Update out: GT5 time trial ranking app for iPhone/iPod!

  • Thread starter Calcifer
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Calcifer

Calcifer

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Calcifer
Hi all,

I finally made a sequel to the GT5 Proloque app!

I had such fun doing the ranking app for Prologue that I decided to create a new one that is dedicated to the seasonal events.

It's an iPhone/iPod (iPad maybe later) app and it's called Gran Turismo 5 Rankings. It will show the details of each and every active seasonal event.

For the time and drift trial events, the top 250 rankings will be shown which are updated live. You will be able to refresh them by a simple pull to refresh action like with many other apps.

You will be able to log in to PSN. When logged in, your own record as well as those of your friends are shown too.

There is also another feature which is currently not provided by the official event site or even the game itself: You will be able so see the rankings around you! You will see 10 people above your current rank and 5 people below. This is very neat as you will be able to see what car your nearest opponents are using (quite fun if you want to do some trailing with something other than the car the top people are using). It's also very addictive as you will want to close that one little gap with the driver above you :)

Here's a sample of what the app will look like. Shown here are the top screen with all the main seasonal events and an example of a ranking table using the current time trial on Deep Forest Raceway:

iphone4sdualscreens.png



This is how the rankings around you will look like. When I took the picture I was ranked 15978 in my tuned BMW M5 '08. Don't think I can go any faster with it.

iphone4shorizontalscree.png


Details of each rank are available too, of course. The A-spec and B-spec events are shown too with details like regulations, opponents, etc. Here's an example of a typical A-spec event:

iphone4shorizontalscree.png



In short, it's a real fan app with the GT look and feel and I hope many people will have some enjoyment out of it.

There's also a more serious note: Time trailing is a bit of an underrated feature of GT5. It doesn't appear very often in peoples wish lists yet it's also used by 100.000's of participants each time. A lot of them are really competitive with entire racing clubs racing each other. I hope PD will extend this in the future by making the old time trials available for some of the tracks like with Prologue.

The app will hopefully available next week, Apple willing. It will also be free. I will keep you updated!
 
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Thanks for the appreciation, guys.

As for Android, I really like the system and in the past I had the Prologue app for both iOS and Android.

But developing and maintaing an app cost a lot of time, though. This new one alone did cost me 2 solid months of evening work, weekends and a couple of days off of work to code, research, test and making graphics (thank God for photo mode :)) There's even more to do, like iPad support, those new Asian events, etc. And because of the nature of this app in a changing environment where operating systems evolve continuously and PD keeps updating their events maintenance will be required.

So, doing an additional version will cost a lot of effort. Especially for Android. Because there are so many variations, a lot of support is required to get it working on device X because the manufacturer has decided to change the UI framework for themselves (like HTC Sense, for example) or the screen is extra small like the XPeria Mini. And then there are Android tablets to support. And to test properly, quite a lot of devices would be required as well and I only have one.

So, that's quite a challenge, but I won't rule out anything :)
 
The last GT5P Rankings App is created by you? Good job! I once downloaded it on the iPhone :embarrassed:
Good luck with the new app, certainly looking forward to it!
 
GraphiteGB
You left out your resolution needed and minimum OS version. If to low he may need to Rescale the app.
This effects lots of Idevices to Android Apps so its not done.
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I run 2.3 (gingerbread) with a 3.7 screen with HDPI (HTC Desire). Common versions are 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.0+, 4.0+ (2.1 being the lowest) If you were to work on an Android version, I'd stick with 2.1-3.0 due to the fact that they are the most widely used.

If you need testers or Android help, I'm skilled in Eclipse Indigo and Android SDK.
 
GT HP Nut
The last GT5P Rankings App is created by you? Good job! I once downloaded it on the iPhone :embarrassed:
Good luck with the new app, certainly looking forward to it!
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Thanks. Yes, that was mine too. Hope you will like the new one.
 
Toyinster
Looks really good - can't wait to download it, any thoughts on release date?
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Thanks. Judging Apple's current reviewing speed it should be available early next week. I'll keep you updated if it takes longer.
 
Not to sound snooty/snotty, but you'll need to use the "Multi-quote
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" function when replying to multiple people.


This is amazing work though. This sort of dedication from GT players (fan-made GT videos/magazines/car reviews) is what allows a game of this kind stand the test of time. Not only in the game but outside there are so many great things people have done with it. I wish I was half as talented as some of you people.
 
Calcifer
Thanks. Judging Apple's current reviewing speed it should be available early next week. I'll keep you updated if it takes longer.
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I've just had the phone company call me to upgrade my 3GS to the 4S, it should arrive on Monday so this app maybe one the first for the new phone. My work want me to have one of their contract phones but the best they can offer me is a mid range blackberry - much prefer to stick to iphone.
 
Calcifer
Using it you mean? Nah, it's very easy to use and PSN login is optional :)
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Nah I meant the programming of it.
I only have a basic knowledge of software programming, so you must of worked like mad to create this. :D
 
Well, the app has been reviewed and rejected. Apparently they want to change the name from "Gran Turismo 5 Rankings" into "Rankings for Gran Turismo 5". You see this type of naming more often these days so it's probably a new undocumented rule.

They want a new app icon too. I used a cleaner version of the old icon but now they want one without the official logo. So, I made a new one which shows a silhouette of my steering wheel (it turns out to be quite nice, actually :))

More worrying is that they may think the images I use for each event are not my own. Well, in fact they are. They come from photo mode and according to the GT site I'm the photographer and can use the image for myself. I say 'may' think' since Apple uses standard messages for this kind of thing and they use general phrasing even if they mean only a name change.

To be sure I updated some imagery which shows a logo and resubmitted the whole package including an explanation for the photo mode.

At least they were pretty fast with reviewing and a re-review should be even faster. If they reject again maybe I will remove all images but this would make the app a little stale.

This is how the event list now will look like:

screenshot1173611.png
 
I'll be looking forward to downloading this 👍 here's hoping Apple approve it sharpish :lol:

Also I love the little Steering wheel/controller icons. It is so irritating having to click and load up each individual persons details to see if they were Wheel or Controller.

👍 Nice Work
 
Mac K
Shhhh! :lol:
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At least this re-confirms that NO remote race widget Would ever release for Idevices via Appstore, If they moan about art work. What would they think of a completely reversed engineered server API.
 
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Mac K
Shhhh! :lol:
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Heh heh, these are actually loaded from the web page. No problem changing these since we're only getting A and B specs, these days ;)


GraphiteGB
at least this confirms that NO remote race widget Would ever get made to release for Idevices vai Appstore, If they moan about art work. What would they think of about a completely reversed engineered server API.
Click to expand...

Actually they have an API. It's a http API which is a sub folder called /api. It's not really reverse engineering. It's all HTML and Ajax and readable for anyone if you look at the page code. There are a lot of apps doing similar things with PSN like those trophy apps, for example. In the prologue days there were also many websites fetching from the GT site for custom ranking tables. You can still find them here on GTP.
 

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