Yamauchi Hints at “Rewind” Feature in GT5
Yamauchi’s latest interview with AutoWeek magazine has quite a few surprises, with Yamauchi going so far as to confirm GT5‘s development cost and a controversial new feature. Keep reading for a quick summary of everything you need to know…
- The decision of when Gran Turismo 5 will be released in North America and Europe is entirely up to Sony.
- Because GT5 has been built new, from the ground up, it has taken them considerably longer previous sequels. Therefore, no-one at Polyphony Digital is surprised at how long it has taken to develop, and to quote Yamauchi, “that’s the amount of time it takes to get it right”.
- There are three factors which determine what cars are included: the cars that Yamauchi wants to be in it, the cars that players want, and the cars the manufacturers want. Manufacturers have offered to pay to have their vehicles included, but Polyphony Digital has never accepted any money. Instead, they work together with the other companies which usually develops “into a relationship where we collaborate to raise the level of the game”.
- When asked about the number of tracks, Yamauchi reiterates the mysterious “20 different environments” and “around 70 different layouts”, which we have been hearing for quite some time now. When pushed, Yamauchi refused to comment further.
- On damage: “It is not very hard, though it was not in previous Gran Turismos”.
- When asked about features that could make the game more accessible to new players, Yamauchi dropped an unexpected bombshell: “you can reverse your game”. Assuming we can take this translation literally, Yamauchi must be referring to a “rewind” feature that has recently become popular in other racing series like DiRT, Need for Speed, and Forza. As you may expect, the rewind functionality allows you to “back-up” in time and resume play before you messed up a particular corner. This can come in particularly handy when learning a tough segment of a track, though it is controversial because some players believe having such an option makes it too easy to correct your mistakes.
- The entire NASCAR roster of tracks, teams, and drivers will not be in the game. However, you will be able to take the different NASCAR cars to “a number of tracks not found on the NASCAR calendar”.
- Yamauchi has played Forza Motorsport 3, and offered his impressions: “It’s very similar in a lot of aspects to Gran Turismo. Some base components of the game are very different from Gran Turismo. It’s a little bit different from what a simulator is. You can feel it when you drive it.”
- Gran Turismo 6 will be coming, but it won’t take nearly as long to develop. In Yamauchi’s words: “GT5 represents a whole new operating system. GT6 is just new apps that run on the GT5 system.”
- There “probably” will be additional content available to download in GT5, though nothing specific has been planned at this time.
- It has cost $60 million to produce Gran Turismo 5. However, it’s a wise investment in a franchise which has earned billions, and as Yamauchi notes, there are other games which cost more.
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Newest comments are displayed first.
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December 8th, 2009 at 3:06 pm - #breezy
my favorite racing sim of all time its the reason why i baught a 600 $ ps3 anyway rewind feature ?? if they add dat theyll loose some cred. on the whole “its a real driving simulator” and plz PLZZ dont do the driver license thing like in the previous gran turismo there IMPOSSIBLE overall hope they fix the online bcuz in prologue its glitchy and not user friendly
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November 15th, 2009 at 6:02 pm - #noname
If there’s a rewind feature in this game, then good.. the more features, the better.. Doesn’t mean that we have to use them. But ok, I have a question for those of you who say that you want to drive with all assists off.. whats realistic about that? I mean, race cars, ferraris, lamborghinis, corvettes etc.. they use traction control and assists to help them out.
So if you want to play the “Real Driving Simulator”, you need traction control and assists on :)
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November 11th, 2009 at 11:02 pm - #OneEyedPimp20
Turn10 had PD scared by now. Gran Turismo 5 should be for everyone, oh I don’t know… Rated E for Everyone? If Kaz wants the newbies to have a rewind feature in GT5, then let him. Since when console racing games ever have real racing simulation physics? None. They are just racing games. Sheesh…
I like using the rewind feature in Forza 3, but in Race Driver Grid and in Colin McRae Rally: DiRT 2, they both come limited. When in Gran Turismo 5, it isn’t really a big deal. Gran Turismo is not a true sim racing game, only GTR2 from SimBin is a true sim racing game. GTR2 does offer a dynamic day/night cycle, Race 07 does not. You guys need to play GTR2 if you want a real experience. As for me, I have plans for my own true sim racing game for the latest Playstation console. I won’t tell you what would it look like, so it will likely to have leaked images when I’m on the inside.
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November 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm - #Wolgib07
If it’s going to be like forza 3 it will spoil all the simulation.
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November 8th, 2009 at 2:17 am - #Anton
“20 environments, 70 layouts” means the game will have 20 tracks with 3-4 different configuration each on average. This is very dissappointing.
Expect to have most of the GT5 tracks as separate downloadable purchases.
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November 7th, 2009 at 5:58 pm - #smthrlr
Paul Mc–you are right on, my friend.
As much as the worst GT fanboys (and I know they are a small group–I am not pigeon-holing all GT fans) seem to believe, the old GT fanbase, which is admittedly quite large, will not be into gaming forever and even the seemingly all-powerful franchise that is the Gran Turismo Series needs to workshop ways to find new players. And I hate to say it, folks, but that sometimes means looking what the competition is doing and possibly adopting some of the features that cannot be patented. Granted, T10 may have gone overboard a little in this regard, but nevertheless, as confident and altruistic as KY seems to be, he is a CEO of a company, and that company’s goal, at its most basic, is to make money. Any good CEO–and I’m sure that KY is very, very good–will tell you that as much as you need to listen to your established fan base and not piss them off by removing features etc, you have to brainstorm ideas that will bring new people to the franchise.
Think about it: the GT series can be a little scary to get into as it’s so well known that there are legions of players who have been around since the original and that can be overwhelming. Like, “why bother even trying this game, especially online when there are these guys who know how to tune a Miata so that my Nismo GT-R won’t have a chance?” This may be an exaggeration, but maybe not as far off as you think.
Anyways, the rewind feature isn’t all that bad, (I am an avid FM3 fan and I have found that it’s not too difficult to ignore it), just adds a level of accessibility which isn’t always such a bad thing.
Quick question for GT fans: Do you ever find it at least slightly annoying how KY is so adept at skirting issues? I mean, every interview he gives that’s supposed to reveal groundbreaking features is always so vague and full of “maybes” “could bes” and “there is the possibility fors”. Look, again I want to assure anyone whose going to read this post that I am by no means a full backer of T10s tactics, but at least they told fans something concrete and tangible. And don’t give me the “we like all this speculation. It makes for good conversation” argument because there was plenty of speculative discussion surrounding the impending release of FM3 even though T10 tends to be a group of pretty big talkers.
Thanks for tuning in, folks.
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November 7th, 2009 at 1:55 pm - #xanavi
Kilzone 2 kosted 65 million euro,s.
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November 7th, 2009 at 4:57 am - #Ben
I really hope that this doesnt have a rewind feature. Its not a simulator if you can rewind. Nobody cant rewind in real life. That would be terrible, you would get lazy because you know that if you stuff up you can simply rewind
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November 7th, 2009 at 2:52 am - #Dom
- On damage: “It is not very hard”
I don’t see the sense of damage, when it’s not hard (realistic). I never anticipated a great damage model though.- “You can reverse your game”
Didn’t Kaz always say that they don’t look what the competion is doing? This is NOT GT like, but I am ok with this. Not that I will use this feature.- The entire NASCAR roster of tracks, teams, and drivers will not be in the game.
What a waste of money and time! This is VERY bad news for me. I think oval racing will still be strange with the expected aero-configuration. Driving behind a car in Prologue is not very realistic, and Nascar is a cruical sport in that aspect. -
November 7th, 2009 at 2:07 am - #tek9[r]
GT used to bring in new fans though massive car counts and the ” It feels like my ride in real life!” factor. Motorsport fans like myself were tricked into thinking the replays were live. The hearts of youth are still drawn to these things, gimicy features are not the way to go
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November 6th, 2009 at 6:05 pm - #Chrysus
I agree the concept of having a rewind feature in GT doesn’t fit in with the experience but it is OPTIONAL.
If you want it, it’s there. If you don’t, don’t use it. There is Forza gamers that refuse to use it and there be an option to disable all players from using it over a network game -
November 6th, 2009 at 3:30 pm - #Stipe
Not like rewind option. It is nice for arcade racers like GRID and similar but for sim like GT tryinig to be it is big NO.
I know that this types of console sims must also be appealed for masses but I will do that differently. Rewind for me sound somehow ‘woos’, and I’m not a hardcore (sim) gamer but GT was always something special for me. Specialy liked license tests and challenges (from GT4) that helped and to sharpen my driving skills which come handy in many others race (sim) games.And in the end; I always and still have big hopes for every GT title but somehow I have fear that this one may dissapoint me, but from deep of my heart I hope that I’m wrong.
NO for REWIND
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November 6th, 2009 at 1:45 pm - #Mustangmiha
Wait, wait, wait:
1) Cars we want can be in GT5???
2) Rewind?? Like in GRID? Is he serious…
3) GT6…?????
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November 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pm - #Bryan
“peter Says:
November 5th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
You’re all a bunch of slack jawed faggots! This feature will make you a sexual Tyrannosaurus. Just like me!”Get this feature to ze CHOPPAAAHHH!!!! DO IITTT DOO ITT NOWWWW!!!!!
hahahahahahah
I love it when people quote Predator.
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November 6th, 2009 at 11:47 am - #maxpontiac
Me.Switch
You can add driving license to your list of facts..
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November 6th, 2009 at 10:42 am - #Me.Switch
Hi everybody,
To me a rewind-feature is useless but not a step backwards and its not killing the sim-character. I just won’t use it, but its ok to implement it, espacially for beginners.
What really bothers me is the lack of information we still have.
I dont like it that there are so much rumors about GT5 like trackeditor yes/no/ ; vinyl-editor yes/no ; weather yes/no ; damage in what kind of way? all cars/some cars ; race-series whole wrc? whole nascar? some more? driving license? qualyfing? race-types? and so on…The things i know as a fact: Outstanding graphics, very good physics, alot of cars, a lot of tracks, a release in 2010 and that i will buy it no mather what it will cost.
I am not bored or angry about it, but i want more facts and some ingame footage.
Greetings
(and sorry for language-mistakes^^) -
November 6th, 2009 at 10:02 am - #Methroix
OK, one more post on the Rewind feature. :)
First off, I think it’s a great addition to help reel in the younger and more inexperienced crowd, who aren’t familiar with simulation games. So, kudos for that.
But…
As a Forza3 player myself I’m a bit concerned that the feature may be abused to get those perfect laptimes on the online highscores, even by the most avid simracers. Simply because you can do it.
So what I would like to see is some sort of reward system for not using this feature. At the very least it should show up on the highscore list, but hopefully, in career mode, you should be rewarded with a small bonus for not using Rewind in a race, say 10%. -
November 6th, 2009 at 9:29 am - #Berlino Bear
@R53freak In some pics, Yes.
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November 6th, 2009 at 8:57 am - #ICANT55
^^ And after thinking about it that feature would work out great with the whole you tube upload deal,that why you can make some badass videos ….Ok PD im starting to see the Light!
GTPlanet on Google+
A more useful feature than rewind, is to start your engine in the tuning process.So you know if it’s running rich/lean or for misfiring, knocking engines.Also if an engine is dieing or the t-belt timing is wrong etc.Only if these things are in though, although that could be complicated for some peeps.Hey maybe a mechanic is there to give you advice.