Gran Turismo 5′s “Head Tracking” Explained
Shortly after Gran Turismo 5‘s feature list popped up on Polyphony Digital’s website, pandemonium broke out as everyone rushed to secure an accurate translation. With the added excitement of the playable demo at GamesCom and our first look at damage, some pretty remarkable new features slipped under the collective radar. We’re going to put the spotlight on one of them today which could have an major impact on the racing game genre across platforms: “head tracking” with the PlayStation Eye.
The concept itself is simple enough – it’s a camera that tracks the movement of your head – but the results are breathtaking. If you’ve never seen this new technology in action, watch the following demos and you’ll quickly realize the implications of such a feature in Gran Turismo 5:
As we learned from Polyphony Digital’s website, you’ll be able to use this head tracking technology to manipulate the “cockpit camera” and presumably look through the corners and at your opponents with the simple turn of your head. From the translation (confirmed by Yamauchi):
“…the movement of Cockpit Camera interface (confirmed in full 3-D. The camera can be fully manipulated and you can opt to have your head tracked by the PSEye)”
The PlayStation Eye is already available for $32.99, but is not typically considered a must-have peripheral for most PS3 owners due to a lack of software support. That could change in a very big way, selling lots of additional Eye hardware for Sony in the process. For now, though, we could be looking at GT5‘s “dark horse” in the race for consumer’s hearts, minds, and dollars.
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Newest comments are displayed first.
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September 21st, 2009 at 7:14 am - #RF
Man,everyone of these replies is soooo wrong, this is nothing like the trackIR, you won’t be turning your head to make the view turn in scaled way or any unnatural crap like that. This is to enhance the 3D experience and if set up well and works well it could be awsome and you won’t have to do anything wierd with you head and eyes.
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September 11th, 2009 at 12:29 pm - #John
Gazuk, I don’t know if I am understanding you right, but I think you mean the pseudo 3D that is like the Wii demo but with buildings won’t be exactly the same as the GT5 useage? If so I think you are correct. They are different uses of the same head tracking tech.
In the 3d cityscape, it’s a 1:1 map of what your head is doing so that the view mimicks your real POV. In GT5 it will not be 1:1, your head will function more as a controller panning a camera. The illusion that you are actually looking through the TV into a car cockpit is not what will happen in GT5.
As for the tech doing it, it’s the same head tracking though, it’s just used in different ways.
BTW I can’t find the old software I used to have that did head tracking, but I believe this software (haen’t tried this one yet as I don’t have a webcam at work) will do about the same
http://www.kuubee.com/index.php/2008/02/28/virtual-viewpoint-code-download
And I reiterate for those who try it, while this is probably what people THINK will happen in GT5, it isn’t. What will happen in GT5 will neither offer an illusion of looking through your TV into a car interior, nore will it be as intuitive.
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September 11th, 2009 at 5:58 am - #Gazuk50
Well John i understand what your saying, and i understand the tech, but i will be suprised if what you see in GT5 ends up like the vid from the article. Im still pretty sure that the software needs to be specificly for that tech to get the pseudo 3D effect as seen up there, i really think in this instance its a feature thats been bolted onto GT5, much like six-axis controls, tilt your head and it moves the camera for you….that will be as much as it will do, id love it to look like that vid when your in car but i just cant see it happening….do hope your right though!
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September 11th, 2009 at 2:35 am - #SzczwanyGapa
Here’s one for you:
What if my wife is sitting next to me, does this Head Tracking thingy will not get confused by having two heads in front of the PSEye?
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September 10th, 2009 at 7:21 pm - #John
Nomino, what is with people like you? Can’t accept that maybe someone actually knows what they are talking about and has had first hand experience isntead of what you sit around and suppose it’s like?
I am telling you from experience, if you don’t like it or don’t want to believe it, fine, but I don’t see how you are going to cop an attitude with nothing valid to back it up…
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September 10th, 2009 at 7:18 pm - #John
Actually Gazuk50 I think the PS3 will do the same thing that the IR tracker does, just possibly not as accurately.
The point of the IR system is that it’s more accurate than picking your facial features out of a bunch of pixels. But with good face recognition software much the same can be accomplished without the IR lights. The system just identifies thigns like your eyes, nose, ears and mouth, then looks how they relate to each other. If your eyes get wider apart, you moved closer to the camera, if your nose gets closer to your left ear or your left ear dissapears, you turned your head to the left.
It’s the same thing happening with or without IR lights, it just is finding something to recognize about your head to figure out which direction it’s aiming.
There is free head tracking software for the PC that does the same without IR lights, it just uses a webcam. I have tried it and it’s about what you would expect, a little less accurate and relies on good lighting and a good webcam for decent results.
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September 10th, 2009 at 7:16 pm - #driver
what headtracking can do ps eye http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOtPVof2K94
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September 10th, 2009 at 3:50 pm - #nik
Does this feature work with eyetoy too?
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September 10th, 2009 at 1:37 pm - #Nomino
Oh well, I guess we’d all best just go home then… John is clearly the worlds foremost expert in head tracking and how each of us reacts to it.
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September 10th, 2009 at 10:04 am - #Gazuk50
I think you all need to calm down and check the facts on this one. The above vid is showing how this works when you have IR devices attached to you…..that is what allows the PS3 to calculate the depth and angle that you are viewing the screen at, which in turn gives you the pseudo 3D effect. What will be going into GT5 is nothing more than the Eye tracking your head movement then, so if you move your head to the left, the Eye reads that then tells the PS3 to move the camera to the left a bit…if the camera control was on the right analogue stick for example it would be the equivilant of moving it to the right a bit….thats all it is. Not knocking the tech or the concept as an idea to put into the game but i can guarentee that that in GT5 you will not be seeing the IR head tracking tech that is being show in that video but simply an alternative to pressing a button/moving a stick on your pad to change the view.
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September 10th, 2009 at 3:22 am - #Thiele
I imagined something like this, but i never thought it would be practical because of the reason that Kevin explained. Currently i’m on an extremely old CRT TV and because of the current setup i’m only looking at the TV on a 45 degree angle, so that wouldn’t work too good at least for me.
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September 9th, 2009 at 8:36 pm - #marchy
I think what most people end up doing is only to move the head slightly, just enough to change point of view so one can see the apex/side mirror on the edge of the screen. But of course everything would work NATURALLY if using the video visor I mentioned above. Then the “screen” is always right in front of your eye no matter how your head move. Plus it can also be 3D compatible as well.
http://www.sony.co.jp/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/200209/02-042/
I hope SONY will bring back a HD version soon….
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September 9th, 2009 at 8:09 pm - #John
To everyone who thinks they are so smart because they know you can look to the side and keep your eyes pointed at the screen, that’s not the problem with this technology. The problem is that while you are doing it, it’s completely unnatural to look back at the screen while turning your head. It feels nothing like doing it in real life.
I am sure we have all used the right analog stick in some games to change the view, and we have all found it’s pretty useless becuase it’s almost impossible to relate the change of view in the game to the change of direction you have to have with the controller. With no momentum to actually feel what direction the car is still going, the change of view is just unnatural and distracting.
Head tracking amplifies this issues as now you look to the side, but then must turn your eyeballs back towards the screen to see the view that should be directly in front of your face. It’s quite confusing to the brain and not at all intuitive.
For a quick check of the side mirrors I suppose it’s not too bad (although in game side mirrors have always been borderline useles if you ask me considering the rate at which things go and the fact you have to dissorient your main view for a split second to see them), for actually looking at the apex of a turn where dynamic turning of the head is necessary it’s just not right.
I mean just look at the video of Grid being played, that’s exactly how head tracking ends up being used… when you are sitting still as a cool gimic to look around, but then when you race you almost never actually use it. Why? Becuase it’s totally dissorienting.
You want to think it simulates turning your head while driving to get a view out past your A Pillars.
Really what it simulates is the feeling that your car is somehow inversly linked to your head, when you look left, it feels like your whole car swings right under you but not your seat or steering wheel… this is becuas eyou turn your head left, the way the view on screen reacts is the same as if the car (and the whole game world in fact) just rotated to the right because your brain and your eyes are both using your body as a point of referrence, however what should be happening according to that point of reference, isn’t what’s your eyes see happening.
The effect is almost like an optical illusion and makes you feel like something is totally wrong.
Try it, have a friend control the right analog stick of a game that supports controlling your view with that, then have him try to mimic your head movements while you drive as if you had head tracking… you will quickly find it’s almost totally useless and very unintuitive.
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September 9th, 2009 at 8:02 pm - #David
So your going to move your head 90 degrees and then move your eyeballs 90 degrees the opposite way, thats the most uncomfortable and stupid thing ive ever heard, even if its for a second or so. Plus you will probably crash in the game because its totally unatural.
If you dont do it in real life you shouldnt have to do it in game, this isnt adding realism because your not doing it the way you would do in real life. What would be better is using the sixaxis to pan side to side by turning the controller.
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September 9th, 2009 at 7:57 pm - #GT
For all of you who think that when you wont be looking at the television when you turn your head to look, heres an explanation. What will happen is you will have to think of the corners of your television as the A-pillars of a car, and that you can only see out your windsheild, therefore to look to the left you would move your head inwards a tad, to the right (putting the television on your left) then being able to move your eyes to to left and seeing out the left hand side of the car.
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September 9th, 2009 at 7:17 pm - #jamaicangamer
yeh @pedz an david reeaal smooth. haaa
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September 9th, 2009 at 6:57 pm - #AndyC
@pedz and David.
You need to read the posts above.Move head – keep looking at the screen (unless you’ve had a stroke and can’t move your eyeballs).
10.deg of head = 90.deg of onscreen is the typical way of doing this. -
September 9th, 2009 at 6:35 pm - #David
People dont seem to understand that head tracking wont work for one simple reason, if you turn your head in real life you will no longer be looking at the TV! So whats the point!
A better use would be scanning your face and mapping it into the game like other games have done, one being Rainbow Six.
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September 9th, 2009 at 6:29 pm - #Pedz
Err am i the only one in thinking to look left and right, you have to look AWAY from the screen… rendering it pointless? or does it do something special? Or do we all have to have a way of getting 3 screens running at once?
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“it’s a camera that tracks the movement of your head”
RF, re-read the paragraph at the top. It will be as others have correctly stated using the PS3 eye to allow you to move your head to change your viewpoint, like Track IR does for the PC.
Its not 3d tech, just motion tracking.