So how do you drive from the bridge at the bottom "new bridge" to the one ot top "old bridge" ? .. unless theres a tunnel under some of the buildings in the mid-left.
Check Google maps, it's pretty obvious how it's possible.
Although it's not likely to be high speed, and it might be more feasible on a scooter or something!
Besides, that bridge was part of the original link between both sides of the cleft (something about royalty), they don't call the big'un "new bridge" for nothing.
If you look at the water mass/dam over the hills (posted by CoolColJ), it looks quite large in comparison to the real overhead map image posted by Griffith500. So I think the area 'as far as the eye can see' in the game is 100x100 kms, and not the usable part. Because if you could use the 100x100 kms area it means that extra space is needed for the background. You can't have blank invisible walls. Think of the surrounding area of the X track.
Good point; saddening that they would do that, though; sure the background scenery extends for that much (Route X is a great example; I was thinking it was probably a test for this stuff yesterday), but they should be quoting the usable area only. In ARMA 2, for instance, the "wilderness" around Chernarus extends infinitely (in theory), but there's bugger all to see or do there - it's really not part of the game's (designed) area. The same is true of the Elder Scrolls games, too.
As for the roads on top, your right, they look more defined and large. But no one mentioned how they were inter-connected. So would we have the ability to inter-connect the roads ? .. and have tunnels going under some, and bridges going over others ? .. If only the 1st part was true, then it's as free-roam as you can get with a cherry on top (customization).
I doubt they would just randomly create structures out of nowhere just to satisfy the desire to connect
this road to
that one all the way over there. I think the interconnection will be fixed. It'd be entertaining if they did allow such modification, though.
Something that occurred to me (and really ought to have sooner) is that they're using photographs for the "distant" stuff; surely, then, those distant roads would be at the same detail level as the rest of the background, if that's all they were? The fact that they drew polygons for the roads over the background should be telling (they didn't for Citta di Aria, for instance) - and that "behaviour" seems to extend a good 2 miles (going by features in the shots and the maps; notably the partially paved road that loops around the west of the city at about 1 km out - that's the one running from extreme left, above the building line, to the right in the screen above). So we're probably looking at something within the green circle, in terms of driveable area.
I guess from what
has been said so far about the new course creator (it being fundamentally different, etc.), there's two different ways they could have implemented it:
- They have modelled an area of landscape (however large it is), and tracks can be laid all over it. This would be very similar though to what exists in GT5, except maybe the randomness could have been taken out. In that case, they would have to find some way to connect those invented roads e.g. with the fixed ones through the city of Ronda.
- They modelled a whole area including some of the real world roads, and you're free to combine them any which way you want. The number of possible tracks would be much more limited, of course. This would also be great to use, if a whole part of a city is modelled and you could just lay a track in any way you want.
Can't wait to hear what it's going to be like though, come TGS.
It's likely both; Kaz said that the old creator (style) isn't going anywhere, but the algorithm has been revamped. This means we'll get trad. (lol) course generator tracks over a much larger area, probably on a generated terrain with whatever new control that brings,
and we'll get pre-defined areas (Ronda first, others via DLC) with roads already on in which to choose a course (or, hopefully, just amble about in) as a separate system. Can't wait to try it for myself!
It's interesting how wrong I seem to have been regarding the Premium car count in GT6 (so far; I could still be close with 600); I guess all those modelers etc. were doing something else instead...