Ford unveiled the new, slightly tweaked version of the Focus ST at the Goodwood Festival of Speed recently. In what we can only assume was a bunch of advertising genius, Polyphony Digital, the creators of the Gran Turismo racing game series, set up a challenge: Playing Gran Turismo 6 was Krisztián Somodi, and hauling the real Focus ST up the track was Ben Collins, better known as the former “Stig” from Top Gear. 

Gran Turismo has always striven to keep an element of realism in the games they release, and a heads-up race between simulation and a real-live racer in real time at a major sporting event is a decent way to prove that the game has evolved from the barely-past Nintendo controls of the first iteration to a legitimate alternative to actually being on the track. While there is nothing that will replicate the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of actual racing, this will certainly help, especially when the weather sucks and going outside is a punishment, not a freedom.

Any takers on which one is fastest?