Suggestions on Improving GTA 2013 On-Line Coverage

[Makofoto]

I personally was appalled at the coverage. Yes, I was happy that it even existed, but oh so much more could easily be done to vastly improve the experience and the potential excitement!

1.) It was difficult to know who was who during the driving. Why couldn't the drivers names be displayed. I'm assuming the numbers equaled the machine that they were driving?

2.) How hard would it have been to supply the announcers with little Bio's on each driver? Flesh them out, make them real. Give the announcers something to work with. After all this is the beginning of the coverage that will end up with the SpikeTV reality show covering the continuation of this amazing competition.

3.) Display results ... yes with a disclaimer that they're Provisional.

4.) Have a larger supply of filler video so we don't have to see that same videos during the breaks. Perhaps the makers of the rigs could supply a video. Videos about the game for newbies. Video on last years show and winner, ie. what's Bryan Heitkotter been up to, and what has he achieved. SHOW That This Really is an Amazing Opportunity!

5.) Have a simple roaming camera so that we can see beyond the Announcers.

Really looking forward to Jeff Zwart's directing of the Silverstone part of this Life Changing Competition!

Really looking forward to next years Hopefully Improved Coverage of the US Nationals.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I thought it was nice that they even streamed it in the first place. No complaints here.

 

[Choate51]

Wow dude. Seriously, you are the type of buzzkill that can;t appreciate what some are trying to provide with limited support. Look at the covereage GTPlanet had last year in Orlando, and you complain about this? Can things improve? Of course, but it was a heck of a start.

1) they were watching in game, having different log in's for everyone everytime they go into a different rig would take for ever.

2) that's what the tv show is for.

3) Not as easy as it sounds, as even last year results were not posted until just before the next round. This was done so nobody would know what their competition did in the round, it made everyone drive so much harder.

4) could have just blank screen instead, that would have been easier, no?

5) Probably regulated by the tv show.

 

[LeftyWright69]

My thoughts exactly to the OP, I think you nailed it. Great that we could root on our fav's but the prep was week. Heck didn't someone have a Fn chalk board or somehting.

 

[Tidgney]

I definitely preferred the casting today than yesterdays, was a good start but do agree with some of the good improvement suggestions . Although I can't complain to much the fact they livestreamed any GT event is nice 👍

I agree with pretty much all the points although I know a few will be regulated so not sure on that, although with point 1 a simple overlay with colours to PSN's would have been quite nice, very quick to update during a break as well.

But you know you can only ever improve from the first so we'll see what happens I guess !

 

[paskowitz]

Wow dude. Seriously, you are the type of buzzkill that can;t appreciate what some are trying to provide with limited support. Look at the covereage GTPlanet had last year in Orlando, and you complain about this? Can things improve? Of course, but it was a heck of a start.

1) they were watching in game, having different log in's for everyone everytime they go into a different rig would take for ever.

2) that's what the tv show is for.

3) Not as easy as it sounds, as even last year results were not posted until just before the next round. This was done so nobody would know what their competition did in the round, it made everyone drive so much harder.

4) could have just blank screen instead, that would have been easier, no?

5) Probably regulated by the tv show.

Yeah, I am grateful we had anything at all. Last year it was like, "Oh yeah, there is this event and these people won." I do not know what people were expecting for a first time run. Also, it is IGN, never expect anything organized by them to be great (although I thought their host held his own and was pretty good at his job... as was Jordan).

 

[AndRome]

I thought the coverage was great, and the OP is not insulting. I am 100% sure that Jordan would love to get the feedback. Like Tidgney said, PSN names along with real names would have been my biggest request. I found myself switching a million times between the feed and a page with driver names and their PSN names. I know most of them by their PSN names, not their real names. This goes for SPEEDs future coverage as well.

Good luck Jordan on you dream of replacing Bob Varsha

 

[occasionalracer]

It was pretty good coverage although we were only able to watch half the races, so I feel bad for those groups that weren't covered who might have had friends waiting to watch them. However the viewer turnout was sadly relatively weak, it was hovering around 250 - 350 at any given point, so it's hard to justify a lot of extra organizational effort for future comps or challenges.

Must say I was surprised there weren't more people watching given the traffic this site gets, I think some of those battles were good to watch and initially thought lots of people would be interested.

But ya, a bit of getting to know the guys and putting a face to their name makes a lot of difference in knowing who is who instead of just hearing random names.

 

[TheDabbinDave]

I personally was appalled at the coverage. Yes, I was happy that it even existed, but oh so much more could easily be done to vastly improve the experience and the potential excitement!

You can fund it [live coverage] next year then.

 

[GT Motion]

You can fund it [live coverage] next year then.

If his list of complaints is correct, then they could make those changes without adding to cost.

 

[Wardez]

I haven't actually seen the footage myself yet (for obvious reasons) but while we were driving it was awesome and pressuring for sure. 'cause we could hear the announcers if you were sitting in the four set of sleds that was closest to the grandstand. We would call them the "hot seats."

I was in a hot seat for both my races yesterday and it was quite a thing, especially during my second race with the 370s on Trial Mountain Reverse. Hearing them reacting to your driving was cool, but... heh, it was just razy.

Imagine that though, trying to race with commentary on your back. For some guys it was literally spinning out then hearing it mentioned wuhile it was happening, frustration for real but that's how it goes and it really did separate a few.

Overall I think they did an amazing job considering everything. Jordan is one of the warmest and most awesome people I could've ever met! So cool just talking to him about his experience broadcasting for the first time. I hope he does it again!

 

[Makofoto]

Any news is good news! I just have high expectations and I'm sure The Sixteen have fairly high standards also.

We spent HOURS watching this because of our friend Jeff Stuart's participation (at least two of his wins on Sunday weren't shown), and our friend Bryan winning it all last year. We compete with these guys in SCCA Solo racing. It's our having to be inch perfect that makes these guys ... including another of The 16, Nicholas Barbato ... such formidable opponents.

btw. THAT's a great first step into moving beyond virtual racing: http://www.scca.com/solo/

Surprisingly thrilling! I had one gal pee her pants during a demo run.

 

[Jordan]

I thought the coverage was great, and the OP is not insulting. I am 100% sure that Jordan would love to get the feedback.

Well, there's not much I can do with the feedback, as I had nothing to do with the production side of this event or the stream itself. I was just asked to co-host the broadcast because of my experience with GT and connection with the community and the competitors.

The good news is that all of the complaints expressed above were already very obvious to those of us present and were discussed with those in charge, so it's not surprising to see those issues also translated to the stream. As you may have noticed, things were much smoother the second day, because everyone involved was much more comfortable and knew what to expect.

The root of all the issues is that there were MANY different teams at work, all of whom had a slightly different idea of what the event and broadcast should be about. There were Sony people, Nissan marketing people, IGN Pro League people, third-party event organizers, and the production crew for the Spike TV show, all of whom had different objectives. This is one reason why our commentary could be heard over the room's PA system, because those in charge of managing the visiting public wanted to be sure they could hear what was going on. This was a last-minute decision and made me very uncomfortable, because I knew it could interfere with the competitor's driving, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Kevin and I were also in desperate need for player PSN names and bios, but we never got them. Why? That was being collected while the event was going on by the TV production crew, who had no interest in or association with us, the broadcasters, or the IGN Pro League team. As such, we only received the player names on hand-written notes from the Sony guys during their qualifying laps, and had to go on our memory alone with regards to their point standings or bios (fortunately, Kevin did an incredible job at this; I have no idea how he was able to keep track of so much on the fly!).

There were lots of cameras around filming the drivers, but IGN didn't have access to any of that footage. It would have been great if live viewers could have seen what was going on in the room, but I suppose that would have required even more crew, cameramen, equipment, etc., and of course would have cost even more money. I have nothing but high praise for everyone from the IGN IPL team, including Kevin and all the tech guys. They really made me feel comfortable for my first-ever live broadcast and were very professional all around.

Combining travel costs, tech equipment costs (they even had a dedicated fiber-optic Internet connection installed in the venue to handle the stream), and the paychecks for all the workers, I would say it easily cost $20,000 to $30,000 to bring this show to you guys. We're really all spoiled to watching these live broadcasts and sporting events which actually cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to produce, which I think makes it much easier to overly criticize smaller productions.

Overall, despite the issues which were beyond my control, I am proud of the stream that we put out, and I think we should all appreciate what an awesome step forward it is to have a Gran Turismo competition to get coverage and interest from a such a "mainstream" gaming media outlet like the IGN Pro League.

 

[Dragonwhisky]

As a first step this LIVE broadcast is 🤬 HUGE!

I'm sure the filler content was limited by budgetary constraints. It was still better than a static IPL logo or blank screen. It is my impression that IGN and possibly Twitchtv put this on pretty much pro-bono and funded it from current website revenue. Whether or not Jordan, Kevin and all the techs got paid only they know. It was a GIFT from them to those of us who watched. Not ppv, not major network, advertisement supported, not cable, not satellite. A gift.

Thank you.

 

[AndRome]

It is always nice to get the behind-the-scenes perspective. Really makes me appreciate the whole thing. Look forward to the next GTA finals.