Ben-DutkaGran Turismo has always put a heavy emphasis on realism and authenticity, and franchise creator Kazunori Yamauchi lives and breathes racing.
But it's interesting to hear his most recent comments in regards to the engine sounds in Gran Turismo 5 . During a GTPlanet interview , the Polyphony Digital boss mentioned something about needing to make GT "sexier." Here's what he had to say:
"My perspective is that the sounds in Gran Turismo are just too real. With the recording method we use, we use a dyno and put the load on, and the sound we produce is just too accurate. I think it would be a good thing to sort of design the sound a little bit, and so that is something I would like to challenge ourselves with in the future.
What I find is that one of our themes with Gran Turismo is to create something that is real; that is what our team is focused on, but that can be an issue sometimes as well. If we see something in front of us, we try to reproduce that very accurately, and that tendency is getting stronger.
But, I think we maybe need to make things sexier sometimes, and I think that is something the Gran Turismo team might need to work on. It could also be because our team is growing in number, which could be one of our barriers to that goal."
It's sort of difficult to accurately interpret those words, but I think some racing aficionados will associate "sexier" with less realistic. After all, Yamauchi is talking about something in a simulator that is "too real," which seems a little odd…and whenever anything is "sexier" (depending on your definition), it usually means further away from the real world. What do you think about these comments? And what do you expect from Gran Turismo 6 ? I'm thinkin' next-gen for that one.
Related Game(s): Gran Turismo 5
I hope they make something like Forza Horizon, then make the real Driving Simulator.
Forza horizon's open world is sooo boring. I thought it was only the demo, but after watching footages from youtube, everything about it looks the same. It's like driving through one theme of GT's track generator where the only difference are the turns and directions.
I've always wanted free roam, and if GT ever does bring it in, it better not be in that direction of Forza's. Also I wouldn't want a career out of it. I just want it to be one big playground that we can drive around with friends and make our own races and routes. There's no need for GT to have a carnival event with teenagers dancing and drinking in its free roam.
Forza is Microsoft's game.
Noooooooooooo!
Don't go that way, Gran Turismo is for true simulation, don't be like Forza or Need For Speed. Stick to true simulation, hardcore simulation. Please don't make me cry. The just too accurate sound of a revving Ferrari is for me is the sexiest.
If they want to change anything, I hope it's just cosmetic. Maybe the enviroment could have more added to it, like more plants,trees, and an occasional rabbit or two crossing the road. Throw in an armadillo and we could have a little roadkill happening.
Here comes the Forzaization.
I rather them focus on the driving simulation as the main game and have other modes such as arcade mode in the game for those who like to remove themself from the simulation aspect of the game. THey should include a "tokyo xtreme racer" type mode in GT. Imagine free roaming a city's highway and calling out other racers to race. This would be awesome, you can have a racing team hanging out waiting for others to call you out to race.
I wonder why they want to stray away from what they're so good at successfully doing? I'm not sure about the sales of GT5, but I have a feeling they were pretty good! Hopefully this doesn't turn into a case of a Japanese developer copying a Western style. You would Gran Turismo would be untouchable by that sort of thing!
The cars are already not wearing any clothes. What is he going to do, have see-through chassis?
I sure hope they don't start compromising on the realism. I think they _could_ make the presentation and immersion more 'sexy' – have a proper career mode like they had in the TOCA games with teams and managers and the like, have menus with a bit of character, and so on. But keep the racing and the representation of it real, I reckon. I'm not sure I want them messing with the sounds.
I love my hyper-realistic sim racer that is GT5 pretty much just the way it is.
I agree with tes that only a few cosmetic alterations would be necessary to really make GT stand out and be recognized as the premier racing game that it is.
Having platted GT5, here are some suggestions that I think would help GT reclaim its undisputed best racer title:
More accurately re-creating the actual appearance of the race track barriers and other track features that are sometimes missing from the real world tracks.
Like tes mentioned more true to life environmental features, like trees and the like which would help to create the sense of speed that idiots that mainly play Forza and NFS claim that they don't see.
Wind could be a new factor to consider because headwinds, tailwinds, and sidewinds all affect the car's handling and speed characteristics.
A more dynamic career mode that features a more exciting presentation style.
A more diverse selection of manufacturers and car models (all in premium quality).
I do think that the engine sounds when passing through a tunnel could use a slight tweak, but not much improvement is necessary.
And an improved online mode.
I hope I get some comments in agreement, or at least a couple thumbs up!
Last edited by JROD0823 on 11/5/2012 1:47:28 AM
I saw where they just crossed the 9 million mark for copies of GT5 sold worldwide. I don't know what Kazunori Yamauchi is thinking.
Please, no bikini models with lap signs.
Keep it classy and professional Polyphony. Maybe improve the sound of your cars, beef up the volume of the engines, maybe a slicker and more streamlined menu, but please leave the rest the same!!
Depends. There were a few minor things with GT5 that could have been improved, like the menus and particularly the Standard vehicles. The sound design could do with some extra oomph. Yeah, it's realistic and that is the goal, but at the same time, it feels kinda bleh.
I think that the core game design could use some work. I just found that, after a while, it started to feel as though it was too much work for too little payoff. You have a thousand cars on the disc, but almost no chance to unlock all of them because of the in-game expense involved. I just feel that there are ways that it could be improved, even if I don't really have any clear view as to how that is.
Oh, and I sincerely hope that alongside GT6 is an open-world entry in the series to put Forza Horizon to shame. Don't think I'm saying that because of Horizon, though. Such an idea has been in my mind for a long, long time. Even if a cursory, scaled-down version was included in GT6 to pave the way, I think I'd be in love. An almost perfect recreation of realistic driving in a vast environment, even if it is devoid of other traffic… Oh, Polyphony… if you do that, I'll be forever grateful. Just make me want to keep playing. Please? Perhaps better unlockable cars? I don't know.
hard to interpret what he means by sexier, but his reference to sounds in the game makes me think he wants things to be a bit more pronounced.
cant really remember what the sound effects in GT5 were like because i havent touched it since it released, bored me to death!
but allot of other racing games these days make it so hard to hear the engines.
forza horizon the perfect example, a brilliant game but the music and sound effects are so god dam loud you cant hear the cars!
even fiddling around with the settings and turn up the speakers as loud as they would go, you still dont get the bellow you would expect.
so if he means making the sound design a little more pronounced, a little more emphasised, and if that means making it louder than what it would be realistically, then so be it!
tis would be a great addition!
When I'm playing GT5, my race music is turned off, cause I need to hear the acceleration to shift, cause some of the cars are a little quiet. And when you buy a new car in GT5, don't tune it right away, take it for a few races in it's unaltered condition with all the help (ABS, Traction Control, etc..) turned off, you will hear the just too accurate engine sounds of the cars and you will feel it's handling.
I think i'd like to see a girl wearing little clothing and waving a flag to signify the 'Go!'
If they can simulate car damages and make it more realistic that it really affects the cars handling and if they can also simulate epic crashes with all the pieces of the cars flying around the race track, then that's what I want. A true car race simulation game in every tiny details.
Please don't make it look like Forza and Need for Speed, stick to authenticity and realism.
Last edited by homura on 11/5/2012 4:21:01 AM
I think some of you guys are taking it too literal in what he means by "sexier." To me it means more appealing, and that doesn't automatically translate to less realistic in every aspect of the series. I think it's only referring to the minor parts of the game, that eventually adds up to the overall appeal of the game's presentation, not physics or gameplay.
If I was him I wouldn't change anything sexier, leave it how it is, a real feel simulator game.
Lets see, things you could do without altering the 'sim' nature of the game?
Vinyls,
Paint effects for car and wheels,
Slightly enhanced engine noise/tire noise/etc…
More cockpit views (though I don't use them myself).
Flashier photo & video modes during races and playback.
Expand Arcade mode to allow players to play the game in sim mode or arcade mode. In other words, all the races and events you do to earn your trophies, you should have the option to run the game in it's real simulation mode where race tracks look as barren as race tracks should. But, also have the option to run the races with heightened sound effects and visuals, and maybe a few more bells and whistles (even including the track girls) in an arcade mode that retains the simulation physics models, but allows the gamer to have much more flashy visuals and sounds.
I think it's important to retain the real driving simulator name and philosophy for the underlying game so that those that want that more realistic presentation have it, but at the same time allow those that want a flashier game to have the same driving experience with a visual feast as well.
It'd even be worth allowing players to select the physical track conditions for the actual driving conditions and model, as well as allowing them to select a separate set of weather conditions for the visuals, so you can race on what behaves like a dry track in ideal conditions and yet have a raging blizzard onscreen (or tropical downpour, or whatever else you feel like driving through). They already do this with the damage, you can have the damage on or off, and it can affect handling or not. While I'm talking about the damage, the graphical representation of damage needs to be improved also – although personally I like my pristine cars that never show any dents.
But, I want the core of the game to remain as it always has been – the real driving simulator.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 11/5/2012 1:12:57 PM
Yah, for me the whole appeal is that it is the most accurate offering of it's kind. If I felt it wasn't as preceivably close to representing real car driving as it is I wouldn't care much to play it. I'd just as well play a "fun" arcade racer with over-the-top antics. I like those, but I want my sim to feel like a sim, nothing else.
honestly just let us customize the cars like Midnight Club: Dub Ed. & I'll be happy as hell
I hope they don't go for the sexier sound. I love how accurate they are making this and u can really hear cars that sound like shit and those who dont which is awesome imo