Why I think PD could NAIL a free roaming driving game.

[John_Marsten]

With the idea of C-Spec thrown around a while back, it got me thinking about what PD could potentially do with it.

First of all, GT has good physics for a console game, so driving around a free roam city and countryside would be no doubt fun.

The part where I think a free roam GT would shine would be the amount and variety of traffic cars that would be available. They have TONS of cars they could use for the traffic, and they have the PERFECT AI to use for it too. It would not have to be fast or aggressive. All PD would need to do is slow it down a bit and we would have the perfect AI for traffic.

I think that weaving through traffic in a 1000hp R33 would be endless fun for me.

I know I could weave through traffic in the seasonals and current career, but doing it without a "Race" to win and with a greater variety of cars to pass while on the open road would rekindle my passion for GT.

What are your thoughts on a C-Spec mode? What features would you like to see?

 

[sparkytooth]

You could even use slightly touched up Standard cars for traffic.

 

[John_Marsten]

I think standards cars were made to be traffic.

You would be blasting past them so quick, you wouldnt notice the glaring issues with them.

 

[sparkytooth]

There's also a great variety between the standards, actually making these interesting traffic cars. For example you can find an R33 and maybe then a C5 or an IROC Z Camaro or whatever.

 

[Mini Stiggy]

Please no, PD.

 

[MarchingSaint]

hey can't say the idea is interesting for the most part, but no.
Maybe...
No. What am i even thinking.

 

[John_Marsten]

There's also a great variety between the standards, actually making these interesting traffic cars. For example you can find an R33 and maybe then a C5 or an IROC Z Camaro or whatever.

Exactly my thoughts.

They could even have super rare traffic cars.

I think online would be awesome too. Cruising around with others.

There could even be a showground where you could have show and shine.

A drag strip where you could all meet and do some drag racing for fun.

 

[CodeRedR51]

The problem I would have is that in GT, the cars do not drive at normal road speeds very well. That would need some work.

 

[sparkytooth]

The problem I would have is that in GT, the cars do not drive at normal road speeds very well. That would need some work.

More Motion blur and a more dynamic camera would remedy this.

 

[CodeRedR51]

More Motion blur and a more dynamic camera would remedy this.

I'm talking about how the car drives specifically. They just seem "dull" at lower RPM's.

 

[sparkytooth]

I'm talking about how the car drives specifically. They just seem "dull" at lower RPM's.

It's more of an aural thing than a physics thing in my eyes. Sound and the perspective itself play a part in this.

 

[MarchingSaint]

GT to me is the only game that responds reasonably to a weak pressure of the commands.
Heck if i wanted i could cruise the nurburgring at 80 km/h.

 

[John_Marsten]

GT to me is the only game that responds reasonably to a weak pressure of the commands.
Heck if i wanted i could cruise the nurburgring at 80 km/h.

Lol, that would be one boring lap of the ring .

 

[sparkytooth]

Lol, that would be one boring lap of the ring .

Given that I do crusing quite a bit, it wouldn't be boring at all, unless you're alone of course.

 

[KazaMR2]

If they did, please may they team up with Genki to create a new Tokyo xtreme racer game!

 

[John_Marsten]

Given that I do crusing quite a bit, it wouldn't be boring at all, unless you're alone of course.

For sure. Cruising with Buddies would be cool as. Alone, not so much

 

[IneedSchool]

Well PD is used to making racing games in closed circuits, and to be honest with you, I don't think they nailed driving on closed circuits just yet. GT6 has it's own problems which we all know. And when you have a developer that is not very experienced with developing games where you could drive outside of the circuit, you are most likely going to get a mess of a game.​

One flaw I have excused for Gran Turismo 6, is the damage system and collision detection. Because it's a closed-circuit racing game where the only obstacles is the rail and your other racers, I can accept that in GT6. But if PD is going to create a free-roaming game, they have to step their game up with the damage system. When you've got traffic that can accidentally crash into you, mountains where you can flip over, and drive in streets where you are not supposed to drive at 200+ kph, very basic damage and that stupid "floaty" collision system is unacceptable.​

Another flaw that would not go well is the events to race in if it's not done well. Races should not be extremely repetitive. And even IF the events are not repetitive and actually make good use of the large map, the A.I. you drive against should be up to par as well. Just because you can drive against other human players in the map on Online does not make a valid excuse to make the artificial intelligence in single player mediocre at best.​

On the other hand, this can go well because one of Gran Turismo's strengths is the locations to race on. The original tracks in particular, are awesome and if PD puts as much effort on the original tracks onto the large free-roam map, we could have an awesome map to race on.​

But overall, I think Polyphony should first nail on creating a racing game on closed circuits before they go onto projects like this.​

 

[MarchingSaint]

For sure. Cruising with Buddies would be cool as. Alone, not so much

never tried cruising, should give it a shot sometime.

 

[John_Marsten]

never tried cruising, should give it a shot sometime.

I have never cruised either. Not in GT anyways.

I dont think cruising on a closed track is my idea of fun. in an open world though. Yes please. Sign me up

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

I hope GT never takes the open world route. I thought it was a novel idea back in NFS UG2 but after playing that for a while I lost interest in the open world notion and have not liked any game that uses it since.

I would much rather they stick to closed circuit tracks than add traffic and definitely never want to see a system that requires you to drive around and locate the races, the shops, clubs or whatever and even worse the things they have did in Horizon where you have to crash through signs to get bonus or discounts or finding a car in a barn and such.

This kind of stuff belongs in games like NFS not in GT and NFS would be better without it as well.

 

[John_Marsten]

I hope GT never takes the open world route. I thought it was a novel idea back in NFS UG2 but after playing that for a while I lost interest in the open world notion and have not liked any game that uses it since.

I would much rather they stick to closed circuit tracks than add traffic and definitely never want to see a system that requires you to drive around and locate the races, the shops, clubs or whatever and even worse the things they have did in Horizon where you have to crash through signs to get bonus or discounts or finding a car in a barn and such.

This kind of stuff belongs in games like NFS not in GT and NFS would be better without it as well.

You forgot to add "In my opinion"

You're welcome

 

[Mini Stiggy]

You forgot to add "In my opinion"

You're welcome

Isn't that assumed?

 

[IneedSchool]

I hope GT never takes the open world route. I thought it was a novel idea back in NFS UG2 but after playing that for a while I lost interest in the open world notion and have not liked any game that uses it since.

I would much rather they stick to closed circuit tracks than add traffic and definitely never want to see a system that requires you to drive around and locate the races, the shops, clubs or whatever and even worse the things they have did in Horizon where you have to crash through signs to get bonus or discounts or finding a car in a barn and such.

This kind of stuff belongs in games like NFS not in GT and NFS would be better without it as well.

I'm sorry to say this, but most people that love racing games, and even just those that enjoy racing games in general have to strongly disagree with you. I had a lot of fun with closed circuit racers but open-world races can be absolutely amazing when done well.

Some examples would be Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Carbon, Midnight Club series, Burnout Paradise etc; But of course when not done right, you get games like Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Need for Speed: Undercover.

It would be interesting to see what a free-roaming game from PD would look like, but because the developer isn't experienced with open-world games, it could be a disappointment.

 

[vr6cas]

I think a lot of you are looking to deep into what a large free roam map could be on Gran Turismo. Its the same principle as drag racing, ok you don't like drag racing so you feel like there shouldn't be an official drag strip in the game, if you don't like it don't use it, stick to your racing circuits. There's a huge drag, racing and drifting community, and guess what, there is also a huge cruising community, and Sierra proves this. There's more to "driving"(notice I said driving not racing) than just driving around a racetrack. Just like drag racers need the proper environment like an official drag strip to race on, drifters need a nice place to drift, us cruisers need a proper environment to drive and not just doing circles lap after lap on a race track.

The traffic thing I understand, but I don't need it, just give me a massive map to just drive on by myself and online with fellow cruisers and I'm fine. But traffic would be a nice addition. People say this don't belong on GT, but it's already on GT and it's been there. Look at Sierra, there are some nice cruising going on there and before that it was on LaSarthe, but that gets old, cruising on a racetrack. Look at what Forza did, they seen people was doing a lot of cruising, so they made a game dedicated to it, Horizon, and from what I seen on YouTube it appears to be a success, I hear the first one wasn't all that but they nailed it on Horizon 2. Look on YouTube at some of the stuff those guys are doing on Horizon 2, they are getting creative and it looks fun. In fact HiBoostRacingClub has started uploading some videos and I must say they are looking real good. GT needs the same thing even if they have to make a separate game for it, which I don't think is necessary but for traffic and other things it will definitely have to be PS4, because I don't think the PS3 could handle it. Also I don't think GT needs to take the NFS or Horizon route and add missions and smashing up signs and races. I think we just need the map and that's it, give us the map and let us be creative and do what we want to do, weather that's cruising, car meets, car shows, drag, or drifting.

So yeah, I hope we do get a free roam, open world, C-spec or whatever it's going to be called, because we cruisers, drifters, street racers, drag racers and customizers need this and the freedom to be creative without being limited to a racetrack all the time. And once again, GT is a driving game not a racing game there's a difference.

 

[sparkytooth]

I'm sorry to say this, but most people that love racing games, and even just those that enjoy racing games in general have to strongly disagree with you. I had a lot of fun with closed circuit racers but open-world races can be absolutely amazing when done well.

Some examples would be Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Carbon, Midnight Club series, Burnout Paradise etc; But of course when not done right, you get games like Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Need for Speed: Undercover.

It would be interesting to see what a free-roaming game from PD would look like, but because the developer isn't experienced with open-world games, it could be a disappointment.

Not having done an open world racing game before doesn't spell dissapointment if the design choices are good and unique enough. But since it's PD, we never know. They have a good base on their hands to make one if they can somehow build upon the course maker and GPS Technology.

Of course they could also keep it interesting if they actually kept the racecourses as part of the world they've built themselves and had them as involved in the game as the open driving itself.

 

[John_Marsten]

It's that assumed?

Um What?

 

[Mini Stiggy]

Um What?

Typo. Fixed.

 

[John_Marsten]

Typo. Fixed.

The first part is, yes.

That last statement regarding what belongs in a game, not so much.

And you know what they say about assumption.

 

[synchromesh]

Add some off roaders and good trails? Yes please!

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

I'm sorry to say this, but most people that love racing games, and even just those that enjoy racing games in general have to strongly disagree with you. I had a lot of fun with closed circuit racers but open-world races can be absolutely amazing when done well.

Some examples would be Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Carbon, Midnight Club series, Burnout Paradise etc; But of course when not done right, you get games like Test Drive Unlimited 2 and Need for Speed: Undercover.

Most of the people I know and race with do not like open world games. They like games like GT and Forza.

NFS Most Wanted was not very good, Carbon I enjoyed more but also not very good UG2 was better than either and Porsche Unleashed was the best ever NFS title.

I have not tried undercover nor TDU 2. I played TDU1 for a very short while, did not like it, Midnight club and burnout also not my cup of tea.

I think in general these games appeal to younger players and to some degree those who can not drive very well and/or use a controller rather than a wheel.

Myself and all of my friends who are not kids much prefer a more serious game geared toward closed circuit racing and not some unrealistic cop chases or open world driving instead of real world tracks.

True open world races can be fun but they are more often not fun and very annoying, the aspect where some games add i that forces you to drive around to find things or to enter a race is beyond boring to me and a total waste of programming efforts and the lame traffic they throw into these things would be much better if not there.

What GT needs is not open world, It needs a full set of leaderboards, more tuning and customization options and better online options. Leave the open world stuff for the games like NFS.