[MonsterMunch]

Hi, I hope it's not too rude for my first post to be self promotional. But I have just built an Android app for finding cars in Gran Turismo. I'm looking for feedback and this seems to be the biggest Gran Turismo community on the net.

The app currently has all the cars from GT3, GT4 and GT5:Prologue and I'm working on adding the ones from GT1 and GT2. I'll add the GT5 cars as soon as I can when the game is released. You can filter and sort the list to find cars meeting a certain criteria - eg. find all cars with MR drivetrain and BHP below 550.

You can also create garages which are just like lists of favourite cars, so you can quickly compare cars you own in the game or use frequently.

At the moment power is displayed as BHP and weight as KG but I'm planning to add options for PS/KW/lb in future releases. (edit* this is now done)

Either scan this with your phone or just search for Gran Turismo on the market. It is free so I hope this post isn't just classed as spam and deleted instantly.



I'm genuinely interested in your feedback and ideas. Also please let me know if you find any bugs.

Thanks.

[blackjack]

nice one Mr Munch! I was sure hoping there would be some more app action for GT5 as I should have a HTC Legend before the end of the week. Anywhere I can check out some screenshots of this creation of yours?

[MonsterMunch]

Here's a few shots, but the UI is very basic so it's not that exciting.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/gran-tur....granturismodb

[astrosdude91]

Cool idea, but here is a little heads up:

AUP

You will not post advertisements or solicitations outside of designated areas or without proper authorization.

This may go against the AUP. I'm sure it's alright; we've had a few custom apps that have been promoted around here. But it's still always a good idea to see if the mods are cool with it.

[MonsterMunch]

Yeah I hoped it would be ok to promote it here since it's Gran Turismo related and its free.

[lbsf1]

MonsterMunch

Yeah I hoped it would be ok to promote it here since it's Gran Turismo related and its free.

You are making no advantage for yourself out of this and are providing us a helpfull service, so I would be abit bemused if you got in trouble for it. Do you have any plans to make this for Ipod/Iphone. Its looks like a great and really helpfull app. I can't get it cause I don't have a android phone (only an ipod and a samsung phone).

I love the comment from the dumb guy who goes "Bad game" in the comments section.

[emacs]

a nice bonus would be an official iPhone / iPad app from PD

[MonsterMunch]

I wouldn't be able to make an iphone version since I don't have a mac and I don't know objective C. If anyone wants to make one, let me know and I'll be happy to share the car data I've collected.

I kind of doubt that Sony would ever allow an official Gran Turismo application, the iphone is a competitor of the PSP and Sony-Ericsson phones. They could produce a web application that's designed for phone browsers instead. Kind of like how when you navigate to amazon.com on your phone and you get a special mobile UI version of the site.

[NLxAROSA]

MonsterMunch

Yeah I hoped it would be ok to promote it here since it's Gran Turismo related and its free.

Well, considering there is also this and this thread is not removed by a mod, I think you're safe.

I could make an iPod/iPhone/iPad version, if only I had the time (working on two projects myself at the moment)...

[wbrinkman]

Just gave this a go on my Desire, this could turn out to be a very nice app. :]

The user interface could use some work though, maybe include some tabs / filter options on screen while browsing, and to show the car details not with a popup.

Maybe nick some of the UI elements from the Gran Turismo website as did the GT5p laptimes app..

A ton of work though, formatting all those cars properly heh. I liked how you included different garage sets - but it's a bit odd to be able to store both GT1 & GT5 cars in that same garage.

[MonsterMunch]

wbrinkman

Just gave this a go on my Desire, this could turn out to be a very nice app. :]

The user interface could use some work though, maybe include some tabs / filter options on screen while browsing, and to show the car details not with a popup.

Maybe nick some of the UI elements from the Gran Turismo website as did the GT5p laptimes app..

A ton of work though, formatting all those cars properly heh. I liked how you included different garage sets - but it's a bit odd to be able to store both GT1 & GT5 cars in that same garage.

Thanks for giving it a go, I appreciate the feedback.

I'm a server-side java programmer in my day job, so although the database and under the hood stuff is pretty easy for me to do I know I suck at user interface design.

The filter can be accessed by pressing the menu or search buttons on your phone while looking at the list of cars. The filter applies to cars in your garage as well, so even though you can have cars from every game in one garage you can still filter the list to show only cars from one game if you need to.

Compiling the car information is the hard (and boring) part like you say. I'm half dreading GT5 being released because I'll have to spend the first few days of play time doing data entry to keep my app up to date.

[Revelation1115]

Sounds like a great app!

[Psycho77]

Work good, I just wrote a positive review on appbrain

With all the GT5 web integration, hopefully there is going to be more android apps to track stuff. But I guess we have to wait the game to come out.

[Jump_Ace]

I'll give this a try on my Droid phone later. I may get some ideas for my GT5 Car Database. Don't forget you can get the official car list here.



Jerome

[MonsterMunch]

Jump_Ace

I'll give this a try on my Droid phone later. I may get some ideas for my GT5 Car Database. Don't forget you can get the official car list here.

Jerome

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...thkey=CPOUt5EG

Here's my car data to get you started. I'm fairly confident I have one of the most complete lists on the net right now. I'm still missing some stuff from GT1/GT2 and obviously GT5.
I have already added the data from the official GT5 car list, and started filling in the drivetrain info, but I need the full game for the rest of the details.

@Psycho77 - Thanks man, positive reviews are worth their weight in gold.

[NihilismOnToast]

Hi MonsterMunch,

I tried this app out and it holds a place of pride on my Desire. An extremely handy reference for any budding GT fan! The GUI is excellent and the amount of raw data is staggering!

I have been studying Java at uni for nearly 2 years now, and I recently started making Android apps. It would be great to get an insight as to how you approached the building of this app. And also, what is your programming background? And please, be as technical as you wish! Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Toast

[MonsterMunch]

I did Comp Sci at Liverpool uni for 4 years (should have been done in 3 but I'm a natural slacker). I've been working as a java developer for a few years since then, working on j2ee web applications. Started messing around with Android about 4 or 5 months ago when I bought a htc desire.

This app came about when I saw a car spreadsheet for GT4. I thought it would be cool to be able to have that on my phone and be able to easily filter and sort through the list. It's really just a very simple database with all the cars in one table.

The only clever part is the way the images of cars are loaded, I couldn't include a photo of every car otherwise the apk would be 20mb+. So I search for the car make and model on google images in the background, parsing the html and just displaying the first result to the user. It's not 100% right but it works well for 90% of the cars.

[Leo99756]

You should make an iPad version, looks sweet .

[Revelation1115]

Can you make it for the iPhone too?

[Rossticles]

I downloaded and rated 5 stars...looking forward to updates.