What gets me is, they didn't start doing work on damage until a few months ago so does that mean that for the previous 4 years damage wasn't an important thing to put in the game but then all of a sudden it was? I am getting the impression that PD are putting all their work into the damage model and everything else is just going to have to wait. KY said that the damage model will not be able to recreate big accidents so it will not be perfect so why does everything else have to be perfect for it to be included?
I think that this game has been in development for years and it is being relied upon to shift PS3 units. If any part of the game is seriously below par then PD may get criticised ie how can you spend 5 years making a game and this isn't right or could have been done better etc? They seem to have been answering more questions recently and realising what people want far too late in the day to implement. GT5 will be a safe, steady platform and we will get the extras in GT6 when they have more time to work on things and less pressure is on the game.
I agree that Gt5 should just be the steady platform. The weather can wait for the next game. Finish off what you have started already PD. If you are having difficulty with weather, put it off for the next game.
GTs popular competitor Forza perfected its design and online community despite sub-standard racing gameplay in Forza 2, and only a small selection of cars. As far as i can see there were a lot fewer complaints about that than there is about the features for GT5 so far. But if you think about it, what does Forza have over GT? And before you answer, consider that PD have not revealed much about the game as the basic damage engine that is several months old and GT PSP have been dominating all the news recently. We know nothing of customisation in GT5, the online has been outlined but nothing confirmed (yet nothing ruled out either). We don't nkow what the Gran Turismo/Simulation mode will be like, it could follow a GT4 style format or it could be a little more dynamic and variable so you don't just follow the same path of races everytime.
If GT got weather in the game, it would be just another feature that people shrug off, saying GT are trying too hard and they should focus on more useful features. But what little we know about the game gives us little insight on how PD has prioritised weather. They could have a lot of other features already finished that we do not know about. If not, then a much expanded version of prologue with more content than GT4 and online features is very welcoming.
Spot on cpp214! 👍
The way I see it, PD are stuck with the promise of nearly 1000 cars, all beautifully rendered. So, any graphics demanding feature (like weather and day/night cycles) will be burdened by the need of having it PERFECTLY implemented in all those cars (they have the same problem with damage, and I'm not sure how they will solve it).
Some people here say "... if having weather and day/night lowers the graphic quality of the game, I don't want those features"
I say "... if having 1000 cars makes it an impossible task to have weather and day/night cycles, not to mention damage ... DUMP 500 of them ... or even 800, I don't care! GT3 had less than 200 cras and I spent YEARS playing it!"
PS - I won't mention other GREAT racing games (PS2 and PS3 ) with car lists equal or smaller to GT3 because I'm not willing to start comparisons between GT games and other games. Anyway, I think the GT3 example is enough.
But a weather cycle and day/night cycle does not improve the game, it will not make me do the same race twice, just because on the second go it will rain. More cars to choose from increases playability by a lot. I got sick of GT3, you enter the later races and its a 2 horse race between the 787B and the Toyota GTone, with the Nissan R390 following in their stead. In GT4, with approx 700 cars, you got the same problem, there was limited choice for the AI, so you ended up having championships with 2 or 3 cars that are fast, and the others slow.
With 16 cars per race, PD should have increased the car count exponentially to cope. But instead, as we saw in prologue in the 4WD cup for example it will just use multiple of the same cars. More cars means more variation in the AI, more choice of car to race against them, and all in all a better racing experience because each race will be different. It means there will be less 'rabbits' that take the lead all the time, like the Zonda C12 in the MR cup in GT3.
Reducing the car count will not reduce the workload required for weather. It will for damage, but i'm a little fuzzy about damage. A lot of crap has been thrown around about licensing issues being a problem for damage. But i think its just because putting accurate damage into cars takes a lot longer than first anticipated, hence why they estimated only 170 cars will have proper body damage.
Again, if they keep the majority of the game the same, and add one new feature with each installment i will be happy. We are getting damage; scrap weather and focus on getting damage right, and polishing the existing features like sound and AI, before you start putting unnecessary cosmetic features in the game.
My wishlist for GT5; People to stop the complaining and unrealistic demands. The GT series has been great thus far and I am sure it will continue to be a #1 the world over.
which no human eyes can actually experience.
