The crossover between real-world motorsport and simulated racing continues tightening, and Sony Interactive Entertainment provided an update about the career of one of Gran Turismo’s best-known drivers.
Japanese-born Brazilian driver Igor Omura Fraga is well-known to Gran Turismo esports fans for winning the first Gran Turismo World Series‘ Nations Cup in 2018, when it still ran on Gran Turismo Sports.
He then went on to win the Manufacturers’ Cut in 2018 and 2021 and the Toyota GR GT Cup in 2022.
Yet, his career extends well beyond the virtual, and today we get a look at his latest race at the Fuji GT 350 km Race of the popular Japanese Autobacs Super GT championship.
The video is quite interesting, as it shows Fraga’s performance not at its highest point, but during a difficult time in which the Lexus RC F GT3 of the Anest Iwata Racing with Arnage team was fraught with technical problems, costing Fraga and his teammates the chance to score points.
Yet, we hear that both Fraga and the team’s manager are optimistic for the future.
This is the fourth video in an ongoing series, and you can also check out the first (Okayama), the second (Fuji 3 Hours), and the third (Suzuka 3 Hours).
Sony and the creators of Gran Turismo at Polyphony Digital are among the pioneers of the close tie between simulated and real motorsports, all the way to 2008 with the establishment of the GT Academy, which helped several drivers make the jump from the virtual track to a real career.
The story of one of these drivers, Jann Mardenborough, has recently been portrayed in the film Gran Turismo.
The series is currently on Gran Turismo 7, available for PS5 and PS4.
