Can There Be a Compromise for Better Driving Physics for GT5?

[TheCracker]

I'm pretty much sure that Best Motoring crew has more to do with Polyphony then you can even imagine .

"I don't know, i can imagine quite a bit"

(well it is international StarWars day!)

 

[JohnBM01]

May the force be with you, TheCracker. 👍

Someone would likely argue that if you want to hire a crew who probably know more about cars and realism, you may have to look to Europe. Best pick would likely to tag along with some British or German drivers to look into the realm of better driving physics. Something to remember about coming up with driving models is that driving models are different. A test driver can be more of a defensive driver who won't let her rip on the race course. Another test driver can be purely aggressive and see himself/herself into the sand traps a lot. Part of a compromise of more realistic physics is to follow the models of different driving styles. You don't want a model that's too easy because the hardcore types will have greater complaints to make about the driving model. You don't want a model that's too difficult because not as many people will adapt to the model successfully in order to land the best times and not make avoidable mistakes. So you'll have to have things more like The Three Bears (or do you remember this story from your child hood?). We're all the Goldilocks trying to find what is the just right driving model.

I think SimBin's award-winning GTR featured three levels of physics. Arcade is the simplest one with four levels of difficulty, Semi-Pro is sort of the Intermediate level of driving, which is just right for most gamers. Professional or Simulation is a mode Live4speed and others can GREATLY appreciate, as it is the toughest, most unforgiving, yet highly realistic driving model. By not racing on Arcade level, you have much more unforgiving characteristics to work with. Things you can get away with in Arcade Mode won't give you a free pass in the other two modes of play. Semi-Pro in GTR would sort of be the best level to make sure that GT gamer enjoys the game without completely unforgiving physics or completely baby-ish physics.

Let's say that GT5's driving model had the exact same physics as GTR's Semi-Pro level. Would Gran Turismo 5 be the best game in terms of driving physics? What if the driving model was derived from GTR's Arcade level? Pro-Simulation level?

 

[Tenacious D]

I know that this is a Gran Turismo thread, but I'm looking forward to some information in this regard from both Sony and Microsoft with their Forza franchise. I think both games can give race gamers everything they want in a racing experience with the sheer unbridled horsepower of the PS3 and 360. With the space available on disc, especially the PS3's Blu-Ray, it shouldn't be hard to code physics for two or more levels of realism. I do hope that in E3 that they do burnouts and donuts so that some of these people here will give those two games the time of day.

 

[Wolfe]

I think SimBin's award-winning GTR featured three levels of physics. Arcade is the simplest one with four levels of difficulty, Semi-Pro is sort of the Intermediate level of driving, which is just right for most gamers. Professional or Simulation is a mode Live4speed and others can GREATLY appreciate, as it is the toughest, most unforgiving, yet highly realistic driving model. By not racing on Arcade level, you have much more unforgiving characteristics to work with. Things you can get away with in Arcade Mode won't give you a free pass in the other two modes of play. Semi-Pro in GTR would sort of be the best level to make sure that GT gamer enjoys the game without completely unforgiving physics or completely baby-ish physics.

Let's say that GT5's driving model had the exact same physics as GTR's Semi-Pro level. Would Gran Turismo 5 be the best game in terms of driving physics? What if the driving model was derived from GTR's Arcade level? Pro-Simulation level?

Sorry, John, but GTR's "Arcade," "Semi-Pro," and "Pro" settings (or whatever GTR calls them, I don't remember) just control the driving aids and damage severity, not the physics. "Arcade" gives the player traction control and ABS, and crashes don't harm the car much. "Pro" takes away those driving aids and makes damage more realistic. "Semi-pro," of course, is somewhere inbetween.

GTR's physics remain the same through each mode.

 

[Tenacious D]

Well, jeepers, have to rethink my post.

I believe in all the Gran Turismos, if there is a different, more forgiving physics engine in Arcade Mode, the difference is very slight. As Wolfe indicates with GTR, maybe the physics engine isn't the issue with coming to grips with a racing game. And I agree with him. What I need in a racing game is to feel the car as completely as a videogame can make that kind of thing tangible, and to see the track very well so that I can anticipate turns and take them properly. I think that's all anyone really needs to come to terms with a racing game.

So maybe Gran Turismo 5 doesn't need to change the formula at all. In Arcade Mode, give the player the easy cars like the Celica and Trueno, the 240SX and RX-7, and trucks, sorry John , and work their way up to serious cars like the BMW 5 Series and Ferrari F355 Challenge, and race cars. And as in previous versions of GT, give us those darn driving tests to demonstrate how things work in the new game. Maybe that's all we need, just more of the same.

Oh and I just thought I'd mention that friday is Forza's one year anniversary. Happy Birthday Forza!

 

[Badsight]

GTR handels the same regardless of mode

it will be interesting to see how the different modes will perform like the Xbox-360 version

its GTR - but graphically updated with the Aston Martin - ohhhh i cant wait!

 

[Arkanen]

Shame there is no DFP for xbox to fully enjoy this game.
IMO just make physics as best as you can on chosen platform, then just add some aids that can be turned off by more hardcore sim fans.

 

[SavageEvil]

I don't really understand how driving aids work in these games. Is the implementation realistic, or is it dumbed down physics?

 

[Dave A]

Some are realistic, things like TCS and ABS are real driver aid's.

 

[Wolfe]

Then again, ABS and TCS in a videogame can be much, much more effective than ABS and TCS in real life, and help you more than they would on a real car...it depends on how each one is programmed.

 

[SavageEvil]

Ok, because I find ABS to be down right weird on dry roads, works nicely on wet ones though, but you can still lock up. TCS i find to be the most disturbing thing ever, it works on slippery surfaces, but once you are going at speed you need to shut that thing off, it just saps enormous amounts of power from the drive wheels. This was on a front wheel drive Honda Oddessey, very creepy how much power you lose.

 

[Wolfe]

ABS can fail and allow you to lock the brakes if you manage to lock all of them at the same time -- the car doesn't know that you're still moving, and thinks that you've simply stopped the car.

I think newer systems have corrected this, though.