GT5 Track Editor Thread

[undergroundHD]

Here is one I've done, it takes ages to get a decent shape:



Does anyone know how to upload these tracks to share!?

 

[jinxtigr]

Hi folks- some observations on what Course Maker does and what you can get out of it vs. what you can't

Random is not the right word. What you're looking at is a PROCEDURAL track generator, with a lot of possible 'handles' on track parameters but no direct control- so getting serious about making tracks becomes more a matter of exploration and tuning rather than drawing stuff out directly.

BIG props to Mic_Col for admitting one of the most obnoxious things about hard technical circuits- to me it's just not fun if you constantly have to crawl and be cautious of hidden turns and such. My whole deal with tracks is, I want to be able to have a powerful sense of what's happening up ahead and that I should be able to drive it. The Ring is brilliant at this, so often the tricky stuff elegantly reveals itself to you and then you have to traverse it. Ring GP not so much ;D

The way to work Course Maker is to step backward and forward through the various options knowing that it is procedural and you can go back to a working configuration if a 'complexity' or other setting changes the entire layout. I'm currently trying to develop more of a sense for the topographic lines on the display- I think they're on too large a scale to show you much about the look of the track, but they're still a tip-off to things that will be happening on the track. Lines really close together means abrupt altitude changes and so on.

I tried to make a track where you race around a 'bowl' and can look across the track to other track sections, but this failed- I got a 'bowl' topographically, and I got an almost perfectly ovoid track that was actually kinda cool, but it was essentially hilly and didn't have the 'huge amphitheatre' vibe I wanted because the topo stuff got lost in smaller hills. It does seem as though there must be some capability for mountainous stuff where you make a turn and can see well across the turn to where the track's coming back at you, and that would be a nice visual plus for a track.

I finished one track, which I'm calling 'slide.' after the bit in Fight Club- it's a sort of affront to the guys making intense technical circuits and calling it art it's a dirt track designed to be done at about 160 mph sideways most of the time, and very very 'readable'. Notably, there's a big sweeping high speed turn over the camber of a hill that happens to have a banner over it so you can see the road goes 'thataway'- and an S bend in a valley, where you immediately see that the road up ahead is pointing a different direction and there's a dog-leg section that you can look down at and prepare for. The whole thing is stupidly 'easy' as long as you're good at going sideways on dirt at 160 mph. There's also fun stuff with track width- particularly on dirt the details of track width and corner sharpness have SUCH an effect on how the track flows and feels.

And that's really what Course Maker has- you can't recreate realworld anything, but it attempts to make all its tracks playable, so it's down to exploring the procedural space to get a track that has personality and flow and character, that makes you smile. For some purposes that might be like 'slide.', very fast moving with room to battle opponents, and for some it might be your ultimate nightmare technical course loaded with blind off-camber corners and constantly tricking and undermining you. Either of these qualities can be maximized by experimentation.

At least with the less complex tracks (maybe with some of the complex ones?) the procedural nature means you can have tracks as memorable as real ones, with landmarks and a sense of where you are on the track. Those are the ones I hope to do you get stuff like castles, big trees, banners, etc generated, so it becomes a thing of playing with the track until you get its sections to have personality. Adjustable things are (sometimes) corner sharpness, light angle, track width, and it goes from 'wild exploration' down to narrowing stuff down and finally to where there aren't any changes you can make that aren't (a) meaningless or (b) flip the track into a radically new configuration. That's when you're done

Oh, also- don't underestimate taking many stages and making them all very uncomplex. I got a LOT more control over 'slide' by maxing out the number of stages but having lots of them be very simple- and you can't see on the track shape things like whether a straight section with super high corner sharpness will make a crisp angular deviation at high speed or a big soggy off-ramp. Some of the character of what a track is like to drive won't show up on the map.

 

[Recury]

Anyway so the idea is you set HOW you want the track first. Then use the track generator screen and just cycle through the tracks it produces Click next, next, until you see a good track with the elements you want. ( Even with the settings specifying what you want, the program is way off most of the time )

Yes, I've found this to be the best way too. Other observations:

-It seems more fun to me to make a track specifically for a car. Gives you something to focus on instead of just making whatever.
-Is it just me or are all of the circuits too long? I did a moderately complicated 2-sector Toscana track for my Alfa Giulia Sprint and it's a 2:30 track. I might just try using the "kart" themes.
-Narrow roads are best for slow tracks and wide for fast ones, generally. Kind of obvious, but it is really boring to race on a track that is too wide and really frustrating to race on one that's too narrow.

 

[syagre]

I've been fiddling with the Courtse maker last night for some time, and my observations were in the lines of Mic_col and jinxtigr.

I've made a tarmac track set in the Toscana scenery that I've been really satisfied with. I wanted to recreate the feel of a rally stage, even though you don't have point-to-point options. The idea was to build a stage that felt like being composed of 3 different roads connected together. I think it's more than 7 km, over 7 sectors. First sectors are set on a main road, wide, with fast-flowing bends that you can take flat-out. It abruptly connects with 3 sectors on a very narrow twisty roads, quite a technical section, before joining the last two sectors that offer some compromise between bend sharpness and speed. I've been also satisfied with how the roads winds through the landscape, it has quite a realistic feel. I will try and upload that tonight.
It took me about 1h30 to come up with the final result

 

[regnar]

What I have done on some tracks that I really loved the design is use the "Save As" and create different time of day & weather versions.

I still curious if there is any further theme unlocks, seven is just a odd number.

 

[Floor3013]

What I have done on some tracks that I really loved the design is use the "Save As" and create different time of day & weather versions.

I still curious if there is any further theme unlocks, seven is just a odd number.

We've still yet to see the Toscana Dirt track, as well as a few others (specifically, 4, 5, and 6 here http://img689.imageshack.us/f/coursemaker.jpg/) This would make 10.

EDIT: Some thoughts on the track maker.

I think it's good where it is right now, but I think needs larger 'base environments' the tracks are located, so they aren't always sat on exactly the same terrain, more freedom over things like trees, houses and the like, and more control over things like banking, and smoothness of the road. Aside from that, it's really fun. I created a 2.5 mile track the other day on Mt. Aso with a 550ft height difference, a steady climb leading to a mad downhill straight. It's mad!

 

[audi S4]

What I have done on some tracks that I really loved the design is use the "Save As" and create different time of day & weather versions.

I still curious if there is any further theme unlocks, seven is just a odd number.

I would have to agree. There must be some unlockable location or something.
Either way I'm starting to have some real fun with the track editor.

It can be kinda confusing on how to get what you want but it seems like if you set your idea then cycle through the "random" tracks, it works quite well

 

[CoolColJ]

I wish there was a way to have the track saved being visible in XMB like replays were in Prologue. This way you can copy them to USB to share through the net. They're probably tiny files too

Sure you can race against the AI, but there is no way to set the amount of cars, AI level, hell even allow your B-Spec drivers on it to race for you or against you. And set the type of cars. So much wasted opportunity. Need more options, fuel load setting would be nice too

Though there is a lot more work PD did behind the scenes. Having AI being able to race on it without you having to do anything is probably a lot more technical than you think

 

[Jordan]

I wish there was a way to have the track saved being visible in XMB like replays were in Prologue. This way you can copy them to USB to share through the net. They're probably tiny files too
k

Ah, the files aren't visible in the PS3's file system anywhere? That's something I was going to check out the next chance I had to fire up the game. Hopefully that will become a reality when you're able to start sharing them online with your friends. I'd like for us to be able to share, organize, and download our favorite generated tracks as a community here.

 

[Mic_Col]

BIG props to Mic_Col for admitting one of the most obnoxious things about hard technical circuits- to me it's just not fun if you constantly have to crawl and be cautious of hidden turns and such. My whole deal with tracks is, I want to be able to have a powerful sense of what's happening up ahead and that I should be able to drive it. The Ring is brilliant at this, so often the tricky stuff elegantly reveals itself to you and then you have to traverse it. Ring GP not so much ;D

Thanks man. 👍

A note about the blind corners thing, just having a bunch of tall trees in the right spot can make a huge difference.

Let me explain: I have one track that I've got pretty good. It's got a longish straight, the corner at the end is a bit tight. But you can see it from a distance as there's a bunch of tall trees that sit outside the crash-fence and show you the shape of the corner. I was doing some fine tuning of the track, making adjustments to a totally different part of the track. But when I went to test drive it, this straight was now sitting slightly different, the trees were now in the braking zone for the corner, not 'framing' the corner as before. Making the corner harder to see. I went back to the older setting and all was fixed.

It's interesting as I was just doing minor adjustments to a different point of the track. I was still able to do what I wanted, just had to baby-step it.

I'm currently trying to develop more of a sense for the topographic lines on the display- I think they're on too large a scale to show you much about the look of the track, but they're still a tip-off to things that will be happening on the track. Lines really close together means abrupt altitude changes and so on.

That's a good thing to do, you read the layout of the track and the lie of the land. What good is a long straight where you're going to be driving on a rollercoaster. Sure getting airbourne is fun, esp in the right type of car, but in at the wrong time it can easily get you in a mess and lose all your speed.

Another note:

I've used level editors and so-on before. Back in the day, way back in the day, who here remembers a C64 game called Racing construction set? Very basic track pieces. It was either a straight or a bend 90deg left or right. The straights you could build rises and falls into. Very basic, still fun for it's day

Other editors can be stupidly complex and time consuming. Also going back some years, I used to use Doom/Doom2 level editors. And yeah I could get stuff made, some of it worked pretty good. But it took ages.

Then there was the nightmarish time I had with a track editor for GP3 - PC based F1 Sim. It had SOOO much potential, but was a massive PITA. I just had to quit and walk away.

It's good that GT5's track editor is the way it is and the program does the vast bulk of the work. We just have to sit back and test drive it, give an opinion. We've got it easy, it's a good feature.

 

[CoolColJ]

Here is the video of Chrisss01's Gauggenhoff test track in a Nissan GT-R
Pretty challanging track! Damage replay to start.
Skip to 2:24 to jump right into the action for the actual track run

Could be wider IMO


I'm surprised how many different kinds of feel you can get with this simple generator

 

[freshseth83]

I can't wait to test this feature out. I'll just be sure to make it wider in some turns than others seem to. Give enough room for overtaking on the outside.

 

[Mic_Col]

Here is the video of Chrisss01's Gauggenhoff test track in a Nissan GT-R
Pretty challanging track! Damage replay to start.
Skip to 2:24 to jump right into the action for the actual track run

Could be wider IMO

Yeah that's crazy narrow.

Okay here's a few Videos that I made. Showing the Track editor and tracks I've made that I'm pretty happy with.

I chose to do a Voice Over (hearing your own voice = yikes) talking through it all.



and

 

[regnar]

Yeah that's crazy narrow.

Okay here's a few Videos that I made. Showing the Track editor and tracks I've made that I'm pretty happy with.


I chose to do a Voice Over (hearing your own voice = yikes) talking through it all.

I have been having a blast making & racing on custom tracks, especially the Eifel Theme, but would love to have other themes. Theres a reason that I am still watching the videos of other custom tracks, I had missed it that you could edit tracks that you created, after watching the second video.

I doubt it will happed, but in future DLC would like to see additional themes, such as a Nürburgring theme or something like a Special Stage theme.

The only issues that bugs me a bit are the over saturated textures & the draw-in, hopefully the later fixed in updates.

An option to create a thumbnail of your track using photo mode for the opening screen replacing the generic theme that course Creator would be nice.

It may be because of copyright, but would like to see other sponsors on billboards on the tracks other than just PD, just adds that extra bit of realism.

 

[freshseth83]

Nice tracks MC. I like the fact they throw in some challenging 'falling away' turns. The reverse banked turns, they're nice.

 

[TheLoveNinja]

Hi thought I'd share with you one of the many tracks I've made with the creator.
Name: Middlesex GT
Length: 3.88 miles
Suitable for: JGTC, DTM, anything upwards of 276bhp
Track Style: Fast. Wide. Some technical corners.
Difficulty: Overall it's quite beginner friendly. So I'd rate it Easy-to-Medium

Here's an onboard lap...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JhPQRlPuSU

If anyone would like to try this one out, add me on PSN. I'll be sharing a new track each week.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

That's a good-looking course. I could see Formula 1 racing on it, even if some of those drops are pretty extreme and one of the corners is awkwardly blind.

 

[TheLoveNinja]

thanks, took a while to get it as right as possible. The blind corners are just a problem with the track maker: it always puts a corner on the crest of a hill
As soon as you change the complexity of a section to avoid that hill bend it changed the track completely

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Well, it's only one corner - that double-apex left halfway around. And being blind isn't so much of a problem as the shape is. It just seems awkward, like there's no real racing line through it and you have to take your best guess. It's not really a problem, either - most circuits have one corner that throws a driver (like Pouhon as Spa or Turn 8 at Istabul) and thus is absolutely critical to the lap. I just wouldn't want to be going in there in a Formula 1 car where all I can see is sky and having to play pin the tail on the donkey with the apex.

 

[mynameis66]

Dont wish to sound dumb but once you`ve created and saved a track,how do you get other cars to race on it?

 

[TheLoveNinja]

Once it's saved, you can either go in to Practice (located in GT Life page) and select the My Tracks tab: this will give the options for Free Run, Drift Trial, and One-Make Race.
OR
If you go to the Track List located bottom left of GT Life page you get the options for Single Race, Time Trial, and Drift Trial.
So really it depends on if you want to race against the same car you are currently in or against cars of a similar spec.

Also, your tracks are available in Arcade Mode, again by selecting the My Tracks tab.

 

[sinbad]

There's way too much of a propensity towards those corners on the crests of hills. You can almost guarantee at least one on any of the more hilly environments.

The track editor is very frustrating.

It does not take much imagination to come up with some simple additions to the options menu that, even sticking to the basic randomiser system, would help to create a greater number of unique circuits.

I would like to be able to forget about the useless pit lane, and not have to rely on the start/finish straight being the beginning/end of the lap every time. Simple being able to start tracks in odd places would make for much more variety within any single environment.

Direction. Why can't I try my circuit in both directions to see which I like best?

Corner difficulty. A slider that dictates whether or not corners tend to gravitate towards the crests of hills (it seems like it is currently turned up to at least 9).

 

[YellowG1]

thanks, took a while to get it as right as possible. The blind corners are just a problem with the track maker: it always puts a corner on the crest of a hill
As soon as you change the complexity of a section to avoid that hill bend it changed the track completely

All track maker needs is an elevation change slider. Right now, every single track I've made has had ~360+ feet of elevation change, which is pretty extreme as racetracks go. Even Laguna Seca and Spa are "only" around 300 feet.

 

[AGNT009]

I havnt shared any tracks yet, but listening to you all talk, I have an idea. Is it possible to create a sharing network? So, lets say there are 200 guys in this network that want to be on the "mailing list" So, member #1 creates a track he wants to submit to the network. He shares his one track at a time with member #2 on the Mailing list. Member #2 then saves the track, we'll call Utopia to his HDD as he favorites it. Then member #2 shares it with member #3, and on down the line. So, in the network, you have one guy you are assigned to pass the track along to. Lets say you are driver 77 on the list of 200. #77 passes it to #78, and then it wraps back around. This way, the same track is distributed through the network, and once you've passed it along, you are free to share something else. So 200 guys have an exact replica of Utopia track exactly as the original creator intended it to be. The Mailing list could be a sticky thread, and as the list grows, your sharing partner is always the same. The last man on the list always passes it to member #1. You post your track name here, announce its going to the network, and then you'll know if you got it or not. If a guy wont do his part, you kick him off the list.

 

[VEXD]

Not a bad idea, the problem is, not everyone likes everybody elses trax.
What you should think about, is having a first post that has good trax listed in it, that are tried and tested by a large number of people, and have become famous in their own right.
This will take some time, as trax take a while to gain notoriety; although there is one "Jump" track that a lot of people are sharing with each other right now.
With a list of famous trax in the first post, underneath the name of each famous track, you have a list of PSN ID's of people who have it to download.
You could then check the list to see if you have a friend on their who already has it, or if not, pick someone and add them, or if they are full with friends, go down the list and pick another until you have successfully added someone who you can then pinch the track from, and if you so feel, delete them afterwards.

You could even set up a dedicated username, that you could download all the best trax to, and then have that account set up purely so people could come to you for the download.
That would make you famous, and a very generous person indeed.

👍

 

[Negrumir]

I sure hope there will be a way to race the created tracks in reverse. I've got a few tracks that would be great fun in reverse. Mainly tracks on Mt. Aso, you get some really great downhill sections that are super steep and have crazy corners. You just never get that kind of stuff at the other end of the track by going the right direction.

 

[jt granberry]

I've read every page of this thread since the actual game was released. I have one question, can we take an actual track (realistic) and reproduce it into GT5? i.e. a real road course and make a true simulator of it? Elevation changes are important, but not essential.
I'm not sure if it's possible, but can someone fab it up if I get a detailed pic?
Thanks in advance.

 

[CoolColJ]

^ You don't have a lot of control over the track, just egenral things, so no you can't really, unless you get really lucky

---

Seems v1.05 improved the themes a bit across the board 👍

New v1.05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hmEcfbKrEI



Same track in older GT5. Start from 2:25
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFubfKkrIrU

 

[IceMan PJN]

Is it possible to create a sharing network? Blah, blah, blah, blah, et cetera.

No. Polyphony has done a terrible job with the online community with this game, and I wouldn't have minded if they had simply ripped off the whole Storefront thing that Turn 10 did with Forza Motorsport 3.

It's an absolute crying shame that we're so limited in how much we can share at once and that it's nearly impossible to share anything at all. Right now, GT5 limits me to just eight photos that I can share at once, while FM3 let me share twenty-four. FM3 let me share replays, which as near as I can tell we can't yet do directly within the game (have to use camcorders, capture cards, and such). FM3 also let me upload replay videos directly to their site, which GT5 doesn't offer. FM3 not only had a livery editor but allowed me to share vinyl groups and whole liveries, but GT5 lacks all this altogether. FM3 allows us to buy and sell our cars in an online auction house, but there's no such thing in GT5.

Further, the beautiful thing about sharing stuff in FM3 is that people don't need to be your friend or to know you at all to still download the stuff you're sharing. If you have ten in-game friends, you can share your stuff with those ten friends and that's it, but in FM3 you could share them with the entire community without ever having to personally interact with any of them. I've been sharing my tracks, but I've really only got one friend playing GT5 who gets them, and the rest of the GT community will never see any of them and can't see them.

Polyphony needs to stop pretending that they come up with every neat idea and that everybody else is completely incompetent imitators who can't do anything right and start taking notes from the other guys once in a while.

I have one question, can we take an actual track (realistic) and reproduce it into GT5? i.e. a real road course and make a true simulator of it? Elevation changes are important, but not essential.
I'm not sure if it's possible, but can someone fab it up if I get a detailed pic?
Thanks in advance.

This is what we originally dreamed about, but it's not what we can actually do with the current Course Maker. It's entirely random, with you having only the simplest set of customizable options. Basically, all you can do is pick from a limited number of locations, choose how many sectors you want from two (or is it three?) to seven, choose how complex you want each sector on a scale from one to ten, choose how tight or wide you want each sector, choose how tight or gentle you want the corners of each sector, and in some locations choose the time of day. It randomly generates them based on the criteria you set here.

 

[Slurm]

GT5's course editor is a very promising feature, and will surely turn into something great if they build on it. However, I'm not crazy about it at the moment: Every track I tried was at least 30% off-camber/blind turns over hill crests, and obviously there's nothing memorable at the edges, so I found it uninspiring/hard to memorise. Without the ability to work on individual parts, I found the creations characterless. Like I said though, having a track creator at all is a fabulous start.