Updated Original Tracks?

[ScottPuss20]

As we all know, the High Speed Ring, Apricot Hill and Autumn Ring have been updated to PS3 standards, but it would be good if more of them were updated. Trial Mountain and Deep Forest are the main suspects-the textures are in serious need of revamping, and the sponsor logos are a bit dated. The track layout may be adjusted slightly so it actually looks like a legitimate race track. For example, the last corner on Trial Mountain should have a wall to prevent cars from flipping, because a real racetracks don't have massive bumps on the side of a corner. I think that this is key to preserving old GT tracks

 

[jontikis]

As we all know, the High Speed Ring, Apricot Hill and Autumn Ring have been updated to PS3 standards, but it would be good if more of them were updated. Trial Mountain and Deep Forest are the main suspects-the textures are in serious need of revamping, and the sponsor logos are a bit dated. The track layout may be adjusted slightly so it actually looks like a legitimate race track. For example, the last corner on Trial Mountain should have a wall to prevent cars from flipping, because a real racetracks don't have massive bumps on the side of a corner. I think that this is key to preserving old GT tracks

Don't forget Grand Valley.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Oops

 

[MatskiMonk]

Trial Mountain and Deep Forest would need major overhauls to make them remotely plausible. Any circuit to be remotely realistic needs to address the same issues as real world circuits - safety & spectators. Not to mention things like the tunnel at Trial Mountain. In the real world it would never happen, boring through a million tons of rock and building a tunnel, for a circuit that has one section of grandstand overlooking a straight - it'd never make commercial sense in the real world... similar story at Deep Forest. The easiest way to make these two plausible is to make them as closed road circuits, something like a tarmac special stage.

 

[TNR_KING_FILO]

there's always one killjoy^ lol

 

[VelocityX]

Trial Mountain and Deep Forest are nice, but they don't have the same racing track feel like Apricot Hill.

 

[ALB123]

I want as many tracks as possible. Of course, I want them to be quality and I would prefer to have real world race tracks first and foremost. But, if it's a matter of financially securing rights to real world tracks - and that process is going to mean we can only get one or two new tracks each version, then I hope PD continues to make Original Track Layouts as well. To me, the more layouts we have the more variety and the less chance of getting bored.

There are so many tracks in GT6 that I still haven't spent much time on because I'm so thrilled with the 6 or 7 tracks that I'm still in love with. This is great because it ensures I always have something fresh to keep me from getting tried with any particular track or layout.

Yes, I do think PD should revamp some of these older tracks like the ones already mentioned. It should be a lot easier to clean up and modernize those layouts compared to starting from scratch on something entirely new.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I prefer real-world circuits, but I think PD's more recent original track efforts have been pretty good. Okay, the gradient's at Matterhorn are a bit silly, as is the curly whirly bridge at Cape Ring... but they've designed them pretty effectively to make most use of the layouts available, and Cape Ring has become one of my preferred test tracks.

One of the things I do like about the traditional original circuits, (Trial Mountain, Deep Forest, Autum Ring, Grand Valley etc) is they work well with road cars, they were designed at a time when GT was predominantly about tuned road cars, and as such are a nice 'scale'. Racing stock road cars at circuits like Monza and Silverstone can be pretty tedious, where as the original original circuits offer a nice balance, though the GT5+ version of HSR seems to have opened up to be super high speed, I still quite like it. GT does need tracks that allow enjoyment from it's full roster of cars.

Red Rock Valley Speedway I think they could have some fun with if they bought it back... and with circuits like Eiger and Matterhorn coming about, I'm surprised PD hasn't resurrected Grindelwald.

Midfield is another fan favourite, that probably wouldn't need to much of a rethink, just recreating in HD...

 

[nowcontrol]

Red Rock Valley Speedway I think they could have some fun with if they bought it back... and with circuits like Eiger and Matterhorn coming about, I'm surprised PD hasn't resurrected Grindelwald.

Midfield is another fan favourite, that probably wouldn't need to much of a rethink, just recreating in HD...

YES, YES, YEEEEESSSSSS!!!

@ALB123 .. You should grab yourself a copy of GT2 and do your nut around Red Rock Valley, Grindelwald, or Rome Night, and Tahiti Road, or GT3-4 for tracks like Special Stage Route 11, Midfield, Seattle, New York, El Capitan, Citta di Aria, Costa di Amalfi, and Infineon Raceway.

I'm sure you would enjoy them as much as I do.

 

[NixxxoN]

Deep Forest and trial Mountain look far better on GT5/6 compared to GT4.

 

[NightHawkFur]

Better than PS2 doesn't mean good.

 

[TorqueWrench]

Pikes Peak

 

[stuff1138]

Why is everyone always knocking Trial Mountain and Deep Forest for their unrealistic qualities like lack of guard rails and what not? All they really need is updated textures to make them look sharper and closer to real life. Suggestions like, the addition of guard rails between you and the rocky cliff to the right on the long right hand sweeper at Deep Forest is not necessary in my opinion. I feel both tracks were created to simulate driving through mountainous regions on public roads. Both succeed at this and both of them are iconic the way they are, minus the out of date textures.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Why is everyone always knocking Trial Mountain and Deep Forest for their unrealistic qualities like lack of guard rails and what not? All they really need is updated textures to make them look sharper and closer to real life. Suggestions like, the addition of guard rails between you and the rocky cliff to the right on the long right hand sweeper at Deep Forest is not necessary in my opinion. I feel both tracks were created to simulate driving through mountainous regions on public roads. Both succeed at this and both of them are iconic the way they are, minus the out of date textures.

They're circuits, not public roads, there are no adjoining roads, or anything to make them appear as such. I'd like to see PD take them one way or the other, at the moment they just don't make much sense one way or the other, and these days they stick out for this reason. Like I said earlier I like the layouts, they work really well for road cars, and of course there is the nostalgia aspect, but they don't quite cut it these days.

I think Apricot Hill and Autumn Ring work quite well, because they wouldn't require massive civil engineering projects in order to be real, i.e. No huge bridges or massive tunnels. In my opinion, these kind of things were popular in the era of GT1 because of the limitations in generating attractive interest scenery on the hardware - how much of Red Rock was just a massive concrete gorge? - tunnels etc. allow you to have a good sensation of speed, and add length to the track, without having to actually model or process any scenery.

If they want to simulate fun mountain roads, they should just put in some kind of really long mountainous rally stage.. oh wait

 

[twitcher]

The original GT tracks are some of my favourites, so I really hope they stay in the game, with some upgrades of course.

I think @MatskiMonk made a good point about the GT circuits being "designed" for road cars. They all have very nice flow. I find all the original tracks keep you active throughout the lap, ie, there are no super long straights that let you "catch your breath" like at Silverstone or Monza. If I were to make a comparison, I'd say all the old GT tracks are quite "Suzuka-esque" in their design.

I agree with @MatskiMonk about converting Trial Mtn and Deep Forest into Tarmac special stages as well. I would much prefer this to having them converted to a closed circuit. I enjoy racing next to the cliff faces, and with only a guard rail between me and a 50' drop There are many Tarmac special stages still in use today that, when compared to a modern closed circuit, are considered extremely unsafe (events like Rally Monte Carlo, Isle of Mann, along with many of the Hillclimb events held in Europe, come to mind). Everyone knows it's dangerous, but that's part of the excitement.


Along that same note, I'll never fully understand the obsession with making every track in the game "as real as possible". The virtual canvass is a blank one, capable of rendering almost anything the human imagination can think of - so why limit ourselves to only recreating reality?

If you start looking around at most real world circuits, the majority of them are incredibly dull and boring in terms of the scenery around them. Complete generalization, but most modern circuits are built in the middle of a field. I would much rather have picturesque mountains, dense forests, or other visually stimulating scenery surrounding a track than a blank horizon.

 

[stuff1138]

@MatskiMonk I agree they are circuits in the literal sense but a good portion of the original GT tracks that have been created over the years have that "public road" feel to them once you get beyond the start finish straight. Notable exceptions to this would be High Speed Ring, Apricot Hill, etc.

@twitcher well said

One thing they could do with Deep Forest for instance is make it so if you go over that guard rail on the left of the long right sweeper you actually go over and tumble down the cliff...that would be pretty rad haha

 

[MatskiMonk]

The original GT tracks are some of my favourites, so I really hope they stay in the game, with some upgrades of course.

I think @MatskiMonk made a good point about the GT circuits being "designed" for road cars. They all have very nice flow. I find all the original tracks keep you active throughout the lap, ie, there are no super long straights that let you "catch your breath" like at Silverstone or Monza. If I were to make a comparison, I'd say all the old GT tracks are quite "Suzuka-esque" in their design.

I agree with @MatskiMonk about converting Trial Mtn and Deep Forest into Tarmac special stages as well. I would much prefer this to having them converted to a closed circuit. I enjoy racing next to the cliff faces, and with only a guard rail between me and a 50' drop There are many Tarmac special stages still in use today that, when compared to a modern closed circuit, are considered extremely unsafe (events like Rally Monte Carlo, Isle of Mann, along with many of the Hillclimb events held in Europe, come to mind). Everyone knows it's dangerous, but that's part of the excitement.


Along that same note, I'll never fully understand the obsession with making every track in the game "as real as possible". The virtual canvass is a blank one, capable of rendering almost anything the human imagination can think of - so why limit ourselves to only recreating reality?

If you start looking around at most real world circuits, the majority of them are incredibly dull and boring in terms of the scenery around them. Complete generalization, but most modern circuits are built in the middle of a field. I would much rather have picturesque mountains, dense forests, or other visually stimulating scenery surrounding a track than a blank horizon.

As with Vision GT, it's fun to push the boundaries, so it doesn't have to be ultra realistic, but given a track layout, and a location, the circuit itself should be a plausible, realistic and interesting facility.

If you look at the 500-600 real world circuits, there is variety, and some stunning locations, I've been to pretty much all the circuits in Britain, and some have a lot of character, and some have none.. but take a look at Chris Harris on /Drive @ Anglessey, on a nice day, it's stunning, we have dull Airfield tracks like Silverstone, beautiful tracks that are a joy to be at (on a Sunny day), like Oulton and Brands, we've got an Oval/Roval, with Rockingham, rugged tracks like Knockhill... there are plenty of interesting tracks out there... it's just that PD need to look beyond the dull sterile top of the line international FIA circuits.

Like I say, one of the other benefits of original circuits is the multiple layouts on offer, but again the older circuits don't really make full use of this. Imagine if they took Deep Forest, and re-jigged it, so the start finish straight was part of the circuit facility, with the rest of the circuit being closed-public-roads-esque, with an additional Deep Forest North Loop usig more of the local (fictional) local road network.

All kinds of possibilities really, I'd like them to keep the old tracks, and bring back a few of the classics.

 

[twitcher]

As with Vision GT, it's fun to push the boundaries, so it doesn't have to be ultra realistic, but given a track layout, and a location, the circuit itself should be a plausible, realistic and interesting facility.

If you look at the 500-600 real world circuits, there is variety, and some stunning locations, I've been to pretty much all the circuits in Britain, and some have a lot of character, and some have none.. but take a look at Chris Harris on /Drive @ Anglessey, on a nice day, it's stunning, we have dull Airfield tracks like Silverstone, beautiful tracks that are a joy to be at (on a Sunny day), like Oulton and Brands, we've got an Oval/Roval, with Rockingham, rugged tracks like Knockhill... there are plenty of interesting tracks out there... it's just that PD need to look beyond the dull sterile top of the line international FIA circuits.

Like I say, one of the other benefits of original circuits is the multiple layouts on offer, but again the older circuits don't really make full use of this. Imagine if they took Deep Forest, and re-jigged it, so the start finish straight was part of the circuit facility, with the rest of the circuit being closed-public-roads-esque, with an additional Deep Forest North Loop usig more of the local (fictional) local road network.

All kinds of possibilities really, I'd like them to keep the old tracks, and bring back a few of the classics.

Fully agree with all that, well said 👍

PD, give this man a job!!!

 

[QuattroDelta]

They're circuits, not public roads, there are no adjoining roads, or anything to make them appear as such. I'd like to see PD take them one way or the other, at the moment they just don't make much sense one way or the other, and these days they stick out for this reason. Like I said earlier I like the layouts, they work really well for road cars, and of course there is the nostalgia aspect, but they don't quite cut it these days.

I think Apricot Hill and Autumn Ring work quite well, because they wouldn't require massive civil engineering projects in order to be real, i.e. No huge bridges or massive tunnels. In my opinion, these kind of things were popular in the era of GT1 because of the limitations in generating attractive interest scenery on the hardware - how much of Red Rock was just a massive concrete gorge? - tunnels etc. allow you to have a good sensation of speed, and add length to the track, without having to actually model or process any scenery.

If they want to simulate fun mountain roads, they should just put in some kind of really long mountainous rally stage.. oh wait

I would say that the loop at Autumn Ring is a "massive civil engineering project".

 

[mikeymc92]

The only two I would like to see back are Midfield and Seattle

 

[MatskiMonk]

I would say that the loop at Autumn Ring is a "massive civil engineering project".

It's not so much of a big ask to have a bridge for the track to cross itself with, a couple of real world circuits have this. But when compared to the bridge's at Grand Valley, or High Speed Ring, it seems pretty tame.


I was putting in a few laps of Trial Mountain and Grand Valley tonight. It's really apparent that the design of the 1st gen tracks is really affected by the desire to keep the draw distance as short as possible. The feel very enclosed, and claustrophobic.

.. I'm not complaining, I still like them.

 

[ScottPuss20]

I don't want these tracks to lose their character-more or less keep it. Spa is a great example of this. The layout might be different to the original, but it still retains it's character. When the renovated Apricot Hill made it's appearance in one of the GT6 trailers, I was really excited. The track had not changed one bit in terms of character, so it's one of my favourite circuits now. If only GT could perform a similar renovation on Midfield Raceway...