Special Stage City (A research on how SSR5, 7, and 11 may be connected.)

[2_FAST_4_U]

Finally got around to trying out that Special Stage Route X wall glitch. Gonna do some riding around inside all the various walls and see what new stuff I can find at the X... For those interested use the Nissan GT-R Black edition '12 only, then ride along at very high speed rubbing the side rails. I've tested other areas and they work also with patience...

Edit Added...
The only reason my car shows no damage is that I turned off temporarily in the options menu arcade mode the visible damage. If you want to take photos and leave the visible damage on in the option menu arcade it will make the Nissan look really bad with damage, especially with the white one the sparks create black burn marks from sparking against the rail all over the car.

 

[Tim Voak]

Sweet! As an observer of human behavior, reading back through this thread is entertaining to me for a couple of reasons. One is the diligence of those attempting to integrate new information into existing information. This how our minds learn and expand from the day we are born. Another is the way some people react to this as seemingly difficult to understand and dismissing it as a "waste of time" because it's just too much for them to think about.
-
Saying that some things are "purely made up" or "totally fictional" and not related to or inspired by other things misunderstands how creativity works. EVERYTHING is inspired by SOMETHING no matter how obscure or unrelated it may seem. The idea that these tracks could be connected somehow blows some peoples minds because it's too much to contemplate. Is it really that hard to imagine that designers would draw on the same inspirations when constructing multiple like-items within an environment? Wouldn't that be the easiest way?
-
Of course these tracks are related because that makes more sense than imagining they all fell from the sky and don't follow the same patterns as each other. That would be much crazier than the idea that they're related which they obviously are, if only we take the time to notice the parallels. It's not a waste of time, it's simply apprehension vs. comprehension. Time for some exploration and fun learning.

 

[Tim Voak]

Fun learning in progress! Following the above instructions from 2_Fast_4_U I was able to find a few exit points to the right just past the tunnel without much trouble. Unlike GT4 and previous titles, we are unable to roam wildly across the rendered areas. There is a shoulder or border area a few meters wide just beyond the guard rails. Drive beyond that and you are transported back to the track. In the images below I am unable to drive past the first warning light to my right or onto the smooth white concrete surfaces to my left.

This limits exploration of what lies outside the race-able track area so for example this is the best view I was able to get of the incompletely rendered "secret inner loop" of SSRX. We can see the exit coming through the circular reservoir walls arranged into a series of parabolic S-Curves and finally the off ramp that merges back onto the main part of the track. Sadly we cannot drive or walk in photo mode to explore these areas as they are like holograms with no hard rendered surfaces. Using a powerful AWD GT-R as suggested by 2_Fast_4_U was helpful breaking out of the track. 👍 Still hope to learn more about SSR5 & SSR7 using this method.

 

[Tim Voak]

It occurs to me that SSRX is mis-named. It is neither a Special Stage race nor a Route 10 city street course. The only real life track that comes to mind is the Nardo Ring or perhaps Area 51. It's obviously multi-million dollar high speed test facility and ought to have been given a name more befitting it's intended purpose.

 

[Dennisho]

I suspected that Special Stage Route City was Tokyo.
I did some search and reach to some conclusions. I think I found something that is SSR7. However, I couldnt find 5, and Im not 100% sure about it...Ill explain right now.

Looked on google but find nothing about it. I took it as a fictious name... However, it is still possible to be Tokyo, and it was still valuable to take a look.
Then, I took the information from another sign. It says that SSR5 was behind a bay.

I could find the bay. Cool picture.

So, there are the tips: SSR7 is close to SSR5. Both are behind an airport, and all of two are near water. Having a look on Tokyo´s map on Google Earth, I found only one airport which is beside a bay: Haneda´s airport.

I started to look around. Started from the easiest thing to find: SSR7 bridge. I looked for it.

And find it!!! From all I looked for, I find only one bridge that it is identical to SSR7 bridge.

Then, I started to look for SSR7 tunel and toll both. I found several looking alike tunels along SSR7 way, but none of them were identical.

Just some more evidences that both SSR5 10's and SSR7 have strong reference from highways in Tokyo, but definitely not a direct copy.

The signs on SSR5, namely Bay-side and New-stage may be direct translations of the exits on the real Bayshore route in Tokyo, Imurah has no relevance tho.

Bay-side may be regarded as bayshore directly or I assume it may be 台場 (Daiba) where tourists usually enjoys the bayside view.
New-stage is clearly a translation of 新木場 (New-wood-stage character by character), an exit on the eastern side of the Bayshore route.

SSR5 resembles C1 route in Tokyo as both are located in city center

The tunnel entrance near Daikancho-Dori on C1 route closely resembles the tunnel exit in SSR5.

Tunnel entrance near Daiba on Bayshore Route looks similar to the one in SSR7.

If my assumption is correct, PD basically wanted to make a replica of the map featured in the game Wangan but they can only imitate in the form of Special Stage series. Therefore the connection of SSR5 and SSR7 won't be short if it resembles the real-life counterparts as shown below:

Hope my assumption is correct and this helps the discussion continue.

 

[Navilos]

So, did someone found more things ?

 

[Doomotron]

Nope. Research has pretty much dried up, although I assume this thread will restart if any of the Special Stage Routes are added to GTS/GT7.

 

[Navilos]

I hope so.

 

[Suzumiya]

I regret opening this thread because there's really not that much to see for SSR. I was also a stupid kid and the mention of the crappy map I made makes me cringe so don't necro dude.

 

[Griffith500]

I regret opening this thread because there's really not that much to see for SSR. I was also a stupid kid and the mention of the crappy map I made makes me cringe so don't necro dude.

Hey there. Let's not be so hard on ourselves and each other.

This is a good thread.

We don't complain about necro'ing here, by the way. It doesn't all have to be new new new, sometimes we can just relax too 👍

 

[Doomotron]

I regret opening this thread because there's really not that much to see for SSR. I was also a stupid kid and the mention of the crappy map I made makes me cringe so don't necro dude.

I actually enjoyed the theories, no matter how pointless they were. They were fun.

That said, I do have some more research @Navilos

In GTS, Blue Moon fly to two locations, one being an airport near Blue Moon Bay Speedway and the other being the airport inside Special Stage Route X. In GT5/6, when most of the 'research' was going on, all of Gran Turismo's original tracks (except for Eiger Nordwand and Matterhorn) were marked as PDI - a general term used for fictional tracks. However, in GTS this term does not exist, at least for tracks, as I believe that the Gran Turismo manufacturer is coded as being both from PDI and USA for the SEMA cars, but appears as Japanese. Anyway, SSRX is now in the USA, meaning that Blue Moon Airways or whatever it's called may fly between the two.

The aeroplanes found on both tracks are of different types - SSRX uses an older plane type that I can't remember the name of. The planes also have different liveries. Many airlines prefer to use older planes on shorter/less intensively used routes so that the older planes can be maintained better as they near the end of their operational lives. This pattern is repeated both for trains (British Rail always had a policy of putting the oldest InterCity trains onto the (at the time) relatively quiet CrossCountry routes) and for cars (older cars are usually kept in museums and rarely venture out of them except for showcase drives). This may mean that the city near SSRX is smaller or, at least, the airline route is less popular. This could mean that the road bridge seen above the track could be a motorway to the city.

Throughout this thread we have established that SSRX itself is nowhere near 'Special Stage City', although the city itself could house Route 5 and 11 (I can't remember much about the research on the city, so excuse any mistakes I make). This can be backed up, however. Knowing that Route X is set in the USA, we can create a link between the locations. Route 5 and 11 both drive on the right, like the USA, and crucially unlike Japan, where we have always assumed Special Stage City to be. However, what about the road signs? In GT5/6 (I can't remember the road signs from any older games) all of the signs seem Japanese. 'Bay-Side' and 'New-Stage' are obviously influenced by Japanese roads, and some of the names of districts seem like Japanese translations, although Tetrapit almost sounds Russian! And on Route 5, the signs to Route 7 don't match up at all, as SSR7 is driven on the left, like Japan. This could mean that only SSR7 is actually set in Japan!

From what I can see, this does not match up at all. SSRX, the track we all assumed is miles away from the other routes and has nothing to do with the other routes, could now be a lot more important. Remember when I said that SSRX might have a larger role than we first thought? Well, it did, but it might have nullified all of the research that we've been doing for almost ten years. I have come up with a list of possibilities for the little bit of research I've done:

• Special Stage Route 5/11 are set in the USA but have Japanese influences (in particular the road signs). This would mean that the Route 7 signs on SSR5 are actually referring to another Route 7 and not SSR7. This result might also prove that Antankt is the airport in SSRX, like I said earlier on, but it might not, as it doesn't prove that the city seen from SSRX is Special Stage City and there is no other evidence for the airport being Antankt other than association.
• Special Stage Route 5/11 are set in Japan but have American influences (such as driving on the right). This automatically makes the airport in SSRX not Antankt, and proves the theory that SSRX does not relate at all to the other routes. This does not explain why Route 7 drives on the left, although my next point might...
• All routes except SSRX are set in Japan, like in the previous point. What I believe happened was that the original Special Stage Routes were made with little care to the details, as shown by the odd road layout and driving on the left. I think PD noticed this - hence why SSR7 is on the left - but could not change the scenery of SSR5/11, either because of hardware limitations or because the scenery of the tracks were cemented in the memories of long-time GT players and PD didn't want any negative reception for massively changing classic tracks. That said, there is another possibility: SSR5/11 are left-hand drive but the player drives around in reverse for whatever reason, and PD just made all of the scenery as if it was right-hand-drive. On the other hand, this same logic could be applied to SSR7, meaning that all of the Special Stage Routes are in the USA, with Japanese influences!

That was some basic research that came off of the top of my head. I do have things I want to investigate more. SSRX probably has had an increase in detail away from the track, so it might be worth looking for anything new. Another idea is to do with PDI Line, the game's fictional shipping company. Could it have anything to do with Special Stage City? After all, there are dock cranes seen outside of SSR5 and we know that that track is set near a bay...

Find out next time on
DOOMOTRON PRESENTS DOOMOTRON'S RESEARCH INTO THE LOCATIONS OF FOUR FICTIONAL RACE TRACKS IN A PLAYSTATION GAME

 

[eltitogafas]

Hello. This is my first post here. English is not my first language so excuse my way of speaking. I'm also on mobile so I can't put pictures but I tried to put a link.

I'd like to expand this thread with my theory. starting with what @Doomotron said before:

all of Gran Turismo's original tracks were marked as PDI - a general term used for fictional tracks. However, in GTS this term does not exist, at least for tracks, as I believe that the Gran Turismo manufacturer is coded as being both from PDI and USA

Because of how GT Sport is designed, there is no possibility for Fictional tracks to exist in the game and so SSR-X's location has been placed in the US
My theory is that SSR-X was not originally located in the US and that it's a mistake with the system or that US location is a place-holder for fictional.

Let me explain:

1: Racing direction
SSRX is an oval-shaped purpose-built test track located in the US. (We can all agree that this track is not a street circuit made from existing roads). There are a lot of ovals in the US but SSRX is different, it's designed to run clockwise. The fact that it's a purpose-built track it's important because someone had to design it with clockwise-direction in mind right?.

Racing in general in the US always runs in anticlockwise direction (motorsport ovals, horse-racing, boat racing, athletics, Roller-derby, even our eyes reading from left to right seem prepared to follow racing in anticlockwise direction.) However, there are some sorts of racing that run clockwise, specially Australian NASCAR and some forms of horse-racing in Asia.

Why? Culture, but also Earth's rotation and the Coriolis effect. Fluids (air for aerodynamics, water, fuel etc.) Are affected by Earth's rotation in different ways depending of in which hemisphere it is(remember that Simpson's episode when Bart called Australia to see in which direction their toilets drained?... This is the same) And oval racing is designed with this effect in mind.

2: Its surroundings
SSRX just looks like a military base. The satellite dishes, the airport with no conections to any road, the tunnels and the start-finish straight and pit-boxes look exactly like a freaking submarine base

(Saint Nazaire Submarine base in the picture)

You also never see signs of vegetation in the mountains (specially this one you cross while racing)

this only happens on very extreme and precise evrironments: high altitude (discarded, this track is at sea level) and extreme latitudes.

If we move our attention to the Airport, you see no planes landing in either GT5 or GT6, but in GT Sport you can indeed spot them preparing for landing and taking off. Now I couldn't find too much video evidence but if we cross this information with what we can see everytime we get evidences that support my theory.

Taking this image into account, we see that one runway is heading 20º-30º west and the other one is pretty much 0º North. Now, planes always land/take off in head-wind because of aerodynamic efficiency so every airport and runway are designed with the dominant winds of the region in mind so that all the time wind is in the same direction as the runway, so, runway is heading north-south right? and we see sometimes planes aproaching the airport from the beggining of the track (first corner) so they try to land/take off facing south. Then we just have to go and search for dominant winds that face mostly North-South and... what do we see? Exacly. Extreme latitudes again.

3: the sun
The sun's position in this track is extremely low in the horizon. (See image at 3pm)

The angle of the Zenith is very shallow too, In mid-day the sun is close to 15º-20º to the horizon

and when running day/night cycle, the night last almost twice as long as the day. Those things are also characteristic of extreme latitudes. Either Artic or Antartic.


Remember the Coriolis effect and running in the opposite direction? It all makes sense now.

All these evicence suggest that SSRX is not located in the US but instead its original location is somewhere in South Asia or in the Paciffic, close to Antartica. Closing the gap with SSR 5, 7 and 11

Spoiler: Side Note

I've been following this thread sporadically since i played GT5 and Special Stage Routes caught my attention and this thread made my imagination run wild.


I don't know why but today I went "into the rabbit hole" again and saw that since 2011 this thread is still active almost a decade later.

I just wanted to make you know how much you amaze me and how much I respect you for keeping this thread alive and your love for this weird "SS City" (which I share with you). I loved this thread since the first time I discovered it.

 

[Doomotron]

Hello. This is my first post here. English is not my first language so excuse my way of speaking. I'm also on mobile so I can't put pictures but I tried to put a link.

I'd like to expand this thread with my theory. starting with what @Doomotron said before:

Because of how GT Sport is designed, there is no possibility for Fictional tracks to exist in the game and so SSR-X's location has been placed in the US
My theory is that SSR-X was not originally located in the US and that it's a mistake with the system or that US location is a place-holder for fictional.

Let me explain:

1: Racing direction
SSRX is an oval-shaped purpose-built test track located in the US. (We can all agree that this track is not a street circuit made from existing roads). There are a lot of ovals in the US but SSRX is different, it's designed to run clockwise. The fact that it's a purpose-built track it's important because someone had to design it with clockwise-direction in mind right?.

Racing in general in the US always runs in anticlockwise direction (motorsport ovals, horse-racing, boat racing, athletics, Roller-derby, even our eyes reading from left to right seem prepared to follow racing in anticlockwise direction.) However, there are some sorts of racing that run clockwise, specially Australian NASCAR and some forms of horse-racing in Asia.

Why? Culture, but also Earth's rotation and the Coriolis effect. Fluids (air for aerodynamics, water, fuel etc.) Are affected by Earth's rotation in different ways depending of in which hemisphere it is(remember that Simpson's episode when Bart called Australia to see in which direction their toilets drained?... This is the same) And oval racing is designed with this effect in mind.

2: Its surroundings
SSRX just looks like a military base. The satellite dishes, the airport with no conections to any road, the tunnels and the start-finish straight and pit-boxes look exactly like a freaking submarine base https://www.google.com/search?q=sai...hVKBGMBHRJBAW4Q_AUoAnoECBIQAg&biw=455&bih=830

Furthermore, you see no signs of vegetation in the mountains (specially when you cross the one in the first straight, after the elevation change and before the first turn) this only happens on very extreme evrironments: high altitude (discarded, this track is at sea level) and extreme latitudes, and that brings me to number 3:

3: the sun
The sun's position in this track is extremely low in the horizon. The angle of the Zenith is very shallow and when running day/night cycle, the night last almost twice as long as the day. Those things are also characteristic of extreme latitudes. Either Artic or Antartic.

Remember the Coriolis effect and running in the opposite direction? It all makes sense now.

All these evicence suggest that SSRX is not located in the US but instead its original location is somewhere in South Asia or in the Paciffic, close to Antartica. Closing the gap with SSR 5, 7 and 11

Spoiler: Side Note

I've been following this thread sporadically since i played GT5 and Special Stage Routes caught my attention and this thread made my imagination run wild.


I don't know why but today I went "into the rabbit hole" again and saw that since 2011 this thread is still active almost a decade later.

I just wanted to make you know how much you amaze me and how much I respect you for keeping this thread alive and your love for this weird "SS City" (which I share with you). I loved this thread since the first time I discovered it.

You obviously did a lot of research for that! What an interesting point. That probably means that we need to be looking for non-snowy regions near to the poles. I wasn't taught this in Geography.

 

[eltitogafas]

You obviously did a lot of research for that! What an interesting point. That probably means that we need to be looking for non-snowy regions near to the poles. I wasn't taught this in Geography.

Thank you! It's a mix of physics, geography classes and my curiosity. Regions close to the poles get quite less permanent snow than what people think so it wouldn't be too crazy to think.
BTW I am on PC now and edited my post adding some pictures and more information.

 

[Navilos]

I actually enjoyed the theories, no matter how pointless they were. They were fun.

That said, I do have some more research @Navilos

In GTS, Blue Moon fly to two locations, one being an airport near Blue Moon Bay Speedway and the other being the airport inside Special Stage Route X. In GT5/6, when most of the 'research' was going on, all of Gran Turismo's original tracks (except for Eiger Nordwand and Matterhorn) were marked as PDI - a general term used for fictional tracks. However, in GTS this term does not exist, at least for tracks, as I believe that the Gran Turismo manufacturer is coded as being both from PDI and USA for the SEMA cars, but appears as Japanese. Anyway, SSRX is now in the USA, meaning that Blue Moon Airways or whatever it's called may fly between the two.

The aeroplanes found on both tracks are of different types - SSRX uses an older plane type that I can't remember the name of. The planes also have different liveries. Many airlines prefer to use older planes on shorter/less intensively used routes so that the older planes can be maintained better as they near the end of their operational lives. This pattern is repeated both for trains (British Rail always had a policy of putting the oldest InterCity trains onto the (at the time) relatively quiet CrossCountry routes) and for cars (older cars are usually kept in museums and rarely venture out of them except for showcase drives). This may mean that the city near SSRX is smaller or, at least, the airline route is less popular. This could mean that the road bridge seen above the track could be a motorway to the city.

Throughout this thread we have established that SSRX itself is nowhere near 'Special Stage City', although the city itself could house Route 5 and 11 (I can't remember much about the research on the city, so excuse any mistakes I make). This can be backed up, however. Knowing that Route X is set in the USA, we can create a link between the locations. Route 5 and 11 both drive on the right, like the USA, and crucially unlike Japan, where we have always assumed Special Stage City to be. However, what about the road signs? In GT5/6 (I can't remember the road signs from any older games) all of the signs seem Japanese. 'Bay-Side' and 'New-Stage' are obviously influenced by Japanese roads, and some of the names of districts seem like Japanese translations, although Tetrapit almost sounds Russian! And on Route 5, the signs to Route 7 don't match up at all, as SSR7 is driven on the left, like Japan. This could mean that only SSR7 is actually set in Japan!

From what I can see, this does not match up at all. SSRX, the track we all assumed is miles away from the other routes and has nothing to do with the other routes, could now be a lot more important. Remember when I said that SSRX might have a larger role than we first thought? Well, it did, but it might have nullified all of the research that we've been doing for almost ten years. I have come up with a list of possibilities for the little bit of research I've done:

• Special Stage Route 5/11 are set in the USA but have Japanese influences (in particular the road signs). This would mean that the Route 7 signs on SSR5 are actually referring to another Route 7 and not SSR7. This result might also prove that Antankt is the airport in SSRX, like I said earlier on, but it might not, as it doesn't prove that the city seen from SSRX is Special Stage City and there is no other evidence for the airport being Antankt other than association.
• Special Stage Route 5/11 are set in Japan but have American influences (such as driving on the right). This automatically makes the airport in SSRX not Antankt, and proves the theory that SSRX does not relate at all to the other routes. This does not explain why Route 7 drives on the left, although my next point might...
• All routes except SSRX are set in Japan, like in the previous point. What I believe happened was that the original Special Stage Routes were made with little care to the details, as shown by the odd road layout and driving on the left. I think PD noticed this - hence why SSR7 is on the left - but could not change the scenery of SSR5/11, either because of hardware limitations are because the scenery of the tracks were cemented in the memories of long-time GT players and PD didn't want any negative reception for massively changing classic tracks. That said, there is another possibility: SSR5/11 are left-hand drive but the player drives around in reverse for whatever reason, and PD just made all of the scenery as if it was right-hand-drive. On the other hand, this same logic could be applied to SSR7, meaning that all of the Special Stage Routes are in the USA, with Japanese influences!

That was some basic research that came off of the top of my head. I do have things I want to investigate more. SSRX probably has had an increase in detail away from the track, so it might be worth looking for anything new. Another idea is to do with PDI Line, the game's fictional shipping company. Could it have anything to do with Special Stage City? After all, there are dock cranes seen outside of SSR5 and we know that that track is set near a bay...

Find out next time on
DOOMOTRON PRESENTS DOOMOTRON'S RESEARCH INTO THE LOCATIONS OF FOUR FICTIONAL RACE TRACKS IN A PLAYSTATION GAME

I am now thinking. Maybe the unused part of SSRX have something to do with this

 

[Doomotron]

I am now thinking. Maybe the unused part of SSRX have something to do with this

I believe that there were some photos taken from the central bit of SSRX and it was not like a normal road, it was obviously a test track. However, the road that goes over the track might be, as I said.

PS: I am currently working on some more research which should be up soon.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Today I learned via @eltitogafas that America is big brain thought when it comes to direction ovals are run in. However, the rest of the norther hemisphere is full of idiots cause they run their ovals/test tracks clockwise...

Darn if only those engineers and scientific minds knew what was up, they'd probabaly break records and make advancements sooner.

 

[Tim Voak]

Australia?

 

[Doomotron]

This isn't the research I was promising earlier, but it is something I noticed. Today I was playing GT4, trying to get the Zonda race car (Mission 23 ) and I was checking to see if I had done the Super licence. When looking at it, it shows you what cars are used in the test, as we all know. Often, the car used is of the same nationality as the track. The Nurburgring has a Mercedes. Amalfi has a Stratos. Special Stage Route 5 has a Saleen S7, an American car. I'm starting to think that the Special Stage Routes are set in the USA.

 

[Navilos]

I never noticed that but still, SSR have the signs in Japanese.

 

[Suzumiya]

Hello. This is my first post here. English is not my first language so excuse my way of speaking. I'm also on mobile so I can't put pictures but I tried to put a link.

I'd like to expand this thread with my theory. starting with what @Doomotron said before:

Because of how GT Sport is designed, there is no possibility for Fictional tracks to exist in the game and so SSR-X's location has been placed in the US
My theory is that SSR-X was not originally located in the US and that it's a mistake with the system or that US location is a place-holder for fictional.

Let me explain:

1: Racing direction
SSRX is an oval-shaped purpose-built test track located in the US. (We can all agree that this track is not a street circuit made from existing roads). There are a lot of ovals in the US but SSRX is different, it's designed to run clockwise. The fact that it's a purpose-built track it's important because someone had to design it with clockwise-direction in mind right?.

Racing in general in the US always runs in anticlockwise direction (motorsport ovals, horse-racing, boat racing, athletics, Roller-derby, even our eyes reading from left to right seem prepared to follow racing in anticlockwise direction.) However, there are some sorts of racing that run clockwise, specially Australian NASCAR and some forms of horse-racing in Asia.

Why? Culture, but also Earth's rotation and the Coriolis effect. Fluids (air for aerodynamics, water, fuel etc.) Are affected by Earth's rotation in different ways depending of in which hemisphere it is(remember that Simpson's episode when Bart called Australia to see in which direction their toilets drained?... This is the same) And oval racing is designed with this effect in mind.

2: Its surroundings
SSRX just looks like a military base. The satellite dishes, the airport with no conections to any road, the tunnels and the start-finish straight and pit-boxes look exactly like a freaking submarine base

(Saint Nazaire Submarine base in the picture)

You also never see signs of vegetation in the mountains (specially this one you cross while racing)

this only happens on very extreme and precise evrironments: high altitude (discarded, this track is at sea level) and extreme latitudes.

If we move our attention to the Airport, you see no planes landing in either GT5 or GT6, but in GT Sport you can indeed spot them preparing for landing and taking off. Now I couldn't find too much video evidence but if we cross this information with what we can see everytime we get evidences that support my theory.

Taking this image into account, we see that one runway is heading 20º-30º west and the other one is pretty much 0º North. Now, planes always land/take off in head-wind because of aerodynamic efficiency so every airport and runway are designed with the dominant winds of the region in mind so that all the time wind is in the same direction as the runway, so, runway is heading north-south right? and we see sometimes planes aproaching the airport from the beggining of the track (first corner) so they try to land/take off facing south. Then we just have to go and search for dominant winds that face mostly North-South and... what do we see? Exacly. Extreme latitudes again.

3: the sun
The sun's position in this track is extremely low in the horizon. (See image at 3pm)

The angle of the Zenith is very shallow too, In mid-day the sun is close to 15º-20º to the horizon

and when running day/night cycle, the night last almost twice as long as the day. Those things are also characteristic of extreme latitudes. Either Artic or Antartic.


Remember the Coriolis effect and running in the opposite direction? It all makes sense now.

All these evicence suggest that SSRX is not located in the US but instead its original location is somewhere in South Asia or in the Paciffic, close to Antartica. Closing the gap with SSR 5, 7 and 11

Spoiler: Side Note

I've been following this thread sporadically since i played GT5 and Special Stage Routes caught my attention and this thread made my imagination run wild.


I don't know why but today I went "into the rabbit hole" again and saw that since 2011 this thread is still active almost a decade later.

I just wanted to make you know how much you amaze me and how much I respect you for keeping this thread alive and your love for this weird "SS City" (which I share with you). I loved this thread since the first time I discovered it.

Reading this about two years late, but this did make me smile a lot. Genuinely amazing research you've done just for fun, I probably would have given up about a quarter of the way there.

Your theory of it maybe being a former military base is pretty plausible, the whole "pit building" looks insanely strange and not like anything else in any Gran Turismo game. Something straight out of WipEout or another futuristic game. Then again the whole area and layout is designed to be such a thing -- a futuristic testing facility of some sort.

In Gran Turismo 7 SSRX is said to be somewhere in SoCal, south of Los Angeles and north of San Diego. While I could see it a little, I still can't help but call it a 'cop-out' as what you've stated out before in terms of the environment and zenith makes no sense for that location at all. Perhaps a new video or picture of SSRX at noon in GT7 could help, but this still doesn't put this theory to rest.

Honestly I wasn't in a good place back in my 2020 post, so I apologize for putting people's fun down. I think this has just made me wonder just a bit more of what the track designers were thinking with some of the road signs. Perhaps it's just surface level things, but then again... PD has done some fun little easter eggs in the latest game.

All we know is that SSRX is... a strange place.

 

[Doomotron]

Here's a thought... Some GT tracks (not sure which ones) have been rebuilt as mods for other games. So why don't we make the Special Stage Routes and, crucially, the combined tracks? We could have the ideal version of the track(s) (I have some ideas I'd love to see implemented) and that way we'd finally have our answers, because PD doesn't see like they'll ever answer them by themselves.

 

[Andre-Star777]

I did some extra "research" about it, forgetting the Tokyo theory and I decided to do some mapping work. Here are some points to be considered first:

1) The track maps we see on the internet are not on the same scale. All maps shown in this topic have SSR5 and SSR11 way too big or SSR7 way too small.

2) Using the images of SSR11 featuring the bridge of SSR7 outside, there are only two possibilities: SSR11 is on the left side of the bridge OR on the right side of the bridge.

3) I think that nobody of us really had a special look on SSR7. It features only one exit, the first close curve of the circuit. The other side is just a place where the highway expands to the tool booth, and PD put some walls to transform it into a return. There are three things to say about this:
(a) There is only one way out and SSR5 joins SSR7 through there.
(b) SSR5 joins in an entrance outside SSR7 map, but still on SSR7 highway. However, mapping shows that this is very unlikely (remember that SSR11 is close to the bridge).
(c) PD were on a hurry to finish the track and cut the SSR5 entrance, because it would just be an unnecessary detail.

You can clearly see point 3 by glitching at GT5/GT6 and entering "inside" SSR7. With that the whole map can be explored, with some extra details. Also, you can distance yourself from the bridge from outside map and try to look for the SSR11 view. There is a video glitching and exploring a little bit here:


Im sorry for my bad photoshoping skills and that the final map is ugly and with a bit poor resolution/definition, but at least it is practical. If somebody wants to do a pretty and "resoluted" version feel free to do so. SSR5+SSR11 map where re-sized and rotated several times and lost quality on the way.
I considered and put all the two possibilities, right and left, and considered the bridge position.

View attachment 488653

EDIT: The two red lines on SSR7 highway is the bridge.

I used maps from wikia.com, resizing only SSR5+SSR11 and keeping SSR7 and the same resolution. I also cut the other side of SSR7 lane (since it was distorting the map) and shrink the map on vertical a little bit, so it would be more alike SSR7 maps on in-game mini map. I considered that SSR5 straight measures 0.7 km, considered that the junctions of SSR5 and SSR11 were equal on size so I could have a reference for SSR11, and considered that the distance in straight line between one end and another end of SSR7 is about 10.14 km (SSR7 lap is supposed to be 23.28 km long, so the highway has about 11.64 km. I considered that 1.5 km are extra size because of curves).

These points are considered after mapping:

(1) It is unlikely that the 2 towers featured on SSR7 are the same featured on SSR11.

(2) There is a whole new circuit between SSR7 first entrance and SSR5, which suggests a second circuit or at least an avenue there. If PD did not cut the SSR5 entrance in GT5s and GT6s SSR7 circuit, the way between SSR5 and SSR7 is big and measures at least 2 km.


Im still a bit confused because mapping results are a bit strange. SSR5 is a bit too far from the way out from SSR7, however, if we put SSR5 close to the way out of SSR7, then SSR11 would be too much far from the bridge.

Im starting to think that PD didnt took this "easter egg" serioursly and made some mistakes along the way. Or maybe this is the reason that they took the connection from SSR5 to SSR11 out on GT5/GT6, so SSR5 could be moved closer to SSR7 exit (however putting an extra exit on SSR7 would be a much reasonable solution).

EDIT: I know that SSR5-SSR11 looks small. Even if I made a mistake on the sizes, it wasnt a huge one. The reality is that SSR7 is very long and big compared to SSR5. Just think about how big is SSR7 tunnel when compared to SSR5 straight.

EDIT2: I was in a lunch and a strange theory appeared in my head. A possibility, actually... Conspiracy, maybe?I dont know but it is worth sharing.

Maybe they did plan from GT1 on having a SSR City, and creating the main route. So, they put the SSR5 with SSR11 and were planning to put more.
However, they overestimated the popularity of SSRs. At the development of GT2, receiving feedback from GT1, they noticed that the SSRs were not that popular.
So they decided to keep SSR5 and take SSR11 out of GT2. However, they kept hope.

They kept carried their hope to GT3, made SSR11 a return, and decided that they would put another SSR track in GT4 and feature its bridge on GT3 at SSR11, showing that they didnt give up their project. However, the feedback from GT3 told them that SSRs city were still unpopular, and they decided to put others city tracks in New York, Hong Kong, etc... in GT4 instead of bringing the SSR track with the bridge.

Time passed and things changed. New tendencies appeared. They covered their feedback from GT4. So, hopeless, they decided to give SSRs a whole new purpose. Some of you guys know "Forza Horizon", right? Maybe they decided at GT5 development that they would create their own "Arcade game" in the future, using car models and fame from Gran Turismo. An specie of "Gran Turismo Horizon". So, they decided that the city of their "arcade game" would be based on Tokyo (coming from PD, that should be obvious), would have that japanese nonlegal racing style. And since the SSRs were already featuring Tokyo somehow (their bridge at SSR11 in GT3 were a copy from a Tokyo´s bridge), they decided that the SSRs would be the starting point of their "GT Horizon" city, since they were based on Tokyo and that they were at GT Series since the beginning. And because they would have their SSR City in the end, even with few people caring about. And for that reason they decided to put a street car going over the streets and highways of Tokyo at the ending of GT5´s credit.

So, they took their original project for the SSRs track with a bridge, and changed it. It was supposed to be a medium track, average track, but, instead, they decided that SSR7 was going to be one of the most important highway of the "GT Horizon" city, and expanded its layout. But since they didnt have any clue when "GT Horizon" would be released, and they didnt knew the size of their "Arcade Game" city, they decided to not put the end neither the start of the Highway, so they would be free for expanding it. And they also noticed that their city should have an airport, and decided to put the airport sign on SSR5 and create an SSR5 entrance to SSR7.

Why am I thinking that?
The surroundings of SSR7 are way too big for creating an Special Stage Route City. We could surround it with 10-20 SSR5´s if we wanted to. If SSRs arent popular, why creating room for literally dozens of them? If they decided to put a complementary free roam on GT, why would be that big? Too much big detailed place would take away their efforts to others tracks.
SSR7 was only introduced on GT5. Before that, things were small. 2 years later, Forza Horizon appeared. T10 probably had the same idea, but decided to execute first. I know I can be wrong, but this would make more sense and would be an answer to everything about SSR CIty.

Also, what if SSR7 is on the way to SSRX (Of course, they could have planned this before they placed SSRX near San Diego)? And let's not forget the possibility of SSR5 and SSR7 being in different locations (Maybe Chicago), considering they're driven on the right hand side. I'm surely not the only one who would love to ask Kazunori Yamauchi about this, but there's no real way of contacting him.

I'll come back with more


Edit: As promised, I'm back with more. What I learned from posts here is:
1- SSR5 and SSR11 are connected at SSR5's T10 and SSR11's T20 (GT1 layout).
2- SSR5 links with SSR7 through an exit (I haven't played GT5 and 6, so I can't tell where it is).
3- SSR7 has an exit at one of its ends, maybe the SSR5 exit leads there.
4- According to posts with theories considering wind direction and sun position, SSRX seems to be located in a place close to the poles, likely close to the artic (This is a thing on its own, I'll probable talk about it later).


What could be going on?

1st Theory: SSR5 and SSR11 are in Chicago (Best possibility outside Japan I can think of), but PD decided to put some japanese stuff there. This would explain why they're driven on the right hand side, but would also leave plenty of doubts about why it seems to connect with SSR7
2nd Theory: SSR5 and SSR11 are in Japan (Specifically Tokyo), which goes along with the elements on/around the track. This would explain the possible SSR5->SSR7 link and the SSR11 towers, but not why they're driven on the right hand side. Maybe there's a sort of "switch area" between SSR5 and SSR7 where the left hand side becomes the right hand side and vice-versa.
3rd Theory: SSR5 and SSR11 are in a whole different place, maybe the extreme latitude area of SSRX, and PD made this place mixing japanese and american elements.


I don't know where I'm going with this, but if I were to make a point I would say: There's not enough info to work with. Maybe if a hacker leaked PD info we would have access to every secret about the GT series. Maybe there's a worker at PD who's just waiting to be demoted in order to leak everything. At the end of the day, we'll probably never know for sure.

 

[Alclyx]

Hello. I am Japanese. I am currently researching Special Stages. First of all, Special Stage Route 5 is made in reference to the Metropolitan Expressway in Japan. Also, Special Stage Route 7 is based on the Yokohama Bay Bridge and the surrounding area.
Also, Special Stage Route 5 is described as if it were connected to SSR11 and SSR7. Oddly enough, however, SSR5 is right-hand traffic, while SSR7 is left-hand traffic. LOL!

 

[Alclyx]

-Special Stage Route 5- This is not clear, but it is believed that areas 1 and 2 in the figure were based on this Japanese Metropolitan Highway road.

ドロップされたピン

maps.apple.com

 

[Alclyx]

This video explains the special stage Route X on the road course that was not used in the game. (English subtitles are available.)