The Road to the Gran Turismo World Championship

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, this thread is one of a few technical looks at GT5 as part of the prognostication of what GT5 will eventually be like. You're free to discuss what the experience of going from nobody to GTWC world champ should be like. I'll offer an "award-winning" intro while I even go into how the road to this prestigious honor has been in past GT games. There was a past thread I did called "The Gran Turismo World Championship" here: ( https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=81500&highlight=Gran+Turismo+World+Championship ). However, this is a much more in-depth thread from the thread I released in 2006. Then too, it's usually unlikely to go with a past thread that's at least a year old. Information on GT was so much different then than now. So rather than bring back a thread that's at least a year old, you start a new thread.

So before looking ahead to the race for the GT World Championship, let's take a look back.



NOTE: Some long, detailed posts in this one.



--- The Road to the Gran Turismo World Championship: Beginnings ---
The road to the Gran Turismo World Championship is as easy as a straight line. Go from beginner to pro. The process, however, is not so much going down a straight line. Instead, it is the climbing of a ladder that feels like scaling a steep mountain. The path to becoming that elusive GT World Champion is the stairway to Heaven while experiencing Hell in one's ascent. That road to Gran Turismo's signature championship series involves success in lower tournaments and races before eventually getting the chance to compete in the highest championship in the game. The road to this summit has a series of challenging corners. It has decisive hairpins. It is a two to four-lane road barricaded by tall concrete walls as city buildings zoom by. It is a road where cars from many nations are driven by people from around the world. It is a road where as the competition gets tougher, you need to get and tuned new cars to match wits against other competitors.





The ultimate goal of GT is to acheive 100% completion. The common goal is to clear to win Gran Turismo World Championship. You race a variety of series, but only one is the truest challenge as far as championship series go- the GTWC. Here's a look at past paths to winning this championship:



GTWC In Perspective: Gran Turismo
Granted that this game only features high-powered GT cars as the best cars you can race, you still have ample opportunities to go from nobody to somebody while taking home gold trophies. Unlike future GTs, the only victories you accounted for was success in the championship. Pit stops were only needed in the endurances. The longest race is the almost two-hour long Grand Valley 300km, which remains a staple of the Gran Turismo series even to this day.

Got a license? Take part in the official GT events (recommended since most of the Special Events require much better cars). The way to roll in this championship is pretty straightforward. The Sunday Cup was your gateway to Gran Turismo. There are three races all lasting two laps. Qualifying is recommended, and you may even be rewarded for making the quickest lap around in one lap. After this was the Clubman Cup. Here, you need a better car to take on more races. There are either three or four races all lasting two laps. Those who are blessed to win both of the previous series can take on the Gran Turismo Cup in which you will need to either tune your car as best as you can or get something even better. You have about four races lasting three laps each. The final championship on your way to greatness is the Gran Turismo World Championship, which features the most races of any series in GT1 with six events. Tuning your street car into a pure race car helps greatly. Either that, or invest 500,000 Credits and take your pick of any of the six Special Models. Or if you picked up a competitive race car from the Special Events, you may pick one of those cars to help you. There are six races lasting three laps each. This is the ultimate test of your racing abilities as well as your abilities to take your valiant car to the highest reaches of championship glory.

Overall, the official series are all there. You could basically race the Gran Turismo official events just to clear the GT World Championship.



GTWC In Perspective: Gran Turismo 2
Gran Turismo 2 debuted Grand Touring Prototypes and much faster cars including many more race cars from other makes. Some races didn't allow special models to be raced including some tuned cars in GT1. GT2's limitations regarded horsepower. Extra intensity was added to races with a few longer events including running a lot more races.

The road to winning the Gran Turismo World Championship in GT2 was a little more organized and a little more fun. Your journey through Hell to reach Heaven began in Nationals. There are six Nationals representing the six nationalities of cars in the game- Japan Nationals, French Nationals, Italian Nationals, U.S. Nationals, U.K. Nationals, and the German Nationals. To my knowledge, I don't think you're required to have a car from a specific nationality to compete in a certain National series. So you can race a Dodge Stratus in the Japanese Nationals. There were no French venues available for the French Nationals, so you raced around Tahiti Road. Only the French and Italian nationals have two events while the other four nationals have three events. When you clear all six events (and granted you had an International B license or higher), you can compete in some international regional races. There is no qualifying since this is not a series race. The races last for about two laps in all six Nationals.

The second leg of this championship is the Euro-Pacific League. You needed an International-B license or higher. Both leagues consists of venues from around the world against an entire world of cars. The Euro portion of the league consists mostly of European venues with European cars. The Pacific portion of the league consists mostly of Japanese and American venues and cars. Like the previous series, no qualifying is done. You will need to clear all races in both the Euro and Pacific leagues to compete in the final leg of GT's official races- the GT World Championship. All races are about three laps long, and you can get some sweet race cars should you win. If you're good enough, those cars COULD help you in the GT World Championship, though you'll probably need some better cars regardless.

The final leg of the official races is the Gran Turismo World Championship. This is basically where the chosen few compete for the ultimate prize of Gran Turismo racing. You will need your International-A license. This is a series of five races with races all lasting five laps. Only gutted-out race cars will be your opponents. Bring some of those high-powered race cars if you want to stand a chance. This is where the champions converge for the honor of Gran Turismo champion. I've personally never played through GT2's GTWC because I had a sacred rule in which I never compete in the Gran Turismo World Championship unless I've won all the other Special Races (excluding Rally and Endurance races). So I can't say I've challenged the GTWC in GT2.

What Gran Turismo 2 offered over GT1's road to the GT World Championship is that you raced more events and that you had somewhat a sense of accomplishment to make it to the GTWC. There were only three championship series in GT2 (four if you count doing the Expert random event generator). Personally, I think it's more of an accomplishment to win in GT2 because you did it against other cars from around the world and not just against the three nationalities in GT1. Even more so that you do it on many more venues from around the world including real-life cities and tracks.



GTWC In Perspective: Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec
Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec offers the toughest and longest events of any GT thus far. GT2's many varied cars offered lots of choices to make in choosing the race car that makes the perfect weapon for your campaign in GT2. But in GT3, while most of the car makers return, much fewer cars are included. There was also an added element that offered elements of strategy as pit stops would play a crucial role. Pit stops were only useful in Endurance races up until this point. Winning races now means choosing the best tires and having the best pit strategy to win the race. You can qualify for any circuit race except for the rally events.

Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec offered a rather bland approach. The Gran Turismo World Championship basically comes down to completing that specific series. In this game, the GTWC races are all there for you to race without having to do a lot of extra racing beforehand. The Gran Turismo World Championship exists in three levels of difficulty.

The Beginner League GTWC is a ten-race event mostly consisting of two-lap races including a three-lap finale. Most of the cars were either low-level touring cars or rally cars in the Beginner race of the GTWC.

The Amateur League GTWC mostly features JGTC (now Super GT) GT500 race cars and DTM Touring Cars. All races last five laps. You will need to make pit stops unless you have a well-prepared race car.

Finally, the Professional League GTWC consists of races that last either 10 laps or 15 laps. Here, nothing less than a Le Mans-type GT car or GT prototype will suffice. You need sufficient pit stops as well as proper mastery of all racing skills to become the GT World Champion.



Again, this is actually a bland road to the GT World Championship. For those who feel that the GTWC isn't enough to whet the palettes of the GT racing elite, PD offers two challenging race series designed to truly test you and wipe that smile off of your face. The Polyphony Digital Cup is the ultimate collection of tracks raced backwards that require Normal cars. And for the truly devoted and hardcore, the Formula GT series is for you. Races are very long and victory is near impossible. You'll need an F1 car to win at this level. So keep racing those other series to give yourself some hope of getting an F1 car. Or you may opt to take any of the prototypes and add some extra power (while also tuning to handle those higher horses).

Other than this, the GTWC is just another championship the way it's treated in this game.



GTWC In Perspective: Gran Turismo 4
Gran Turismo 4 offers a much more interesting road to the GT World Championship than GT3. This is the deepest GT yet in terms of the level of competition. For the first-time ever, GT4 included Le Mans Prototypes as well as various other historic Le Mans racing machines. There are even Can-Am race cars. They are almost required as a highly-tuned GT car isn't going to get you very far. Races can now last many laps and even as long as 24 straight hours, offering a much more intense racing experience than any GT so far. In addition, race lengths mostly depend on somewhat of time difference than a set number of laps. This also includes two of the longest tracks in the Gran Turismo series- the 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe (available in old school and new school) and the treacherous 12.5-something mile Nürburgring Nordschleife.

To get to the Gran Turismo World Championship, just go to the bottom of the Professional Races. Make sure to clear all the other official series before taking on this one. When you get to the GT World Championship, you are faced with ten events encompassing permanent road courses, a superspeedway, and temporary road and street circuits. Most of these races last about 12 minutes to perhaps even 15 or 20 minutes. The most interesting aspect about the GT World Championship in GT4 is that nothing less than a Le Mans prototype or GT prototype will do. You will need to save up lots of money to purchase any new Le Mans Prototypes. You must find some sort of way to build enough money to purchase a proper prototype. However you do it, you need a prototype to win here. And a good one.

Winning the GT World Championship gets you ready for the Extreme Events. These are a variety of events guaranteed to punish all of your limits. Races range from the Like the Wind event to a new 15-race Formula GT series (the most races in any series in any GT). At least clearing the GTWC gives you some sort of reward other than the lovely Ford GT LM Race Car.





Speculating how the next GT will handle the GT World Championship is why I started this thread. How do you think GT5 should handle the road to the GT World Championship? Of how much importance would you want to see GT's signature championship be handled? In my next post, I will offer my own ideas as to how I'd like to perceive how the GT World Championship campaign should be handled. Feel free to offer your own thoughts here in the meanwhile. Do you think a past formula has worked that should work just fine for GT5? Do you think some new elements should be added in order to make the GT World Championship much more exciting and interesting for GT5? Consider online play and 16 cars to a track in your thoughts.

My next post is how I think the GTWC should be played out with several influences. Be sure to stay tuned for my own ideas from me in a future post.

 

[JohnBM01]

Even males can be inspired divas. I had my own overview of the Gran Turismo World Championship for GT5, but I'm making a seperate one that culminates elements of every GT so far including a new twist. Please consider the following models:



--- "Culmination" Model ---
This model for the GTWC combines elements of past GT titles to make that run towards the championship. I will just list the different elements and then get into detail about them. Here are elements I'm thinking of from all four GT titles:

GT1:
* perhaps I'd look into the multi-stage approach in which you can practice, qualify, and then race. Or you may choose to just do the race starting in last place.
* qualifying (even with extra credits awarded for pole position - just to entice people to qualify)
* a proper entry list of cars. GT1's entry list for races is the deepest of any GT with horsepower information, drivetrain, whether cars are race cars, and things like that.

GT2:
* Nationals system for the official races
* Euro-Pacific races
* horsepower limitations

GT3:
* qualifying. GT3's method is more like some series in which all cars can be on the track at once. It even featured teams heading back to the pits for pit stops.
* series such as the Japanese/American/European championships as well as some of the major domestic series (DTM, Super GT/JGTC, etc.) in qualification to be in the GTWC
* saving progress during championships, especially longer ones

GT4:
* events divided by levels of difficulty with a variety of events
* saving progress during championships, especially longer ones
* being able to do maintenance work to cars during championships



Of these, here are my modifications:

GT1 Modifications Overview:
* I'd be welcome to the prospect of a proper race weekend. Should we get dynamic weather conditions as well as dynamic time changes, there may be different times of day (and night) where qualifying occurs. If you want to force people (I don't want to force ANYTHING) to go through a proper race weekend for championship series, I would probably allow a fixed amount of time by which you can adjust settings and test out different setups. This fixed amount of time can range between 30 minutes to a full hour. Or if you don't have that much time, you can always advance to the next session whenever you please.

* Qualifying is a hot lap deal in GT1. I like GT3 and GT4 for qualifying. There's no qualifying in GT4. Just more like a practice session that somehow determines how the field will line up. * The layout of GT1's championship mostly notes all the official races. So all the official races are there- just get your liceneses and tune your cars.



GT2 Modifications Overview:
* GT2's approach was more intricate as far as being in the Gran Turismo World Championship goes (which is called the Gran Turismo World League in GT2). To keep competition close, This is the best format now that I think about it. You compete in Nationals that take place around the world with a world of cars. Now I need your help on how this should be executed- nationals in which only cars from that nation are allowed, or nationals in which you can bring any car from any nation as long as it meets specifications? You are required to clear races from all six Nationals to advance to the Euro-Pacific League. I think to be fair, I would probably concentrate on winning just one National to take part in the next level. I would probably have qualifying to compete in certain nationals beforehand.

* The Euro-Pacific league should probably be changed to the "Atlantic-Pacific League." The Pacific portion of the Euro-Pacific league features American cars and events in GT2. My best guess is that America in the Central and Eastern time zones be part of the Atlantic League as well as the eastern portions of Latin America (granted we get any venues from Latin America). The Pacific part of the league should include mainland Asia, Japan, Oceania, and Australia. The Americas represented in the Pacific League include the Mountain and Pacific time zones as well as the Pacific coastline of Latin America. A twist I would add to this is that you have a bunch of single races in this league to be followed up by a championship series. Victory in all single races will qualify you to race in the proper Atlantic or Pacific races. Think of these races as an international National. I think to be fair, you need only clear either the Atlantic or Pacific portions to be able to go to the next level. You can still race the remaining Atlantic or Pacific races to acquire more money and some bonus cars, but you're really required to clear one to be fair. Oh, and one last thing I want to mention about this class of competition, these will all be with Race Modified cars. I want to add a competitive feel to these series rather than just feel like you're racing against a bunch of average Joes and Jills.

* Horsepower limitations helped to determine what kinds of cars can compete in what races. A big nuisance in GT2 were all the horsepower discrepancies after buying cars. Remember when you got that Mini race car from the MG and Mini car lot? That 76 or so horsepower car comes in at about 200+ horsepower when you buy it! There is another problem with horsepower limitations- it's almost completely vague. Even I raced in the Super Touring Trophy in GT2 with a Camaro Z28 (which is anything BUT a touring car) that was within specs. GT may need categories of cars to specifically show what cars can enter and what cannot. This may even include modification limits. For example, cars with Stage 3 Turbos and Super-Soft Racing tires are not allowed. Cars equipped with Nitrous aren't allowed. That sort of thing.



GT3 Modifications Overview
* Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec's road to the Gran Turismo World Championship is scatter-brained and bland. Nothing in the way of qualifying for the GTWC. What it DID bring, however, was the return of qualifying for all races. Just that there's no cash bonus for being the best qualifier. When strapped for Credits in GT3, every lucrative advantage helps. It's why I've welcomed the idea of sponsorship for GT5. Qualifying is more like most traditional racing series where many cars are on the track at once competiting for the best time. Single-car qualifying would mostly be restricted for ovals and some road courses and some sanctioning bodies.

* The incluision of Japanese, American, and European championships were a welcome addition to help aid in the international appeal. If you're following GT2 and see this, you'll note that there's quite a conflict. In a Culmination Model, the Japanese/American/European championships are odd men out and conflicting with the Atlantic-Pacific races. Since these domestic championships encompass country-wide cars and tracks, and since these are a proper championships, this race will feature cars modified for racing. I want this to be a competition featuring race-modified cars because how else are you going to feel like you've accomplished something if you don't have any proper race cars? This is a step up from nationals, and so you need to have put some money into your car to make it a proper racing machine even with sponsorship.

* GT2 was the first to feature race cars from an actual series with the Super GT cars. GT3 debuted DTM racing. To make things consistent, you'll need to win the national championships from the previous talking point to take part in the major domestic championships. America doesn't have a major domestic championship series (unless you consider NASCAR the premier motorsport in America). Only thing close would be the SCCA's World Challenge cars. To race in the Super GT cars, you need to win the Japanese Championship. To race with the DTM cars, you need to win the European Championship. I am lobbying for an Australian Championship, even if it means you have to race in China and Japan with Australian cars. An Australian Championship will need at least three tracks. There may also be some international rounds as part of an Australian Championship. Victory here will have you racing the Australian V8 Supercars (even if it's just copies of the 2000 Tickford).

* Mid-race saves are being long-lobbied by GT fans. GT4's progress saving process is much better than GT3's method.



GT4 Modifications Review:
* GT4 did a better job of sorting out official events by difficulty than GT3 did. GT3 had most of the same races for longer laps with better cars. GT4 has all the drivetrain races and specific vehicle types in the Beginner Events. The Amateur events were cut out completely. The Professional Events was actually pretty professional with powerful cars being used aside from most of the other race types. Getting to the Extreme Events means that you won the Gran Turismo World Championship. The problem is that the signature championship of Gran Turismo is basically a Pro-style race... feauturing GT1 and prototype cars. The Extreme Events all involved the most capable and powerful cars in long, treacherous championships and events. The modifications I'd make would be to make the GTWC an EXTREME event rather than a Professional one. Or if you're going to have the GTWC as a Professional Event, at least make it so that you actually have some sense of accomplishment to access some of the Extreme stages. In fact, I'd make events like "1000 Miles!", Formula GT, Like the Wind, and other various international championships as Extreme events.

* GT4's American Championship can be brutal. You need capable race cars to win as opposed to some of the best American sports cars. Even that Cadillac Cien concept car I used in the championship failed me miserably (just like the Jaguar XJR9 in the GTWC). I'd say that the American Championship should feature cars no more powerful than the Saleen S7 Turbo. Or maybe even not as powerful as the Dodge Viper SRT-10.

* Car maintenance can now be done between championship rounds. A thing I hated about it is that you can't do any extra testing. I want to change that because testing your car is crucial even DURING championships. I want to be able to make some extra modifications to my tuning setup and even purchase extra parts. I don't like some sort of impound rule put in by GT4. I say that one should be able to play GT Mode regularly for within five to seven days game time. What this means is that you can still go shopping for cars and car parts. But you MUST return to the championship within seven days. You are warned at five days since the last championship round to resume the championship. If you go over the seven-day limit, you are automatically retired from the championship and will need to redo that championship. How you placed in events wouldn't change, however, as you can still run single races before trying the championship. A harsher penalty would be that all prize winnings after the final warning from your championship would all be null and void. So if you have 25,000 Credits prior to the championship and won 20,000 from progress in the championship, all that money is gone from the series.

* Finally, being able to modify and tune cars from My Home is a VERY welcome addition. Just make the modifications apply to any car without having to be in that car to tune it.





The "Culmination Model" in Review
So here is what the Culmination Model comes down to...

* Qualifying for all races with all cars on course or hot laps depending on the sanctioning body for the race
* making the Gran Turismo World Championship the key of all racing in Gran Turismo with a proper ladder system that gives you a sense of accomplishment having made it to the Gran Turismo World Championship
* a Nationals system including the Euro-Pacific (Atlantic-Pacific) races
* a more race car-oriented Japanese/American/European championship featuring production cars tuned for racing (both your car as well as AI drivers)
* car maintenance as well as freely being able to test your car as well as purchase new ones. Buying/selling cars and doing test sessions add days to the calendar, so make sure you still have time to complete the championship.
* some more limitations on car types as well as even horsepower and displacement limitations on cars


Combining elements of past GT games to come up with this new idea for GT5 is my focal point here. Gran Turismo has been a non-linear game since its introduction. I'm not set to change that completely and screw up the formula. I just think that the Gran Turismo World Championship is the signature series of Gran Turismo, and you're not really doing justice by not adding any sort of prestige and flavor to competiting in this championship. You may need a MegaMan-style approach in which you take out all the different races just to access the GTWC. This may even come down to completing a certain percentage of the game to advance to the GTWC. But then, you don't want to make this goal completely vague. This Culmination Model came about as a way to remember ten years of Gran Turismo all into one game set to be bigger than any GT (including maybe even GT4).





So that's my Culmination Model in my theoretical and analytical approach to GT5. Next up, I will release my "Ladder Model" in regards to GT5's race to the Gran Turismo World Championship. And this one even includes certain One-Make Races that may help you in being that Grand Champion of Gran Turismo racing as enacted by GT.

 

[Pupik]

This is kind of what I've wanted to say about what I want GT5: Use the best of what the first four full games offered, and throw in more cars/online (a done deal, considering GT5rologue) they can't go wrong, minus a few detail changes so it's actually a new game.

I know we all have a bunch of minor additions and subtractions (of which everyone will state that they are "big" and "obvious" differences ), but I feel that by putting in some of the best parts of all the games, they won't tick off the core audience that buys over a million copies per title, instead of worrying about the eleven people that want operating reverse lights.

Thanks, John.

 

[Dave A]

I'd like to see the GTF league as a seperate hall from the other events again. But rather than having the other halls as beginner, amature and professional events etc. I'd like to see the halls grouped by race type and then have for example a hall dedicated to events that class cars by engine, drivetrain etc and then another hall that has series based on real racing series like the DTC, Super GT, American GT etc in a seperate hall.

I liked that GT3 had diffferent levels of competition for the same events I just though it was structured badly. If I have a 400bhp Fwd car I can race it in a FF series for powerful cars as oposed to just smashing the opposition in the beginner series. I liked that about GT3.

Getting back to the GT world Championship, as I said before the GTF league would be in a hall of it's own and for this I'd take more inspiration from GT2 than any other game.

I'd have the first set of competitions being national road car based races. - lower level cars 150-200bhp hatchbacks and family cars.
The 2nd step would be international road car based races. - Sports cars around the 350-400bhp like the R34 GT-R, TVR Tuscan Speed 6 etc.
The 3rd step would be a world series (not the GTWC) for road car based races. - Supercars like the Z06, Nissan GT-R, Ferrari F430 etc.
Then I'd go back to nationals but in race cars for the 4th step. Race cars or race tuned cars roughly 300bhp such as rally cars, GT300 cars or touring cars.
The 5th step would be internationals in the race cars. - Cars in the region of 500-600bhp such as GT500, Viper GTS-R GT, C6-R etc.
And the 6th step would be the GT World Championship. - Top level races cars such as the Bentley Speed 8, Audi R8, Toyota GT-1 etc.

It might seem long winded but since when was reaching the pinnacle of a GT game meant to be quick and easy. Imo this would make for a diverse set of races and take you from a lower level road cars to high level race cars much more progressively.

 

[The-BNA]

This is kind of what I've wanted to say about what I want GT5: Use the best of what the first four full games offered, and throw in more cars/online (a done deal, considering GT5rologue) they can't go wrong, minus a few detail changes so it's actually a new game.

I know we all have a bunch of minor additions and subtractions (of which everyone will state that they are "big" and "obvious" differences ), but I feel that by putting in some of the best parts of all the games, they won't tick off the core audience that buys over a million copies per title, instead of worrying about the eleven people that want operating reverse lights.

Thanks, John.

You have to say though. Working reverse lights take SO little effort, I have no idea why they haven't done them Not that I need them, I couldn't care less.

 

[JohnBM01]

This is a series of threads I'll start as part of an absolutely technical forecast of GT5. Now introducing my "Ladder Model."





--- "Ladder" Model ---
As the name implies, this model is the systematic approach to having a legitimate ladder system to enter the Gran Turismo World Championship. Systematic in that a variety of events will allow you to get racing experience as well as see a world of automobiles and tracks. Enjoying the Gran Turismo experience is predicated on seeing a world of cars and racing a world of events. You go from being that weekend warrior to a world class racing champion. I have stages by which you advance your way into the GT World Championship. Here are the basics of it all:

* Beginner Stage
* Amateur Stage
* Expert Stage
* Professional Stage
* Master Stage <<< Gran Turismo World Championship is here after completing the previous four stages of races

Each class of official races consist of a variety of racing events that ultimately will lead you to getting that ultimate title. Think of this as going from a Freshman in college and working your way through a variety of classes to go from Associate's to Doctorate. Please note that there is a difference between various other races and official events. Here is a basic description of what each stage of competition entails:

* Stage 1: Beginner Races
You have to start small before you can go big. These are some of the less strenous races and don't require super-powerful cars to compete or win. The toughest races mostly require a B-Grade License, but an A-Grade License is recommended. Once all beginner races are completed, you will be invited to race in Nationals. You will need to win at least one National series to advance to the next stage.

* Stage 2: Amateur Races
The next step from the Beginner races is the Amateur Stage. If you want to follow my college analogy, then the Amateur Class can be thought of as the Bachelor's Degree of Gran Turismo racing. These races require better racing ability as well as better automobiles. The races are still fairly modest and doable. These races may require an A-Grade License, but an International B-Grade License is recommended. In addition, you will need to clear a National Championship series to advance to the next stage.

* Stage 3: Expert Races
The Expert Stage will be your first look at international competition. You did low-level racing in the Nationals and high-level racing in National Championships. Now, you are competing in low-level international racing. The difference between this one and the previous championship is that you were mostly confined to competition in your country or international region. Here, you will compete in venues around your corner of the world. You may take part in racing in any country and compete against competition from various countries. Races will be longer and may require pit stops. You will be racing against tougher opponents in faster cars. Once these races are complete, you will be invited to compete in two different championships, both of which you need to win to go to the Professional Stage. The first of two championships involve international regions from any of the following: Pan-America, Mediterrenean (Europe and Africa), and the Asia-Pacific. Winning that series will get you into the Atlantic-Pacific class of races. Clear both series, and the Professional Series is next. And International A-Grade License is recommended, but at least an International B-Grade License will be fine. Also, you may need to win an endurance as part of your development to Gran Turismo stardom.

* Stage 4: Professional Races
The Professional Stage consists mostly of high-level races requiring even more advanced racing ability as well better cars. Should Racing Modifications be included in GT5, most races in this stage require Race Modified cars or purpose-built race cars. You cannot enter most series without a pure racing car or a street car tuned to be a race car. Here is where wrestling around with high-end cars and race cars will come into play. Stage 3 had to do with international regions. In Stage 4, you will be doing international racing in series that go worldwide. You are also required to clear race series featuring premier domestic racing series. Past GTs have seen DTM cars and Super GT cars as major domestic championships. The Professional Class will feature some of the longest races. To advance to the Master Races, you need to clear several international-spec events. No incredibly fast cars are raced (meaning no Le Mans GT or prototype cars) here. It's mostly hard-tuned production cars made into racing machines. Once the Pro races have been complete, you will be invited to compete in the Gran Turismo Cup, which you MUST complete to reach the final stage. Make sure you've completed at least three different endurances (doesn't matter which one).

* Stage 5: Master Stage
Finally, the Master Stage is here. You will be racing with nothing less than pure race cars and some of the fastest cars in the world. It is also where the major championship is located- the Gran Turismo World Championship. These include some of the longest races as well as some of the toughest opposition. Clear the Master races given to you to access the Gran Turismo World Championship. But before you can enter the championship, you need to clear a series of races to qualify for the GTWC.

Once you enter the GTWC, a mini series of events will be available before campaigning for the top prize. The GTWC has several mini-stages before you eventually race for the top prize. You will need to demonstrate your mastery in three series before taking on the GTWC- (1) choose any One-Make Series feauturing touring car-style machines (like the Beetle Cup, for example) in worldwide competition, (2) any series feauturing low-level GT cars, (3) a "world cup" of domestic racing series cars (think Australian V8 Supercars vs. DTM vs. Super GT's GT500 class), and (4) a series featuring high-end GT cars similar to FIA GT or even Le Mans GT cars.

Then the GT World Championship is available to you. I'm lobbying for class racing, so you need to clear two seperate series before becoming Grand Champion. (1) You need only win in the weakest class of racing for Stage 1 of the GTWC. These are basically your high-end GT cars. (2) You need to win in a series featuring LMP and GTP cars. You can win this stage in either an LMP or GTP car. This is not yet the GTWC. Victory here will qualify you to compete in the GTWC.

Finally, a victory in the two previous stages will enter you into the prestigious Gran Turismo World Championship. You can keep trying this championship again if you fail to win the title. Winning this championship equals Total Victory. Your many miles of racing has earned you the title of Gran Turismo World Champion. You've completed the championship at long last. With your victory, all endurances as well as various other championships (like Formula GT, Gran Turismo All-Stars, Polyphony Digital Cup, and some of the much more intense endurances) will be available for you to complete the game.





The methodology of this "Ladder" Model is that you begin with the weakest races and work your way up, earning every bit of accomplishment en route to the Gran Turismo World Championship. This would make GT have somewhat of a storyline and make things linear as opposed to the non-linear approach to GT. However, I don't want it to be linear. Your ultimate racing goal is to win GT's signature championship. It's the ultimate championship to win, and it's up to you to go race as best as you can. I don't want to make it so that GT is about winning the ultimate championship rather than enjoying the thrill of driving and tuning. It does, however, add a little more personality to championships without making it too much into a pure sim racing game. Here are some gray areas to my Ladder Model:

* progress in the game gets you able to buy newer cars (for example, you can't race a Ferrari Enzo without getting to Professional Level)? This would be like Test Drive Unlimited in which you need enough Master Points to purchase certain cars. Cars will need certain level requirements to purchase them and use them. This will prevent trying to pick up the best cars early and stick to a level-by-level journey through GT5.

* How many sub-stages and sub-series within major championships?



Those are the only real gray areas I know. If any of you have your own models for making the GT World Championship more interesting, offer your own ideas.



(Now that I've seen some posts being made prior to this post...)

Thanks for your suggestions! Keep 'em coming! I prefer the Gran Turismo World Championship to be the cornerstone of racing in GT. Otherwise, all the other official races mean next to nothing. The seperation of official and special events (like in GT2) sounds very interesting. Would you all be welcome to an online-enabled official GTWC? This could produce professional GT gamers. Imagine them all taking their chances racing the fastest cars on some of the best tracks GT5 will offer.

Keep 'em comin' like I said earlier!

 

[prisonermonkeys]

John, perhaps as an extension to that, you could have a "Home Country" option. In the first two tiers, you excluvisely race within the country you nominated; so if you choose Japan as the country where you're based, all the races will take place as Japanses events. Once you've cleared the Beginner-level and Amateur-level National events (one being for the smaller cars, the other for larger, more powerful ones; kind of like GT4's Schwarzwald Liga "A" and Liga "B" events), you can progress onto the expert stage or go back and do all the nationals for the other home countries.

Of course, as not every nation is going to be represented in the game, you've have to choose where you'd want to be base: Asia, Europe or America.

 

[JohnBM01]

One other key talking point on GT2 was something I recently thought of. Can you imagine if GT3's scattering of races were more like GT2, only offer more events? Allow me to explain.



--- Analysis of GT2's Race Series to Introduce a New Special Event Methodology ---
I am going to use the Grand Touring Car Trophy in GT2. It has three races: an International-C License race around Red Rock Valley limited to 394 horsepower, an International-B License race around Grand Valley limited to 493 horsepower, and an International-A License race around Midfield Raceway limited to 591 horsepower. Instead of just one race under one difficulty level, I'd prefer something more like GT3 or GT4 in which you race a variety of events at that level. So instead of just doing Grand Valley's IB License race, I could do five single race events at the B level. So imagine that in addition to Grand Valley, that I have to do Seattle, Grindelwald, Trial Mountain, and Special Stage Route 5. You would do more racing, but still feel challenged enough throughout your time at a certain race at a certain level.

Some series in GT2 have different races under one level of difficulty. The Historic Car Trophy is an example I'll use from GT2. There are three races here: an A-Grade license race around Tahiti Road limited to 246 horsepower, another A-License race at Rome Circuit limited to 295 horsepower, and an International C-grade license race around Grindelwald limited to 394 horsepower. The difference here is that two different races are limited to two different horsepower restrictions. There are a few ways as to make something like this more interesting for GT5. (1) You can make seperate championships or single races requiring the same license, but offering more races to compete in under that level of restricted horsepower. So I could do a series of four races under the 246hp-limited events and then move on to do the 295hp-limited races. Whichever one I choose to do first would be purely up to me. (2) You can combine two classes that require the same license and have class racing. (2a) You may require me to clear both classes of competition in two different cars or in two different horsepower-restricted settings. Or, (2b) you may require me to win the series by clearing either or both classes of competition for that class. It would be your call. All I'm thinking of here is more racing at a certain license level to win more money as well as take on new challenges with your car in its configuration.

Finally, a look at series that are only available at one license level and have the same restrictions (if any). Events such as the Super Touring Trophy and Gran Turismo All-Stars in GT2 for this. I will use the Super Touring Trophy for this example. All races are at the IB level restricted to about 493hp. Rather than a bunch of single races, you can just make a championship series rather than just have a series of single races. Of course have the option to do single races if you choose.

So under this methodology, I can either do a sub-series of races for either level of either difficulty or take part in class racing and try to win in one or both classes (or more) to clear the series for that license. The trick for me under this method is that you never really get bored doing one series of races under one level of difficulty for one series. You can be committed to a certain series and race it for some time. The following is a map of what I'm talking about altogether:

Choose a series -> choose a license level of races -> choose to race a series of races (or a championship if available) -> clear all races under all difficulty levels to clear that entire series.

This method won't make proper race series available, but it offers somewhat a hint as to actual sanctioned races and sanctioning bodies. You're racing under the rules of a certain series with a series of races. You can't clear that series unless you win all the races within certain series under certain set regulations. There are advantages to racing long series. Most of which are mostly that of making more money as well as really enjoying racing a certain kind of car across a variety of tracks. GT2's Special Events have offered only one race under a certain license level rather than offer more races at that level under the horsepower restriction level. It's possible to use one car throughout this whole process and simply upgrade it when done with one license class of a certain series. That's fine. Clear a series of races under one certain license level, and you will be rewarded with bonus money as well as new cars. To clear the entire event series, win the championships and series at each license level. You may be rewarded with an even better car from that series including bonus money as a way of congratulating you. So for an event series like the Historic Car Trophy, win all races at a certain license level (or win the championship for series that include championships), then do the same for all the races/championships at the other available races at other license levels. Be aware that races of higher license levels mean longer races against more powerful opposition. However, sufficient prize money can be yours.



The Ladder Model I've proposed offers up an idea that could resemble the Forza Motorsport series' region-based game play. I think you just need to choose whatever car you'd like to use and go racing in whatever region you choose. So if you live in Hong Kong and race a Lotus Elise, you can take up the British Nationals and compete in the Mediterrenean region. It's whatever car you race with that determines your region in my view. All my Ladder Model does is that you only need to clear just one class of racing to advance to the next level. You can still race in other national and regional levels, but it's important that you first clear one region in order to compete in the next stage. You may qualify to be in the next stage on the way to the GTWC and choose to race in another series. One other thing... once you clear a certain stage of competition, you unlock every other region that you can freely play. So if you take on the Professional Races, you can simply race and complete other regions without having to redo everything for another region. So you don't have to redo the Japanese Nationals just to unlock the Asia-Pacific events. This is out of fairness and to not prolong the game any further than it needs to be.

 

[Nathan1956]

I think that the GTWC should have 10-15 races with 10-15 laps each. Then they should be run like a Le Mans type race having all classes of cars run at the same time. Each class should have its own requirements. You should be rewarded on your finishing place in your class and your finishing place overall. You should be able to run each race in each class.

 

[Sele1981]

haven´t read all because i don´t understand english so good... but

what i want to see in the GT Worl is 2 different physics for the KI as well because i think it´s not possible in GT5P that you can get all in Gold when you play on professional physics... (or i think i got to try it again )

 

[JohnBM01]

No, I'd make it fair. Play on your level and don't try to be in any driving mode you're not comfortable with. I'm doing this out of fairness. We don't want to want to see GT5 too challenging for even younger and novice racers now, do we? A victory in Normal and a victory in Professional are two different things, but with the same likeness- winning. I wouldn't want to force people to race Professional Mode. Just race with what works best for you and your abilities.

I'm probably one of the few that thinks in fairness anyways regarding GT.

 

[fasj6418]

Now this my friends, is where i think GT goes more in to the "game" category, instead of the "real life-like simulator".

Everything on the GT champioship structure seems like a game and not a representation of actual racing.

FIA, BTCC, SUPER GT, DTM, SUPER V8, WRC, F1, LE MANS... lots of words that represent a real racing series (or entity). None of those are on GT. I understand some, but considering the closeness of PD and the japanese manufactors, i really can't understand why SUPER GT isn't on the game. The license is nowhere and i remember once playing a JGTC game on PS1. More than 10 years went by and we can only race with their cars, not on their champioship.

It's not hard for PD to get at least this one on the game. A lot is said about licenses, but Toca, with a considerable smaller budget has managed to get official licenses for some of their games. It's a shame they didn't knew how to use, throwing you on 2-3 race quick champioships that resembled nothing the real deal.

It's time to think outside the box and re-structure the championship model. With drift and drag probably in, i hope they secure a spot on the carrear mode. I like the various series for station wagons, country specific, drivetrain specific, weight, size, power, those series should all be in.

Maybe a seasonal mode can be implemented? I don't like the manufactor races, for some reason. They just seem so bland and inserted at the last moment...

Anyway, i'm having difficulty arranging my thoughts, so i will once again just put little notes.

-----------

I like the 5 levels of dificulty proposed by John. Seems balanced and long enough for us GT freaks.

Remember the GT event Sintesyzer? I t was supposed to learn how you drive and adjust accordingly. Didn't worked, but i hope they work on the idea. Past GT's for me have been nothing but time trials, so i hope GT mode gets new life injected.

I'm all for a crazy last GT world champioship, where all cars are valid (excluding formulas) and you race once on every track featured on the game, setting up a monstruous 60-70 race champioship finale at the 'Ring.

What about a "play this race online" feature on every GT mode race? Maybe a way to spice things up.

I love the A-spec points, i hope they are back in.

basically i would divide the GT mode on the following:

Drift events
Rally events
Racing events
Drag events
Driving missions

The racing events would include the DTM, BTCC, SUPER GT events as well as the drivetrain, country and other various series. I would also put an endurance race for every track, why not?

I hope also that we get an actual race weekend, as John pointed out. Wheather, qualify and preparation should play a part on the game.

Anyway, i'm hoping for a change, for new elements, for real life racing on a console. let's hope at least some of these improvements make the final cut.