT3. What has to happen is that this feature has to be expanded upon to make for better practice and to allow tips on improving your driving skills in Gran Turismo 5.
--- Gran Turismo... University? ---
Yeah, GTU! A plan I thought of was having certain racing schools in Gran Turismo to help out with enhacing driving skills. Each racing school encompasses a different element of racing. There are racing schools on topics like these:
* General Skills (basic skills like acceleration, braking, handling, etc.)
* Advanced Skills (application of basic skills in racing situations)
* Extreme Skills (advanced techniques)
* Oval Racing (oval racing technique (yes, there is actual skill in oval racing!))
* Road Racing (applying skills to road racing)
* Rally Racing (rally racing on various surfaces, including rally techniques)
* Drag Racing (skill in acceleration and in timing shifts)
* Drifting (application of car control in extreme driving, and also practice in Drift Trials)
Imagine if you could enroll in these schools. If you enroll, you can get some formal training in certain elements of Gran Turismo. The cars featured are specially-tailored to the given racing school. These even include certain cars you will be unable to own. Imagine racing go-karts, low-level formula cars, and things of that nature. You will have a variety of school-supplemented cars tuned specifically for each school.
There are even some racing series you can enroll in to give yourself experience racing and even make some money early. Think of the Skip Barber Racing School, in which you pilot these Dodge-powered Formula cars in amateur-level competition. A great aspect of this is that you can actually feel like you're establishing yourself as an actual racer in the Gran Turismo series rather than be just a no-name racer who somehow has all kinds of cars in GT. It points things more towards a career while not really being a career-oriented game. By the way, no racing license needed for any of these.
When you feel you're ready to really take on racing, you can then take your racing school experience to try to pass the license tests. It prolongs the game sure enough, but at least you feel like you can grow confidence towards passing GT license tests.
Would you be open to the idea of introducing Gran Turismo Academy in GT5 to represent a practice field for GT license test subjects? Comment away!
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