User Interface Discussion

[reaperman]

Probably my single largest disappointment with GT5 was actually its clunky UI. I felt like it punished me for doing things like changing cars (~6 load screens for practice mode) or having to join online lobbies and wait for the whole initial load before I could adjust basic settings or even check disabled aids. User interface is also one of the things that we're darn sure PS3 has the power to do a lot better this time around. I'm starting up this thread to talk about the changes we've seen from GT5 to GT6, and the changes we'd like to see.

There were some glimpses of the new online(?) interface (here), for example around ~12:30, but outside of moving some icons around, what I've been seeing is largely similar to GT5.

GT6 is a game that I want to be able to live in, and I really don't want to be punished with extra layers of menu/loading between me and what I want to do. UI impacts every single game session, so in my opinion it's the most important thing to get right. Especially for a game that we will hopefully be playing for years.

One of the more slick ideas I've seen in recent games was Shift 2's ability to tune right on the practice track rather than having to back out to a race menu at minimum, or the lobby online (2 loading screens back). I'd really like to be able to run in an online practice session and tune my car right from the track between races--that'd be awesome.

So what have you all seen, and what would you like to see?

 

[djslofstra]

Probably my single largest disappointment with GT5 was actually its clunky UI. I felt like it punished me for doing things like changing cars (~6 load screens for practice mode) or having to join online lobbies and wait for the whole initial load before I could adjust basic settings or even check disabled aids. User interface is also one of the things that we're darn sure PS3 has the power to do a lot better this time around. I'm starting up this thread to talk about the changes we've seen from GT5 to GT6, and the changes we'd like to see.

There were some glimpses of the new online(?) interface (here), for example around ~12:30, but outside of moving some icons around, what I've been seeing is largely similar to GT5.

GT6 is a game that I want to be able to live in, and I really don't want to be punished with extra layers of menu/loading between me and what I want to do. UI impacts every single game session, so in my opinion it's the most important thing to get right. Especially for a game that we will hopefully be playing for years.

One of the more slick ideas I've seen in recent games was Shift 2's ability to tune right on the practice track rather than having to back out to a race menu at minimum, or the lobby online (2 loading screens back). I'd really like to be able to run in an online practice session and tune my car right from the track between races--that'd be awesome.

So what have you all seen, and what would you like to see?

The new UI in GT6 seems to be better. The thing you said about S2U that it has a great menu, is the only thing what is great. Yeah and the feel when shifting. It just somhowes manages to almost make you feel the g-forces when shifting in a different gear. But for the rest the game just sucks compared to GT5.

 

[tankuroded]

The GT6 UI at first looks like the Windows 8 Metro UI...

 

[Cosbuster]

God, switching cars for practice mode is such a pain in 5. Why not just have a "change car" button in the in-game menu before you start your run? I really do hope they've done some work on the usability.

 

[iainoflo85]

This does suggest that they've been thinking a lot about all the different screens that you need to access in A-Spec, and I do quite like the setup for this at least. I really liked the layout of the demo, which was like this, I found it quite well designed as well as being more functional.

From the UI section on this page: http://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/products/gt6/

 

[Oyashiro-sama]

I'm not to happy with the Windows 8/mobile phone look. Hopefully, it will be a lot faster to navigate throughout the menus. I agree with OP, in GT5 it was a pain to navigate in the menus. There's no reason for a menu to take more that 1sec to load.

 

[iainoflo85]

There's no reason for a menu to take more that 1sec to load.

You must be forgetting this is the PS3 we're talking about, because 1 second to load a menu on the PS3 is fast.

 

[emmettbrown1955]

I find the filter options for online lobbies in GT5 quite comical really. They are so useless it's actually funny how someone could come up with it. I mean, I can choose between the regions "Europe/Australia" or "All". lolwut. Also I can filter by meaningless categories like "race for fun" but not by actual restrictions/types of races. When I filter for a certain track I can't look for all variations of that track at once. There's also a lot of relevant information about lobbies that the lobby list withholds. And you only know that the lobby doesn't suit you after a lengthy "entering lobby" and subsequent "exiting lobby" routine. Can be quite the grind to find a suitable lobby.

I hope they improve that.

 

[Rafael F]

I would like something similar to GT4, that was really beautiful and polished.
But I'm sure this new one will work way faster and better than GT5, that's what matter.

 

[iainoflo85]

But I'm sure this new one will work way faster and better than GT5, that's what matter.

Yes it is, and I think that it will be.

 

[djslofstra]

GT4 UI was also slow but it was beautiful indeed.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I find the filter options for online lobbies in GT5 quite comical really. They are so useless it's actually funny how someone could come up with it. I mean, I can choose between the regions "Europe/Australia" or "All". lolwut. Also I can filter by meaningless categories like "race for fun" but not by actual restrictions/types of races. When I filter for a certain track I can't look for all variations of that track at once. There's also a lot of relevant information about lobbies that the lobby list withholds. And you only know that the lobby doesn't suit you after a lengthy "entering lobby" and subsequent "exiting lobby" routine. Can be quite the grind to find a suitable lobby.

I hope they improve that.

Indeed all the specs associated with that lobby should be in a pop-up. Way too time consuming getting in and out of lobbies.

 

[dhandeh]

As long as it is improved and streamlined over GT5, that will get a thumbs up from me. There were far too many button pushes to do even the simplest of tasks.

 

[TheeFrogmanlego]

haha it looks nothing like windows 8...

 

[reaperman]

From the UI section on this page: http://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/products/gt6/

Awesome pic, somehow I had missed it earlier.
I do like that there aren't highly detailed models loading in the background. That should really help out.

Looking at that screenshot, and the 'tuning and servicing' section of that page, it seems like there is one more place to go than before to 'zazz up' a car. The 'custom parts' used to be part of the 'pit service' (together gt auto) which (IMO) was a bit annoying. Now I expect about 30% more annoyance having another place to load. It's gt tradition to have a maintenance spot, so I guess it's all about how fast they load.

It'd be nice if I could skip the animations on that stuff (If there are any). Oh how much better gt5 would be if I could simply press 'x' to skip the oil change or painting animation. How about the 'enter a car' animation? Skipping that stuff would have been a huge quick win for a patch.

 

[sk8er913]

This does suggest that they've been thinking a lot about all the different screens that you need to access in A-Spec, and I do quite like the setup for this at least. I really liked the layout of the demo, which was like this, I found it quite well designed as well as being more functional.

From the UI section on this page: http://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/products/gt6/

I hope they change the Background to a track or car.

 

[Magic Ayrton]

I hope they change the Background to a track or car.

I think that in the info on the site they mentioned that you could put your own images in the background

 

[iainoflo85]

I think that in the info on the site they mentioned that you could put your own images in the background

Cool, that would be better than just a colour scheme with a pre-selected panoramic image along the top like in GT5.

 

[reaperman]

I think that in the info on the site they mentioned that you could put your own images in the background

I like the idea of using user pictures a lot more than the complex 3d scenes we see now. Those take forever to load, and I'd rather look at my pics anyway.

 

[Strittan]

I would like something similar to GT4, that was really beautiful and polished.

As nostalgic as I get about the older GT games, including GT4, they were horrible to navigate through. In other words, I disagree.

 

[tpark103]

I would like something similar to GT4, that was really beautiful and polished.
But I'm sure this new one will work way faster and better than GT5, that's what matter.

I liked the map style setup in GT4 as well. It was slightly more interesting than the blocky thing we had in GT5.

 

[Rafael F]

As nostalgic as I get about the older GT games, including GT4, they were horrible to navigate through. In other words, I disagree.

Indeed, but I meant something visually similar, not totally identical.
On my second sentence I already said that speed and functionality are much important, but it's missing on your quote.

 

[turismoslayer]

I'm curious as to what the other pages are. They show 5 and there are 8 total. I guess photo travel and possibly course maker? What else? Garage?

 

[QuattroDelta]

I'm curious as to what the other pages are. They show 5 and there are 8 total. I guess photo travel and possibly course maker? What else? Garage?

The Course Maker will be added with a patch.

 

[Streeto]

The Course Maker will be added with a patch.

Perhaps in the Day 1 patch, which we'll probably download before we even play the game.

We'll see.

 

[turismoslayer]

The Course Maker will be added with a patch.

Mm hmm

 

[TheeFrogmanlego]

As nostalgic as I get about the older GT games, including GT4, they were horrible to navigate through. In other words, I disagree.

I disagree, one had everything right there with the sub menu .

 

[ShiftingGears]

I liked the map style setup in GT4 as well. It was slightly more interesting than the blocky thing we had in GT5.

Time comes at a premium for me so as far as menu design goes, I will take functionality over 'interesting' any day of the week. I once stumbled across a GTP thread which had a competition for user-created interfaces, some were both simple and extremely elegant.

 

[steve30x]

Looking at the screenshots for GT6 UI it looks much better than GT5 UI.

 

[ECGadget]

My opinions on the interface:

It looks very functional and quick to navigate. However it looks very... boring...
Not as bad as Windows 8/8.1 though! But still... just square boxes of the same size everywhere?
However, since it is designed for a PS3 which doesn't have much movement options compared to say a mouse, I think it will work. I am certainly not going to slate PD for it, but nor am I going to heap praise on them.

Overall impressions: 7.5/10 (I'd rate GT5 about 5-6/10)