User contributed Gran Turismo Magazine

[Schwadegan]

Count me in. My main suggestion for a regular feature in the mag is a photo album of several photos, each album detailing either a track or a race on that track. We could call it Portraits, seeing as they act as portraits of the tracks and races themselves. Both the race report and the album could be integrated to fill out the whole experience, and to plant the captured moment in the reader's mind.

A question: will their be dedicated staff for this venture, or will it just be volunteer work? I would definitely prefer the latter.

This is a great example of what I'd like this project to be able to generate. Rich, extensive articles with good photos to go along with it! To "plant the captured moment in the reader's mind" as you say, is exactly that.

I would assume, to keep it running on any kind of schedule, there would be a few people regularly attached to it, and then a large rotation group of contributing members? Just my personal thoughts.

Yes. I don't want to plan to far ahead, but judging from the community response I'd say this would be the plan. For now I'll do the editing as in putting it all together as a complete magazine, while volunteers contribute with material. This way there won't be any pressure to perform in time on the writers side. Naturally, if there is someone who would like to have a regular column/article series this would be possible too.

 

[AE Vector]

This should be either a bi-monthly mag or a seasonal mag, so that we can gather content and then revise it considerably. Bi-monthly would be my favorite choice, because we can have 6 issues a year with plenty of content and, at the same time that volunteers and the staff can get their articles ready, there won't be too much time in between issues.That is another issue to consider, especially because many of us have a life outside GT (unfortunately).

Yeah, I'd like to do the Portraits series--can't wait to start with a Track Day at Autumn Ring!

 

[SlipZtrEm]

May as well follow up:

Driving Force GT! Okay, haha, that was bad. But, of course, it is the drive of your life. Someone could probably derive a name from that.

Haha, I was trying to go in that direction: "Drive of your life", "Real Driving Simulator", etc etc... 👍

Schwadegan - Awesome

 

[AE Vector]

We need to have our own B-Spec Bob to complete the experience--if you've seen the thread with the B-Spec Bob stories, then you might know what I'm talking about. A small journal, meant to poke fun at a B-Spec driver slowly learning the ropes, and maybe with a couple of images to enhance the section.

 

[LazyYouth]

We need to have our own B-Spec Bob to complete the experience--if you've seen the thread with the B-Spec Bob stories, then you might know what I'm talking about. A small journal, meant to poke fun at a B-Spec driver slowly learning the ropes, and maybe with a couple of images to enhance the section.

You can leave this to me, I consider myself good at making real events look like a story. For example, like a biografy of a newly created Bob who raises from lvl 0 noob newbie to a lvl 40 champ. Maybe I could name it "From novice to legend" or something like that 💡

 

[Jonnio]

"GT" sounds best to me.

 

[Schwadegan]

This should be either a bi-monthly mag or a seasonal mag, so that we can gather content and then revise it considerably. Bi-monthly would be my favorite choice, because we can have 6 issues a year with plenty of content and, at the same time that volunteers and the staff can get their articles ready, there won't be too much time in between issues.That is another issue to consider, especially because many of us have a life outside GT (unfortunately).

Indeed that sounds like a plan, we might need to revise it though - depending on the amount of material we can gather.

Haha, I was trying to go in that direction: "Drive of your life", "Real Driving Simulator", etc etc... 👍

Schwadegan - Awesome

Right back at you!
This publication wouldn't be possible without your help!

 

[Mr. CoolFiat]

These are the kinds of things that makes us get together, for a truly spectacular piece of writing we must all join forces. Firstly, where can we contribute to this great idea?

 

[Schwadegan]

I've started working on parts of the layout, and finished the first draft for a basic article design. I'll probably do some more work on it tomorrow and then share my progress with you.

By then I've figured it might be time to decide how you're supposed to send the files for me to work with later on. But there's absolutely no rush!
Take your time and write about the things you hold dear and want to share. Perhaps spend some extra time in photomode to get that special photo exactly the way you want

 

[Jakk]

GT Life might be a good name?

 

[AE Vector]

Gets the point across it does. It could definitely work.

I'll see what I can do to get my Photomode skills up to snuff, before doing my first entry for Portraits. School will no doubt take away my free time, however.

 

[strtgng]

Something like this?

http://www.godfallstudios.com/forzanation.html

 

[SoullessApples]

How about People write ariticles and the best one gets in the Mag.? Maybe about their fav car or a track.

 

[Schwadegan]

Something like this?

http://www.godfallstudios.com/forzanation.html

Yes, something like that. But bigger and better, just like Gran Turismo itself
But all jokes aside, this would represent somewhat the magazine I had in mind, although I imagine it with a bit more 'proper' look magazine wize if that makes any sense?
I wish to, as AE Vector said; "plant the captured moment in the reader's mind".

At least for me besides tuning and racing cars in GT, it's also something else as trivial as enjoying a drive around the Nürb as the sun settles in the horizon.

 

[Schwadegan]

How about People write ariticles and the best one gets in the Mag.? Maybe about their fav car or a track.

The ideal situation would be that all articles written will be published in the magazine. If there is need for improvement in content or grammar, that will have to be dealt with.
Besides this I see no reason to not put it in there as long as it is related to the Gran Turismo franchise and serves a purpose.

 

[SoullessApples]

The ideal situation would be that all articles written will be published in the magazine. If there is need for improvement in content or grammar, that will have to be dealt with.
Besides this I see no reason to not put it in there as long as it is related to the Gran Turismo franchise and serves a purpose.

That sounds even better, I think im goning to make one 2moro just for fun.

 

[Stigsblkcousin]

What about Go! Magazine, or has that been done already?

 

[gtuned]

Here's the first page to my article. "Godzilla Approaches"

 

[AE Vector]

First off, that was a very nice Forza mag right there--decent presentation, decent content; but overall, it felt rather thrown together and basic. The thing we need to do in terms of presentation is to get a good feel for the current visual style used in the GT menus: plenty of variation of font (with taste, of course), compact and well-placed information, and a good sense of space--for example, Gtuned's first two pages are looking great, but it looks weird with the text going out of the page and an awkward transition between pages. Just a little something to consider.

And yes, we should hopefully get enough content in due time to have it all in one issue. We may have to trim if we get a huge amount of contribution, but I don't think that will happen anyways. But, as you can see, the Forza guys seem to be doing fairly well with what they brought us.

 

[strtgng]

First off, that was a very nice Forza mag right there--decent presentation, decent content; but overall, it felt rather thrown together and basic. The thing we need to do in terms of presentation is to get a good feel for the current visual style used in the GT menus: plenty of variation of font (with taste, of course), compact and well-placed information, and a good sense of space--for example, Gtuned's first two pages are looking great, but it looks weird with the text going out of the page and an awkward transition between pages. Just a little something to consider.

And yes, we should hopefully get enough content in due time to have it all in one issue. We may have to trim if we get a huge amount of contribution, but I don't think that will happen anyways. But, as you can see, the Forza guys seem to be doing fairly well with what they brought us.

The Forza mag was nice - but I think they only made about 3 issues. Keeping people motivated to contribute decent content was an issue, I think.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Yes, something like that. But bigger and better, just like Gran Turismo itself
But all jokes aside, this would represent somewhat the magazine I had in mind, although I imagine it with a bit more 'proper' look magazine wize if that makes any sense?
I wish to, as AE Vector said; "plant the captured moment in the reader's mind".

At least for me besides tuning and racing cars in GT, it's also something else as trivial as enjoying a drive around the Nürb as the sun settles in the horizon.

Oddly enough, the second part of the article I posted does just about that exact thing you mention in the end: it was all about a trip to the 'Ring .

Welcome To Green Heaven - The rest of the story, to not further disrupt the thread, jsut show what I mean.​

First off, that was a very nice Forza mag right there--decent presentation, decent content; but overall, it felt rather thrown together and basic. The thing we need to do in terms of presentation is to get a good feel for the current visual style used in the GT menus: plenty of variation of font (with taste, of course), compact and well-placed information, and a good sense of space--for example, Gtuned's first two pages are looking great, but it looks weird with the text going out of the page and an awkward transition between pages. Just a little something to consider.

The Forza one was alright, but a few things jumped out almost immediately for me:

• They don't respect padding between text and magazine edge, as well as giving the cars breathing room in their picture frames (cars tend to be uncomfortably close to the edge).
• Columns! All magazines divide their text into a few columns per page! A reader is much more comfortable moving down from row to row when their eye has less distance to travel.
• I recognize this matters less for an online magazine, but something I paid attention to when re-creating mine from an old copy of Evo; pay particular attention to the interior padding, where the pages would bind. The example above doesn't show it because I was uploading them for digital viewing; on my PC, there's a double-badged, wide-body Integra .
• A lot of dead space mixed with crammed things creates a poor balance (the R8 LMS spread for example, and the performance stats for the Lambo et al taking up the entire width of the page instead of fitting the story in to their right).

Yeah... I'm critical . I feel the best approach is to get influence from an actual magazine; the small details can really make or break the feel, to sell the idea of it being legitimate.

And yes, we should hopefully get enough content in due time to have it all in one issue. We may have to trim if we get a huge amount of contribution, but I don't think that will happen anyways. But, as you can see, the Forza guys seem to be doing fairly well with what they brought us.

Indeed, though we'd obviously not have much to put in place of paint jobs and liveries .

Could I suggest something? Maybe interview some members of the board about their personal ride? Preferably a street-car, though how track-oriented it is could be up to them, but basically just a way to involve the community a bit more

 

[AE Vector]

Works for me. Breathing space is a big issue for me as well, and there simply wasn't enough in that Forza mag to make it outstanding on any particular level. What you did with the EVO articles is pretty much the look I'd prefer, and it's well designed in every respect.

 

[SoullessApples]

Oddly enough, the second part of the article I posted does just about that exact thing you mention in the end: it was all about a trip to the 'Ring .

Welcome To Green Heaven - The rest of the story, to not further disrupt the thread, jsut show what I mean.​

The Forza one was alright, but a few things jumped out almost immediately for me:

• They don't respect padding between text and magazine edge, as well as giving the cars breathing room in their picture frames (cars tend to be uncomfortably close to the edge).
• Columns! All magazines divide their text into a few columns per page! A reader is much more comfortable moving down from row to row when their eye has less distance to travel.
• I recognize this matters less for an online magazine, but something I paid attention to when re-creating mine from an old copy of Evo; pay particular attention to the interior padding, where the pages would bind. The example above doesn't show it because I was uploading them for digital viewing; on my PC, there's a double-badged, wide-body Integra .
• A lot of dead space mixed with crammed things creates a poor balance (the R8 LMS spread for example, and the performance stats for the Lambo et al taking up the entire width of the page instead of fitting the story in to their right).

Yeah... I'm critical . I feel the best approach is to get influence from an actual magazine; the small details can really make or break the feel, to sell the idea of it being legitimate.



Indeed, though we'd obviously not have much to put in place of paint jobs and liveries .

Could I suggest something? Maybe interview some members of the board about their personal ride? Preferably a street-car, though how track-oriented it is could be up to them, but basically just a way to involve the community a bit more

WOW! thats looks awsome, how did you make it?

 

[Schwadegan]

Here's the first page to my article. "Godzilla Approaches"

I can see that you've put down a lot of effort here, which is great. But as I've said before and written in the first post; You don't need to or should do anything besides providing the text and/or images since I'll do the assembly of all the gathered content to one single magazine. This due to the fact that we want a publication with a cohesive feel for design and style.
Then of course I'm open to changes in layout and such, but the less people trying to do the design, the simpler the work of putting it together as one piece becomes. I hope you don't feel let down or anything since you seem to have a thing for writing as well.

The Forza one was alright, but a few things jumped out almost immediately for me:

• They don't respect padding between text and magazine edge, as well as giving the cars breathing room in their picture frames (cars tend to be uncomfortably close to the edge).
• Columns! All magazines divide their text into a few columns per page! A reader is much more comfortable moving down from row to row when their eye has less distance to travel.
• I recognize this matters less for an online magazine, but something I paid attention to when re-creating mine from an old copy of Evo; pay particular attention to the interior padding, where the pages would bind. The example above doesn't show it because I was uploading them for digital viewing; on my PC, there's a double-badged, wide-body Integra .
• A lot of dead space mixed with crammed things creates a poor balance (the R8 LMS spread for example, and the performance stats for the Lambo et al taking up the entire width of the page instead of fitting the story in to their right).

Yeah... I'm critical . I feel the best approach is to get influence from an actual magazine; the small details can really make or break the feel, to sell the idea of it being legitimate.



Indeed, though we'd obviously not have much to put in place of paint jobs and liveries .

Could I suggest something? Maybe interview some members of the board about their personal ride? Preferably a street-car, though how track-oriented it is could be up to them, but basically just a way to involve the community a bit more

It's a good thing you're critical! And I totally agree with you about the, lets say disturbance in the force, of the Forza magazine. Coming up with a well functioning design isn't all that easy - it should both look nice and yet keep things easily readable.
Any way to involve the GT community into this project should be taken. That is as long as it is inside the frame of whats relevant and worth reading.

 

[homeforsummer]

I'd be interested in contributing. I started something similar with GT4 a good while ago, but lost interest pretty quickly when I started writing for an actual automotive site!

The link to my stillborn project is here.

 

[Schwadegan]

I'd be interested in contributing. I started something similar with GT4 a good while ago, but lost interest pretty quickly when I started writing for an actual automotive site!

The link to my stillborn project is here.

That looks like an interesting read! If you'd like to write articles like that for this project I absolutely wouldn't mind
Just keep in mind that you only need to write article and supply images if you have any, then the layout work will be taken care of by me (with your input and feedback) when other articles start to come in.

Looking forward to a great read mate!

 

[Schwadegan]

This is the very basic article structure I've been working on. I've been trying to keep it clean and manageable for the reader.
However obviously there are things I'm not quite pleased with, such as the header front (for the time being the same as the font in the body) as well as the page numbers which needs some further tweaking.

With that in mind, feel free to take a look at the .pdf here and let mo know your thoughts.

(By the way, the article is purely fictional so if anyone feels like writing it, go ahead!)

 

[duknuz]

How long should each article be? Should there be different word lengths for different types of articles? Such as X00 words for a review, X00 words for a comparison test and so on. On average, how many pictures should go with an article? Should contributors send more pictures than would go into the article and let the editors decide which pictures to use and where? Will there be dedicated photographers like there are dedicated editors?

 

[The Quattro]

I'd be very interested in contributing to this project. I've already had some experience in sports journalism and PR, plus I'm currently studying magazine writing for my English Language A level.

Would an article about the TVR Speed 12 suffice? God, I love that car

 

[Schwadegan]

How long should each article be? Should there be different word lengths for different types of articles? Such as X00 words for a review, X00 words for a comparison test and so on. On average, how many pictures should go with an article? Should contributors send more pictures than would go into the article and let the editors decide which pictures to use and where? Will there be dedicated photographers like there are dedicated editors?

It's up to you to decide the length of the article. On average a column obviously take up less space than a test or review, but as long as you adapt to what you're writing about there shouldn't be a problem as this will be a e-magazine and not likely go to print, the number of pages doesn't really make a difference.
You're free to supply your articles yourself (and if you do, preferably with more images than needed for the editor to choose from as you say) or ask someone else take the photos for you.

I'd be very interested in contributing to this project. I've already had some experience in sports journalism and PR, plus I'm currently studying magazine writing for my English Language A level.

Would an article about the TVR Speed 12 suffice? God, I love that car

Sure! Go ahead and write something cool about your favorite car mate 👍