No they can't.
Whether they actually know how to make proper sound or not is irrelevant, it's about what they actually do. I'm pretty sure Michael Bay would have been taught early on in film school not to rely on random explosions to drive a scene forward, but whether he actually decides to use this advice or not is up to him. In other words, just because they are taught how to make excellent sound for a game, doesn't mean they will.
And there is no evidence to suggest that clipping, of all things, is what is causing GT's sound problems!
Making a good sound loop isn't really about being taught, anyway; anyone who's tried it knows exactly what I mean. You can read about how to do it, someone can even show you, but each loop is different, so you have to learn how to tackle them for yourself in the end. It's not "difficult" per se, just a pain in the arse.
The correct "Michael Bay" analogy would be that he shoots a scene without making sure everyone who's supposed to be in it, are actually in it. Maybe he does that, I don't know, but it's as fundamental an error there is.
The consistently bad sound could be for any number of reasons. Maybe the sound people are good friends of Kaz who only have basic skills, but he wanted to give them a job? Maybe Kaz isn't overseeing the sound department as much as the others, because he doesn't care as much? Maybe the sound department is under constant time pressures and don't have time for perfection? We don't know.
Or maybe they're working on something else, and the recycled GT2 samples are just a stopgap.
What I do know is, I don't like how most of the cars in GT games sound, and that simply it's fun to poke fun at PD and company.
It's just a bit of fun arm chair criticizing. We know a film like Transformers takes millions of dollars and hundreds of people (people that have to believe they are making something fantastic, it's part of their job) to make, and that it is very difficult to accomplish such a thing. But we can still make fun of its flaws. 👍
It's fine to poke fun; just don't expect not to have the favour returned.
...
And while i'm at it,
they need to get proper gearchange sounds back. Every single car sounds like its a freakin' paddle shift or something!!
If you're referring to the robotic shift speed, that's a gameplay balance (vs. wheel users with H-patterns) and physics (clutch, drivetrain) plus control (button shifts) issue. There are numerous ways it could be improved; namely setting shift speed according to how hard or fast you hit the button, or adding a clutch button.
It is not, in itself, a sound issue.
My ears...
It's obvious they just change the pitch of the sound to simulate the RPM change
I've looked through the sound files of many PC games through the years, and all of them always had the following sound samples
- Idle
- Low Rev
- Med Rev
- High Rev
Apparently GT only has
- Idle
- "Cruise"
- Wide Open Throttle
...
The cars, in GT5 at least, seem to have idle sounds, plus low speed and high speed sounds for exhaust and "engine". That's 5 samples per car.
The real quality issue is that the samples are fairly short, and that there are only two rpm-sample points. Sample-based synthesis relies on pitch-bending to fill in the gaps between samples; all games do it. Obviously the effect is improved with more samples, but you have to put them somewhere, i.e. in memory. Interestingly, GT's pitching effect is superior to most games; it's just the samples are too short, so they sound thin when they are pitched. GPL, and iRacing as a result, have similarly superior pitching for apparently the same reasons, and GPL only uses one sample.
A possible "fix" would be to remove the separate engine sound (since it's inaccurate anyway, given its lack of intake noise) and use the extra memory to add another sample point and increase the sample length slightly. This would be closer to Forza's sampling system (single source.)
I'd personally prefer it if they kept the separate sources, but added intake to the "engine" sound. It'd make a massive difference in most cases.
Yea, in the credits, only 3 people were designated for sound. 1 lead sound engineer + 2 sound "simulators".
...
That is actually potentially very exciting, although I should probably keep my enthusiasm in check for now.
Recording sounds on a running and breaking Dyno is not the best way.
BTW, maybe we hear the screaming of the Dyno in GT5 (Vacuum)?
Why not record the sound like here? Skip to 1:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vspbymhaLEg
This is how a M3 should sound!
That video is full of road noise; it's no different to recording on a dyno. The only real benefit (potentially) is the lack of early reflections, but they can be pulled out of the recording with the right attention. (And in fact, I think I might have just figured out what that wire on the car's bumper was for).
Interestingly, Forza doesn't suffer with dyno noise in its samples, does it? Yet they made prolific use of them for recording.
. But, I guess it's better than the dull and uninspiring sound from PD.
