Gran Turismo 5 Track Editor Rumors Resurface

track-editor-guySince our own insider Amar212 first hinted that a track editor would be included in Gran Turismo 5, it’s something that many people, including myself, have approached with too-good-to-be-true trepidation. As we’ve learned more about the game, both Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital’s quickly-pulled web site posting have neglected to mention anything about what would be an incredible new feature. As a result, it’s dropped off the radar for most fans.

That’s all started to change over the weekend, however, as the Tokyo Game Show demo of Gran Turismo 5 was shown at DigiExpo in Finland. In a video interview with Finnish website Iltalehti, Sony Marketing Manager Suman Rath casually mentioned that “you can make your own tracks” (around 2:25). First picked up by GTPlanet user Timppaq yesterday, further discussion and analysis from other Finnish members have been able to confirm the true meaning of his words. Read their posts here, and please share your own impressions if you speak the language!

As with most off-hand, translated interview comments, we may not be getting completely accurate information, but it is still quite promising. Proceed with caution!

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Comments (68)

  1. Finn

    Im so hoping this will put preassure to Turn10 team to release their track maker/editor whatever as a DLC or if the gods agree free patch ! One can always dream :)

  2. Finnish person

    For everyone speaking finnish:
    “…kehityt kokoajan paremmaks, pystyt tekemään ratoja ja kilpailee sit muita vastaan tuol verkossa…”
    tekemään omia ratoja ei tarkoita samaa kuin tekemään omia netti pelejä… uskon itekkin kyllä että hän sanoi vain väärin mutta jos ton uskoo niinkuin sanottiin niin se tarkoittaa juuri sitä “tekemään RATOJA”…
    Shortly in english:
    he clearly stated “make tracks” but most likely just said the wrong thing by accident seeing how excitedly he talks and how fast. In this context it cant mean anything else but I would still just think he made an honest mistake with his words.

  3. jmx2222

    Well I can imagine very well that PD publishes some kind of GT Trackeditor which would be Windows/OSX based – where the final result could be exported to PS3 and imported under some kind of “Custom Track Import”-Function in GT5.
    The fact that GT has millions of fans would result that “GT Track-Editing” fans would probably organize themselves in some “Editing-Groups” and produce some great custom Tracks which probably would be of the same quality like the Tracks that PD will bring in GT5. The required technology is already there – Hi-End PC’s/Mac’s & HD (Video) Camera’s are something normal meanwhile…so why not an Trackeditor?

    Probably no one expected that the Photomode in GT4 would have so many fans, but see the Photomode Forum section…hope to see someday an GT5 Track-Editor Section as well

    jmx2222

  4. AutoAki

    to Sladi: Read my earlier post again please… I had nothing against Suman, he seemed to be very nice guy, like I said. That just dont mean he has any deeper understanding about GT’s nature, and that’s why he most likely talks with wrong terms.

    Suman also works in Company, which has quite nothing to do with PD or Sony when we talk about ‘inside industry’… they just deliver their stuff, and do marketing, and their business is all gaming products. That’s why they dont know anything deeper about specific products, but main things about all of them.

  5. AutoAki

    Please stop dreaming guys… read my earlier post again, and remember that I was very gentle and polite (not telling whole truth) when I told you about this guys knowledge about Gran Turismo.

  6. Geece

    I think this is fake. PD didn’t announce this, and correctly as other people says in here : Why announce this now? why not at TGS?
    perhaps in GT6, but not now. weather system is simpler..

  7. Berlino Bear

    Perhaps what they mean is, you can take any track, look at it and decide where to put skid marks. Will that shut you all up about skid marks?

    But in reality, some the stuff I have seen about this makes me think you take a track and select different layouts. For example, looking at Yas Marina this weekend, you can see that 10’s of layouts could be possible. GT could allow you to do this with an number of tracks. The Top Gear airfield perhaps?

  8. Laba

    I’m from Finland and I’m 95% sure he just meant that you can make your own online race (“track”) that others can join. He talks about the online aspect and then says you can make your own “track”, which can also mean an online race :D

  9. AndyC

    Could be like Enthusia’s desert racing – that’s pretty sweet with ever shifting dunes etc and a broad path through them.
    Or perhaps for development teams to build new downloadable content.

    Despite being possible in PC land I really can’t see it being introduced in something like GT5 – the capacity to make money out of releasing more tracks via PS Store is too great to let the community do it for free.

    What’s more, in PC land some of the community tracks are pretty grim – I can’t see PD wanting to have their baby using poor quality tracks…

  10. Delta-64-

    While I dont think a track editor is necessary, it is possible.
    Like someone said above, Sony is pushing their “Play. Create. Share.” theme and user generated content.
    Just look at LBP. That had an extensive level maker and there are some awesome user created levels out there. The upcoming ModNation racers or whatever it is, is going to have a track editor which is going to be just as extensive as LBP was as making levels.
    So if there is one, cool. But i probably wont use it. Dont care for stuff like that.
    But yes, I think it could easily be done. Hell, Tony Hawk back in the PS1 days had a park editor and if you could save a park on those old memory cards, you could make a track from GT5 on the PS3.

  11. Andre

    Hey so remember we saw the case with three discs?
    Maybe the GT5 track editor could be on its own disc. It would be massively detailed since a whole blu-ray disc would be dedicated to it. Once you are done you save it to your ps3 and thats it. I imagine a tracks would only be 50-100 MB’s each

  12. 8@No$

    Track editing would be cool, but an option of a fully customisable track is impossible for me, just because of the level of detail there is in GT tracks. When a game includes editors, it usually consists of a set of pre-rendered parts that you can “glue” together and some details that you can add on the parts, like grass, sand, tarmac, asphalt etc. It also usually requires an “open” game engine (which will allow for free-form editing and free movement)
    GT is not made like that. Well, i am not a programmer, but i think it does not have an open architecture, and 3D interactive objects and movement are limited in-track. In addition to that, every track is completely different in a way complex enough to exclude the option of an editor, given the time/memory constraints of the game. If there would be such an editor, the programmers would need to include something close to their own developing editor, with all the models, surfaces, textures, lightning, geometries etc. The problem with this case is that the disk space needed wouldd be huge, simply because of the level of detail in track modeling.
    That said, if the game consists of 3 blu-ray disks (150 GB), it could fit in one of them so it could be an option. Anyway, I beleive that a more realistic option would be an editor where you could create something like a test track in a pre-set environment which would not change, you could just add slopes and curves, change the road surface and width etc. but not the surroundings. That would limit the amount of space, and narrow the chaotic editing options of GT to something that is easier to manage.
    Finally, I am not really a fan of this option, not that i would not like it, it would sure be fun to have editing creativity, but I once again prefer the programming time to be spent elsewhere (weather, lightning conditions, damage) than in an editor.

    P.S. I would not consider it an option to combine curves from various tracks, that would just be ridiculous, given the major differences between tracks. I do not beleive GT is a pre-rendered game wher you can “glue” pieces of track together.
    P.S.2 @ Dom agreed with your last phrase :-D
    P.S.3 Is Amar a PD employee or sth? How could he possibly know so many things so much time before their official anouncement? Just look at the rumors of april 2009. He predicted the release date with deadly accuracy… Man, we want more!

  13. Dom

    I fear a lot of people will start to cry when they find out that
    – no weather effects [rain]
    – no day/night cycles
    – no skidmarks
    – no head-tracking
    – no track-editor
    – no 3/2010 release
    for GT5.

    I personally gave up the hype. I will enjoy GT5 no matter what! Be respectful with PD and thank God that they work 24/7 for our Gran Turismo JOY.

  14. GTpro

    We’ve all seen the video with the GT5 box with 3 discs, perhaps one of the discs is purely track editing tools :O….. VERY wishful thinking on my part, wont belive it untill i get solid proof from the mouths of PD.

  15. carforallnet

    I will quote what I said in the thread.
    I’m not buying it, they have been very secretive thus far I doubt they would just tell someone who called about a major feature.

  16. SK8ERB0Y

    The only way I can see this happening is with a Gymkhana course where you could customize the position of the obstacles.

    Basically a huge parking lot like the Gymkhana thing in GT4 or the Benchmark Layout A in Forza 3

  17. Finland

    Hello everebody!

    I’m foreing exchange student from Finland. As everybody know there was Digiexpo in Helsinki (our capital city) in last weekend. That’s one of bigest game shows in Finland and there was many new games like God of War III, MAG and Heavy Rain what you can play. Comment about GT5 track editor was this:
    “…kehityt kokoajan paremmaks, pystyt tekemään ratoja ja kilpailee sit muita vastaan tuol verkossa…”

    That’s finnish and in english it means:
    “…all time you become better driver, you can also do your own tracks and after that you can race in online against others…”

    I can also tell that after DigeExpo there was many comments in finnish netforums about Gran Turismo 5. Finnish peoples really like that game (specially driving model). Only thing what was little bit disapoint was, that there wasn’t damege in cars. Otherwise it is great game. ;)

  18. pegaz2507

    this would be great,but cmon dynamic weather,day night,livery,damage,track editor,this is just too much,even for pd.this is just too many features,be more realistic.i really hope all of those features will be in the game but i also think this will be the best racing game ever even without 1 or 2 of those features.great work PD,great work mr. Yamauchi,great work for GTplanet too.really looking forward to this game.sorry for my english,hellos from CROATIA!

  19. rofajole

    Like I said before, the track editor (if we get one) it will be PD giving an open area track, like those in the GT4 coffee break license tests, and let you setup your own cones and barriers and what not. And when he says, “modify the existing tracks” it means the exact same thing, but instead of being on an open track, it’ll be on the race circuits, in which you set up cones and barriers still. I wouldn’t expect anything more complex than that, simply because not a lot of people would even have the patience to create a full track from scratch and it would mess with PD’s goal for perfection. I don’t think many people want to create a track and have a blank background, like the maps created in a game, let’s say, Far Cry 2

  20. code13

    It’s possible, they probably got the tools ready for quick-editing a track within the game, when they needed to do small adjustments on the go – instead back to the computer and edit, then insert back into ps3 (guessing). Why not refine it, make it easy and give us that tool? Think of all the tracks, drift tracks, local tracks some fanboys could make :) I say I beleive it because it’s doable – obviously the home-made tracks won’t be as accurate as PD’s tracks, but it would a lot of fun, and I can imagine lots of hardcore players make 99% believable tracks RL tracks. it was even in the PC game Stunts for those who remember it. I really hope this is true!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhOHJ9zw3rM stunts (good ol’ days)

    sorry for my english, hope you understand

  21. Nixo

    im a finnish guy myself and i dont think they would tell us that kind of information in here. i promise that guy dont know nothing about the game.

  22. Sladi

    @Aki
    I see you didn’t get to well with S.Rath.
    What Suman Rath said in finnish,had nothing to do with online-races.It’s very clear what he ment,greating your own race-tracks.This track thing(song/race)is made by english speaking folks.
    -native

  23. daus26

    It’s hard to imagine PD to implement track editor into GT5. It almost seems impossible. However, if they do manage to do it, no question GT5 will be even more leaps and bounds beyond its competition. What track editor can do is create unlimited gameplay in the game’s life. Imagine new tracks all the time. Surely I’d take this over livery editor. Painting is nice, but it doesn’t affect gameplay.

  24. Jorge

    Track editor. Does not make sense. To digitize some of the tracks, PD had to take HDTV-CAM shots of some of the current tracks, just to digitize this content and ingest it into the game. They took HDTV cams to most of the tracks, same they did with the cars.

    I think huZba is right, this feature may be linked to the ability to create your own custom championships (by selecting the tracks you want to race and share it online to race with friends/teams)

    Or like some of you have said, the ability to probably locate chicanes, or placed wall barriers into some existing tracks.

    A track editor (the way PD would like) would have to take into account elevation, locations of pits, curve angles, track facilities, guard rails, mountains, trees, etc.. etc.. etc.. So much detail that it is not worth the effort. I rather prefer to have a car livery editor.

    Impossible. Unless of course they release a GT5 Track Editor, a separate game by itself.

  25. gooner sems

    that would be a really cool feature i think it will be like creating a test track so you will be giving space to design a track oval or any thing and go for a spin no time trail or racing in it i think it will be like this it isn’t the most wanted feature but a cool one never the less

  26. Meatbag_

    @Shifter.

    There definitely is some outstanding user generated content for other games. Most fps games have sdk kits that allow users full access to developer tools but that’s in The realm of the pc. Tools of that caliber are almost never seen on a console. It’s certainly -possible- just highly unprobable. Also I don’t trust any console community to be able to recreate the high standard of production that pd generates

  27. Tenacious D

    I’d much rather have race mod and a livery editor too, but I will have to say that if there is a track editor in GT5, it’s going to be a good one. Kazunori-dono has pretty high standards.

  28. David

    Unless KY himself says it it has to be taken with a huge pinch of salt, hell, even if KY does say it often things get cut from the game at the last minute anyway!!!

    A track editor is something I really couldnt care less out, its probably going to end up looking like a complex string type of area (flat and bland with tarmac where you want it). I would much prefer things like a livery editor.

    Besides GT have great tracks already.

  29. AutoAki

    That same Suman Rath was organizer of Finnish GT-Academy Finals, and even he is nice dude and maybe good in his job, (?) he is total tool when it comes ask about Gran Turismo in any detail.

    Most propably he is just talking about creating your own online-events, but cause he knows nothing about GT’s, he is talking with wrong terms.

    In GT-Academy Finals, they were first going to use Arcade-Physics cause Simulation was so tough in their opinion… there was also many other things what just showed they had no idea about what they were doing.

  30. Sam__ NY

    The PS3 couldn’t handle a track designer mode. And if it could, you wouldn’t be able to save many tracks, and the tracks themselves would be poor quality.

  31. OllieF

    Even if this is a very primative track editor such as placing cones and so on, I think it would be a very good feature, such as creating gymkahana (however you spell it) as seen in I-A Coffee Break GT4, we could lay them out on various circuits to help us learn the lines and we would create a major challenge for ourselves. Of course, I full on track creator would be awsome ie: The Very Complex String. But anything I am happy with, its an extra feature and at the end of the day, you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. The more the merrier.

  32. marky5244

    I think a track editor will happen. I’m sure that Sony have been pushing for some features in GT5, that perhaps PD would not otherwise implement, for the good of the overall Playstation experience. I do wonder if the amount of effort – and therefore money – going to GT5 development will be recouped by GT5 sales or whether GT5 is being positioned as a loss leader to increase sales of PS3 in general. Certainly in my case, I bought a PS3 for GT5 and have gone on to spend a lot of money on other, non GT related, items for the PS3.

  33. Wizard Hat

    Even just being able to steal corners from preexisting tracks would be very cool. 3 corkscrews in a row into gravel corners from Tahiti maze into a mild driftable sweeper from the test track into the karosel of the ‘ring into a wet corner from ss11 into tight alleys of citra d’aria.

  34. Luke

    I`ll personally hit the next person driving GT5, filming it and NOT using the cockpit view !!

    Track editor sounds a bit … to unperfect for PD. They always make sure every content has the same high quality, user generated tracks with a build in track editor wouldn`t reach the standards of the existing tracks, so I can`t really believe it. But to be honest, i don`t really care, i wouldn`t use it, i`m just not patient enough to create a track, and i wouldn`t download them. Because if i really want a specific track, i`m not downloading 20 versions of it to see which one is best.
    But for the people who care about the editor, wish you good luck :)

  35. NBH

    If it’s true it would be amazing, imagine being able to design a track and then challenge people to races on it or hold time trials. Unfortunately I can’t see it happening, or if it does, it would be pretty basic, I mean there are too many bits and pieces to do it in detail. Like sharpness of bends, gradients, camber, having concrete walls or gravel traps, rumble strips, setting up penalties so you can’t just cut corners. I just can’t see something of this scale being in when simpler things like weather are still not confirmed.

  36. Jordan

    @Timppaq: Thanks for the clarification!

    @HuZba: If you read the comments and impressions that Finnish speaking users have made on the video, it would seem he is very explicitly talking about user-generated circuits/tracks, not just race events.

  37. huZba

    It sounds like the guy made mistake. I think he was supposed to say that you can make your own races (not tracks) to play online with your friends.

  38. Timppaq

    He’s name is Suman Rath, Marketing Manager, Playstation Finland. Just to make clear. I’ve also met him in Finnish GT academy final. (no questions about that, thanks :p)

  39. Razor

    GT(5) tracks are very high quality and ultra high detail level. I think this is just unrealistic. To be able to create anything similar to the detail level of original GT5 tracks – impossible for standart user.Especially with such tools as PS3 only.

  40. Bernd

    A track-editor is one of the essential parts on my personal wish-list, even if only made from snap-together parts, as Shifter says. I’d love to see steep-corners, where you almost drive head-down and a crazy looping !

  41. Shifter

    @ meatbag_

    Farcry 2 had an in-depth map creator, and the community created some very polished maps using it, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. The only problem is signal to noise ratio, there will be 100’s of versions of each (real life/fan) track and the quality of most will be pretty bad.

    The other possibility is that tracks could be made from snap-together parts, à la trackmaina or NFS:U’s drift tracks.

  42. Zenith

    Jordan’s right, we don’t know this author, but we definately do know that Yamauchi is a complete perfectionist. I highly doubt that polyphony would allow a Track Editor into GT5, especially since player-created content is still in it’s infancy on console games.

    Think about it, this is a Japanese to Finnish to English translation with a website we’ve never even heard of until now

    Perhaps there will be track options such as Time of day, Weather, etc?

  43. Jordan

    @Zmann: Yamauchi also denied the existence of the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Gran Turismo 4. I don’t know how familiar you are with Amar, but he is an old friend of mine and I have no reservations accepting the integrity of the information he provided us earlier this year. The question, then, is if this developmental feature will reach maturity quickly enough to be included in the game. That is why I find these comments from this Sony representative particularly hopeful.

    @JC: That’s the website that I mentioned in the last paragraph, and I highly doubt the integrity or legitimacy of their claim.

  44. yanfloist

    It’s not going to happen. The feature isn’t even needed for enjoyable game play. I don’t agree that PD has any secrets. We all can speculate what features will be in GT5 for sure, and a track editor is no where on the list.

  45. Sam__ NY

    Wouldn’t this have track editor thing been mentioned in the GT5 features list when it was released at TGS???

    And is it a track editor, like modify a track thats already in the game, or track design mode, where you make your own raceway from scratch?

  46. Turbo_3800

    Idk have mixed feelings about this, like if it’s a full editor for building a track from scratch or a small track like the ones in the license test from GT4. Either way I’ll still wouldn’t use it lol. I wonder what the hell this “major advancement” is still.

  47. Riad

    @ ZMANN

    dude lay off jordan man, his done noting wrong here, a spokeman representing GT5 states GT5 has track editing features, being GT fanatics here at gtplanet dont u think this isnt worth posting?… we wont know it its true or a mistake yet but hope is always good. were not all that silly to acept so easily but i does give us somting to hope for.

  48. Zmann42087

    This is stupid! I’m 99% sure track editing will NOT be in GT5. I distinctly remember someone asking Kazunori Yamauchi in an interview just a couple months ago about a track-building feature and whether or not it would be something we would see in GT5. KY answered it would NOT be in the game and even said something to the extent of it (track-editing) was “not something we’ve really thought about”. Now suggesting that it will be in GT5 will just get everybody’s hopes up and is just more setup for disappointment. Very, very silly, Jordan.

    I distinctly remember him saying track-editing would not be in GT5 in an interview with some gaming website. I just can’t remember which at the moment. I’m going to dig around and see if I can find the article/interview. If anybody else remembers him saying that and has the link to the article, please post it up! It would save me some time of digging around.

  49. NoxNoctis Umbra

    I think it’s not a track creator, but maybe a track layout? As well maybe he meant by miss saying it that you can create your own events? who knows.

  50. RACECAR

    Hmmm, interesting news, but I would not hold my breath. We’ve heard not so true things like this before from people and some not so true things from Sony themselves so I’m abit skeptical about this.Should be intersting though should it turn to be some actual truth to this.

  51. meatbag_

    i would still categorize this in the”too good to be true” column. theres a few good reasons for this opinion. first, the article points out the “confirmation” of such a feature would be far out of character for PD. second, aside from amar212s speculative rumors there is no evidence whatsoever taht this feature is, or ever was under development. the few things we’ve seen indicate at its most ambitious GT5 may incorporate dynamic weather and a livery editor of some nature, this coming from a photograph revealing “on the table” ideas for GT5 back when GT:HD was fresh, it is clear to me that the weather and livery editor are probably a larger priority. thirdly, and this i think is the best supporting reason, i do not believe that an in-game editor would allow sufficient detail to be acceptable for PDs standards. i just do not believe the necessary level of control is available through a ds3. i suppose given the appropriate tool-tips and editing capabilities a keyboard and mouse could be used, however these tools would likely require its own standalone program to compile the map, textures, lighting etc.

    dont get me wrong, i think it would be cool, and i think there are some talented people that could really make some good maps, although i’ve seen a LOT of bad custom maps and levels for different games over the years. hey, its possible, rumor suggests that the game could be three Blu-Ray discs. thats a lot of space. i think that if this were really in development we would have hard or seen some hint, like when we found out about NASCAR, you just *saw* it there.

    on the other hand i can see how including such a feature could help get around Licensing issues. Real life tracks could be user generated without the need to obtain licensing rights. no more worries about Watkins Glenn, Talladega, Spa, Bristol, etc., etc. ulitmately though i think this is wishful thinking.

  52. Justin

    I will quote what I said in the thread.
    I’m not buying it, they have been very secretive thus far I doubt they would just tell someone who called about a major feature.

  53. rofajole

    Hmm, I dont wnat to be the flat tire on this car, but even if we get a track editor, it’s going to be something simple, like setting cones and tire walls on a track pretty much.

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