The " AUTOBACS JEGT GRAND PRIX 2022 Series Supported by GRAN TURISMO ", Japan's top e-motorsports competition, was held on January 14, 2023 (Saturday) as an official program of the " Tokyo Auto Salon 2023 ". ROUND.3 TOP LEAGUE " The first round was held on September 11, 2022 (Sunday), and the second round was held on December 3, 2022 (Saturday), and in the final round, "EVANGELION e-RACING with Hiroshima Mazda," which had been ranked first overall until then, came in last place due to trouble. In the final round, "EVANGELION e-RACING with Hiroshima Mazda," which had been in first place overall, had trouble. In contrast, "Sengoku Gaming," which had been in 5th place overall, drove alone throughout the entire race to win the overall championship for the year. Behind the high-level competition, another battle was taking place. The " JEGT EX Race " was held with Nobuteru Taniguchi (@NOB_TANIGUCHI), Sumire Sawa (@sumiresour), SPYGEA (@spygea_jp), and Yuta Seki (@stylishnoob) as team leaders. Here's a sneak peek of the exhibition race!
Exhibition "JEGT EX Race
Another hot competition held amidst the excitement of the "AUTOBACS JEGT GRAND PRIX 2022 Series Supported by GRAN TURISMO ROUND.3 TOP LEAGUE" was the "JEGT EX Race"! The "JEGT EX Race" was held in the middle of the "TOP LEAGUE". SPYGEA, a member of FNATIC's creator division, and Yuta Seki, aka StylishNoob, a member of ZETA DIVISION's creator division, participated as special guests! In addition, racing driver Nobuteru Taniguchi, who also commentated on the event, and Sumire Sawa, who assisted in the event and is also active as a race queen, were the four team leaders, competing in Gran Turismo 7!
The course will be the same Fuji Speedway as the "AUTOBACS JEGT GRAND PRIX 2022 Series Supported by GRAN TURISMO ROUND.3 TOP LEAGUE". Each team consists of 3 drivers, and each driver completes 3 laps for a total of 9 laps. The start is a standing start with all cars on the grid. Boost is set to be strong, so watch out for cars that have moved away from the front of the pack.
Entrance of the competitors!
The competitors have entered! In addition to the team leaders, each team is joined by two entrants from each of the entrants in the corporate competition, for a total of eight entrants.
TEAM NOB
From left to right: Takumi Washio of "GR_TRESSA × AIRBUSTER RACING," team leader Nobuteru Taniguchi, and Kazuki Fukada of "WEB OPTION RACING. The car used was the "Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept '18.
Nobuteru Taniguchi: You can tell from the looks of the car that we are very motivated! I'm not confident at all, but I'm going to let the two team members beat me to the punch, and I'm going to use up all of my energy in the end.
TEAM GEA
From left to right: Satoshi Ueno of AUTOBACS, team leader SPYGEA, and Tomoki Iwamoto of TOMEI POWERED. The car used is a BMW Z4 GT3 '11.
SPYGEA: The two guys in my team seem to be very strong, so I am relieved about that. However, I haven't sat in the seat yet in practice, and I'm worried about whether I'll be able to sit properly with my height when we change drivers (laughs).
TEAM SEKI
From left to right: Riou Ogata of "HKS e-MotorSport," team leader Yuta Seki, and Hiroki Nakagawanishi of "e-Sports Stadium Koriyama. The car used was the Honda NSX Gr. 3.
Yuta Seki : Both of them seem to be in perfect condition to connect with me, so I'm going to drive slowly and keep to the legal speed limit.
TEAM SAWA
From left to right: Masahiro Uwabo of "Team EMCxsti," Sumire Sawa, team leader, and Mine Kawasaki of "Team G-7AUTOSERVICE. The car used was the "SUBARU BRZ GT300 '21.
Sumire Sawa: Uwabo made matching masks for us. We were all unsure when we got together! (lol) So I just learned from Kenta Nishizawa, the commentator, how to pass the car and how to turn on the hazard lights.
Preparations for the race are underway.
Manabu Suzuki will be the live commentator, and Kenta Nishizawa will be the commentator. In fact, this "JEGT EX Race" was held in between the "AUTOBACS JEGT GRAND PRIX 2022 Series Supported by GRAN TURISMO ROUND.3 TOP LEAGUE" deliberations and point tallying. The atmosphere was very friendly and relaxed.
Sumire Sawa mentions SPYGEA's opening speech.
Sumire Sawa : Mr. Taniguchi, if I win, I want a car... a Tesla!
SPYGEA: You can have it?
Nobuteru Tan iguchi: What? What a dangerous job!
The race is about to begin, and if you win, you might get a car from Mr. Nobuteru Taniguchi...!
The race is about to start!
The "JEGT EX Race" has finally begun!
- Player 1: TEAM NOB
- Player 2: TEAM GEA
- Player 3: TEAM SEKI
- Player 4: TEAM SAWA
The race was a three-lap race for each driver. The teams push hard without worrying about tire wear !
The first runner from each team pits in at the end of the race. At this point, "TEAM NOB" is in first place, but not by much at all!
Pit traffic always creates drama. TEAM SAWA" has moved up to first place by the speed of the pit stop! They have a big gap over the second place team!
Team leaders watch the heated race unfold. Yuta Seki's face shows the tension of the race that is about to follow.
TEAM NOB" gave up the first place position after the pit stop, but they found themselves back in first place! They were over 6 seconds ahead of the third runner, Mr. Nobuteru Taniguchi!
The teams pit in a little later than "TEAM NOB" in 1st place, but then...
GASP!
TEAM GEA" crashes in the pit! TEAM GEA" crashed in the pit, and they were given a 3-second penalty for cutting the white line. Something is living in the pit after all....
The team leader, the third runner, is running frantically, taking advice from the team members. As anyone who has played before knows, it is quite difficult for beginners to just run normally.
Although it was somewhat predictable, each team runs with a penalty. It's hard to believe it's the same game !
SPYGEA is angry at the slowdown of penalty digestion. Chasing after the 1st place team, "TEAM NOB"!
TEAM SAWA" is in last place, but they will not forget the passing they learned! Manabu Suzuki told us, " Passing is used to overtake a slower car! You are slow! You are too slow! He was a great commentator.
Yuta Seki of TEAM SEKI is currently in 2nd place. He was chasing after the first-place team, "TEAM NOB," but he was shouting, "Watch out! He also shouted, "Oh no!
Nobuteru Taniguchi of "TEAM NOB" even had time to say in an interview during the race, "I wonder if (a 20-second gap) will be enough (laughs). He is indeed a professional racing driver.
And he crossed the finish line! The winner of the "JEGT EX Race" was TEAM NOB!
TEAM SEKI", "TEAM GEA", and "TEAM SAWA" also reached the goal! TEAM SAWA" came in 4th place, but they did not forget to pass the car until the end.
The heated exhibition race was over!
- Mr. Taniguchi, you had a very solid race!
Nobuteru Taniguchi: I didn't know the other leaders' abilities, so I wasn't sure if I could win, but the two members were faster than me! Kazuki made a great margin, and the leader was... what was his name again?
Takumi Washio: My name is Washio (laughs).
Nobuteru Taniguchi: Washio-kun seemed to have deliberately crowded the race to make it more exciting. He had no intention of making any savings for me (laughs).
- Ms. Sawa, how was the race?
Sumire Sawa: It was a lot of fun! Two of the members kept praising me from the side, so I thought I was running well, but I guess I was wrong.
- (laughs) Mr. Seki, you closed the gap in the end.
Yuta Seki: I thought I had a chance to beat Taniguchi-san in the game, but the gap kept widening.
- I was yelling in the middle of the game.
Yuta Seki : I was in such a hurry that I almost crashed (laughs), but it was so much fun!
- SPYGEA: How was it?
SPYGEA : I want to run more! I couldn't see your back once...
Nobuteru Taniguchi: Wasn't there an incident on the pit road when I was changing drivers?
SPYGEA: It was a big crash! But it was a lot of fun!
The "JEGT EX Race" is now over! The racers won the race!
There were fans in the audience cheering for Yuta Seki and SPYGEA with their fans, and even those who are not familiar with cars or racing games were able to experience the fun of Gran Turismo in this exhibition race!
The fact that it was held in between the time-consuming "AUTOBACS JEGT GRAND PRIX 2022 Series Supported by GRAN TURISMO ROUND.3 TOP LEAGUE" was also a great idea to keep the fans entertained. Please check out the archive of the "JEGT EX Race" on the YouTube channel " JEGT GP Official " (from around 1 hour 40 minutes 16 seconds) to see the heated exhibition!
SPYGEA talks about his thoughts and impressions behind the scenes of JEGT!
SPYGEA, who took the stage as a guest, later released a video on his YouTube channel " SPYGEA / SPYGEA " to talk about his impressions of JEGT! The video includes behind-the-scenes footage of the competition!
