How Gran Turismo is Made: A Behind-The-Scenes Tour of Polyphony Digital

[anthonyfa18]

Thanks for all the kind words, guys. I wanted to communicate what it was like for a fan to actually be inside the secret, hallowed halls of PDI and I hope that came through. 👍


Indeed. There were a lot of very nervous people in that room!


I don't know the details and we didn't get to talk to Daiki very much, but he has definitely been doing a lot of work for PDI. He has everything he needs in PDI's dedicated recording studio, and you could tell a lot has been going on in there. I doubt they will be adding a lot of new music to GT Sport at this point, so I think we can figure out what he's working on now...

Me, the entire tour.


It's one of the limited shirts sold during the NYC World Tour event this year. I bought a few extra and will be doing a giveaway soon, so keep an eye on the blog.


Thanks! This actually was going to be a video, but I got halfway through it before I realized I didn't have enough footage I could actually share. I might put together a short cut for our social media and I'll post it in here. I also recorded Daiki's solo performance, which was really cool.

I thought this was odd as well, but I wasn't confident enough in my memory of the 500k polygon count to ask a follow-up question at the time. Perhaps the lowest-LOD model they have to build is 70k? I'm not quite sure, but the 70k number came directly from the notes of the woman who modeled the Jaguar VGT, so she knows what she's talking about.


I know you're a fan and I thought about you when we actually got to meet Daiki. We didn't get the chance for an interview; he was at the after-party, but this was the only other time I saw him around the studio.

To answer your question, I really don't know. It has never been clear to me exactly how the audio department is structured at PDI, especially in regards to the boundaries between music and in-game sound effects. I think Daiki plays more of a creative/performative role when they are producing the games, instead of a full-time audio lead, but again, I'm not really sure how that works.

Thanks you for the replay i also forgot to ask you about did u ask kaz if gt Sport will Continue free updates every month in 2020???

 

[Gr8_Lakes]

Reading this reaffirms what us "older" generations continuously say out loud. "It's amazing what game developers are able to accomplish in our current time." And I'm only in my mid 40s! But the evolution of sim-racing games over the past thirty years is friggin' astounding.

So much manpower is required for the final product, that I'm impressed new generations come out as quickly as they do. Outside of blatent, game-breaking bugs that are introduced upon launch or in updates, I try to remember exactly how many resources are applied to these games.

A tour, and the top notch reporting of such tour, such as this should help put into perspective how fortunate we are to have what we currently have, and help curb the complaints and criticism. It's obvious that PD is continuing to push the boundaries of what's possible in terms of realism. I knew 2017 was going to be a huge, ground breaking year for console sim-racing, and I continue to enjoy the awesome games that were released - not to mention the still continuing updates from PD. The future looks only brighter than I ever imagined possible, and to be honest, it's all extra gravy from here on out.

Excellent article. Well done Jordan. 👍

 

[FoRiZon]

View attachment 864359

Shhh. He's following Darwin's evolution theory too closely. I meant we are all apes basically.

Devs are all humans, therefore they're all apes

 

[Mr P]

Wow! what an opportunity and an experience to remember Jordan 👍 Top marks on a great write up and thanks for sharing your detailed behind the scenes info with us jealous sods haha

 

[girabyt3]

One day... One day I will have a model car collection like that

Amazing article @Jordan ! The thing that catches me the most is the track surface data thing... I can only imagine how it can affect racing when it gets implemented (especially on rain!!). And, for the ones who wanted outsourcing... PD tecnically did it since it got the CAD data from the respective manufactures and that could mean some 3d models (at least in my point of view) I wouldn't blame them for being nervous... The PS5 and the next GT must be something big for them!! ... One thing is sure, we are more closer than expected

 

[Altheon]

Reading the article feels like early Christmas. Thank you very much @Jordan.
This is awesome.

 

[cyberfella]

Fantastic glimpse into the inner sanctum. Didn't happen to spot a ct9a being modelled while you were there did you?

 

[L_Kesan]

Could be the cars in GTS have less polygons than those in GT5 to improve performance.

technology moved on. with smoothing algorithms these days smoother finish can be achieved from far less polyons previously you would need higher tesselation to smooth the surface out. 70k polys could also mean that thats the poly count of one of the LOD models and.
taking away polys is much harder than adding. You usually learn that the hard way


Loved the article I am kinda jealous!! and wish I could have seen that with you. I'm sure some NDA must have been signed !

 

[super_gt]

"With the next Gran Turismo game still a closely guarded secret, this is a particularly sensitive time for Polyphony Digital."
Not only the next Gran Turismo, but the next console too! I guess Poly has double checked everything before the tour^^
Poly as a studio seems ready for its next game and seeing Daiki Kasho reminds me some of the most epic songs in GT3

They also may have the new Logitech wheel and the next T300 from Thrustmaster.

 

[silicon1138]

I'm confused about the polygon count, that 70,000 figure seems really low. From the GT wiki page it sates :
According to Yamauchi, the cars in the first two games were made from 300 polygons,[6] while those in Gran Turismo 3 and 4 were made up of 4,000 polygons,[7] and the "premium cars" in Gran Turismo 5 were made up of 500,000 ("standard cars" are slightly more detailed versions of those in Gran Turismo 4).[8]

If it was pushing around 500,000 on PS3, surely 70,000 on PS4 can't be correct?

Regardless Jordan, it was fantastic seeing the tour and an absolute dream come true for you, well deserved

 

[MIE1992]

What a fascinating tour, I'm sure that establishing those new studios will help a lot with the next GT game. I suppose I did have a sizable amount of questions regarding GT and GTS, but at the same time, I wouldn't mind signing an NDA or whatnot to learn these things for myself. Nevertheless, this is a real neat peek at the development process.

 

[Racetee]

Makes exclusive deal with Thrustmaster ... has whole office filled gear from other brands

When you already live in the next generation, so you have to put a sticker on PC, so your people know what that box is.

 

[Nielsen]

Cool looking place for GT development. However, in a country where hard work is culturally significant, it must be weird working in an environment with so many temptations to unwind and relax.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Interesting but some things still irk me at how unnecessarily inefficient their processes are.

For instance picking real world locations then sending staff on junkets to research the vegetation. Are they serious?

 

[pedrocor]

You can see there a Volvo 850 Estate Touring Car, but it didn't make to any GT Game

 

[MIE1992]

Interesting but some things still irk me at how unnecessarily inefficient their processes are.

For instance picking real world locations then sending staff on junkets to research the vegetation. Are they serious?

I mean, I’d imagine vegetation can vary a lot. There’s a lot of different shapes and patterns, even in just a single plant, let alone within the makeup of a broader landscape that’d likely include multiple species.

 

[xxy98cn]

wondering if some random visitors are welcomed in the pd hq as there's always someone in this group planning to achieve his dream.

 

[ShiftingGears]

I mean, I’d imagine vegetation can vary a lot. There’s a lot of different shapes and patterns, even in just a single plant, let alone within the makeup of a broader landscape that’d likely include multiple species.

Sure. But that's what the internet is for. When you have less tracks than the competition it's just stupid to be so inefficient with the staff they have. And the fictional tracks include enormous suspension bridges over small lakes, so let's not pretend that vegetation is going to break the realism.

More broadly, GT fan favourite tracks like Trial Mountain, Deep Forest and Midfield have no real life location. It's just not that important for the vast majority of fans. PD make it a big issue for themselves, and from what I'm reading they then get hung up on it and get slowed down. Crazy.

 

[Groundfish]

Great article. Very cool.

 

[Granadier]

Sure. But that's what the internet is for. When you have less tracks than the competition it's just stupid to be so inefficient with the staff they have. And the fictional tracks include enormous suspension bridges over small lakes, so let's not pretend that vegetation is going to break the realism.

More broadly, GT fan favourite tracks like Trial Mountain, Deep Forest and Midfield have no real life location. It's just not that important for the vast majority of fans. PD make it a big issue for themselves, and from what I'm reading they then get hung up on it and get slowed down. Crazy.

I tend to look at GT as quality over quantity personally.

 

[DesertPenguin]

I tend to look at GT as quality over quantity personally.

Answer the question, yes or no. Do you care about the foliage of a track being accurate to the region of the world it is in? Does that affect your gameplay in any way?

 

[Granadier]

Answer the question, yes or no. Do you care about the foliage of a track being accurate to the region of the world it is in? Does that affect your gameplay in any way?

Well, considering my lap times are slow enough to actually appreciate the leaves on the trees...yes

 

[ShiftingGears]

I tend to look at GT as quality over quantity personally.

And I am saying you would get the exact same quality without sending staff overseas to look at plants.

 

[ArR29]

Answer the question, yes or no. Do you care about the foliage of a track being accurate to the region of the world it is in? Does that affect your gameplay in any way?

Why not? Other devs actually go to different locations just to take accurate photos of the skies in that particular region, I mean why spend money when they could just Google it right? Most AAA devs these day are scanning real life objects, I don't see any issues with it. It does not affect the gameplay but it makes the world feels more authentic. Just imagine a track based in Scandinavia full of banana trees all over the place

 

[Made Adhitya]

Answer the question, yes or no. Do you care about the foliage of a track being accurate to the region of the world it is in? Does that affect your gameplay in any way?

Because they have budget and try to find new technologies to push and set high standards in gaming industries

 

[Madracer1000]

Damn, to think we'd have Laguna Seca, Silverstone and Pikes Peak by now if a tiny handful of Polyphony's staff hadn't looked at some plants for a few hours...

 

[Kevstah2004]

It all makes sense now, PD is just a cover for a high speed ring.

 

[Satomiblood]

I feel like PD would be fine re-using resources from some of their current fantasy tracks (Dragon Trail, Lago Maggiore, Sardegna, etc.) to help enhance its older originals. I think that's a compromise a lot of players would be willing to accept just to have some of these tracks back before the game's shelf life expires.

 

[DesertPenguin]

I feel like PD would be fine re-using resources from some of their current fantasy tracks (Dragon Trail, Lago Maggiore, Sardegna, etc.) to help enhance its older originals. I think that's a compromise a lot of players would be willing to accept just to have some of these tracks back before the game's shelf life expires.

Seriously. In previous GT games did any fiction track have a real world country associated with it? If not, then let's just make some up. Trial Mountain and Deep Forest are in Croatia with the Dragon Trail foliage, etc.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

I'm pretty sure different surface traction is already in the game. At least if you set Grip Reduction to Real. If you go wide at the exit of Ascari for example you start sliding around even though it's still tarmac.

The real question is, if they laser scan tracks why is road feel still communicated very poorly through the FFB (and don't talk about the T-GT's T-DFB, because that's a canned effect)? Not being unthankful but I wish sometimes people who can get this close to Kaz would ask the real difficult questions. I imagine that would adversely impact your chances of getting an invite next time though

Amazing to see how much the studio has grown from this back in 2007 (I'm assuming this is the same location still):