What WILL you make with a GPS enabled or very detailed track editor?

  • Thread starter smskeeter23
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I'm trying real hard not to get overly excited over the potential of the GPS track building app that is to come along in an update. Can it really be that good?

I mean let me get this straight. I jump in my WRX. Take it to my favourite driving road, a mountain pass that leads to my old hometown. Fire up app, fang up road. Return home. Upload data. Favourite road is in GT6 and all I need to do is make tweaks using trees, guardrails, signs, posts, whatever, & I can now enjoy it virtually. OMG! :)

I just can't see it being as good as my head wants to imagine it, especially since the GT5 track creator was really nothing spectacular.

grrlpurple
If executed properly this could be the single biggest selling point of GT6 - the potential is staggering. Please PD, don't screw this up! :)
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It could be the biggest single thing ever brought to a driving game. Seriously.
 
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jlmcmillan1978
I'm trying real hard not to get overly excited over the potential of the GPS track building app that is to come along in an update. Can it really be that good?

I mean let me get this straight. I jump in my WRX. Take it to my favourite driving road, a mountain pass that leads to my old hometown. Fire up app, fang up road. Return home. Upload data. Favourite road is in GT6 and all I need to do is make tweaks using trees, guardrails, signs, posts, whatever, & I can now enjoy it virtually. OMG! :)

I just can't see it being as good as my head wants to imagine it, especially since the GT5 track creator was really nothing spectacular.
Click to expand...

Well, even if it works properly, I wouldn't expect much on the track surroundings. Maybe some endless fences on each side of the track and some random objects. I would expect it to look like a Mt Aso themed track, but based on a GPS path. Everything more would really surprise me.
 
I would love to make one out of my ride to and from work, but the course would be over 50 mi. long.

Even after smoothing it out some, when scaled down to fit in the game, it would have to be reworked quite a bit to be any fun.

2mdq6g9.jpg


Yep, just realized how big that picture was, sorry about that.
 
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Can see a few people doing track days on real tracks!

Shame i don't live in italy no longer as had the alps on my doorstep.
 
So long as the gps thing works out, and is available in time, I'll have every stage of this years Sno*Drift rally mapped out, as well as making a special trip to Harbor Springs to map out M119 from there, up north until it ends by the national park.
 
R1600Turbo
Well exact shape. I'm sure we could adjust the banking after much like we could in GT5.

But let's be honest here, 90% of this thread is "way ahead of ourselves". Way to single me out.
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My biggest concern is the accuracy of everything, especially elevation. The one route I want to import has a few 80-120ft climbs/drops without being 20 miles long.
 
nickg07
Put GPS into my radio control boat, profit? Radio control helicopter might be able to create some awesome up and downhills.
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Haha. Put it in an rc stunt plane! Loops and barrel rolls galore.
 
jlmcmillan1978
I'm trying real hard not to get overly excited over the potential of the GPS track building app that is to come along in an update. Can it really be that good?

I mean let me get this straight. I jump in my WRX. Take it to my favourite driving road, a mountain pass that leads to my old hometown. Fire up app, fang up road. Return home. Upload data. Favourite road is in GT6 and all I need to do is make tweaks using trees, guardrails, signs, posts, whatever, & I can now enjoy it virtually. OMG! :)

I just can't see it being as good as my head wants to imagine it, especially since the GT5 track creator was really nothing spectacular.
Click to expand...

I'm really thinking people are expecting way too much from this technology, and I'm having a hard time imagining it will be anything even close to true replication, I think when the data is imported to GT6 it will be a very general layout of the driven route. The big problem with this being solely GPS data is, when you're driving along your favourite route, a) there is no way the actual width and banking/camber angles can be picked up at any given point through the drive... GPS can be very accurate for positioning, but it know anything for exact boundaries of the road, as you should be driving on one side of the track, it's not a symmetrical left/right split up of the road...

so basically there would have to be a TON of track building tools to rebuild the entire route with known parameters... problem with this... people would get run over by cars as they're trying to get measurements at various points of their route/track...

Seriously, to get anything authentic you would need proper surveying equipment, in which case the GPS almost becomes void..lol

It'll be a fun thing to play with I guess, maybe I'm taking it too serious.
 
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occasionalracer
I'm really thinking people are expecting way too much from this technology, and I'm having a hard time imagining it will be anything even close to true replication, I think when the data is imported to GT6 it will be a very general layout of the driven route. The big problem with this being solely GPS data is, when you're driving along your favourite route, a) there is no way the actual width and banking/camber angles can be picked up at any given point through the drive... GPS can be very accurate for positioning, but it know anything for exact boundaries of the road, as you should be driving on one side of the track, it's not a symmetrical left/right split up of the road...

so basically there would have to be a TON of track building tools to rebuild the entire route with known parameters... problem with this... people would get run over by cars as they're trying to get measurements at various points of their route/track...

Seriously, to get anything authentic you would need proper surveying equipment, in which case the GPS almost becomes void..lol

It'll be a fun thing to play with I guess, maybe I'm taking it too serious.
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I said it in my reply. There is no way we are going to be able to do all those ideas. At the maximum, I expect the track creator to allow us for a GENERAL layout of the driven route. Take the track that I created as an example. It would need a lot of things : a huge amount of scenery elements (a village, bridge, trees, farms, a mountain, a river, woods... etc.) + different kind of lanes, (4 lanes freeway, 2 lanes regional road, 2 lanes rural road, 1 lane rural road without pavement). And all that with curves, turns, hills, angles, etc.

No chance of this happening in GT6, nor in GT7, and prolly not in GT8 either.

Make no mistake, the technology is there. PD could do it. Someone did it with Modnation Racers - minus realistic HD graphics.

But PD won't do it. Because to do that, to innovate like they did with GT1 and GT2, Kaz would have to hire more employees, thus buying himself less Ford GT40 each year.

And Kaz don't have time for this anymore. He is buzy playing the superstar card with that movie they are turning on him, while going to numerous cocktails to try cars and smile before photographs.

Ok, maybe I'm going to far with the last statement, but clearly, that's an obvious case of gentrification.
 
For waht it is worth Kaz has said in the past that he really likes the ModNation builder (I think even said very intrigued) but I also agree this won't happen in GT. The level of HD detail is what kills it. I think you would overload the memory so much it would be unuseable.

I don't know, I mean I suppose it's possible but I don't see it happening, possibly ever. As it is just a gps import function is a huge thing and will be interesting to see how well just that is implemented.

And to those mentioning google maps imagery... I'm sorry but, go home you're drunk. Not going to happen. Besides that, do you really want all that low res texture in game?
 
@occasionalracer & @fredyellowone
I don't think anyone is expecting an exact replica of a track or road. As you said, that goes beyond the scope of GPS's abilities. I expect it to take the route, and replicate it to whatever custom track layouts are available. You then go in and adjust whatever options that it gives you to play with. Since we have no idea how the new course creator is going to work, we can only assume really. But damn, who cares about having true to life curve banking and all that jazz. I'm excited at the notion of being able to go map Waterford hill and having my local race track, or any number of the trails (both two track, dirt and snowmobile) up in the northern end of the LP or anywhere in the UP in Michigan. Especially considering the size of the maps we supposedly will be able to make. I could plot out the entirety of the Sno*Drift event and still have room for 3 more rally events! It may not be to the curb perfect, but what do you have now? There is no way any sort of implementation like this is a bad thing. Even if it gives only a basic layout.
 
@Rallywagon & @smskeeter23

Memory would be just fine. Load times would be loooooooooong, however.

Like I said, the technology is there. But they would have to hire employees, and to actually start to work and innovate, instead of working on easy things like useless rotating stars. (some might consider those stars truly essentials. To them, I apologize.)
 
Load times already suck with custom tracks. They say everything loads quicker now. But to me, that is a small issue to suffer through for the mentioned abilities.
As for innovation. I expect that we will see more of that for GT7. I see GT6 as a test bed of sorts for GT7, with the new ideas they are trying out. I think by title, a lot of innovative things are being done. With the idea behind the GPS mapping. Also, you can run laps at your local race track, and load up that data and watch a virtual replay of your lap. The 7 post shaker rig, and I don't doubt more to be unveiled. as GT7 gets further into development.
The useless rotating stars thing? I guessing this has to do with the GT6 interface? Maybe it is different on video games, but I know from experience that building a new interface is one of the less time consuming jobs when building a program. But the more time they spend the better. I'd rather here a few months of people whining about that then years of them moaning about how terrible everything is set up, or how dated and uninspiring everything looks.
 
@Rallywagon

All I'm asking is quite simple. Let me use Google Maps within the confort of my home, with a convenient set of tracks and lanes to represent what's possible in real life, with the kind of option and scenery elements to make it CLOSE to the real thing.

Basically, build a Modnation Racer type of track creator, with HD graphics., and voila!

Could they've done it by now? Yes, they could have.
 
How does it know the width of the track you're on?, although I won't mind single lane narrow tracks.
 
fredyellowone
@Rallywagon & @smskeeter23
Memory would be just fine. Load times would be loooooooooong, however.
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True, I would think they would (possibly will) need a way to essentially render the track to a saved piece of code that doesn't require a complete redraw everytime you load it. Still there would have to be limitations to how many objects you could load to the environment. I don't think you could model an entire forest without starting the PS3 on fire lol.


Rallywagon
I guessing this has to do with the GT6 interface? Maybe it is different on video games, but I know from experience that building a new interface is one of the less time consuming jobs when building a program. But the more time they spend the better. I'd rather here a few months of people whining about that then years of them moaning about how terrible everything is set up, or how dated and uninspiring everything looks.
Click to expand...

I can speak from experience that when you have something that needs to be used by someone who isn't entirely sure of what they are doing the interface can be the most crucial part of any particular program. I build production process database software and I can tell you I spend more time on the intrface than any other single task throughout the development of any piece of software I make. The greatest program on earth will still be a heaping pile of dog **** if the interface isn't equally as good.
 
I would make the freeway of the city i live in, and the road in the district i live in wich also features a little part of the freeway.

XColnp2.jpg


That said, i will also have a go at the TT Circuit Assen Track on a trackday.

plattegrond-tt-assen.jpg
 
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All I want is to make a friend in Japan and then have him walk up the touge with the GPS on lol
I don't care about bumps, and the width of the road can be tailored at home. And I'm pretty sure that the gPS app is supposed to track your elevation as well... we might have some sick hillclimbs on out hands.
 
Some people have mentioned taking raw GPS data and transferring it into the game, or used high quality GPS devices to record routes. This would be great, and of course it remains to be seen exactly how this feature is implemented, but from the admittedly limited official info we've heard so far I get the impression that we will be limited to recording live data into a future GT6 app on a smart device - ie phone/tablet. And that's ok with me.

I am still planning some home tracks to make out of local roads and I would gladly contribute towards gas money and track access fees if needed to get some of my favorite tracks logged.
 
sems4arsenal
How does it know the width of the track you're on?, although I won't mind single lane narrow tracks.
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I'm speculating (as probably most) that once the point data is transferred from the app to the game, its plotted. After that, the tool kit will allow changing the width and other limited perimeters along the segments of track. I personally think that the tools will be similar to the ones in GT5 minus being randomized.
 
For those in the north east im deff doing lime rock. And if anyone lives in Jamaica can u do the road from bamboo to st anns
 
fredyellowone
I said it in my reply. There is no way we are going to be able to do all those ideas. At the maximum, I expect the track creator to allow us for a GENERAL layout of the driven route. Take the track that I created as an example. It would need a lot of things : a huge amount of scenery elements (a village, bridge, trees, farms, a mountain, a river, woods... etc.) + different kind of lanes, (4 lanes freeway, 2 lanes regional road, 2 lanes rural road, 1 lane rural road without pavement). And all that with curves, turns, hills, angles, etc..
Click to expand...

Yes, I was not necessarily quoting you but the general theme here in the thread that your perfect track will be generated. And I'm just thinking about the road itself, never mind all the scenery, that obviously can't happen. But the shape of corners and curves in the road, sidewalks, curbs, ect... all these things will be out of proportion and will have to be edited, and so we need the proper tools for that...

fredyellowone
No chance of this happening in GT6, nor in GT7, and prolly not in GT8 either.

Make no mistake, the technology is there. PD could do it. Someone did it with Modnation Racers - minus realistic HD graphics.

But PD won't do it. Because to do that, to innovate like they did with GT1 and GT2, Kaz would have to hire more employees, thus buying himself less Ford GT40 each year.

And Kaz don't have time for this anymore. He is buzy playing the superstar card with that movie they are turning on him, while going to numerous cocktails to try cars and smile before photographs.

Ok, maybe I'm going to far with the last statement, but clearly, that's an obvious case of gentrification.
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Are you trolling with that silly talk?
fredyellowone
Like I said, the technology is there. But they would have to hire employees, and to actually start to work and innovate, instead of working on easy things like useless rotating stars. (some might consider those stars truly essentials. To them, I apologize.)
Click to expand...

C'mon man..

fredyellowone
All I'm asking is quite simple. Let me use Google Maps within the confort of my home, with a convenient set of tracks and lanes to represent what's possible in real life, with the kind of option and scenery elements to make it CLOSE to the real thing.

Basically, build a Modnation Racer type of track creator, with HD graphics., and voila!

Could they've done it by now? Yes, they could have.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it's not so basic.

Anywho, let's see what they got in store with this feature, might still be a good half year away still, who knows.
 
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sems4arsenal
How does it know the width of the track you're on?, although I won't mind single lane narrow tracks.
Click to expand...

Unless it'd be checking its data against established maps like Google, as a simple app, it won't. Like @ed24 says, maybe we'll be able to edit it in sections in-game, much as we could in GT5.

This will be a marketing goldmine if/when it's introduced. The amount of accuracy possible with a smart-phone-based app will leave plenty to be desired; those hoping for a recreation of, say, Road America simply by driving it, will be very disappointed. But for rough approximations, it'll serve its purpose, and the lure of being able to recreate our daily/favourite roads, even if they aren't completely accurate, will be incredibly high for nearly anybody. It's a great way to get a player more invested in the game.

The other main issue I see is that it won't be available at launch. Sony can't advertise it pre-release then, unless they want to risk a backlash, but a few months into the game's lifespan, it'll be hard to really wrangle in players by just then releasing the feature in an update.
 
Is this GPS stuff for defo or has someone just wished for it? Or has pd suggested they might put it in?
 

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