Report: Obutto SEA holds successful Gran Turismo 6 time trial over the weekend

Over 30 Gran Turismo gaming enthusiasts and their girlfriends gathered at St Games Cafe over the weekend in Singapore’s The Cathay mall for an epic time trial showdown courtesy of the venue as well as Obutto SEA.

Singapore’s first standalone Gran Turismo 6 time trial event was organized in conjunction with the launch of Obutto SEA’s new racing car cockpit: the Obutto R3volution Gaming Cockpit. The ergonomic S$988 (about $778.70) gaming seat is the latest in the brand’s offerings of gaming cockpits, and is marketed as a premium one.

The Obutto brand was started by American Chris Dunagen, who made Singapore his home for about twenty years. While Dunagen now shuttles around the world overseeing the establishment of his brand, the fort back home is held by distributors Obutto SEA. The brand’s gaming cockpits aren’t just for driving games, said Lee Ming Wei, speaking for Obutto SEA, although that the lack of peripherals for driving sims definitely inspired their creation. He was once told by a gamer that the latter had been using his mahjong table as a base for his racing wheel.

Instead, the gaming seats can be used for everyday work, or even watching DVDs and live streams. And of course, they were used exclusively for Gran Turismo 6 at the time trial. Community leader Jimmy Oh and the rest of the Gran Turismo Singapore community advised Obutto SEA on the rules and helped oversee the casual competition.

Oh, who did not participate since he was on the organizing team, said that the Singapore Gran Turismo community had been around since late 2011, when he and a friend started up a Facebook page for like-minded players. It began through a “passion of the game”, and an intent to get the “best players” to get together. While most community members have already met up and become friends over the years, the time trial was the first time the community had gathered in real life.

Gaming communities meet up quite frequently in Singapore, whether for leisure or competition, but Oh said that a lack of “space, logistics” and a need for a “proper setup” had deterred the Gran Turismo players from doing so.

However the Gran Turismo Singapore community, St Games Cafe, and Obutto SEA will definitely be discussing future collaborations given the success of the weekend’s event, and Singapore enthusiasts might soon see more competitions.

(Photos: Obutto SEA, because ours mysteriously got eaten 🙁 )