Following months of speculation, Polyphony's Kazunori Yamauch finally unveiled Gran Turismo 5's track editor, known officially as the course maker.
Rather than being a fully featured editor – a feature that, Yamauchi confessed, was tinkered with but deemed to complex – the course maker allows players to select certain set parameters to create a track. A theme can be selected, with the Belgian High Fens or Toscana two examples, and the individual track sectors are then defined.
Sectors are edited individually, with frequency of curves, sharpness of corners, degree of topography and banking angle are set with a series of sliders.
Yamauchi created one for the purpose of the demo, a 10km run through the Belgian High Fens. It was sparse but not without sparkle, with rolling hills and fields and the occasional environmental feature like a small village giving it the feeling of a long and winding country road.
Karts were also confirmed for Gran Turismo 5, and Yamauchi revealed that originally this was a feature intended for Gran Turismo 6 – but after it leaked Polyphony decided to put it in this iteration.
We'll have full impressions of Gran Turismo 5 for you later today.
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10km, nice to see we can make pretty long tracks!
