Video>> The Andrea Bertolini Driver’s Experience

The fourth Driver's Experience film was originally going to be shot at the Nurburgring 24Hs with the NFS Speedhunters Porsche Carrera Cup car but due to some scheduling and production problems we had to very quickly find another driver, racing team and race series to work with. A phone call to the Speedhunter John Brooks netted the suggestion for us to work with Andrea Bertolini, Maserati, Vitaphone Racing and the FIA GT race series.

We then had to pour all of our efforts into attaining permission from each of these groups in a very short period of time to shoot this film. I think we got the green light literally 2 days before we had to fly out to Italy!

After the Long Beach Formula D and ALMS shoots, coming to the FIA GT race in Italy was bit of a culture shock. The Rahal Letterman and Falken racing teams are quite a casual bunch, but the Maserati Vitaphone team were much more formal to deal with. Not an issue for me, as I know how things work in Europe, it's just a very different way of going about things. Hell, I was just happy to have access to the MC12!

Take the in car cameras for example. At the Formula D event, we basically mounted cameras to Vaughn's Mustang where ever we pleased… but not at a FIA GT event. No, no, no… We had to have the camera positions inspected for safety by a FIA official and they made us move the mounts more than once. It was a clear demonstration we were dealing with the "establishment" of racing hahaha.

Sticking a camera to Andrea's head was also a big no-no… This made us worry a bit if this film was going to work at all, as we had far less variety of in-car camera angles to work with.

But actually, this was no problem at all… The film came together quite easily, once we figured out how to present Andrea, that is.

Although you'd perhaps stereotypically expect Andrea to have an approach similar to Chris Rado, he's actually comparable as a character to Tommy Milner. He's completely focused, serious and single-minded in his approach to racing. I liked him a lot, but at the same time, the interview was probably the most challenging as he isn't the most animated character in the world…. But this diversity of personality is exactly what we were looking for with the Driver's Experience Film project.

Andrea is a pure professional. He's made a great career for himself working as a development driver for both Maserati and Ferrari and I think this confidence comes through in the film.

Well I hope you enjoy this exclusive access to such an amazing race car… enjoy the ride, it's quite the machine!… we'll be back next week with two new videos from Willow Springs: Will Roegge's first collaboration with us showcasing the All Star Bash and a montage film from the Red Time Time Attack event a few months back. We'll then start to release the extended in-car remixes of the Driver's films.

Laters,

:R

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1

So.. in other words, you're saying this "enthusiast" blog is just a big fat Ad for Electronic Arts...and their now shitty games..weak.

2

Great Video!



John, seems like you don't have a clue about speedhunters.

3

well seeing as Rod works for EA as the special projects creative director, and Speedhunters.com is owned by EA, ya, Speedhunters is pretty much an "ad" for EA and NFS

nobody forces you to come here John K

5

nobody forced me here, hero.



I'm just saying, if you're looking for any auto related shit, you end up here, a big AD for shitty games..

6

PS none of the actual "drivers" give a flying "fuck" to how the game plays in the end...........

7

John Dude is pissed. He must've gotten fired or someone pissed on 'em :))). Or he lost 1000$ on a NFS race with some other pissed dudes, just cause he ain't got skills and now he hates EA and NFS. :)))



Dude, relax, have a drink, lay back, think about life, about u're life and next time u're angry, look for a anime site or somethin', the're full of angry kids more than happy to battle-chat with other angry people. :))



Rod, great work! Can't wait to see those remixes,:D

Keep it up and nevermind the hatters, the're very, very lonelly people... :))



Reminds me of that song by Talib Kweli -

"All the lonelly people, where do they all come from...? All the lonelly people, where do they all bellong?" :)))

8

I wondering why I couldn't watch the video everytime I click Play and the buffer will become 100% and I couldn't watch anything sigh

9

Daniel perhaps download the Quicktime version then.



John K if you look at the 1800 odd stories that we've published on the site since May of 2008 I'd say that less than 20 have anything to do with the Need for Speed game. If you look at the metrics, your claims just don't add up. Believe me, the EA folks who sponsor the site are very, very conscious that we absolutely don't want to insult our audience's intelligence.



BTW two of these drivers have spent a lot of time with us playing NFS BTW: JR and Tommy Milner :>



Chris isn't that a Beatles song? :>

10

WOW .. absolutely LOVED this video. Andrea, the cars, the sound design, the pace.. the whole thing. Staggeringly good. Not sure what it has to do with NFS but i dont care, its the kind of thing that makes me want to go out n do more proper motorsport. Great stuff lads. Some more please.

11

Didnt say it enough in my last post.. Andrea is the MAN. love this guy. proper driver.. no frills, badass racing driver. love him

12

great video

awesome car

just one question

how does one become a race car driver??

cause i LOVE to go FAST too

13

Very good series of vids "Driver's Experience"!!!!

But...i think... that it will interesting to make video, like this, with Ken Block, Susie Stoddart (DTM) (or Danica Patrick) and Felipe Massa (Formula 1).

I think - it will be great vids too!

14

Yeah Rod, the song is Eleanor Rigby.

And John STFU :)

Downloading the video now, looking forward to watching it!

First NFS game i've been looking forward to playing in a long, long time!

15

Isn't the modern world an amazing place? I'm sitting here in Nelson, New Zealand typing away

16

Isn't the modern world an amazing place? I'm sitting here in Nelson, New Zealand typing away

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