I think you've convinced most of us that Kaz is working on something completely different in the sound department which is wonderful in theory and they may indeed pull it off and have it ready for GT7, but what some of us also have doubts about is that it will actually be better or at least as good as the sounds we hear in other games. Will an 89' Supra actually sound like an 89' Supra or will it sound obviously synthesized and lacking the depth and breadth and subtle nuances that make an 89' Supra unique? This is the part that remains to be seen IMO, in addition to whether this revolutionairy sound generation work is actually ready for GT7, or coming in a future update after release.
Other games are a nice reference, I suppose, but the method is so different that it's sort of not fair, in either direction.
Most other games focus on recreating the cars as they sound in a particular state, and try to cover any variation by recording and manipulating fixed content. A different approach is to focus on the flexibility and variation - PD have chosen the latter. Obviously, no matter what approach you take, the final result is filtered through someone's idea of "visceral", or whatever, according to the aesthetic target - that is entirely separate.
As for the '89 Supra, assuming it's got a 7M-GTE, I'd start with the picture below, and a handful of assumptions ('80s turbo -> cam timing, firing order etc.) and get 90% of the way there. Already it's clear it won't sound much different from a 2JZ-GTE, or 1JZ-GTE, or 1G-GTE, or even a well-fueled XK once the cam differences are accounted for.
The rest is achieved with fine-tuning against a set of references, such as
this one and
this one, at the same time (the difference in "parts" on the two cars is important, and part of the process: flexibility). PD would have all the data they should care to need, more or less immediately to hand: no assumptions, no guess work. Plus high-quality references from all the recording they've been doing (and not using in the game).
This is more than enough to get a recognisable sound, even in GT6. For PS4, you've got intake to worry about, and the interaction between it and the exhaust, but the process is the same. Any version without intake will be sorely lacking in expression, and is very unlikely to appear on PS3 across all cars - those cars it does appear on have special tunings to get around its limitations (described in that video I made ages ago), or the base sound is less sensitive to intake variations in the first place (e.g. 97T).
Regarding the aesthetic (which is separate, remember), you only have to look at the Red Bull and Senna cars to get an idea of what it would be like in GT6. However, those cars don't use any kind of exhaust tract, they're pretty much straight pipes, so there's more flexibility in the system as it stands than is demonstrated. For PS4, the extra power removes the need for some of the crude approximations, and the overall fidelity can easily be much higher.
You do realise, of course, that samplers are a form of synthesiser? They call it
sample-based synthesis, except that engines don't have "keys" like a keyboard or clarinet, they occupy a continuum of pitch, so the samples need to be pitch-shifted to fill that gap. It was quickly found that stretching one sample over the full rpm range is entirely inadequate - especially with low-res control. GPL only got away with using a single sample because of its focus on high-quality control.
I hate the synthetic signature that pitch-shifting has, and it ruins my appreciation of pCARS' sound, for instance. iRacing is much better, because the control is that much more sophisticated (inherited from GPL) that the pitch shifting is more transparent (but still timbrally evident), in that the control is not modulating the effect (which would make it more obvious) as it does in most games. The GT series has also had some of this advantage since GT3 (no drivetrain simulation to speak of, of course). This new method doesn't have pitch shifting at all, and it's music to my ears now I'm used to the fruits of my own experiments.
Practically speaking, I'd say temper your expectations regarding the absolute fidelity and aesthetic target, be assured that the accuracy of sounds will be much better (V8s will sound like V8s), as long as the data collected is accurate, but consider the effect of 1:1 representation of modifications and tuning reflected in the sound (as far as PD allow it). Also, customisation and sharing.
You're right; I'm ignorant and completely naive, and don't believe in GT until I see and hear for myself what they've done with the franchise on yet another generation hardware. As much as I hate to say this: PD rarely run out of excuses. They'll probably dedicate a blog to just that...
That's different, and perfectly sensible.
That's it. Games like Forza and so many PC sims are already there. GT is obviously lacking the goods. To all those who dig the game, well and good. I had a better product to move on to, and I did. Lord knows.. if I get my hands on a juiced up PC some day, I might quit console gaming altogether.
As above, this is a totally different approach. It warrants exploration in its own right, and is much more appropriate for a game with so many cars (hundreds), and, crucially, the ability to tune those cars. Those games you refer to don't have sounds that respond significantly to tuning, whereas this other approach could represent any changes you could care to imagine intrinsically. That's worth a shot, even if it all sounds like the Red Bull Junior, aesthetically.
