For example, they could have recreated old tracks such as Grand Valley Speedway, Deep Forrest and Trial Mountain 1:1 and call it the "classic layout", then add new features to the tracks in alternative layouts and call them "north", "south", "new" or whatever. Most tracks have more than one layout, so why not apply it with these? It would have given the long-time GT fans what they prefer but still cover any new ideas the team had for the tracks.
I totally understand that line of thinking, and I thought that way too with Deep Forest thinking the extension to the hairpin could have been another variation while keeping the original as a shortcut back to the main straight.
I think the problem they faced was either keep the circuits as is, Add variants to the tracks, keeping the old but adding new corners to massage out a better 'racing' circuit, or redesign the tracks with a more modern view, keeping the spirit of the circuit intact but making it something new.
So the way I see it is that it leaves 3 problems
Keep the existing circuit - Appease the old guard but suffer the consequences of poorer tracks for racing on.
Variants including Original Circuit - May be able to encourage better racing, bumps up circuit count but does limit on what and how the extensions/variants can be added. Trial mountain for example doesn't really have any run-off areas to extend into while keeping the original circuit.
Recreate the circuit in a reimagined state - Better designed for modern racing/physics etc, keeps some nostalgia but will annoy the old guard who want the original circuits as is.
Having raced these circuits a lot online through GT5 and 6, and put a huge amount of hours into GT Sport, understanding better how online racing is with modern race cars. The original forms don't really hold up to modern racing standards that encourage clean racing and would also struggle more to put on a show come the World cups.
Deep Forest really only had 1 place you could overtake and that was a difficult place to overtake. The rest of it was follow the leader, or someone taking a sneaky lunge which usually ended up in contact. Trial Mountain was much the same with less run off. Grand Valley had 2 places that had potential, but really it was spending the lap to setup for a draft down the front straight as the the first hairpin was tricky to go side by side into and the 2nd hairpin was very easy to defend. There were a number of straights between different corners but they were too short to get a run on someone and the corners as they existed didn't encourage side by side racing.
The tracks were designed with single player and AI in mind, not what we have today.
I do miss the old tracks, I was never a huge fan of the trial mountain chicane but it was fun and kept the overall speed of the circuit up. I really miss the final corner of deep forest, I do not like the change to the ultra tight hairpin but it does make for more interesting battles and works quite well in reverse now which the original wasn't great in reverse. Grand Valley on the other hand is an improvement in nearly every way. The changes encourage more side by side racing through some corners and the tweaks have made the two overtaking spots easier than the old layout.
On balance, I like the direction they are going with the reimagining of the circuits and prefer them generally over the old circuits as they are better racing circuits which I think make them better all rounders.
