Racing Modifications in GT5: Sponsorship Discussion

GTPlanet, welcome to my discussion regarding sponsorship. There is no one thread truly focused on sponsorship. So unless there's another thread that's closest to actual discussion on sponsorship, then my most sincere apologies. The prospects on a Career Mode for GT5 can entail all sorts of things. So let it be my distinct honor to try to offer this thread for discussion of sponsorship in GT5 (if we have something to entail). Consider this a continuation of racing modifications since I'd want to be able to incorporate elements of Racing Modification into GT5's potential Career Mode. I'll come along with text and maybe some diagrams to talk more about sponsorship in GT5 and how it should work. Key areas I want you to focus on will be in colored text. So read on.

NOTE: This may be very long! Long, but detailed.





--- Sponsorship Basics ---
The costs of racing can be astronomically high. To help pay for most of the day-to-day expenses race teams have, teams look for sponsors to try to help pay for such expenses. Sponsors will be more than willing to sponsor your car and help get some exposure. Teams financially struggling will look for sponsors to try to help pay for the expenses race teams make.



--- The Sponsorship Process ---
There are two ways I think sponsorship can be acquired. The first way is for "scouts" to go to racing events and view your performance. You need to carry a great performance for the sponsors to actually notice you. You'll namely need to win or at least place consistently on the podium. The second method is to try and contact sponsors yourself. But beware- sponsors will have their own requirements. Some sponsors may even ask you clear certain objectives ranging from having a Super License, winning a certain race, completing a Time Trial within a certain time limit (like in Tourist Trophy), winning a championship series (the Sega GT method), or some other requirement. One example of special requirements is owning a few cars of a certain nationality or winning races with a certain nationality of car or a specific manufacturer. Now stay with me as I provide to you some working model about potential sponsorship in GT5.



MODEL 1: Sponsors Observe Progress and Want to Sign You
The first method is about having executives and representatives attend races and watch for talented drivers. I use the word "scout" loosely. Basically, these are people who represent local, national, and even international companies who attend races looking to sponsor drivers. These representatives would like to make sponsorship deals with you. The lower you are in Gran Turismo, the more people don't really care as much for sponsorship. The higher you are in Gran Turismo, the more companies would be willing to make you the marketing face of a company or service. This even includes the car companies you represent in more prestigious series.

When you start out, nobody knows you. The model that I'm thinking of is that big-name sponsors are less likely to attend events like Practice sessions, Track Meets, Photo Mode, and any other form of testing. It is also less likely that too many big-name sponsors will attend most Amateur events. It is more likely that big-name sponsors will attend larger races such as endurances, any round of the Gran Turismo World Championship, any prestigious or Professional-type race, or anything like that. Here is how the process works. Before each race in Simulation Mode, you can read a report of how representatives and executives are on hand to watch the race. An interesting idea would be to meet with some executives and representatives before or after the race. Your best chance to get exposure is when you win the race. Winning a race will give you some Charisma towards potentially meeting and acquiring sponsors. Your Charisma becomes greater if you win the championship. Assuming GT5 offers some sort of mail system in the game, you may receive a letter or E-Mail similar asking if you'd like to accept a sponsorship offer. Here are some examples. For the purpose of not sucking up to real sponsors, I'll use certain callsigns sponsor names. I'll use "Money" as the sponsor for the following mail example. The part about sponsor pay relates to an extra percentage of prize money for the payout in question. For example, if you race the Tuner Car Grand Prix and 1st Place is 15,000 credits, and if a sponsor will pay an extra 10% for placing first, then you'll win 15,000 Credits plus 1,500 extra credits from the sponsor. Your final winnings would come out to 16,500 Credits after the race is done. Cool, huh? Here is a sample piece of mail:

(great performance)
Dear (your name),

Hello to you, sir/madam. My name is (person's first and last name) representing Money. We were blown away by your ability to win the variety of races you've paricipated in. My company would like to meet with you in perhaps signing an agreement to sponsor you and your car. If you aren't sure what we do at Money, Money is a manufacturer of high-quality synthetic motor oil. We are great fans of racing and sponsor dozens of teams in a variety of series. We know that without oil, you can't win. So we do what we can to help lubricate parts and create quality oil to surpass a variety of race conditions. We are willing to sponsor your car and pay you money for exposing our brand and marketing it in racing. We are willing to award you an extra 10% to the payout for race wins and an extra 15% payout championship wins.

Let us know if you're willing to accept our offer.

Sincerely,
(person's first and last name)
(job position) of Money


Some sponsorship opportunities have residual value. I will use "Fat" as a generic name for a coment in this next mail sample. Take a look and see what I mean about residual value:

Dear (your name),

Hi, I am (person's first and last name), (job position) at Fat. We love nothing more but racers using our products to win races and championships. You're using some of our products to win. Fat provides tires for a variety of vehicles. We even sponsor racing teams and drivers. Having the right set of tires is just as important as proper suspension and aerodynamic tuning. We are willing to sponsor you as you progress through your racing career. We are willing to pay you an extra 10% from race win payouts and 10% extra pay for winning championships. In addition, all tire purchases will cost you 25% less. Since you're using our tires, we're willing to cut you a break.

Let us know when we can meet you to arrange sponsorship opportunities. Thank you.

Sincerely,
(person's first and last name)
(job position) of Fat


The model above would present you with discounts on things you purchase in the game. If Snow Tires (in this model) cost 22,500 credits and you get a 25% discount for the tires in question, you'll only have to pay 16,875 Credits for the Snow Tires. Also cool. The final kind of letter involves manufacturer-related material. Pretend you've won a number of races using Mazdas. Here is a sample sponsor letter regarding Mazda sponsoring you:

Dear (your name),

Hello, sir/madam. I am (person's name) representing Mazda and Mazdaspeed. You clearly dominated the Mazda RX Series One-Make championship with your RX-8. We are so pleased with your performance that we are offering you a sponsorship opportunity. Us here at Mazda will award you extra money for using our products and using our tuning parts. We may even offer you an opportunity to race some of our race cars as we compete in some of the world's toughest races and race series. With your good performance, we are willing to provide you a discount on purchasing our cars and using our tuning parts for your cars. The more of our material you use, the more we'll pay you for winning pole position, races, and championships. Help promote our brand, and we'll help you be knee-deep in extra cash. We want you do keep placing high in race events so that we can continue to sponsor you and your race team. Otherwise, we may have to pull your sponsorship and limit some of your discounts.

Thank you for racing our cars to victory. We hope for you to sign on with us to help expand your great racing career.

Sincerely,
(person's first and last name)
(job position) of Mazda


Sponsorship from car manufacturers and race constructors will help honor your successes and even give you a chance to race some great cars. There's another sort of situation that would entail some sponsorship help. Take a look at this sample letter. The generic callsign for this company will be "Sanctuary."


(need financial help)
Dear (your name),

Hello, (your name). I represent Sanctuary. You have a lot of talent. As stressful as building a race team is and as tough as it can be to produce in racing, everyone needs some help. Unfortunately, not enough sponsors are looking to help fund your efforts to potentially being a racing mega star. Money doesn't make the racer, but extra cash on board can seriously help. We're willing to sponsor you. We want you to be the racing superstar to match your potential. Sanctuary is a company that makes trendy clothes mostly geared towards teenagers and adolescents. Our focus is on the beach lifestyle. Sanctuary is also deeply involved in racing. We feel that motorsports can help expose a brand even as race fans pack the seats for a racing event. We'd like to help you get money and fund your racing career.

Let us know if you're interested. It is perhaps wise you acecpt our offer since not enough sponsors want to jump on board with you.

Sincerely,
(sponsor's name)
(sponsor's position) of Sanctuary





MODEL 2: Picking Sponsors Yourself
Maybe you know what sponsor you want to pick up and are willing to race hard to acheive getting that sponsor. Say you want to get Sony as your sponsor. Well depending on how big a sponsor, you're asking for some stringent requirements for most. You may be asked to complete time trials with a sponsored car, buy a certain car and win races with it, place a certain position or better for a consecutive number of races, or whatever the case. You may even have to have a certain license to be eligible to use such sponsors for cars. So don't think you're getting a huge sponsor with your B-License and with an inferior car in an inferior series. Imagine Hollister was a sponsor available in GT5. They could have requirements asking that you win every race in the Spider and Roadster series. Acheiving all requirements will land you sponsorship from the company you're going for.





--- Sponsor Involvement in Races ---
With the Family Cup in GT4, special one-off races can be created with winnings coming from the race sponsors. This can change with certain manufacturers sponsoring Family Cup races. There can be exhibition races you will be invited to with some money on the line. The main requirement is that the car features the main sponsor on the car. The easiest way to do that is to either place the race's sponsor on the hood of the car or along the sun visor. So if a race was sponsored by Mobil 1, you could either have the logo of the company across the hood of the car or along the sun visor with a vinyl sun visor sticker across the sun visor. The best recommended points the sponsor should be featured are along the hood, on the sun visor, and the rear bumper (or maybe even the rear trunk lid). Some of these sponsor races will pay you extra to win the single-day race. You will compete against other cars bearing the name of the sponsor. The series may make it fair that you compete with a certain car. Or, you could get a car to "borrow" with the sponsor logos. Think of the Toyota Pro Celebrity Race and being able to purchase a ready-made Toyota (they race Scion tC's nowadays) for the series. You can't keep it, but you do get prize money from the race sponsor of the if you place well. And of course, winning races give you that extra payout from the company sponsor.

Imagine every sanctioned race being sponsored by a certain company. Think of... "The Tokyo R246 Grand Prix Presented by Toyota," the "Honda Grand Prix of Laguna Seca," the "Gran Premio de Telefonica at Valencia," or even the "BMW Nürburgring Nordschleife 4-Hour Challenge." Sanctioned races would bear the name of a certain sponsor. Imagine racing at Twin Ring Motegi for a race sponsored by Honda. Win a race with a Honda-powered car, and you could get bigger pay from Honda for winning. If it is a series for domestic or international brands, you could be driving the winning car from the manufacturer who sponsors the race. You could win a Chevy-sponsored race with a Chevy Corvette in a Chevrolet-sponsored race beating out Dodge, Toyota, and BMW. You'd win some hefty extra money depending on the level of competition. Longer and more prestigious races will result in higher extra pay from sponsors.




It was a lot, but it's all detailed. What would be your ideas regarding sponsorship? Is there something I may have missed or screwed up on? This thread ties into my Racing Modifications thread as an extension. Feel free to share your ideas. In a later post, I'll put sponsorship into perspective by talking about another game.

wow. ok. believe it or not i did read all that. first thing. I MOST definately feel that sponsorships would be a good addition to GT. BUT, money isnt exactly hard to come by in the GT series already. That innitial streach of the game, where your buying an el-cheapo car and making it work long enough untill you can buy something better, is the best part of GT, as far as "completeing the game" goes. That said, I do approve of sponsorships, preferably in the form of the first model you layed out in painfull detail, but it should be heald off untill after a few race wins, or the higher series.

PART TWO: Yes, i've said it before, but i do NOT think that sponsorships should be tied in, in ANY way with performance modifications, and this includes body mods, ala the "race modification" First of all, that would be unrealistic. it's called running without sponsors. not common, but not unheard of. Also, GT is not just about racing. sure the cars i race with will be plastered with sponsors eventualy but not the ones i build up as my own personal track toys.

So in conclusion, i will try to summarise the entire race mod / paint shop debate. Sponsorships? yes, Body mods? yes, Paint shop for repaints and fancy liveries? yes, Race modification? NO! Thank you, that is all.

It sounds like a glorified and extremely complicated TOCA Race driver career mode to me.

All the talk of extras and new features...I hear you, and yes, these things can be interesting at times, but IMO it isn't what Gran Turismo is about. If GT were to diversify so radically it would loose it's character and plunge into the void of 'other games' where nobody would remember it any more.
It's the racing that GT is ment to capture, and the racing that it is good at. Let's not spoil it by trying to make it too complicated, or adding in extras that do nothing but pull the game down.

We fell in love with GT because it's the best at what it does, and it still is. Streamline what we enjoy now and add what should be added...... but dont ruin the accessibility that makes this game franchise appeal to such a broad audience.
I think 9/10 people buy GT to "play" the game. What you're describing would force everyone to "live" the game. It's a thumbs down from me I'm afraid.

I'm sure many would disagree with my view, but that's how I see it.

EDIT:

inferno

That innitial streach of the game, where your buying an el-cheapo car and making it work long enough untill you can buy something better, is the best part of GT, as far as "completeing the game" goes.

Click to expand...

I was trying to say it, but just couldn't put it in words! It's a great way do things, and I think that you would lose a large chunk of the game's soul if you let sponsership get in the way. ^ Inferno's above quote completes my thoughts

I, too, would like the "just go racing" aspect. But you know there are those who think GT should be more like a racing sim more than a non-linear racing game. I've made threads in the past for GT4 (and even GT5) about making this series more into a pure racer rather than this classical element. My username title says "Lead by Inspiration." Well, this is inspired a bit by Forza and a game I'll discuss later. The Forza series inspiration came from the decal placement feature present in FM1 as well as FM2. I thought the idea of sponsorship would make this game a bit more towards a true racing sim without making it too much of a racing sim. A quote I made in the past is that Gran Turismo is not the ToCA Race Driver series. I create threads like this because I don't really know what fans here on GTPlanet want with the GT series. Some say "just enhance the racing, and I'll be fine." I usually say "just keep doing what got you into the game and try to steadily improve upon the game without blowing it into proportions (I call this the "MegaMan Method")." Then some are like, "why do I have to keep racing crap cars just to get 100% percent? This needs to be a real racing game and not some phony baloney kids racing game." I mean... I just don't know. I do appreciate the responses I have been getting for this idea nonetheless.

Now on to putting sponsorship into perspective. The game I wanted to get across to you all was "Sega GT." Sega GT had some sponsors for you to acquire. My GT sponsorship idea was an extension of Sega GT's method. The way you got sponsorship in that game was that you won each race or championship. For each race win and championship win, sponsors you have will pay you extra for race wins. I tried to enhance the sponsor idea because I knew there were people who think this game should be more professional rather than (and I'm taking this from the thread concerning car-for-car, track-for-track, quality vs. quantity) a game with a mismatched flow and trying to stretch the game out into dimensions different from what was normally designed for. In Sega GT, you have sponsors you can acquire by winning the race, event, or championship the sponsor sponsors. I've gotten back into playing Sega GT recently. I currently have Pennzoil, McDonalds, excite, and Gumout. Here is a sample of how much I'm paid for race events in Sega GT:

--- Payout from Races Sample ---
Championship: 30,000
Pole Position: 1,000
Finish: 3,000; 1,000; 800, 500, 300, 100

Sponsor Pay with This Example:
Championship (don't get paid anything if you don't win every race)
Pole Position: (nothing)
Race Win: 1,000 from each sponsor
Chain Bonus (winning consecutive races): 1,000


It's not like the sponsors try and hassle you, but I tried to take the idea further because I know someone is going to want a real racing experience while still being in the realm of GT. I apologize if I tried to take the idea extremely far. Again, people complain the GT series is a good game that could be better. A number of things people hated, I tried to defend because I'm more open about certain ideas.

Finally... where does Racing Modifications tie in? I think you can take racing sponsors you've obtained and add them to your car. You may even make one specific make your primary sponsor while having the other sponsors as contingency sponsors. Basically, I'm trying to enhance the idea of Racing Modifications by allowing you all to make the sort of race car you dream of. Even in the early stages, you can still dress up your car with just some manufacturer decals. I know I use "Racing Modification" loosely. But this is where I'm going with it all.

Despite most of the negative points, I appreciate your comments. Carry on.

I, contrary to most of the views on here, would like this in addition to the normal GT mode. The GT mode, to me, sometimes becomes tedious. It's simply win a race get a car, win a race get a car, and so on and so forth. With something like this, I feel that it would possibly give the player some emotional involvement. I think it would be pretty cool to win a couple races and then get sponsored by some company. It would add a sense of accomplisment to the game. However, it would only work with some type of "career mode".

-> The sponsorship process is a great idea, you will get some sponsorship based on your overall performance on that certain race series. That will make the entire GT and/or Career mode much more rewarding.

-> On the Career mode, I'd like to start with a race car that has a <Plain Body> paint scheme:



^ Just as I imply it on my wish list on the other thread, I'd like to see GT implement a way for anyone to earn the much loved [R] badge, not just buying through like a piece of accesory.



(:

Personally, I like the idea. GT's non-linear form can get boring at times, and it can be way too easy to get money very quickly. Plus, picking sponsorships would be cool way to customize your race cars. You don't have to have the same Minolta 88C-V as everyone else. Maybe you can go with someone who'll paint it red and black, or something.

A good way to implement it would be to choose what cars are included in said sponsorships. You may be racer for XYZ Co., but maybe you want to take your personal Lotus for track day at a one-make race. You can then run around in your unmolested (whatever color you chose) Lotus. Same can go with other cars. Or, you can have all your non-specialty cars don the paint scheme of XYZ Co., if you are so inclined to do so.

GT's goal has always been realistic racing, so why not include, to some extent, sponsorships? They are such an integral part of pro racing, why not have it in he game to some degree?

GT4 isn't easy in getting money. For 3,500,000 Credits or 4,500,000 Credits, you get the best race cars available. You're proud to even have 2,000,000 to burn in GT2 and GT3. But 2,000,000 in GT2 can get you two Nissan R390 Road Cars, two of those Gillet Vertigo GT machines, four of any car that costs 500K flat, and... you get the idea? I think if PD wants to be realistic, then just make the cars almost what they'd cost in real life. Assume Porsche's in GT5 as well as the Porsche 911 GT1. In an old edition of Road and Track magazine, it's as tested or base price is the American equivalent of $1,000,000.

As for the issue of sponsorship, I don't want it (as mentioned before) to be a hardcore racing sim. PD will need to come up with some real racing concepts without making the game feel more like a true, career-oriented, hardcore simulation. This would be the challenge for PD in that regard. One person made a great point about taking pure race cars and modifying them as best as possible. I think it would be best if one of either two things happen in regards to making GT5 work on the Racing Modification and sponsorship fronts:

1.) The game allows you to create custom race cars that you can modify to a certain degree. Take a car and either turn it into a race car (this would disqualify your car from Production Car Only events), or build a completely seperate race car as close or as far from original specification as possible. The blank car can be used to be painted up any way you choose, even with sponsor involvement.

2.) have (in addition to the first entry) customer race cars < https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=65022 > available. These are ready-made race cars available for purchase like the Lotus Motorsport Elise and Ferrari F430GT. An interesting caveat to this is that ready-made and non-sponsored purpose-built race cars (rally cars, LMP cars, GTP cars, single-seater formula cars, etc.) would be available for sale and modification. I don't have any of the black race cars talked religiously in GT4, so I can't comment on that front.

So how does modifying ready-made cars tie into sponsorship? Allow me to demonstrate by "borrowing" some pictures from the GTPlanet gallery on GT4. Study the car from the GT Concept gallery (I couldn't find a great GT4 example): < https://www.gtplanet.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=6&pos=138 >. That is the Honda NSX-R Prototype LM Race Car. It is the #11 Kenwood NSX for our money. Kenwood is the key sponsor, but there are also Spark, Elf, and Honda included as sponsors. Wouldn't you want to be able to modify the driver number, change up the sponsors on the car, or make your own race car with completely customizable artwork and body paint work? It's the same race car... only colored and sponsored your way. Or take the LM Race Car models which feature Gran Turismo, Polyphony Digital, and Castrol as sponsors. Imagine being able to replace the Gran Turismo and Polyphony Digital decals (unless you want a Castrol-sponsored car) with sponsors you've acquired onto your custom-made race cars and race-only cars. I just think this is a better step towards designing your dream race car.

Another option I've been thinking of was the option to make a specific sponsor or paintstyle as the default racing model for all of your cars. So if your team paintscheme style is like the 2000 Viper GTS-R by Team Oreca (red with two white stripes), then you can elect to paint up all race cars (or any car in your possession that can be modified with the same default color scheme. You don't have to paint up all cars the same way with the same look. You may choose the same color scheme and choose different colors (take the Team Oreca 2000 example and instead of red with white stripes, paint cars royal blue with white stripes) or even come up with a totally different style. It's all up to you.

As a final note, you can still design a car with sponsors even if it isn't a fully-modified racing machine. You could take a car in stock trim and design it up. This even applies if your car is more of a tuner car than a race car (not that I would advocate non-functional bodykits for GT5). Feel free to carry on with your ideas or responding to my comments.

This concept was actually used (not to my satisfaction) in the first Forza game... You'd make it to a certain point and upgrades would be reduced in price. It worked well.

If I could setup the system used...

I'd allow time trials for each company or goals in certain races that companies would be watching (so to speak). Win the race and win the sponsorship. 👍

However, to change things up a bit and get something right (IMO). I'd make it so the decal editor could only use the decals of companies who sponsored races you had won. By the end of the game every decal would be availible to you on every car. 👍

I may even go so far as to have race mod packages that will paint the entire car with one scheme (instead of only using an editor).

The sponsorship idea is great but I really doubt GT will deliver on this aspect. GT5 has a few areas that really concern me but a working sponsorship system isn't high on my wish list.

This was actually put forward in part of a Career Mode discussion by JohnBM01, TVR/Dave A, me and... jeepers, someone else - sorry I forgot who you are. Needless to say I love this idea, in the context of a true Career Mode.

Like 3-Wheel Drive, I find classic GT Mode tedious at times. I do prefer the idea of the LONG game, and I spent 13 months going through EVERY thing GT4 had to offer short of endurance races. Unfortunately that involved some stuff I didn't enjoy quite as much, such as low powered manufacturers cup and truck races. I still wanted to go through it if only once, and after that, there was plenty to enjoy. But sometime in 2005, I got the insane idea to go all the way and include in Gran Turismo the sim aspect of a season mode. And then I took it all the way to a full blown Career Mode where you play out the real life career path of a youth wanting to make it in the big leagues. Of course you'd have to start in the enthusiast leagues where people drive their beaters or sports cars in weekend races for small prizes. But that's how Gran Turismo games have always started anyway.

Because such a sim aspect locks you into a fixed schedule with no flexibility, I thought having classic Arcade and GT Modes available would be cool. Anytime you wanted a break from your "job," you could hop into the other modes, grab a car and just race for fun. Also, because Career Mode isn't anything like classic GT Mode where you get to collect lots of prize cars, both modes should be included. Likewise, trying to make GT Mode into something of a Career Mode would just muddle things up too much and be unsatisfactory.

I'd really like to see Gran Turismo 5 offer this more or less real life aspect of a Career Mode along with the other two classic modes. I think something like John's ideas in this thread would be an excellent addition to the GT tradition. And if you didn't want to mess with it, you wouldn't have to. But for those of us who want to live out a "virtual racing life," this would be heaven. The cars in these racing games get those decals, numbers and drivers' names on them because they started from nothing and as John says, they fought to make it to the head of the pack where one sponsor or other fought to get their decals on those cars. I really want to make that happen for my own race car, with a paint job that I design from scratch. It's close to that with Forza and Sega GT, and I think Kazunori-dono can make this concept a work of art.

Think about this as a quick post... assuming we get 20 cars to a track (24 is almost perfect for me), starting from 24th to win the race is enough to impress ANYBODY. Imagine having to do it consistently (assume qualifying is only for championships like in GT4). By then, you'll have some bigtime sponsor help even in the early stages.

Racing Modifications with cars would be like the number plate number deal in Tourist Trophy. I say the range of numbers should be from 0 to 99. Or maybe up to 999 (some race cars have triple-digit numbers). You'd have the option to add a driver number for street (and maybe most tuner) cars.

Now here's a question I'd like to ask you in regards to racing sponsors. Having cars sponsored by Gran Turismo or Polyphony Digital would be completely generic to most people. But in the case of the Pescarolos at Le Mans with PS2 and GT sponsorship...

Do you think Gran Turismo and Polyphony Digital should be added as sponsors for you to obtain?

Or look at it like this. You really have to play through Tourist Trophy to get the special Tourist Trophy motorcycle suit. I don't have it for that game, but the best I have is that suit worn by Valentino Rossi. Anyhow... do you think GT and/or Polyphony Digital should be available as sponsors to win?

JohnBM01

Do you think Gran Turismo and Polyphony Digital should be added as sponsors for you to obtain?

Click to expand...

John, I think that's crazy, outrageous, and PERFECT! Polyphony could be a/the prestige sponsor, like Mobil 1. What a guy!

The Vanishing Boy

Click to expand...

Give this man a cookie.

Thats what i'm talking about. But let us imagine that we arrive there by starting with a stock BMW 3 series, and by the time we are finished upgrading the car with every perfomance mod GT has to offer the same way we do now, (including, body mods, and GT4's "wing" etc) we get that ^ this is what most of my cars would be like, athough, probably not white.

and for the cash cars, (aka the ones i race with) they end up looking like this, so i can clean up on sponsorship bonuses:


That is, assuming the car has all the body and aero mods. if not, then just imagine a normal BMW 3 series with the same stickers on it. there we go.

ALSO:

people seem to be thinking that adding sponsorship and changing the game to a more linear format go hand in hand. Why? Sponsorship could easily be implemented in the current "GT mode" format. sponsorship offers could simply come as "game events" the same way the used car lots cycle. perhaps the "prestige" of the sponsors ship offers that you receive could be effected by the licences you hold, or simply, better sponsors come along as you win more races.

You could get offered sponsor decal to put on your car as you win races. Theres two main ways you can do it, you can go for sponsors offering to sponsor you and any car you drive, or sponsors sponsoring you and a particular car you drive. Say I win a couple of racing in a 306 coupe, I'll get offered a lower key sponsor that will pay me a little bit extra each time I win to put their name on the car. As I win more an omre races wit hthat car I get offers form bigger companies and bigger payments. Ocours you can have multiple sponsors on cars irl, so I see a good system as this. Have graded sponsorships, lets say 1-3

Level 1 sponsors are the first you'll get, they're usually smaller companies with smaller logos and will pay you smaller amount, you can have as many of these on your car as you want.
Level 2 sponsors are larger bettwe known comapnies that will pay you more, they will have larger logos and slogans etc and like Level 1 sponsors yo ucan have as many on a car as you like.
Level 3 sponsors would be main sponsors, these would be logos that could take up large portions of the car, they would also be reflected in the cars name, for example, in the GT500 the Pennzoil GT-R races against the Zexel GT-R, so now my 406 Coupe could become a Mobil 1 406 Coupe, a McDonalds 406 Coupe or a Red Bull 406 Coupe etc.

Here's where the idea branches, if I then change my car, can I still apply thoes sponsors to any other car. Personally, I think it would be a good incentive to use the cars you own more if you couldn't. It could (in principal) give you scond thoughts about keeping using that used FTO you bought and tuned early on for a bit longer. But

inferno

Give this man a cookie.

Thats what i'm talking about. But let us imagine that we arrive there by starting with a stock BMW 3 series, and by the time we are finished upgrading the car with every perfomance mod GT has to offer the same way we do now, (including, body mods, and GT4's "wing" etc) we get that ^ this is what most of my cars would be like, athough, probably not white.

and for the cash cars, (aka the ones i race with) they end up looking like this, so i can clean up on sponsorship bonuses:

That is, assuming the car has all the body and aero mods. if not, then just imagine a normal BMW 3 series with the same stickers on it. there we go.

ALSO:

people seem to be thinking that adding sponsorship and changing the game to a more linear format go hand in hand. Why? Sponsorship could easily be implemented in the current "GT mode" format. sponsorship offers could simply come as "game events" the same way the used car lots cycle. perhaps the "prestige" of the sponsors ship offers that you receive could be effected by the licences you hold, or simply, better sponsors come along as you win more races.

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^ Actually that is not the base Euro-spec 320i that you normally see on the road, thats the race-prepped version for the WTCC w/o any sponsors directly from BMW Motorsport. That car comes with a full aero kit, modified engine, roll cages, kill switch, etc.

Maybe they could tie it into an improved a-spec system. So if you race well and cleanly (presuming you loose a-spec points for off track excursions or hitting other cars) then you build up your rep as a "good" racer and get offered better sponsorships.

The Vanishing Boy

^ Actually that is not the base Euro-spec 320i that you normally see on the road, thats the race-prepped version for the WTCC w/o any sponsors directly from BMW Motorsport. That car comes with a full aero kit, modified engine, roll cages, kill switch, etc.

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Even so the race prepped version is still based on the road cars chassis and such. The point is, you can turn a road going car into a BTCC or WTCC spec race car, they are all based on the road going counterparts. It's silhouette racers like some GT500's and the DTM cars that you can't build from the road cars since they're not based on the road cars chassis or parts.

Dave A

Even so the race prepped version is still based on the road cars chassis and such. The point is, you can turn a road going car into a BTCC or WTCC spec race car, they are all based on the road going counterparts. It's silhouette racers like some GT500's and the DTM cars that you can't build from the road cars since they're not based on the road cars chassis or parts.

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What he said. ^

Let me tell you a funny thing about sponsorship from my Sega GT example. One of the sponsors in Sega GT is Ford Racing. Only one Ford is available in Sega GT (the Mustang Cobra R). There are no Chevrolet models in the original Sega GT (though there is a Carrozzeria model that resembles a Corvette), so you could get paid by Ford even if you're not racing the only Ford in the game! This would be like Ford Australia paying you for winning races in a Holden! Of course, we know the rivalry between Holden and Ford Australia.

I'd like for sponsorship to even be available to AI cars. PD will need to make an effort to create creatively-designed AI cars also adorned with sponsorship. Randomly-designed cars would be a stretch, but it would be interesting. Or imagine if single-player action had as many as 1,500 or (let's push) 5,000 different AI drivers of different levels. Each driver would be part of teams with specially-designed cars. * Imagine a One-Make series with single races limited to the Mazda 6. There may be cars that don't have too much sponsorship, but there should definitely be some cars with different sponsors. Only time more than one car of the same team colors and sponsors should be team cars (I'm working on a thread for team cars in the game. Stay tuned). So for example, assume GT5 has at least 20 cars to a track. You will not be able to see three extremly identical cars bearing the same number and the same paintscheme. This would be a problem in most races in Gran Turismo in which you may see the exact same race car with the same paintscheme and same number (think about seeing two Merecedes-Benz CLK-GTR's competiting in one race). And if PD wants to have some sort of teams represented in a race bearing the same sponsors, then the cars will need to have some distinguishable elements to tell one team car apart from another. Use the 2000 Petit Le Mans as an example. Team Oreca fielded three Dodge Viper GTS-Rs. The cars all look alike, but telling the cars apart came down to looking at their sun visor and their mirrors. The #91 Oreca Viper had the red sun visor with red mirrors, the #92 Oreca Viper had a white sunvisor with white mirrors, and the #93 Viper had the black sunvisor with black mirrors. They all look the same, but have different driver numbers as well as some sort of way to tell the cars apart. * But what if you competed in a series that was a championship? Obviously, there would be no random colorization of cars. What you see is what you get. Whatever cars are painted in GT5 usually last throughout a championship. Now if GT5 allows you to have special promotional cars to use in races, then you could be able to enter a different paintscheme car. The only fault would be if the races are run like touring car series or Super GT in which winning races gives your car handicap weight. I think the only time in which it isn't possible to have all the competitors with the same scheme is if a championship contender fails to qualify for a race or heavily crashed his/her car as someone else qualifies into the race. Imagine that only 20 cars make a show for GT5, but there's an entry list of 40 cars. Chances are that you may not make the race and lose a chance to pick up more valuable points. So you may see some differently-designed cars with all-new drivers.

The thing to draw from here is that unless fully-authentic cars are used, one shouldn't be able to see able to see the exact same race car used. So every competitor will be allowed to bring their own race cars to go compete in GT5 events. This would mean that every car would come complete with sponsorship and some fancy racing colors. There are some people who aren't particularly fond of extravagant racing colors. Take Formula D in which there is a classic Camaro painted up in Team Falken colors. Think about the classics and muscle car types who prefer a "keep it simple, stupid" approach. Most race cars before the 1980s didn't have wild and amazing sponsorship deals. I have pictures of a lot of race cars I've seen on various websites. One such example of a classic car without extravagant colors is the 1967 Ferrari 330 P4. The car, as featured in Forza Motorsport 1, features only some big circles with the driver number on it- #7. I had some disagreements in the "Racing Modifications in GT5: Discuss and Review" thread about taking a classic car and making it look radically different from stock. Well, I've seen some classic cars and older cars painted up with modern colors. Some still prefer the old vintage looks. I think you can still have some sponsorship help without having to have much in the way of big-name sponsors painted on the car. It would also be interesting if you could paint up older cars like it was actually an older car.

Sponsorship discussion in GT5 continues with your next post.

Here's a unique deal regarding sponsorship.

Sponsorship in Perspective: Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2
You go to pick up your car from the Used Car lot (preferred). Next thing you know it, you have a chance to pick up two sponsors. Applying stickers to your car is by way of 16 different hot spots. I have two sponsors in TXRD2- TakeOff and Yours. Here are a list of locations where the 16 stickers can be placed and how much the pay is (currency is CP) with the "TakeOff" sticker from the 16 hotspots:

* front of front bumper: 1,000 CP placed either on the left or right side (Points 1 and 2)
* sun visor: 10,000 CP (Point 3)
* driver-side 2nd row window: 3,000 CP placed either on the top side or bottom side (Points 4 and 5)
* driver-side door: 3,000 CP whether placed at the top, in the middle, or on the bottom (Points 6, 7, and 8)

* rear bumper: 1,000 regardless of it being placed on the left or right side. (NOTE: My test car is the Nissan Silvia S13, and the 10th point for sticker placement puts the sticker just above the right-side taillights) (Points 9 and 10

* top of rear windshield 7,000 CP (Point 11)
* passenger-side rear window: 3,000 CP placed either on the left or right side (Points 12 and 13)
* passenger-side door: 2,000 (Points 14, 15, and 16)

A rather dumb thing about this system is that you can't place the same sponsor on two parts of the car. So you can't place one sponsor on more than one part of the car. There's also the fact that you can't place the same sponsor in two related sections of the car.

Q: Could This Work in GT5?
A: Well, it does provide a general base for sponsorship. I'd certainly change up the process so that sides can mirror each other instead of only one sponsor on one part of the car. Most of the general elements do apply. Instead of sponsor placement on the passenger window (or on the front row windows for coupes), I'd replace that space with my name as well as the flag of the nation I represent. I would want to be able to place my name on the car as well as my sponsors.

Q: What qualities of TXRD2's method would make it work for GT5?
A: You receive funds from the sponsors you acquire through sponsor tests. You never have a true sponsor to last you through your racing career. You don't have a full primary sponsor. Instead, it's just decal placement. Only these decals wins you money with each race you win in the daytime. I just cleared Stage 2 in this game, and sponsors awarded me bonus money for clearing the stage in addition to a Stage Clear bonus. That's some mad paper! Something along these lines would work for GT5 without making GT5 a micromanagement sim.

That's all from me with this rather old post that's been resting in my *.rtf file containing posts I want to make.

Gashlycrumb

Maybe they could tie it into an improved a-spec system. So if you race well and cleanly (presuming you loose a-spec points for off track excursions or hitting other cars) then you build up your rep as a "good" racer and get offered better sponsorships.

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Plus rep this man! If this system were well-implemented, it would almost (note the choice of word: almost) be an acceptable replacement for damage.