While a newbie on this forum I may be, superjim esquire is not stranger to the rules of etiquette on internet discussion forae such as this. Thus, I am aware that one quick and easy way to ensure that one is made forever unpopular on a forum is to ask a question that has been asked already, or state something that has been stated many times before.
The GTP forum is unique in that there is a "disclaimer screen" before posting specifically reminding people to search for the information before posting about it - clearly, you guys must be really, really sick of people asking the same s:censored:t. Rest assured, I searched before I posted this - and while I found discussion of it, I feel I can still break new ground here...
So, there I was in my trusty Minolta, racing against an Impreza, on a "special" track whose name escapes me (but it has pretty scenery and lots of corners). As I have expanded upon in a previous post, the likelihood of these two cars going against each other in a race in real life is probably quite low - indeed it made a mockery of so-called "Hard" label ascribed to it. At one point I found myself rocketing down a relatively straight piece of track, I went over a jump bit, was treated to 3-4 seconds of looking at sky and clouds, landed with a dramatic skid and span into a sign, advertising something or another.
So, a 1100+HP racecar (racing against a c400HP rally car) went airborne at 200mph, span around for a bit, skidded and crashed into (what is evidently) a titanium alloy sign. The result? You guessed it. 5 second penalty, of driving in second gear.
I wasn't upset, it took me 5 seconds to regain my bearings, stop laughing like a madman and get the car facing the right way anyway.
Another race, with an equally unpronouncable name, also illustrates the 5-second penalty quite well for us. I was going into a corner, the French car I was racing against had decided on another (superior) racing line, and bumped into me. This time the 5-second penalty did upset me, as it is not easy to pass the enemy combatant on this track without inadvertently nudging him. ("If the GT cars had missiles and machine guns", I reasoned, "I would not be having this problem..."). Why the 5-second penalty?
Let's put ourselves in the minds of our esteemed game-writers for a second.
A bunch of computer-programmers-***-racing-drivers (whoever knew there were such a thing?) were sitting round a table, debating how to make the game more "realistic".
"The thing is, boys, is that with tracks like these, the computer players could just rush around bouncing into all the walls, and into the opponent car, and they could probably win doing that... In short, it would be like another Need For Speed." (everyone in the room gasps) "It would sacrifice the game's realism, and GT is The Real Driving Simulator"
"Very true, Neville, Very true... But what could we do to prevent this from happening?"
"We could make it so that if you crash a car into the wall at 200+mph, that you, you know... die..."
"Oh goodness no! The public wouldn't like it. No-one would play the game any more, only the geeks at GT planet forum would approve..."
"So the dilemna is, how to prevent the player from bashing into walls at 200mph, but not make them die, but maintain realism"
"Quite", everyone nods
"I know!", someone pipes up, "We make it so that if you hit a wall or hit the other car, you get a 5 second penalty of driving slow-ish-ly..."
"That way..." cuts in the boss, "We spoil the fun for everybody! It will ruin in for Need For Speed lovers by not being fun enough, and it will ruin it for the GT Planet geeks by not being realistic enough!". He adds, "I love it!"
And so the 5-second penalty rule was born...
Not good for anyone.
What are the alternatives? I see a few...
#1 - Make it "super-realistic", in a way that NFS fans (and, indeed, sickos) would appreciate it as much as HardCore Players:
The game-makers spend as much time devoted to realistic car-damage as they do to deciding how Limited Slip Differential affects minute aspects of car-handling. Thus, when you crash a race car into a wall of spectators at 200mph there is as realistic amount of carnage and gore as you would expect to find in real life. Take that, Grand Theft Auto...
The problem with this is that GT would quickly become an "adults-only" game, every car-crash in the world would be blamed as a "copy-cat killing" based on the game, and weird groups would start meeting on the internet planning massacres in real life based on the ones they had achieved in-game. Realistic? Yes.. A bit weird? Almost certainly... Mothers Against Dangerous Driving would have an absolute field day.
#2 - Make it "semi-realistic", in that a Very Big Crash (with wall or other car) simply causes you to lose the race, and the screen is cut away before the player gets to see the carnage and gore. A compromise, of sorts...
#3 - Go all Need For Speed. Screw it. Bash into the walls, bash into the other car, who cares? We'll program the other car to behave like that as well, so that at least it will be even.
Well, those are the options as I see them. I suspect, however, that anyone who has done Nurburgring Endurance 24 hours on A-spec has stronger opinions than I, and, indeed, other ideas...
The GTP forum is unique in that there is a "disclaimer screen" before posting specifically reminding people to search for the information before posting about it - clearly, you guys must be really, really sick of people asking the same s:censored:t. Rest assured, I searched before I posted this - and while I found discussion of it, I feel I can still break new ground here...
So, there I was in my trusty Minolta, racing against an Impreza, on a "special" track whose name escapes me (but it has pretty scenery and lots of corners). As I have expanded upon in a previous post, the likelihood of these two cars going against each other in a race in real life is probably quite low - indeed it made a mockery of so-called "Hard" label ascribed to it. At one point I found myself rocketing down a relatively straight piece of track, I went over a jump bit, was treated to 3-4 seconds of looking at sky and clouds, landed with a dramatic skid and span into a sign, advertising something or another.
So, a 1100+HP racecar (racing against a c400HP rally car) went airborne at 200mph, span around for a bit, skidded and crashed into (what is evidently) a titanium alloy sign. The result? You guessed it. 5 second penalty, of driving in second gear.
I wasn't upset, it took me 5 seconds to regain my bearings, stop laughing like a madman and get the car facing the right way anyway.
Another race, with an equally unpronouncable name, also illustrates the 5-second penalty quite well for us. I was going into a corner, the French car I was racing against had decided on another (superior) racing line, and bumped into me. This time the 5-second penalty did upset me, as it is not easy to pass the enemy combatant on this track without inadvertently nudging him. ("If the GT cars had missiles and machine guns", I reasoned, "I would not be having this problem..."). Why the 5-second penalty?
Let's put ourselves in the minds of our esteemed game-writers for a second.
A bunch of computer-programmers-***-racing-drivers (whoever knew there were such a thing?) were sitting round a table, debating how to make the game more "realistic".
"The thing is, boys, is that with tracks like these, the computer players could just rush around bouncing into all the walls, and into the opponent car, and they could probably win doing that... In short, it would be like another Need For Speed." (everyone in the room gasps) "It would sacrifice the game's realism, and GT is The Real Driving Simulator"
"Very true, Neville, Very true... But what could we do to prevent this from happening?"
"We could make it so that if you crash a car into the wall at 200+mph, that you, you know... die..."
"Oh goodness no! The public wouldn't like it. No-one would play the game any more, only the geeks at GT planet forum would approve..."
"So the dilemna is, how to prevent the player from bashing into walls at 200mph, but not make them die, but maintain realism"
"Quite", everyone nods
"I know!", someone pipes up, "We make it so that if you hit a wall or hit the other car, you get a 5 second penalty of driving slow-ish-ly..."
"That way..." cuts in the boss, "We spoil the fun for everybody! It will ruin in for Need For Speed lovers by not being fun enough, and it will ruin it for the GT Planet geeks by not being realistic enough!". He adds, "I love it!"
And so the 5-second penalty rule was born...
Not good for anyone.
What are the alternatives? I see a few...
#1 - Make it "super-realistic", in a way that NFS fans (and, indeed, sickos) would appreciate it as much as HardCore Players:
The game-makers spend as much time devoted to realistic car-damage as they do to deciding how Limited Slip Differential affects minute aspects of car-handling. Thus, when you crash a race car into a wall of spectators at 200mph there is as realistic amount of carnage and gore as you would expect to find in real life. Take that, Grand Theft Auto...
The problem with this is that GT would quickly become an "adults-only" game, every car-crash in the world would be blamed as a "copy-cat killing" based on the game, and weird groups would start meeting on the internet planning massacres in real life based on the ones they had achieved in-game. Realistic? Yes.. A bit weird? Almost certainly... Mothers Against Dangerous Driving would have an absolute field day.
#2 - Make it "semi-realistic", in that a Very Big Crash (with wall or other car) simply causes you to lose the race, and the screen is cut away before the player gets to see the carnage and gore. A compromise, of sorts...
#3 - Go all Need For Speed. Screw it. Bash into the walls, bash into the other car, who cares? We'll program the other car to behave like that as well, so that at least it will be even.
Well, those are the options as I see them. I suspect, however, that anyone who has done Nurburgring Endurance 24 hours on A-spec has stronger opinions than I, and, indeed, other ideas...
