Are Fictional Courses Good for the Gran Turismo Series?

[Rage Racer]

I want Red Rock Valley, Special Stage Route 11 and Complex String be back to GT5! Particulary the last one, because it gives an ultimate challenge to the car and your driving skills! It has many different types of corners giving a unique expierence! Tracks may be fictional, but they must be challenging. For example, all tracks in Forza 2 are real, but they are flat and too similar, and game isn't good because of this. A driving simulator must give us joy of driving, no matter the courses real or fictional.

 

[Sureboss]

They are very good for the series. Tracks like Grand Valley Speedway are vital to the success of the GT series. GVS is a fantastic race track, always yields good results and I can't wait to start racing on-line on GVS.

 

[ralph89]

Track that i really want for GT5 is the Complex String! I don't think I'm gonna need another track if it comes to GT5, plus add the great physics on top of that.

But to add some for specific cars..

Red Rock : GP cars
Special Stage 11 : GT cars
Grand Valley Speedway : Production cars
Deep Forrest : D1 cars

I hope PD is reading here in GTplanet to get lots of ideas.

 

[mutzley]

Are fictional courses good for GT? Simple question for everyone to answer this question. When you choose a car, buy your upgrades and take it to a track to do your basic set-up and get a feel for how the car handles, which tracks do you go to? I can bet large amounts of folding stuff more then 90% of the answers will be one of the fictional tracks. And depending on which version of GT you are playing (1,2,3,4 or 5r) the answer might not be GVS, AR or TM. The question then becomes why. Personally I think the fictional courses seem to flow better.

 

[Messiah]

Are fictional courses good for GT?

Personally, No.

Real circuits are designed by professional course designers. Fictional tracks are designed by computer nerds!

Fictional tracks are just a way of getting a good looking location into the game, something different from say Monza, Spa or Nordschleife - which are all tracks with trees down both sides and not much to look at otherwise.

City tracks don't work for me either as they're too limited by the constraints of whats already there - I enjoy games like PGR as they do make decent locations for arcade games but not for sim racers.

On the flip side, I don't like city tracks that are now real-life race tracks, such as Valencia in F1 - what a boring track that is, it's nothing but a collection of concrete walls... 👎

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Real circuits are designed by professional course designers. Fictional tracks are designed by computer nerds!

These days race track designers spend a lot of time behind a computer screen too.


I'm all for fictional circuits. The designers have freedom to create almost anything they want without some of the restrictions faced in real life (safety, money, the right location, etc.), which is great for us video game fans.

 

[MasterDriver]

Fictional courses are good as they give us the chance to drive courses that would never be built in real life. Real life courses, with a few exceptions, are safe, wide tracks, and are full of chicanes to slow the cars down. This makes most of them boring, (or not as good as their previous, unchicaned, original versions).

A fictional track can have rocky outcrops right next to the racing line. They can have nearly flat out chicanes that make you fly headlong into a wall if you hit the kerb at the wrong angle. Trial Mountain, Deep Forest, El Capitan etc would all be laughed at by a health and safety committee if they were designed and built now for real, but they are interesting to drive because those "dangerous" features.

I dont see the problem with those tracks. Just remove the brush and rocks along the road and place sandpits. And I personally would rather the sandpits in real life then the trees. Thank you.

 

[Maggot666PL]

Sandtraps aren't safe either. Today it's all about paved "runways" .

 

[regnar]

Personally, No.

Real circuits are designed by professional course designers. Fictional tracks are designed by computer nerds!

Fictional tracks are just a way of getting a good looking location into the game, something different from say Monza, Spa or Nordschleife - which are all tracks with trees down both sides and not much to look at otherwise.

Fictional tracks such as Trial Mountain, Grand Valley etc., where designed almost 15 years ago. At a time where there was a different approach to designing tracks. These tracks will be with GT, because of nostalgia & because they are fun to drive on. If they where designed today, a different approach maybe taken by PD. Some times fictional tracks & fantasy tracks are looked at the same. But they are different, example a fantasy track would be Trial Mountain, a fictional track would be Apricot Hill Raceway. Now PD could make attempt to make tracks like Trial Mountain more believable by moving the rocks further away from the track, leaving run-off areas, adding blocked of sections of the road to makes us believe the track was part of a highway that had been closed for racing, thus all the bridges and tunnels would make since.

The current game designers these days work much closer with track engineers & car manufactures & could design a fictional track that would be mistaken for a real one.

 

[mrjoe]

I want this fictional course on gt :

 

[mutzley]

I think my first scalextrix track had the same layout!

 

[paulpg87]

I'm interested only in Monza, Spa, Nurbur, Silverstone,Suzuka than they can put all fictionl tracks they want to that sometimes are better than real tracks... i hope that they erase the fictional rally tracks from previous games cause they suck.. with WRC there must be some real rally tracks.

 

[Slurm]

That course looks bloody sweet mrjoe

I love GT's fictional courses. I like their fictional cars too. In short, they seem to be very good at making up cool stuff, and I hope they continue forever. I think they've been striking a perfect balance so far. El Capitan - MWAHHH!!

also, I played on GT3's SSR11 recently and I found it a woeful experience, which is odd, because I remember it so fondly.

 

[Mubble]

Just to dig up an old thread...

This video is the exact reason why, for me, fictional courses are more fun than real-life courses in GT5. I was talking to my mate the other day (he's an xBox owner) and I was saying I hope GT5 and Forza 3 have some kind of mountain drift pass/track.

Next thing I know, I discover this vid of Forza 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb1B5SIOPzg&

Just incredible. I'm praying GT5 has something similar, but I very much doubt it somehow.

 

[Tapey]

I love the fictional courses of the GT series, they add character to the game, are well designed and just fun to race on. I would love to see PD design some long winding Japanese mountain road tracks, similar to the Forza 3 one which is obviously very inspired by stuff like Initial D. I'm kinda surprised there aren't tracks like that already in the GT games to be honest.

 

[Dan_]

Anyone here knows if Red Rock Valley is back in GT5?

I think that RRV is more exciting than High Speed Ring when it comes to high speed racing challenges.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Nope, no infos, would like to see it back though.

 

[Strittan]

I've been playing GT since the first game back in 1998, but I couldn't care less about fictional courses.

 

[Johnny]

I hope to see a mix. The fictional tracks created by PD (all of them) must continue in GT, including some forgotten by them like Red Rock Valley and Special Stage Route 11.

But i think the addition of real tracks help GT become more complete.

 

[Pitracer100]

I've been playing GT since the first game back in 1998, but I couldn't care less about fictional courses.

What! GT without fictional tracks would be a hard concept to swallow.

 

[JohnBM01]

You know, I'm very glad my ideas and such still are talked about. Really glad that my ideas have caught on in any such way. Even just got a comment on the YouTube video I did.

Just to say it again- I think fictional courses are great for GT for the simple purpose of game developers create fictional courses for expressing the creativity of the developer. Think about it. These tracks may be disliked because they are not real, but these fictional courses give some identity to the game developer and shows they can make more individual tracks to offer experiences no other racing game can provide. Sure, dislike fictional courses because they seem unrealistic and that they don't exist. However, most of these tracks can be just as fun as even the best real courses. I think of this more as identity and individuality rather than not having the courage to bring more real tracks to a game.



I answered my own question in my own thread! Keep this thread moving, people!

 

[Darla Starch]

My first Gran Turismo experience was on a fictional track (GT2, yellow Corvette C4, Midfield Normal), so I'm kind of biased towards keeping the fictional tracks in the game. Not just that, but bringing back the previously deleted fictional tracks, along with adding a few new ones.

 

[Seismica]

The fictional tracks helped make the game what it is. They should continually update them graphically to keep up, and they should always be in the game.

 

[Heath_1]

but bringing back the previously deleted fictional tracks, along with adding a few new ones.

Such as Red rock Valley!! I love that track. If I'm honest. my favourite track of Gran Turismo has to be Grand Valley. like others have said it's made Gran Turismo what it is.

 

[Dan_]

I'm glad that everybody is claiming the return of RRV

UNISIA Jecs Skyline R33, the perfect car for that track....as well escudo can't be considered a car.......

 

[Seismica]

escudo can't be considered a car.......

As far as i know, it has 4 wheels and an internal combustion engine

 

[TorqueHappenS08]

Fictional courses Define your game, Any Game can have Factual courses. It gives players something to marvel at when a new rendition of the game is produced, It can be called history and a defying track, Track's that always have a home in the game.

 

[Smoke&Slide]

I wouldn't mind seeing tracks ( roads really ) with stunning scenery like lakes, rivers, waterfalls, ponds and seas etc & bring colour to the trackside scenery too.With the weather talk going on, would be great to see mist covered mountains & water.The original fictional tracks are ok, however i think new fictional tracks are in order with the non-fictional tracks.EPR is a great example, that shows tracks that are very beautiful for a PS2 game.The rain splashing effects on rivers is apparently very good too.Leaves litter the track, & that givies the feeling you are driving through a wooded area.

 

[Dan_]

As far as i know, it has 4 wheels and an internal combustion engine

Hahahahaha, all right, no one can stand against Google....

But i've read in GT2 ( in the car description) that escudo has two engines, but i never confirmed the information....i really dislike the escudo, if you want to know, ruf CTR yellow bird '87 is a real car, a true beast, very hard to drive on the ring....escudo is just traction and outstanding acceleration, you don't need tchnique to drive that thing....(oh sorry, i mean ...that car)

 

[Seismica]

Hahahahaha, all right, no one can stand against Google....

But i've read in GT2 ( in the car description) that escudo has two engines, but i never confirmed the information....i really dislike the escudo, if you want to know, ruf CTR yellow bird '87 is a real car, a true beast, very hard to drive on the ring....escudo is just traction and outstanding acceleration, you don't need tchnique to drive that thing....(oh sorry, i mean ...that car)

I feel it was a little bit too good in GT2. I bet it feels like a train to handle on a regular tarmac circuit, mainly because the acceleration is so great that the braking zones seem to be several hundred metres long. I think they balanced it will in GT3 and 4. It is designed for uphill rally circuits so its the way it should be.