Do you think PD should bring some "Western" influnce into the development process?

[niky]

Oh yes I know it well, it just struck me odd as I don't frequently hear it used as a reference these days... But I still talk about it very frequently... as I was the Line producer on that game back in 94... it was the first game I officially worked on... I still play around with the "Deamon" Editor once in a great while...

Then the me of 94 (seventy pounds lighter and still in College) thanks you from the bottom of his heart for many countless hours of joyous gameplay. Majorly off-topic... but thank you, thank you, thank you...

 

[Sele1981]

Yeah it´s no secret that GT5 is behind other racing games... We get things in GT wich are standard for years now... Rain, Night/Day, Sidmarks and reverse lights are an milestone in GT history but not in racing game history...

They love their country but they must also see the rest of the world. To implement 500 standard Japanese and 150 premium Japanese cars in an game that sells most in US and EU seems the wrong decision!

How often did I think, damn that M3 GTR race car in premium, damn that viper in premium. But no we get ugly unimportant japanese premium cars who "nobody" cares...

Anyway I hope they will see this in future and change things. But I think they must get some EU/US employees to change things.

EDIT: Also the A-Spec, there were so MUCH MUCH potential! Really they had the chance to make the most epic career mode! But they blew it! Such dumb ass events are in there... Why the hell should you drive in an japanese championship race in rome?

Look at the Lupo GTI cup for example! That was one of the better races!

 

[BigYoSpeck]

But this isn't the problem with Turismo. And this isn't what needs "Western" influence. The "Western" influence needed is for subordinates to have the ability to say "no"... or at least say "let's try this another way."

Japanese, like many Asians, tend to suffer a bit from being too polite. There's no drive to disagree with the boss or to put forward different agendas. While this type of group-think has enabled them to churn out high quality work that's only possible with many different minds with one concrete goal (Japanese hand-drawn animation is still rather tough to beat), it makes groups more an extension of their leader than... well... groups. If you want to see where this has gone horribly wrong... look at the Toyota fiasco from some years ago. Communication that does not propogate properly through the organization, because of bureaucracy and protocols of etiquette can have dangerous consequences.

The Japanese do have a system for subordinates to chip in and challenge the de facto standard. It's called Kaizen. A company I used to work for was big on it (Our UK manager had come from Toyota) and it's the most bureaucratic, convoluted and creativity sapping way of making anything better. If PD used anything like this then the development time and split personality in the games quality would fully make sense.

 

[HBK]

All PD needs is for a few people to sit down and actually PLAY the damn game (having someone that actually understands racing wouldn't hurt either). What needs to be fixed will jump right out and slap them in the face.

It ain't rocket science.

Quoted for truth.

 

[II IVORBIGUN II]

Im not sure if GT requires some western influence because for me the most important feature that is missing on GT5 was in GT5P and that is the stock time trial leaderboards. I still don't understand why some of the better features on GT5P were removed from GT5.

However in saying this GT5 does require some influence from elsewhere because im bitterly disappointed with the game. Now if I had been playing this 10yrs ago I would of been perfectly happy. The problem is the likes of Forza 2/3 opened my eyes to the world of online gaming and I especially enjoyed hotlapping on these games. As i've said many times A Spec should of had leaderboards because at least you have more motivation to re-run events. My friends told me recently that even NFS Hot pursuit has career leaderboards including friends leaderboards.

My theory is GT5 has suffered because Kaz is always away from the office participating in actual racing events. For me this game has been badly designed with no direction. Its almost as though they lost interest!

 

[Wolfe]

I'm honestly not so sure about that. I'm not trying to start a fight or call you out or anything, but I honestly do believe that games like CoD, GoW, TF2, Halo, L4D and a few others do represent present day western gaming. Forza, Codemasters' newer games, and EA's sports franchises fill out what is spotlighted as Western Video Games. Sure that's not all western developers produce, but it is the majority.

Maybe being jobless has simply attuned me to the abundant variety of creative, brilliant games you can find when you ignore the AAA shelf at GameStop and start looking at downloadable console titles (eg. WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade), cheap Steam games, and internet-distributed indie efforts with no publisher at all.

The games you mention certainly represent the majority of sales of western videogames (at least here in the states), but that doesn't mean they represent the majority of the western gaming "landscape." They're very, very easy to avoid, and you're not giving up quality gameplay by doing so.

 

[Sele1981]

As i've said many times A Spec should of had leaderboards because at least you have more motivation to re-run events. My friends told me recently that even NFS Hot pursuit has career leaderboards including friends leaderboards.

How nice would that be! But then again another problem, the bad game design. You can choose any car, tune it to max, use racing soft tyres... So there is no option to compare A-Spec career mode times because of the lack of no limitation

Online leaderboards? That kept me playing GT5P for months, there was no other reason why I played GT5P... Cant really understand why they did not implement them...

 

[DanDiplo]

I think what PD and Kaz in particular bring to the table is a certain degree of pure obstinate obsessiveness that you just wouldn't get in a Western developer. Just look at the detail in the headlight for this Ferrari model. This kind of obsessive-compulsion for modelling every detail, even when no-one will actually see it in game (outside zooming in with photomode), gives GT its uniqueness. You can tell Kaz has a pure passion for cars (not racing, or even driving, but cars).

However, this obsessiveness is also his weakness as it leads him down a single track, unable to see any other way. This is where some strong outside influence (outside of execs, marketing guys and accountants) would have helped. More play testing with ordinary gamers, more input from other people and more attempt to make a fun game around the cars wouldn't have hurt.

However, undoubtedly GT would not be the game it is without this obsessiveness. It may be a flawed masterpiece, but it is a masterpiece. Maybe Western influence could have helped, but there is also a risk that if you dilute the vision you end up distilling away the essence of what makes the game experience so good.

Lots of games are good in every department (graphics, UI, playability, longevity etc) but still they seem a little bland (Shift, Grid even Forza). GT, on the other hand, sucks in many ways and yet still manages to excel in the car-modelling and the sheer driveability of the cars and this is why we love it (and also hate it).

 

[TurboProp]

Yes they need more "outside" influence OR like I've read in other threads make specific DLC packages for specific interest or audiences. I'd gladly pay $10 a piece for individual packages of 20 more cars and 10 new tracks in USA, Europe, Austrailia and Asia.

 

[AarkonD]

my only issue is car selection .. and tracks too

i mean do we really need 40+ skylines? or a prius (who put this pos in game .. shoot him at once )

just about all asian companys represented have a insane number of cars yet historic global companys have barely any

ferarri being one of the newest got a bit more attention than most but still not enough IMO how many loved classic ferraris did they miss? at least 5 i can think of

bmw & mecades both got hosed being mostly current cars
wheres the history ?

the american companys got a huge ammount compared to the other western companys but still come up short

and some cars like the prius i ask WHY was this put in a racing game a fiat 500 from 63? who races that? grandmas?

given that most of their sales come from western countrys i would think they would of shown them a bit more love

on race tracks OMFG what does it take to get sebring in this game? Mallory Park , Silverstone Circuit, Road America and on and on even classic no longer existing tracks would be nice

dont get me wrong i like most of the tracks we have but some new ones would be nice too not just many variations on the same ones

 

[ruf-ctr2]

Yes they need more "outside" influence OR like I've read in other threads make specific DLC packages for specific interest or audiences. I'd gladly pay $10 a piece for individual packages of 20 more cars and 10 new tracks in USA, Europe, Austrailia and Asia.

I agree with that - they need "outside" influence - I don't know if it must be "Western"? They definitely need someone who has the "overall" game in sight and does some coordination. Also with "pre tests" they could have avoided a lot if things that gone wrong with GT5. And even listening to "fans" - what also means reading in forums could help a lot.

Also as someone mentioned before - they put weeks of worktime in modeling a door handle that no one will ever see in the game. They definitely need to stop to bee so "over detailed" and forget about other important points because of that.

Your (TurboProp) idea with DLC is also very good. Instead of overloading the game with thousands of different things that on the other hand are poorly implemented they should have "outsourced" it on DLC.
Like making the main game as the previous GT titles - racing different read cars up to race cars. Including a good developed and big A-Spec career mode.
- Nascar could be a DLC - different Oval Tracks, the stock cars Nascar Races Evets (like the Driving School etc.)
-Maybe also DLC with special events - but than as big and thought trough so it deserves to be DLC
- DLC for Ralley maybe including Cars, Tracks, Rally Driving School etc.
-B-Spec DLC where you can really manage a Racing Team - like making the drivers work for your team, getting sponsor contracts, getting in different race classes etc.
-Cart DLC with interesting Tracks outdoor and indoor
.
.
.
.

 

[ScouserInExile]

To the OP:
Yes and no.

Yes in that they need to think of their western audience a little more when planning the car list and the race / event lists - both of which are way too Japan-centric.

No in that a Western influence in the actual game design will not necessarily be any better or worse than having another Japanese influence on it. The problems everyone have with GT5 are not down to where geographically the influence comes from, it's all down to the fact that it's the game equivalent of that difficult third album. Kaz has pretty much disappeared up his own erm.;.. navel, shall we say, and is essectially producing the game he wants, rather than the game a few million people want to buy.

I'm firmly of the opinion that, were GT5 actually GT1, there would be no GT2. It's just not good enough, really, and is riding on the coat-tails of it's earlier, better incarnations. The whole series could do with a re-boot with someone else at the helm.

 

[HBK]

I don't think this is a matter of "Japanese vs Western" game development philosophies. In that regard, I think that the actual tendency the "Japanese" have to "copy" "Western gaming" (what a broad generalization here ...) is an error. Yes, they should play many titles from around the world so they may be aware of what's going on, and maybe get inspiration from that. But they should not try to just duplicate some more-or-less working formulas (hello GT5 leveling, this is not what you should have copied from Forza 3).

I'll put aside the big issue of management that everyone knows (everyone in the medium anyway).

I think this is just a matter of focus. That and the fact that they either obviously don't play their games, or Japanese people have completely masochistic tastes in gaming. And as much as Japanese may look masochistic, I really think that is just a matter of being able to play and enjoy games in order to judge what is good gaming and what is bad gaming. And this, in my opinion, has nothing to do with being Japanese. That is just the way the Polyphony Digital employees may be.

On that matter, I just remember that this is something that I always sometimes thought about GT since GT1. Some very little but very annoying details that would have (likely) been nothing to fix/implement and let me felt thinking: "how could they play the game and not see this ?"

And I'm talking very little things like the way the same music looped for hours in the endurance races (GT1) or the inability to change the oil that always came dead by the third of fourth event of a ten races tournament (GT3), tournament started just after an oil change of course.

Little stupid things that everyone would have noticed, had they played the game.

Edit:

I'm firmly of the opinion that, were GT5 actually GT1, there would be no GT2. It's just not good enough, really, and is riding on the coat-tails of it's earlier, better incarnations.

This 👍

 

[hyyperactive]

I don't think it's a culture problem. I think gt5 simply suffers from the same sequel problem that every big movie and game franchise suffers. How to expand and improve the game. How to improve a succesful game that is already fun to play and sells millions. Look at first resident evil game on psx, look at first doom on pc and then look at where lack of development lead them. The same is clearly visible in gt5. The developers are just afraid to make any changes to the game. With gt5 pd (or sony) was afraid to make any changes at all really.

You can not underestimate sony either. Gt5 is a huge selling machine for them and probably sells "couple of" ps3 systems as well. Any change to the game may break it as far as they see it. For sony, gt series is not broken so for them a conversion of gt1 for ps3 will guarantee millions of sales. And that is what then happened.

Which is imho so so sad. With so many cars one could have expanded the a-spec in so many ways. There are literally thousands of ideas how to make gt5 better than gt4 while still being true to the gran turismo world. I simply refuse to believe that kaz simply wasn't able to come up with any ideas how to improve and develop gt5 as a game. And I defenately don't accept that the japanese culture was in some way causing this to happen.

I understand some of the cultural differences and I understand that japanese culture is very different from european or american culture in so many ways. Apart from the zillions of japanese cars I don't really even see gt5 as a "japanese game".

Design decisions in gt5 are bizarre. But mostly because the whole experience leaves kind of strange aftertaste of imaging all kinds of different ways how gt5 could evolve from gt4 only to find out it didn't evolve at all. The possibilities for all kinds of ventures were there. The top gear track, nordschleife, ferrari f1 cars, gt cars, old lemans cars... All of which are so under utilized in the game you even wonder why pd even bothered to add those. Why not just add a "gtschleife" and "gt track"...

In a way gt5 is pure gt experience. Cars that are fun to drive, tons of cars to buy and tune and it looks pretty good too. Maybe gt simply cannot be anything more because any change to the sequel is too frightening for sony because it in reality has everything to lose and little to gain. Gt5 once again sold millions. Could it have sold much more (or even the same much) if it was a better game albeit a bit different one?

 

[DKLion3s]

In this age of globalization, there is already a western influence in this and prior GT titles. The problems stem from the financial/corporate backing of creativity/innovation or lack there of.

In so many cultures, the true creativity, resides in the less funded enterprises and rarely sees the light of day. We are now being driven by, an almost, uni-centric Large Corporate vision, a.k.a Marketing/Profitability scale.

Which in turn is only competing within it's own Globality. If the global market was broken down to it's parts again, from it's sum as a whole, then companies would have their own creativity in control again.


EDIT: IE: Hint "Stocks" as in IPOs, Stockmarket, etc...

We as the consumer still have the power to change this model, though!

 

[Ramosis]

Well, depends on what you understand for "Western influence".

IMO, GT series could have benefit with some more Western influente, mainly when I think about content. More cars, tracks, licenses (WTCC, FIA GT, DTM, SCAA, Super V8) from west could be good for its biggest marketshare: Western (particularly Europe, with major sales in GT series).

Still, I think GT has its roots in 90's racing games, and again, IMO, they should modernize it with some less controversial elements of recent racing games, blending with some elements of real races (no exagerated jumps - like Cape Ring and Eiger, no invisible barriers, no overtaking 15 similar cars in two laps, more realistic tunning and car wearing, and the list could go on).

But in the end, we all want one thing: A better GT.

 

[TakeshiSkunk]

Maybe being jobless has simply attuned me to the abundant variety of creative, brilliant games you can find when you ignore the AAA shelf at GameStop and start looking at downloadable console titles (eg. WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade), cheap Steam games, and internet-distributed indie efforts with no publisher at all.

The games you mention certainly represent the majority of sales of western videogames (at least here in the states), but that doesn't mean they represent the majority of the western gaming "landscape." They're very, very easy to avoid, and you're not giving up quality gameplay by doing so.

I will give you that. The downloable market has been fantastic this generation, and thanks to it we're seeing a ton of games that would never get released otherwise. Granted, my tastes align more with Japanese releases in this regard as well, but that boils down to personal preferences. I can't deny the quality of titles such as VVVVVV, Super Meat Boy, etc.

 

[brainfade]

​

Reading these two quotes on 1up.com and the topic on what should have been done with the Top Gear track, got me to thinking. Do you think GT would benefit from having some western influence on the development team?

IMO, its like western developers are more in-tune with what GAMERS want, while eastern developers(mostly Kaz) easily gets caught up it what THEY want and totally forget about what would make gamers happy.

All BS aside, as much as I like GT5, I have to say it is kinda outdated(or more of the same thing with some of the same things being repackaged). If the people at Turn 10 would've gotten rights to the name, they (presumably) would have done something more along the line of what Fashion Cat posted(again, presumably). Its almost like PD just got the right just to drop the name.

What do you think about some western influence on PD development team?
(If there is already, please let me know.)

They just need a ruthless b*st**d of a project manager, even if it means that manager may fired Kaz then so be it.

 

[SuperCobraJet]

The Japanese do have a system for subordinates to chip in and challenge the de facto standard. It's called Kaizen. A company I used to work for was big on it (Our UK manager had come from Toyota) and it's the most bureaucratic, convoluted and creativity sapping way of making anything better. If PD used anything like this then the development time and split personality in the games quality would fully make sense.

This would also explain the source of the only major influence present at PD since GT4:

Sony

There is no doubt in my mind since E3 2009, that this is the influence that is running the show at PD, and is responsible for the departure from the usual dev time, and the lack of continuity and quality aspects in GT5.

Hey, I'd gladly go back to "too many Skylines" being the principle complaint in a GT game.

 

[Robin]

Its well known for the last few years that Asian developers are falling behind in games development. Nearly all of the recent mega selling franchises have been developed by western studios. Most of the stuff coming out of Japan now takes forever to develop and doesn't make an impact which is seriously surprising as they ruled through the late 80's 90's and early 00's. Whereas now you see things like Call of Duty being pumped out every year to critical acclaim and selling globally.

Looking at PD specifically I think GT5 took way too long and under delivered, it also shows its orientation to the Japanese market which is not totally to a global markets taste. In that dev time there have been multiple iterations of other racing franchises which have been of a decent quality with a broad appeal so why are Asian developers finding it so hard to keep up!?

Hot Pursuit although not in the same genre as GT5 shows how something quickly put together with less content can have a massive impact on an entire series and be a game changer in the market. It was very well received by critics and its loads of fun. Thats good developing.

 

[sumbrownkid]

China, India, etc. are manufacturing counties, not "independent thinking" industries that innovate. This is what the term western influence means... innovation and freedom of discovery and accepting of trial and error...

This is not to say they aren't hard working or have great work ethic, they are just brought up different with less Independence and freedom of expression. Japan is not far off from this. Just visit Japan, look at Japanese business as a whole, it's VERY tightly tied to traditions and rules of ediqut.

Just look at the Japanese game industry specificly... its biggest problem is it hasn't made a new game in 15 years... Always remaking the same games with the same stories... GT1 and FF7 were breakaways... what has had such broad market appeal since?

And I'm not insulting at all, I'm a HUGE Monster hunter fan... I wish it would pick up more out side of Japan...

Ok, just read the above... Yes, Ico and Shadow are FANTASTIC! But these games are far too few and infrequent... And not quite mass market but damn amazing experiences... Back to my original point though, look at all the resed up remake/re releases...

Um dude, India is not really a manufacturer on the scale of China. They are more like the Japanese: Hard office workers with a masters degree.

And those independent thinkers in India by the name of TATA bought Jaguar. (At long last the Indian domination of England begins).

And those two quotes are spot on. Problem for Japanese developers is that their main bread and butter is obviously their home market, which is in its own world of sorts when it comes to gaming and entertainment. Since PD's biggest markets are in the West, it'll be a smart bet for PD to bring in some Western influence into their overall game design.

Didn't Kojima bring in some consultant from America during the development of MGS4 to make it appeal more to our tastes?

 

[Lawndart]

Actually right now many of the independent game development companies in America are working on games for the major Japanese publishers... It's been this way for a few years now but there is also the issue with how you manage a western developer... So they aren't exactly getting what they expect...

Even Capcom hired a team a few years ago with the entire intention being "Make Monster-hunter appeal to the US" by way of marketing and other support... Its sad as I knew some of these guys but not a peep came out of their department in the mainstream...

see there is a 2 sides irony here... getting western influence has a major problem, westerners are a bit lazier, the innovation needs to be inspired out of them, not necessarily bought... And this is a major cultural difference...

So this western influence is a pretty old argument... What other countries need to do more of is talking with real leaders in the western game industry, not just studios, and put them to task... This isn't a perfect solution but if I wanted to make a western Mario Myomoto is the guy I'm going to call first and I'm not going to lift a finger on dev until I get a good chunk of his time... even if it doesn't teach me anything...

If you ask anyone competent in the game industry what its biggest problem is they will mostly say the same thing... lack of good leadership... And reinventing the same wheel over and over but thats another argument.

One final point that I can't stress enough is a game is NOT a sum of its parts. Each game a soul if you will and needs to be fostered to greatness, not necessarily built to greatness... but ironicly a racing game is WAY easier to build as you don't have to worry about stories and emotion but you do have to get the "feel" right... and that makes it go right back to HARD...

There is no game in existence that is the same from concept, very few concepts are ever fully realized and sometimes games completely fall apart when they try to hard to follow the original idea... nothing stays the same, a good leader needs to know how to focus efforts to the core pillars and spirit of the game and let the rest churn just enough to compliment those pillars but not many people are good at this... it's truly a life sucking endeavor and why the game industry has SO much turn over...

Add to the fact that this decade has a complete VOID of people who aren't afraid to make decisions... it's a pretty bad time with everyone afraid of the economy... not good at all for innovation and this is screwing over the other counties looking for western influence even if its funded externally... people still don't want to loose their jobs and make compromises to ensure they don't...

Sorry for all the text, its a sensitive subject, one I not only think about more than most but have to deal with on a daily bases...

 

[niky]

RE: Marketing departments: Sucks when you hire people to try to fit a square peg into a round hole. I know some people who have been enticed into well-paying jobs with lots of promise, only to find out that their job entails the equivalent of selling Ice to Eskimos... Know quite a few people who have quit in disgust after accepting a job marketing for auto-retailers... simply because their Japanese or Chinese bosses couldn't accept that the problem isn't the marketing... it's the product.

 

[ruf-ctr2]

RE: Marketing departments: Sucks when you hire people to try to fit a square peg into a round hole. I know some people who have been enticed into well-paying jobs with lots of promise, only to find out that their job entails the equivalent of selling Ice to Eskimos... Know quite a few people who have quit in disgust after accepting a job marketing for auto-retailers... simply because their Japanese or Chinese bosses couldn't accept that the problem isn't the marketing... it's the product.

So the marketing of GT5 must have been absolutely great - because they managed to sell us Ice cream where they promised us a big ice with 6 scoops of premium ice cream - but the only thing we got is a little the little wooden stick of a cheap ice from the supermarket - and still there are people out there that defend PD and thing that their little wooden "ice cream stick" is the greatest thing they ever got ore better say because this behaviour lets companies sell us crap and get away with it....

 

[Robin]

I think after such a long time of waiting people are just so relieved its out they get rose tinted spectacles and lap up anything which comes out with GT on it. PD are probably going to have the spend the next 3 years doing updates and patches to bring GT5 to where it should have been at release. Sure its an OK effort but in everything other than premo car visuals it fall below the bench in my opinion. Its a trend with other Japanese games at the moment, look great but don't play all that well.

Robin.

 

[ruf-ctr2]

I think after such a long time of waiting people are just so relieved its out they get rose tinted spectacles and lap up anything which comes out with GT on it. PD are probably going to have the spend the next 3 years doing updates and patches to bring GT5 to where it should have been at release. Sure its an OK effort but in everything other than premo car visuals it fall below the bench in my opinion. Its a trend with other Japanese games at the moment, look great but don't play all that well.

Robin.

I don't know if that is the case with all "Final Fantasy" games as I only played the latest one... But GT5 reminds me a lot of FF - great graphics and animations, endless beautifully animated video sequences but only an "ok" gameplay....

(And of course a lot of grinding - but not as much as in GT5 )

 

[Robin]

I don't know if that is the case with all "Final Fantasy" games as I only played the latest one... But GT5 reminds me a lot of FF - great graphics and animations, endless beautifully animated video sequences but only an "ok" gameplay....

(And of course a lot of grinding - but not as much as in GT5 )

Actually I was thinking specifically about Final Fantasy when making that comment. It looks beautiful but the mechanics are still based around a kind of outdated JRPG style of doing things which may well be loved in Japan but RPG's in the rest of the world have morphed into weird hybrid games and have much better UI's and a wider range of gameplay in my opinion. It wouldn't take much for Asian dev's to step up their game and I find it baffling that the hardware (PS3,Wii) even comes from there!

Robin.

 

[Lawndart]

Actually I was thinking specifically about Final Fantasy when making that comment. It looks beautiful but the mechanics are still based around a kind of outdated JRPG style of doing things which may well be loved in Japan but RPG's in the rest of the world have morphed into weird hybrid games and have much better UI's and a wider range of gameplay in my opinion. It wouldn't take much for Asian dev's to step up their game and I find it baffling that the hardware (PS3,Wii) even comes from there!

Robin.

FF is a perfect example... if they simply changed the aesthetic design and did a more hardcore mature story like FF 7 did the market would grow. I don't think Japan really knows what and open mid-rif on a male says over here not to mention other clothing styles that just look plain silly...

I would say FF7 is the perfect example of a "western influence" BUT... I don't believe it had any... so what happened to the rest of the story/series?

One also has to consider Anime and what it really is, it's very school yard like because the Japanese see that as the time when they were all the same, all growing up and experiencing the awkwardness of it, and it was OK to be curious... so they all like to go back their in stories to feel a sense of equilibrium... ?

When Japanese grow up they pretty much have to assimilate into customs and traditions and to not fit a certain basic mold is taboo and can lead to being an outcast... Anyone Japanese knows what I'm talking about though I'm being pretty blunt and very short here, its a bit more complicated. Kaz and Myomoto are not even exempt from this... No matter how "successful" they are they still need to be very careful to adhere, appeal, and ulamatly compliment the culture to some extent...

This isn't limited to Japanese culture but is probably the most blatant in that culture than most as its very easy to "shame" your family and the best way to honor your family is through tradition... Perfect culture for manufacturing as that equals honer, creation of subjective content open to interpretation can often backfire... so whats the incentive? Manga, Anime, and historical films are all OK though... Ever seen a Japanese movie outside of a classic monster movie? OMG you'll want to jump off a bridge before its over...

 

[swiftwilly]

I actually believe western influences ruined the game. Westerners influeced the damage system, no? to me, GT wasn't about damage, and I do believe this had prolonged delay in the game's release.

 

[MowTin]

Yes, because I believe a western influence would have prevented the crazy paint system and hunting for the formula GT in the used car dealership.

Collecting horns, samba buses, no way to pause endurance races and other weird things that would never be approved of by a western beta tester.