Seperate Championships, Class Victories, and Outright Victories

[JohnBM01]

I'm updating this topic with a little ToCA Race Driver 3 love. This game does a great job of distinguishing which cars you must race against. I actually feel more confident to race in my class and not feel bad because I'm not faster than the big boys. Anyhow, I'm doing the British GT - GT Cup series in the World Tour. Including myself, there are four other drivers I must contend against. The ones in my class are marked off in red on my track map. That way, I'll know who is in my class and who is not. This game does a great job to balance all competition. By the way, there are 13 cars to a track in this series with two classes racing.

This game provides a nice model for what I'm thinking about in this thread. If your Mazda Miata can't match up in a race where the most powerful cars are Corvettes and Skylines, then don't feel bad as long as you're winning in your class. Gran Turismo would benefit from this. If you win, it should count as a class win if you are not in the highest class. If you're in the highest class and lose, it should be counted as a loss. Go out and get ToCA Race Driver 3, then work your way up to the British GT to see for yourself. There are a few other series with different classes, so check them out too.

I learn from other games. Gran Turismo is great, but it doesn't mean PD and GT are without any ideas to better their franchise. Sometimes, we learn from others to make ourselves better. You dig? You're free to comment.

 

[Niels]

I think it would be cool for some of the larger events. Dont do this in almost every race like skyline manufacturers races, IMO it would kinda ruine what the race is meant for. 2 Classes in a few races would be awsome though, but I think it'll only be realistic in the endurance races. Whether it's 4 hours, 2 hours or 24 doesn't matter to me.

 

[Tenacious D]

That's true, it would only make sense in something 20 laps or longer, and be based on something you'd encounter in real life.

I'm growing increasingly curious about Toca 3. At first I thought about giving it a pass, but with all it has to offer, like my wish that GT5 cover the wide world of racing, I might have to give it a run. One thing that would be really cool about it, since the driving is supposed to be fairly arcady, is whether the different racers have their own A.I. and race a bit differently.

More and more, the Toca series sounds like what I'd like to see Gran Turismo evolve towards.

 

[Chris1990]

My first post for months!
I think that the idea of multi-class racing is great and should definately be incorporated in GT5. With games like TOCA, based on real series, it's fun to drive real cars on real tracks in real championships. In GT4 with all the JGTC GT300 cars, I liked the idea of racing the Cusco Impreza, RE Amemiya RX-7, WedSport Celica etc together, like you can with the Zs, Supras and NSXs. It annoyed me that if you raced a GT300 class car, you'd end up either with 'unrealistic' DTM and WRC opposition or being thrashed by GT500 cars.
IMO class racing would be a great addition to GT5.

 

[BMWteamPTG]

wow...im trying to come up with something to say, but mostly everything i wanted to say has been said. i really love the idea of have a 20+ car field and having classes racing together. to be racing a lower level car and having a p2 pass you going 50+mph faster, thatd be awesome. just cant wait to see this!

 

[Chris1990]

I agree. Heres a question, I've been spending a lot of time on TOCA Race Driver 3 with its yellow/green/blue flag system. Do you think any of this will be included in GT5. Its one part of real-life racing thats been missed out in the past.

 

[Dave A]

I think it might in some series, they did show GT500 and GT300 cars racing together in the VGT video which could be a hint that it will, but we really don't know for sure. I'm hoping we'll find out a lot more at this years E3.

 

[Chris1990]

Can't wait

 

[Niels]

You know in GT3 I always looked replays of the faster cars. I expect it to be very exciting to run next to an Audi R8 while you are still in a Corvette LM car. It would certainly get me more excited, and I would get some love for faster cars.

In GT3 I had car wishes, I would save up money to buy an Aston Martin because I loved that thing. In GT4 I didn't have that love for any car. If you can run in Le Mans in a lower class, then I would be able to see the BIG stuff coming by much faster and it would get me very jealous

 

[Jim Prower]

You should also be able to change a car's class by adding mods to it. For Example, a CLK-GTR with 900+hp can compete with the LMP1/GTP/Group C cars. therefore, it should be in that category.

There should also be a higher class for 1,000+ HP modded Prototype cars.

 

[JohnBM01]

The possibility of 20 or more cars on track will usually bring about the possibilities of more racing classes. I'll honor Codemasters for some good calls on racing fields. When I did the British GT's GT Cup (I always thought NGT was the lowest class, but I don't really KNOW British GT except for the badass cars the NGT series has), I was against four other cars. I did make some passes against trailing NGT cars, but they all passed me like I blown a motor. We can take the usual cars from Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec from the Gran Turismo World Championship. The Beginner class have rally cars and GT300 machinery most of the time, the Advanced Class features DTM and GT500 machinery, and the Professional Class features GT and Le Mans race cars. Take six cars from each class, and we've already filled up about 90% of the potential 20-car field. Race them all at once, and we have a race that can serve as a precursor to class wins. I tend to believe that among a field of 20 cars, each class can likely have a minimum of two cars. This is my model for classes to be formed. Take a look at this big model I've formed:

===
PACK DISTRIBUTION - EQUAL
===
Assuming that Gran Turismo 5 will feature 20 cars to a track for circuit racing, classes can be equally distributed to offer equal levels of classes as shown below. The series will have some ficticous names and classes:

Two-Class Series Example: TVR Tuscan Challenge
Class A - TVR Speed 12 Cerbera (10 cars)
Class B - TVR Tuscan Speed Six (10 cars)

Four-Class Series Example: American Horsepower Tour
Class A - Unlimited Class (all eras, no LMP or GTP Prototypes) (5 cars)
Class B - Hard-Tuned American Cars (5 cars)
Class C - Lightly-modified American Cars (all eras) (5 cars)
Class D - Factory-Stock American cars (all eras) (5 cars)

Five-Class Series Example: Tuner World Challenge

MODEL A (Location-Based):
Class A - Aftermarket Tuner Groups (world; for example, Spoon Sports and Lingenfelter) (4 cars)
Class B - In-House Tuner Groups (world; for example, Mazdaspeed and AMG)
Class C - Asia-Pacific (Asia and Australia) (4 cars)
Class D - Mediterrenean (Europe) (4 cars)
Class E - Pan-America (North and South America) (4 cars)

MODEL B (Displacement-Based; based on Cubic Centimeters):
Class A - Tuned Elite (must be based on a road-going car) (x > 2000cc) (4 cars)
Class B - Tuned Sports Cars (x > 2000cc) (4 cars)
Class C - Tuned High Compact (x < 2000cc) (4 cars)
Class D - Tuned Sport Compact (x < 1500cc) (4 cars)
Class E - Tuned Small Car (x < 1000cc) (4 cars)
===


What if the racing classes are more diverse and doesn't have equal distribution of cars in classes? Here are some examples of class distrubution for cars in GT:

===
PACK DISTRIBUTION - INEQUAL
===
Three-Class Series Examples:

Japanese Festival of Speed (no disrespect to Goodwood Festival of Speed)
Class A - Modern Era (1990 - present)
Class B - Classic Era (1970 - 1989)
Class C - Vintage Era (past - 1969)

Gran Turismo Sportscar Championship
Class A - Prototypes (LMP and GTP)
Class B - Modern Grand Touring 1 Cars
Class C - Modern Grand Touring 2 Cars

Five-Class Series Example (includes equal distribution): Gran Turismo World Championship
Class A - Prototypes (GTP and LMP) (8 cars)
Class B - Super Grand Touring - Super GT and Le Mans (4 cars)
Class C - Low Grand Touring - (4 cars)
Class D - Super Touring Car (2 cars)
Class E - Touring Car (2 cars)
===

-end


There are other possibilities, but that's a sample of how to break up classes. There's another possibility to racing among classes, and it's shown in the GARRA's Rolex Sports Car Series where the Daytona Prototypes raced Long Beach as the GT series didn't race anywhere that weekend (I believe). Don't forget about different racing classes and that possibility of certain classes racing elsewhere, GTPlanet. Another possibility is a track being too small (this is going to require entry lists of well over 20 cars!) to host 20 cars or if there are too many entries for a course. You have to consider as many variables as possible in the sense of racing among classes, and this is only a start to an even bigger and more diverse view on this.

 

[Uncle Harry]

Its a nice idea. I like it.
It could replace the flawed Aspec point system in GT4.
I just do not see PD implimenting it.👎
The entire development path for GT games has been finishing first.👎
You get to drive slow cars at the beginning of the game for low prize money. Move up to faster cars with more prize money, and then finally progress to the FGT and LM cars for mega bucks.
A mixed series race with divisional winners seems out of place with previous GT game structure. It would make a refreshing change to the series. .
It would not be required for every race event, but if implimented for 25% of championships the game would be great.
Could PD impliment it well?
Would it mean you have to do each race series 4 times to get 4 class win trophies for the 100 % game completion (and 4 seperate prize cars) ?

 

[Mt. Lynx]

I think PD could divide the cars into the same categorys as they do at Le Mans. I don&#180;t know if the all new FIA GT3 class will be included there, but it would be fun!
Like this:
GT3 - Viper Competition Coupe, Corvette Z06, Lotus motorsport Elise and the likes.
GT2 - Well, mainly Porsche GT3 and Ferrari F430 CS here. TVR T400R would fit, and so would Morgan Aero R.
GT1 - Lister Storm, Maserati MC12, Ferrari F575, Corvette C6R and so on.
LMP2 - none represented in GT4, but Courage, Judd, Dome, Mugen would all go.
LMP1 - Audi R10 and R8, Pescarolo C60 Judd, and so on.

There could be a historic event too, featuring Group C, GTS, Group 5 (BMW M1 and Lancia Montecarlo!) cars.