Early Info on Gran Turismo 5’s “Course Maker”

Remember the track editor our inside man, amar212, told you about all the way back in April of 2009? It’s now been officially revealed, and IGN is first to give a few hints of what’s in store for this interesting new feature.

Rather than being a fully featured editor – a feature that, Yamauchi confessed, was tinkered with but deemed too complex – the course maker allows players to select certain set parameters to create a track. A theme can be selected, with the Belgian High Fens or Toscana two examples, and the individual track sectors are then defined.

Sectors are edited individually, with frequency of curves, sharpness of corners, degree of topography and banking angle are set with a series of sliders.

Catch the full article right here. We’ll have more details once the press embargos have been lifted!

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Comments (59)

  1. SZRT Ice

    I just want to be able to create tunnels, bridges, and roads along the water… Be able to race under a bridge, loop around and later cross it… Not a small bridge either, like the George Washington 2 level bridge (PGR3) or Golden Gate Bridge, Or like the Lincoln Tunnel… That would be some sick stuff. A highway along the water like the FDR drive(New York/Google for images)that runs under skyscrapers. Uh, that would be awesome… But… This game will rock regardless…

  2. Sam__ NY

    So the Tuscany Rally track was made by Kaz using the course maker? If that’s true, it looks excellent.

  3. falango

    Also, the name “course maker” doesn’t mean custom editor. It sounds more like a random generator based on these sliders. The “editor” sounds like it’s the complex version that got cut.

  4. falango

    So I can assume that the course editor will be limited to rally stages. It wouldn’t make sense to see these options on road and race courses. On top of that, the lap validation system would never work either.

    1. Bernd

      I’m sure, some spys from MS – I know, there are some in Cologne – clandestinly crushed their cell-phones in their pockets, after visiting the SONY/PD-stand, harharhar

  5. TokyoDrift

    Anybody could have speculated on the likelihood of some form of editor. It’s either in, or not. 50:50. Chances are, something would make it in given that that Forza 3 doesn’t have one at all.

  6. r35-vspec

    Sectors are edited individually, with frequency of curves, sharpness of corners, degree of topography and banking angle are set with a series of sliders.

    wow .. wow .. wow .. hey hey wait. I’m gonna make my own so called “Proving Grounds” test track in order to improve my skills further

  7. JustCause

    Ill use it to make a test track with a 5 mile straight and lots of bends. Lets see if I can 253MPH from a veyron on my test track.

  8. NBH

    I remember a similar thing back on my Amiga on Lotus turbo challenge 3 where you set the style of the track, whether it was a lap or point to point then you adjusted steepness, amount of turns, sharpness of turns etc and it generated a code. If you gave the code to a friend they could type it in and play the track you made.

    I hope it’s a bit more involved than that as you didn’t really have any control over the track ie left hand bend followed by tight right etc to feel like you were designing your own circuit.

  9. Lee

    Oh jolly good, looks like i’ll be making the Mas du Clos circuit from that F40lm video with jaques laffite driving…..or even the “Rendezvous” route in Paris…..or even the SüdSchleife….and on and on and on…..wahooooooo

  10. Sticro

    Thats great, we will have a lot of rally stages!
    But I hope we can make a 10km straight for testing top speed
    on tarmac…

  11. JustCause

    Whats even more pathetic is that you call the editor pathetic without knowing what the editor is like or before even using it.

  12. Craigles

    They know that the community can create great stuff if you give the right tools eg. (lbp modnation racers) and yet they go for a half-assed version because they think its too complex. Pethetic

    1. danielwhite74

      What’s pathetic is the fact that you liken Gran Turismo 5 to ModNation Racers. It’s nobody’s fault but your own that you were expecting this game to include developer-grade environment creation software. XD

    1. VeyronGlen

      I am so with you on that one. I was thinking the same actually as i love Donington Park and go there all the time and i would love to set some times in a Veyron or LP560-4 round there. I didn’t feel like it was good enough in SHIFT…

  13. Tim

    bit of a shame that we wont have a more advanced editor and have to work off a set of template themes , however the ability to create different rally stages is ok by me i have been interested in Rally ever since the late Colin Mcrae waved to me some years ago as he waited in the traffic at the spider island bridge in derby in his Subaru WRC car.

    1. Antony

      This is what we have got by the sounds of it.

      GT5’s Theme = V-Rally’s Country option.

      Your track will be built into a pre-built environment.

  14. BWX

    “This story is currently unavailable.” is what I see at the link for the full story right now..

    Did it say we can make rally stages? That would be sick.

  15. stickyfiddle

    Actually tho, The Belgian High Fens are an area around Liege, not far from Spa. Perhaps we will be getting Eau Rouge after all…? Please please please please please please please please please ….!!

    1. FDM73

      We get Spa for sure. If PD is coming from Japan to Belgium to create the High Fens to also been on Spa-Francorchamps to recreated te track (and Zolder ofcourse).

    2. Gejost

      I really hope Zolder is included, I live a few miles from that track. I’ve visited it so many times, it would be great to be able to race on it in GT5.

  16. stickyfiddle

    So we can’t make Spa Francorchamps, but we can make infinite numbers of rally stages? That’ll do :)

    1. Hentis

      They are not saying you cannot make a cirucit.
      But having said that about Belgian Fens, it kinda gives the game away that perhaps Spa francochamps track is actually in the game, does it not?

  17. Missed_the_Apex

    Figured that is what the track editor would be like, and to be honest, thats what I was hoping for. A full fledged track editor like Mod Nation or something like that would never look great, and would just be too complex to actually get done, which is basically what Kaz was talking about.

  18. phosphor112

    I think Kazunori should release the “Complex” version they were working on.

    As proof with LBP and Starcraft 2 Editor, people will make complicated things with even the simplest tools.

    I’m also sure if they released the complex version, lots of PC sim racers and modders would come look at GT5.

    1. Hentis

      The track eitor looks promising to be honest. yes its all done paremter based but the results can be even more stunning. it gives you the materials to sue and you design what you can using those materials. I have an idea and its one that takes me back to my first Scalextric set I had!!!

      Hmmmmm

    2. Rotard12a

      PD stated that each track for GT5 took an average of 2 years to make. That’s when it’s somebody’s full time job.

      I’ll take the simple one.

      Anyway, I’m sure saying it was too complex to pull off for GT5, not too complex for us simple minded gamers to use.

    3. Vulcao

      GT tracks took 2 years to be made including the buildings, the monuments (“statues”) etc. PD wouldn’t give us a software to model buildings in the game (I guess, lol). Therefore, creating tracks wouldn’t take so long.

      I’d like to see the complex editor in the game. As phosphor112 said, people make very complex creations in LBP for example. On the other hand, I trust PD. I know they will give us a great editor anyway.

  19. MarcoGT5

    Seems good pretty good to me, if it was a fully featured editor it would just take too long to make anyway and it’s better than no editor, yet another feature to make this game great.

    1. jimbo

      no doubt the first thing everyone will do is put all the sliders on maximum and see what sort of hell comes out :D

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