I don't have a high expectation of GT5. I only expect what I have seen or have been told by PD.
I dont think you understand my gripe. Kaz gave his crew a 5 year development span for GT5. That itself was in my opinion a mistake. With a 3 year development span his team could have easily released a 100+ premium car, 10-15 track full featured GT5 for the fall of '08. With the amount of time it takes to create such detailed cars and tracks of this quality it would have been acceptable. People paid $50 for 170 cars and 20 tracks for GT3 and they were happy. People paid $50 for 800 cars and 40 tracks for GT4 and they were happy and didn't feel ripped off.
Instead GT has spoiled so many people with the massive amount of content from previous titles that 100 cars is too tiny for them. 20 tracks with 75 variations is too tiny for them.
So Kaz got greedy to satisfy the fans as much as he could, giving GT5 a 5 year development cycle so the amount of content could approach what greedy fans of the series are accustomed to even though expecting such of GT5 quality so fast is unreasonable.
If he gave his team a 3 year time frame for GT5 they would have got the online modes, damage etc ready in time for a fall '08 release at the expense of more cars and tracks. Instead they spread their resources and workload so thin a fully featured GT5 would probably be impossible in fall '08 because Kaz made a greedy business decision, his vision for GT5 was too big. Hes sort of like Ken Kutaragi. Both dream too big and in the end hurt their own company. I know Sony is going to keep Kaz on a much shorter leash after this 5 year foul up.
Kaz should have unveiled GT6 at 2011's E3 with a fall '11 release including 300 premium cars and 25 tracks.
Is it really unreasonable to expect a new GT game every 3 years? 5+ years between GT4 and GT5 is way too much no matter how much anybody tries to spin it. Kaz messed up. Spinoffs like GT PSP , GT5Prologue, Tourist Trophy etc shouldn't have interfered with the development of GT5 if they did. In fact these games were probably only released to curve the costs of GT5's development which can't pay for itself because it can't be sold for 5 years!
Firstly, plans change. Don't hold developers of video games to their word, it doesn't work. Imagine trying to do the same with a film maker, or a band or some other artist.
Granted, the more money that is potentially involved, it's nicer to have that kind of foresight / stability, but really making something like this is an "organic" process that grows as you make it. Things change.
Kaz is lucky in that he gets to exert most of his artistic direction on the game, so that he
can make it into what he envisions - this is great for us, provided we share the same vision.
Which brings me onto development time. A game takes as long as it takes to make; if it takes a year to make it as good as the devs want it to be, that's fine. If it takes ten years, that's also fine. Sure, I might whinge and gripe about it, but what right have I to, really? People do this with bands, demanding a new album, which gets rushed and it turns out 🤬 - not ideal for anyone. Instead, a bit of patience and some other diversions are all you need to get through the wait. Kaz may have "cocked up" in your mind, but I think he's the best person to make
his game. I might not agree with some of the points he's concentrated on in the past, but he and his team are bringing so much more in this latest iteration that I'd be a fool to complain about the development time.
GTPSP, TT etc. were welcome additions in my mind - I love TT. These aren't necessarily Kaz's "fault", either. There's nothing wrong with using these to bolster initial funds to make GT5 - it's good business sense if they expect it will take a long time and a lot of money. It really is quite incredible, given the artistic flexibility PD seem to have, that they can make a game which, as a series, makes so much money - I don't see how that is hurting their company.
Just for perspective again; GT5 Prologue had 37 cars rising to 76 cars and
6 locations with a total of 12 circuits including reverse versions etc. and was released
almost exactly three years after GT4.
This in mind, do you seriously think GT5 would have had 10-15
locations by this time? Then there's all the new features which are
still being worked on - if they'd given themselves only three years, these features would probably not even have been considered for inclusion (though they'd probably still have been prototyped.)
...
Greedy fans = pressure = good product (usually). Though I think KY could be greedy to a degree if he didn't want to hire more people to do the work (I've only been skimming this thread since my last last post x pages ago, so if someone explained why PD didn't outsource and it was a good reason, forgive me for posting this.)
I'll echo what others have said in that outsourcing means a more difficult task regarding quality-control. But it's more than that, really, in the sense that PD would lose their freedom to do things their way; the company that is sourced to do the extra work will require strict guidelines to get the work done to; particularly the balance between quality*quantity and time allocated - they won't take kindly to changes during that period of time. In short, PD's own employees can work harder on it for longer and essentially do a better (controlled) job (according to Kaz's ever-changing target "vision").
Who here has their own idea of the perfect game, and the simmering inclination to actually try to make it (as I do)? Think about areas where you'd have to compromise the game - how willing would you be? The fewer compromises you are willing to make, the longer it'll take to make the game. GT has taken more than 15 years so far. This is fine, so long as the end product is perceived to have been worth the effort (only the devs really know what effort has gone into the project).
Equally, if anybody here has dedicated a good portion of their lives towards a singular goal in a similar way to what Kaz has, perhaps you're in a position to question his methods - and you probably should, directly. I mean this sincerely.
Thus endeth this sermon. 