Polyphony Digital Inc. (PDI) and FIA to Form Long-term Partnership

[GordonS]

Fantastic news! But this

As a second key element of the partnership, FIA & PDI plan to launch an official FIA Online Championship in 2015 with the intention of offering the large number of Gran Turismo players and motor sport fans the opportunity to engage with real motor sport.

should absolutely be launched with nextgen, aka GT7 Prologue, although that "large number of GT players" quite clearly refers to GT6 ..

 

[HKS racer]

Monza
Nurburgring
Silverstone
Red Bull Ring
Spa-Francorchamps
Suzuka Circuit

That's 6 permanent race courses and if you include Cote D'Azur, that's 7 tracks which need approval.

Need approval?
Will these tracks be better in any way if they slap a lame FIA blinking logo on the menu screen?

Hype train for..... FIA badges on content we already have.
The internet. A marvelous place.

 

[05XR8]

Will we see corner marshalls and flag waving online? Yellow flags, blue flags, white flag, red flags and restarts with the FiA hosting these events?

 

[stuff1138]

wow @HKS racer you're a cynic haha. First off I agree slapping a badge on an existing track and calling it certified is, at the moment, all it is. But....PR drives marketing and marketing drives sales which increases revenue and standing in the gaming community. This in turn provides the folks over at PD with bargaining power, more money and better partners in creating the next generation of GT experience. So if partnering with the FIA (one of the largest and more influential governing bodies in all of international sports) isn't something to be at least mildly excited about then I don't know what is.

 

[SagarisGTB]

I'm not all that excited. It's not like an FIA "license" is worth much at all. The FIA don't own any tracks, they don't build any cars, and, with perhaps an exception or two, they certainly don't own the rights to any. Maybe PD can acquire licenses for the WTCC and FIA F3 Euroseries logos. The FIA sanction and organize racing, which PD shouldn't need help with in their own game. This partnership can be beneficial in the long-term as it never hurts to know people and develop relationships in the industry, but this announcement is pure PR.

 

[FT-1]

Need approval?
Will these tracks be better in any way if they slap a lame FIA blinking logo on the menu screen?

Probably, a possible outcome of have that 'blinking FIA logo' is that PD may update some of the ageing FIA-spec tracks with real life environmental updates introduced in recent years.

 

[TheCrazySwede]

No because GT6 is pretty damn close to the F1 sounds nowadays.

Ouch! Haha

 

[HKS racer]

Probably, a possible outcome of have that 'blinking FIA logo' is that PD may update some of the ageing FIA-spec tracks with real life environmental updates introduced in recent years.

Well, that's something but it has to be seen if they really add these real life environmental updates.
Would be kind of ironic if they give a FIA certified badge and we'll still have brake markers in Monza made with cement instead of polystyrene.

 

[Dionisiy]

 

[maciej908]

Will that mean we'll get proper WEC/WTCC licensed game? I dunno but a link with FIA can't hurt the franchise...

 

[stuff1138]

ummm isn't that just a GT6 trailer? I don't get it.

 

[SCER]

Guys I know this is slightly off topic but it features "Porsche" and Silverstone track so here goes... Did anyone notice there is a Porsche dealership/building to the right of the bridge on the long straight on the Silverstone Circuit? After going to WEC event this year I saw the building and then checked whether it's in GT6 and guess what? It is with large PORSCHE sign... (If people already know this, I'm sorry but I didn't find a thread for this feature so I put it here :/)

This means absolutely nothing. There are also Porsche banners over Le Mans Course both in-game and in real life, it doesn't mean that they have licensing to add Porsche cars or do anything particularly useful on that front.

 

[SSQES]

ummm isn't that just a GT6 trailer? I don't get it.

Exactly the same launch trailer with a FIA logo ^^ But still something

 

[stuff1138]

Exactly the same launch trailer with a FIA logo ^^ But still something

Oh I didn't watch the very end of it lol...wow...

 

[nicholasxuu]

Fantastic news! But this

should absolutely be launched with nextgen, aka GT7 Prologue, although that "large number of GT players" quite clearly refers to GT6 ..

they definitely want to move GT7 to PS4, yet I'm not sure if logitech has finished writing their driver for steering wheels on PS4 yet (pretty much no steering wheel is supported by PS4 yet).
So, even if PD just copy GT6 as GT7 in PS4, they can't test it with wheel, nor will many people enjoy the game without a wheel.
Besides, how long did GT5 took after PS3's out? how long did GT portable took after PSP's out? we know PD.

---------
back to the topic, I doubt F1 will be in GT6 soon though, not sure if codemaster still owns the copyright . And I doubt Bernie will sell the copyright of his beloved cash printer anywhere near cheap.
FIA GT3 however, may be the first one to be promoted, then WEC (prototype+GT2), then maybe WTCC and F3.

 

[SavageEvil]

Now that's what I call cobbled together in like 5 minutes, lol. I wonder how long ago this deal was finalized, seems to be pretty recent and hinging on outcome of the FIA scrutiny of the courses. So what can we expect in the coming months tweaks and fine tuning as well as more information about what FIA is going to bring to GT as a whole. A fire has to be lit under someone in PD's offices, we're here PD just ask us what needs to be done to right the GT ship.

Some have said it's PR, but in all honesty Sony paying for PR from FIA is like some real left field type of business. This deal is a two way street, FIA sees the potential after quite a few GT gamers landing in FIA sponsored events racing for real. FIA obviously sees this as a good thing to get behind and push their safety first agenda on the track and off the track. For GT gamers it can mean that we can probably get real rules written into the code of the game to support penalties, bad sportmanship perhaps even allowing us to drive into the pits ourselves and maintain pit road speeds or face pit time penalty. Opportunities, GT is severely lagging in rules and regulations that make any sort of sense. I only see this being a motivator for them to do better, NASCAR is missing deeper tuning for suspension which allows setting left and right sides separately, simplified suspension tuning for in race pit stop changes...there is strategy and place for drama there. Do you head in and tighten up that loose rear end or do you just tough it out until the next caution which may never come. Seriously if this makes PD dig deep and crank this game up to 11, I'm all for it.

Edit I think some people are confusing officially licensed and Certified, they are two separate things, not one in the same. Officially licensed could mean very little to a lot, but certified means that they had to come in and actually put it to the test or scrutinize it officially in person. License deals tend to be struck with some lawyers and money, this is more like a license then they sent over their official guys to check out the data themselves to match it to their official data before giving the certification. At least that's my take on it, instead of wanting to be a bit cynical about the whole thing, I see this as a start, but what happens depends on parties involved PD, FIA and us the gamers of course.

 

[avens]

To be honest I only get excited when actual content is released, not about announcements of future announcements.

I would much prefer to hear "Sepang and Interlagos in GT6, today" instead.

 

[iainoflo85]

To be honest I only get excited when actual content is released, not about announcements of future announcements.

I would much prefer to hear "Sepang and Interlagos in GT6, today" instead.

Yeah, me too.

 

[HKS racer]

Exactly the same launch trailer with a FIA logo ^^ But still something

And that's exactly what it is. The same stuff... but now with a FIA logo.

People love being trolled by PR.

 

[crowhop]

The RRDC/FIA Young Drivers Training Program.
http://safeisfast.com/

This seems to me to be a deal in which the FIA reached out to Sony/PDI. I don't think there's much licensing money changing hands, if any. Seems to be a very mutually beneficial agreement, if properly managed and maintained.

 

[GTP_Patrick1]

Off topic but every I see Bernie I think of Andy Warhol

 

[trustjab]

If FIA is certifying tracks, that means their in game representation is up to their standards. You dont just get FIA standard tracks. You have to model and recreate them to their level of degree. If more tracks are coming as the article says, either we get recreated current FIA sanctioned tracks in game that arent up to snuff or date (Fuji or Nurburgring etc.), were getting new ones (like the Red Bull Ring) or both.

 

[giorgos21]

I don't know what it means, but i like it.

 

[vasiliflame]

This news is confusing I don't know what to make of it

 

[SavageEvil]

This news is confusing I don't know what to make of it

Just means that PD now have a partner that will further bring a scrutinizing eye to their work, so this means they have no choice but to tighten up on all ends or end up looking really bad on a massive scale in the competitive driving world, having successful GT Academy but the game which it spawned from is severely lacking is not going to come across well, so PD have a bigger fire under their collective rumps. Remember Amar talked about incoming changes, this could have been one of them that he just could not speak about because it was not a done deal, plus we got a new course literally two days after RedBull announced it(that's straight out of the twilight zone for PD). It means that things are churning and with them having a Q&A section on our board and a blog with up to date information...something has changed, someone has been caned(whipped) and everyone is shaking rattling and rolling. GT6 needs to be shored up and brought up to standard, I'm game if this helps PD realize that they don't exist in a bubble anymore, they aren't untouchable...their fans want more from them and their game but PD has to communicate with us.

That's about all I can think of right now, I'm still waiting for more updates...but I can see why we had a dry spell now, this whole FIA certification could have been something brokered earlier this year and took up their time ensuring that these courses passed. First video game to feature FIA Certified content is possibly a big thing, history making you know. It will only go so far as we along with PD and FIA take it. Now let's get out ideas together and issues with the game sorted and make some intelligent queries for Kaz and company to ponder about. It's a start and you can only move forward if you decide to take that first step you know. I'm game, are you?

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I feel the FIA move is good for tracks and running simulated sanctioned events. I think (not 100% sure) that the FIA backing would be similar to that of what the FOM allows CM to do with F1. Though F1 cars are licensed by the manufactures that build them, that doesn't mean that a group like the FOM can't give the rights to have all cars in a game racing each other because their contracts with the team give them this ability. However, this only extends so far it would seem.

The same could potentially be said here, but the again perhaps this is something for ask Kaz...if you believe that will work.

 

[John_Marsten]

Well this was unexpected. I am liking these suprises Mr Kaz.

 

[ryandtw]

I'm quite surprised. This does show, however, that GT6 is a simulator, not an arcade racing game!

 

[Johnnypenso]

Well this was unexpected. I am liking these suprises Mr Kaz.

Is it time to change your signature?

I'm quite surprised. This does show, however, that GT6 is a simulator, not an arcade racing game!

And if someone delivered that message to the guys that designed the game, the AI and the online portion of the game it might actually be true

This is a different situation. No additional content has been promised aside from the FIA Online Championship next year.
This isn't a "GT has the FIA License" scenario. There's no licensing verbiage in the statement at all. This is simply a partnership.

As with everything else, we must wait and see what, if anything this turns into. Could be the greatest thing ever to happen to a driving game, could be an annoying badge stuck up on the corner of the screen at every sanctioned track.

 

[cassiusclay99]

GT history of half baked partnerships.

"Hey GT5 has WRC cars!! OMG we ll be able to do official races with real tracks!! Maybe even official championships!"
Nope.

"OMG GT has Nascars!!!! YEHAAA!!! Nascar Championship !! nascar rules!! Gonna be fantastic!!"
Nope.

"WOW!! GT has Top gear!!! Great!!! We'll be able to challenge Stig's times!!! "
Nope.

"MAMMA MIA!!! GT has a partnership with the Senna foundation!! Imola here I come!!!Mac Laren MP4!!!"
Nope.

"JESUS CHRIST!! GT has GPS something something... We'll be able to build our own tracks from our GPS!!!"
Nope.

"MOTHER OF GOD!! GT has a track creator!! We'll be able to build real life tracks !!"
Nope.

"CRAZY!!! GT has a partnership with KW!! We'll be able to try their wind tunnel !!!!"
Nope.

"WOW!!! Bspec is great!! We'll be able to have our bobs as our teammates in endurance races!!!!"
Nope.

And so on....

Now PD signed a paper with FIA. FIA doesn't own brands, doesn't own tracks, doesn't own series... The news only says that everyone at PD and FIA is very happy... and, as always with PD, doesn't explain why we, players, should be.(99% of players don't care about GT academy as they know they will never make it to the finals....just a nice very limited leaderboard)

All i get from this news is that, from now on, tracks will be labelled "FIA certified"... which i don't care. Give me laser scanned tracks and then we'll talk.

In the end, be sure PD will be way less imaginative than you guys...and don't expect much. As always.