How do You Like Your Photo Mode?

  • Thread starter JohnBM01
  • 28 comments
  • 1,613 views

JohnBM01

20 years!
Premium
26,201
United States
Houston, Texas, USA
JMarine25
GTPlanet, let's talk Photo Mode now, apart from car wishlists, apart from track wishlists... let's talk about the sweet little surprise known as the Photo Mode. It's been said too many times, but Gran Turismo 4 had amazing graphics that really set itself apart from other Gran Turismo games. As Kazunori Yamauchi loves cars and (obviously) loves racing, he also likes photography. PD's man in charge wanted to add Photo Mode for a chance at taking pictures of your favorite cars in some of the most amazing settings, whether in picturesque settings standing still, or in action on any of GT4's race track. Take a picture of a car under the pretty lights of Las Vegas. Take a picture of your car just PWNING Grand Valley Speedway. Take snaps of a race car flying up Flügplatz, or whatever it's called. You dig my vibe? Well, it's time to speculate on more Photo Mode possiblities.

Before we begin, I'm not going to mention race tracks because we have no idea as to what tracks may return, be dropped, or be added. So I will not mention race tracks until PD provides us some information on new/returnining/dropped tracks. Not to sound like a homer, but I can imagine a nice Photo Mode here locally at locales such as the Houston Galleria. The Galleria would be heaven for girls as it is three stories of shops and facilities, not to mention two tall hotels. Outside of the Galleria, the Houston Galleria shopping center includes a few attractions and landmarks such as Williams Tower (formerly the Transco Tower), perhaps the tallest building outside of a major downtown sector in America or the world. Another wonderful part of this area here in Houston that I've actually been to, was the Waterwall, just away from the Williams Tower. The Waterwall is basically a big wall which has a waterfall set up. The mist from the water can be refreshing in Houston mid-summer heat. The Houston Galleria is my favorite part of town here, and if Houston was included for Photo Mode or racing in the next GT, I noted my favorite part of town. Other cities I like that would make nice Photo Mode locations include San Francisco, CA, USA; Honolulu, HI, USA; Seattle, WA, USA; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Cardiff, Wales; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Rome, Italy; Athens, Greece; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Saigon, Vietnam; Seoul, South Korea; Osaka, Japan; Sapporo, Japan; Sydney, Australia; all to name a few (like THAT was a few!).

Photo Mode speculation is this thread. Let's see those replies!
 
Better be in GT5.

Its a GIGANTIC part of GT4. Those who said it was stupid and wouldn't be used were proven wrong very fast.

It certainly adds Replay value to GT4 as well.
We can only dream of the possibilities of the next Photo Mode for the PS3 on GT5.
 
Yes I loved the Photo mode in Gran Turismo 4 It made the cars that i took photos of look like i could jump in them and drive off. My favorite photo was the Dodge Ram
 
Yup photo mode is great. It's really cool taking pictures of all your cars :D GT5 needs it, especially if you can modify your cars or make them race cars :D

I would really like to see a frame counter though and a frame by frame option. So at least when watching the replay you can note a certain span of frames, then go back and go frame by frame to see which is the best for a picture.
 
It would be nice to have something like that. Or a multiple snapshot mode. One thing I would like would be a free-roaming cameraman, whom we could place at a certain spot. Wait for the cars to come, and take maybe 25 frames of "film" in one go.

I also think that GT4 should have HAD the ability to render wheels after the shot was taken, in the modelling and rendering phase. That should definitely be in GT5.

And if NFSU can have pre-rendered high-quality groupies... so should we. :lol: Some of the background crowd on track are ported straight from GT3 (Luke Skywalker is STILL there), and the new 3D crowd figures look like they were polygon'd way back in the 90's.
 
I think Photo Mode provided some replay value for GT4. It wasn't a dumb idea in GT4, and if it makes it into the next GT, then it's already a plus. Nothing like taking a picture of your favorite car or your tuning masterpiece. Yeah, you're not winning races. You're not golding licenses. But you know what? You don't have to with Photo Mode. Sometimes away from racing, I don't want to go racing all the time, so this is a good way to kill some time and have some fun. Like I said, if GT4 is any indication, can you imagine what the next GT may provide in terms of taking pictures of cars?

When I had my replay of when I upset a pack of JGTC/Super GT race cars at the Tokyo street course, I played around with the number of different views of my Suzuki GSX-R/4, I seen the beautiful shots of downtown Tokyo and not to mention my sweet concept car. If PD were creative, they'd come up with all sorts of beautiful, non-violent (for example, no pictures of a car in city slums while getting shot up with bullets by unruly gangsters) scenes. I already put Houston on the map, so there's all sorts of oppurtunities for Photo Mode play. I was quite amazed how PD even pulled it off because in the past, I thought these would be extra race tracks. I kind of didn't like how you couldn't ride around the environment. But then, it was nice to put your car in one area, and take beautiful pictures. If I had to make one complaint, there were some preset camera views that I can't really find a beautiful enough view angle to take pictures.

I don't have Forza, but if there was a sort of cross-promotion :lol:, I would like taking pictues in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. You know, whether it's Sugar Loaf Mountain or the good old Copacabana Beach, possibilities are endless. Hell, I wouldn't mind taking a picture of my Suzuki Escudo on the icy continent of Antartica with penguins looking on! Like I said, I think PD can be creative with Photo Mode locations. And as I said, we don't know about tracks, so I'm not mentioning tracks.
 
Yeah, I think Photo Mode was really fun and I keep wishing to have it in other games I play. I keep thinking "Boy, I wish I could capture a picture of that..." when I watch replays.

It would be wonderful, with the enhanced capabilities of the PS3, to expand the options of Photo Mode. How about being able to open any of the doors, or even the hood or the trunk? (Granted, having the trunk (boot) open wouldn't be anything special...) Or have the option of lowering the windows or open the sunroof? These may not mean much (except for the chance to see the engine) but would greatly expand the options for taking pictures.

As well, give us more locations to shoot in. There were no spots in England! How about in Hyde Park, or somewhere down by the docks. There's gotta be alot of neat castles in England and Germany which would make good backdrops. Or the Eiffel Tower! Maybe down in Africa, in the Sahara or in Egypt by the Nile or the Pyramids. Or how about on the moon! I would that would be extraordinary to see your spotless Mercedes, parked by a crater and reflecting the stars... *__*
 
Lookout point... a convertible and two silhouttes sitting side-by-side in the moonlight. :lol:

More night-time countryside shots would be nice... as well as dimly-lit night-time tracks, but that's another story.
 
I'd love a video mode, so I can record replays to USB in video format. It would be cool if it had an editor mode that lets you pick camera angles, picture-in-picture etc.
 
I'd be surprised if it wasn't in GT5. It was a popular and innovative feature in GT4, and with the greater power of the PS3, why not include an improved version of Photo Mode?
 
As I've said before, I hated hearing in "X-Play's" review of GT4:

(indirect quote) "...there is no online mode...in its place, we get a Photo Mode." -Adam Sessler, co-host of G4 TV show "X-Play"

Photo Mode is actually one of the big surprises to me. I think this would be REAL popular in Japan. Because after all, who came up with the photo clubs? Take a picture, jazz it up, share with friends. For most of us worldwide, we just want to show off how pretty GT4 is, and how prettier our cars are. For many of us, it's win-win for those into Photo Mode. And I think the ante will be raised much higher for the next GT game. For the next GT to not have many more ways to take breathtaking pictures of your autos would be criminal.

Anyone have any (sane) ideas for Photo Mode locations? Here's another place I thought would be nice: Miami, FL, USA.
 
okay...

i like the idea of free roaming camera man...

but what about a camera shop?

you could be able to buy differnt cameras. have cheaper cameras like 35mm canons and nikons, and then more expensive ones like 120mm Hasselblads. Buy different lenses, such as zoom, macro etc, different filters, the types of film, 200 speed, 400 etc. then take it to the dark room yourself. You choose how long to keep it in the developer, you choose how long to expose the prints, you choose how to apply the dektol to the prints, so on and so forth. oh man, now im all lustful...

PD, MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
 
Bones Brigade
okay...

i like the idea of free roaming camera man...

but what about a camera shop?

you could be able to buy differnt cameras. have cheaper cameras like 35mm canons and nikons, and then more expensive ones like 120mm Hasselblads. Buy different lenses, such as zoom, macro etc, different filters, the types of film, 200 speed, 400 etc. then take it to the dark room yourself. You choose how long to keep it in the developer, you choose how long to expose the prints, you choose how to apply the dektol to the prints, so on and so forth. oh man, now im all lustful...

PD, MAKE THIS HAPPEN.
From what I know about motorsport photography most professionals use Nikons/Canons because they brake/damage cameras often and it's too expensive to be shelling out for fancy expensive cameras that will most likely not deliver much better results for what they're trying to do.
 
More angles, true curve rendering... I'd ask for the camera supply shop, too... but maybe just limit it to extreme telephoto, panoramic lens (wooooo.... yes.), and special filters.

Good places? How about an Asian market scene, like in Bangkok, or China? Hong Kong at night, Ayers Rock ( :lol: ), and maybe more New York locations.... with more traffic and/or multiple cars (which, c'mon, shouldn't be THAT hard to do)...
 
Mad Murphy NZ
From what I know about motorsport photography most professionals use Nikons/Canons because they brake/damage cameras often and it's too expensive to be shelling out for fancy expensive cameras that will most likely not deliver much better results for what they're trying to do.

makes sense. you have to admit though, my idea rules.
 
i want the circuits to have the same options as photomode locations, as in you can choose to move the car anywhere on the track and be able to hold a picture, grab another car(s) and put that in the same picture
 
I thought of 2 topics that, suprisingly, I could put into this thread. They apply quite greatly IMO. Photomode needs a number of things. Right now, I see people having lots of fun with it. I think it's great but they're getting very little expirience with any actually real world photography practices. It is a nice step further to take it into photoshop but then most people are croping and applying filters. These are good steps but not what should be even slightly accept as talented photography.

Free Roam:
This is a much discussed topic that a lot of people should be restricted to NFS;U style titles with an emphasis on being a ricer. Free Roam would be excellent for GT5 in the photomode atmosphere! Placing the car anywhere in a square mile of downtown would be an amazing opportuniy to find great pictures. After seeing these photomode worlds and gymhkana it's easy to see that free roam type enviroments could very well be coming. I'm looking forward to it :-)

Girls:
In a large amount of photos, some of the most viewed, are ones that have had a model standing/bending proudly beside them. I know, personally, that If I built a car i was very proud of I would like to see a bikini clad model next to it. As you climb higher in the game you can get new models to go with your car. I like it for the tuner aspect of GT where you can have the skimpy asian chicks or the big breasted blondes for the low rider guys. On the other side, can you picture show room models for when the car was unveiled? imagine recreating the brochures of classic cars. With the elegantly dressed model and yeah

Night everybody
 
Most of the classical music in GT4 was pretty nice to use in some races. But the actual classical music wasn't like the classical material many afficionados are used to. One of my favorites in GT4 was the Rondo thing by the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. That's good for races. "Canon" is good for Photo Mode. I've been listening to a music-only channel on my Dish Network receiver, and one channel features beautiful Instrumental music; some of which I've cried to. I think some more beautiful music can be in GT5 to help make pictures even more special. PD can look to "Enthusia Professional Racing" for environments. Some of the fictional tracks (only two real courses in this game) can make lovely inspirations for certain environments. For example, Victoria Garden and Victoria Road give a nice tour of London (looks similar). In fact, there's more European influence in EPR than in GT4. Enthusia has some spectacular environments. I wished I could have unlocked that San Francisco track in EPR because that's one of my favorite cities on the American west coast.

Care to continue? And thanks to whoever brought this thread back. ANY thread is fair game as long as the info is relevant and useful.
 
I love photomode, but I would like to see a few additions/enhancements.

1. Total freedom of camera placement in photomode as well as phototravel.

2. An option that lets you choose different types of lenses.

3. Any colour as a colour balance, not just blue or orange.

4. Depth in lighting. This a little hard to explain, but I will try. I beleive the lighting in GT4 is two-dimensional. It is just placed flat onto the image, and rended flat in game. Look at these three shots, I took these for an update some time ago, it was then that I first noticed this phenomenon.



If you look at the glare created by the corona of the headlights, you'll notice that it also highlights the area directly behind it. Its not so obvious on the first, but it is still present. Its more obvious on the second, and on the third, it is clearly obvious. It would be impossible for the glare of the headlights to light an area directly behind it, especially at distance (as in the third shot).

5. Proper rendering of the rims and the brake assembly, and the removal of the free-standing wheel look that we have at present.

6. Better colour rendering. I know that GT4 has pushed the PS2 to within an inch of its life, but GT5 needs better colour rendering - no more blocky paint schemes!

7. With the damage model reportedly being included for GT5, it would be great if you could picture your car in any condition it may be in. Whether it be totalled, or just scratched.

8. Take pictures at any time of the day, or night, on any track, and have the lighting reflect the passing times of day.

9. An option to snap the camera to the car. This isn't so bad in photmode, as the camera only rotates around the car, but in phottravel, it can be a pain in the ass having to realign your shot every time you move the car or the camera.

10. more phototravel locations!

11. Export images at higher (or user set resolutions), including the option of saving them as a png.
 
Mad Murphy NZ
From what I know about motorsport photography most professionals use Nikons/Canons because they brake/damage cameras often and it's too expensive to be shelling out for fancy expensive cameras that will most likely not deliver much better results for what they're trying to do.

The cameras that most professional motorsport and sports photographer use are easily as robust as larger format stuff, I would go so far as to say that they are more robust than the majority of larger format cameras. Nor are they cheap, I used to use a pair of Canon F-1n bodies (a very common professional sports camers from the '90s). These cost around £1,000 a body and were very, very tough, so much so a lot of war photographers used them.

35mm historically has been the format of choice for all manner of sports photography for a number of reasons.

First the cameras themselves are generally robust and lightweight, a great asset when the lenses are so damn heavy.

Which leads to the next point, lenses, longer focal length lenses are not generaly availiable for medium and large format cameras as the sheer size they would need to be would make them totally impractical.

Next the smaller shutter of the 35mm format allowed far higer shutter speeds than would be possiable with the larger shutters from medium and large formats, this is again vital for capturing the high speed activities involved in sports. Which again leads to another advantage of the 35mm format, the smaller size of the film makes it possiable to run higher speed motordrivers, again 5 frames per second would be very difficult to manage on medium format and impossiable on larger formats.

Finally the number of shots per roll, 35mm allows 36 shots per roll with ease, medium (depending on the exact format) would be limited to around a dozen. The less you are changing film, the less likely you are to miss a shot. Additionally 35mm film itself is far more robust than medium format (or larger).

The main disadvantage of 35mm is the reduction in image quality over larger formats, however the nature of ther work meant that the advantages outweight the disadvantages.

Since the advent of digital photography a lot of the above has become less valid, but the advantages when it comes to lens size, ease of use do still hold true.

In terms of what I would like to see from a GT5 photomode, that would be full control over every aspect of the camera (shutter and appeture control), with the ability to use the light avaliable to control the exact exposure.

In terms of more locations then certainly that would be great, as well as teh ability to pick the exact spot to stand (in replays) and being able to place the car and camera in any spot in photo-mode.

Regards

Scaff
 
yeah um complete control of camera, ooh and some lighting setups too, its blummin annoying in gt4 having to make sure ya cars in sunlight just to get some decent hilight
 
i'd love to see certain rendition artefacts in photomode dealt with in the next GT, especially those occasional broken reflections and local illumination going berserk under certain extreme conditions. but considering who PD are, i'm not really worried about the quality of their next photomode ; )
 
I would like to see far more settings and different types of cameras, from the basic compacts to the DSLR's. Maybe even the old film cameras, as well as lots of options.

Different lens would also be good, but to make the photomode more real they will have to make shots look more real by allowing different shutter speeds to affect the light of shots.

Oh and of course different types of filters.
 
TVR&Ferrari_Fan
I would like to see far more settings and different types of cameras, from the basic compacts to the DSLR's. Maybe even the old film cameras, as well as lots of options.

Different lens would also be good, but to make the photomode more real they will have to make shots look more real by allowing different shutter speeds to affect the light of shots.

Oh and of course different types of filters.

That's why we have photo editing software.
 
I spent more time in photomode then I did actually playing the game. Photomode was one of the options of this game that kept me playing. I would drive to win a new car then take it to get pics. GTP really helped me get the most out of the photomode too. With all the different picture threads I always had something to take pics of. 👍
I have a feeling the Forza 2 photomode will be very impressive. You will be able to put any of your own vinyls on your car then take a pic of it. Cant wait!!
 
Back