Well, their samples are crap, too, if they continue to use the same ones, they're going to have a hell of a time ever making them sound good.
I've been looking into engine sounds for the past 4 years, on and off, and I can tell you it takes a serious amount of research. In order to properly reproduce them, you need to understand their physical nature well beyond the usual studio-oriented sound recording approaches and naïve resynthesis methods. I've never bought so many books, or read as many technical papers, in my life.
Suffice it to say, if you think samples are all that's needed, you are missing most of the picture in your mind. The difference between naïvely used samples and a more in-depth approach applied properly would be like the difference between a simple, static textured background (e.g. a photograph, the analogue of a sound sample) and the interactive 3D scenery we have today.
The fact that he said
research, and that the key "sound guys" are credited under "sound
simulation" (there is a separate collection of sound
designers in the long ending movie) should say a lot about what's going on.
I wouldn't hold your breath for the PS3, a lot of the memory released by going down the adaptive tessellation route (only need one detailed model instead of a detailed model and all its different LoD versions) seems to have been applied to the graphics: i.e. higher-res textures, esp. shadow maps and reflection / image-based lighting maps. There's also likely to be little free processing power to get really creative.
In contrast, the (relatively) massive bandwidth, parallel computing power and memory of the PS4's hardware will be very interesting for the possibilities of sound generation. Perhaps this, among other things, is why Kaz is keen to pursue a PS4 version of GT6 rather than a brand new game.
