"GT7 Prolonged: where was Gran Turismo 7 at E3 2015?" by VVV 2/Aug/2015

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Just came across this article and I didn't find it here on GTP so I thought I'd share it with everyone.

"There's no doubting that Sony had a strong showing at this year’s eventful E3. A departure from the clinical corporate presentations of the past with a firm focus on showcasing what matters most to gamers, i.e. new games, it had everything from surprise new IP reveals with Guerrilla’s Horizon: Zero Dawn and Media Molecule’s typically abstract Dreams. Then of course we the triple knockout punch that was the surprise reveals of The Last Guardian, Shemune 3 and that Final Fantasy 7 remake – even if all the excitement blinded people to the fact that the majority of titles showcased in Sony’s conference won’t be available until next year. Compare that to Microsoft’s relentless reveals of highly anticipated exclusives headed to Xbox One this year.

However, there was something else Sony’s conference sorely lacked: racing games. Or, to be more specific, Gran Turismo 7. I doubt I was alone in hoping that Polyphony would take the opportunity to show us even the faintest sign of life of the new Gran Turismo game, which Polyphony have previously confirmed is in the works. Even a teaser trailer showing an extreme close-up of a highly detailed headlight with a vague release window would have sufficed. Just…something. Anything. Unfortunately, Gran Turismo’s absence at E3 could have long term repercussions for the series. - See more at: http://www.teamvvv.com/en/news/comm...ran-Turismo-7-at-E3-2015#sthash.7XyeNbp6.dpuf


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Gran Turismo has been Sony’s signature racing series on PlayStation since 1998, but the lack of regular releases is starting to reduce its relevance as a brand. In its heyday, Gran Turismo was untouchable, but the market is very different today, with rival series Forza and several new IPs now leading the pack and causing the granddaddy to fall behind. It’s almost as if Polyphony are oblivious to the competition with their fingers lodged firmly their ears. Case in point: in the 17 years it's taken for Polyphony to churn out six main Gran Turismo games, it's taken Turn10 only ten years to reach the same point in the Forza franchise - and that's not including Forza's open world sister series, Forza Horizon. Effectively, Polyphony has left the gap wide open, waved their arms and yelled “come on through!” to the competition.

There could be some logic to this strategy, though. After all, Polyphony are notorious for their perfectionism and glacially slow development cycles, and are probably biding their time to give Gran Turismo a better chance to breathe and hold its own when it's finally released. Forza Motorsport 6 already has its annual parking space reserved for this September, while Assetto Corsa is said to be arriving on consoles early next year, leaving a late 2016 release window potentially open for Gran Turismo 7 to pounce. In the meantime, Sony are probably relying on their successful first party title DriveClub to hold its own as the PS4's premier racing title, but it doesn't provide the authentic driving experience Gran Turismo does.

Internal development issues could also be a factor – as we know, several high profile releases have been severely bug-ridden (even the mighty Project CARS hasn’t survived unscathed). The last thing Sony needs is another DriveClub-scale disaster on their hands.

But prolonging Gran Turismo 7 could do more harm than good in the long-run. The danger is that Project CARS now has a real chance to become the PS4's definitive sim racer, especially with no sign of any direct competition in the racing sim market until Assetto Corsa’s arrival on consoles next year. At this rate, it wouldn't be surprising to see Project CARS 2 pull up ahead of Gran Turismo 7.

At least Turn10 seemed aware of Project CARS' presence when announcing Forza Motorsport 6. While we all knew it was coming, some of its headline features, namely its diverse car roster, 60fps, night time racing and weather effects, seemed like a direct retaliation to Project CARS' impressive featureset.

Releasing a Gran Turismo 7 Prologue game would have been an ideal compromise. Yes, they’re essentially glorified paid demos, but it’s a model that worked well with Gran Turismo 4 and 5, generating hype by giving fans a tasty bitesize appetiser before the main course to make up for Polyphony’s long development times. This way, at least Polyphony would still have some presence on PS4. Now it might as well be called Gran Turismo Prolonged.

At this point, you would think Polyphony would be be pouring all their resources into preparing GT7 for PS4. Instead, they’re still clinging onto the past, as we’ve still been seeing new Vision GT cars announced for Gran Turismo 6 on PS3 this year. Their diligent post release support is admirable, but it’s now been 18 months since the release of PS4 and Xbox One – if Gran Turismo 6’s paltry sales figures are anything to go by, most people have moved on now. As Codemasters found out to their cost, sticking with last-gen formats for too long doesn't pay off. Releasing GT6 on PS3 was probably a mistake: ironically GT6 technically still isn't finished as it's still missing previously promised features such as the long overdue course maker which is apparently still coming.

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Polyphony’s contribution to the automotive industry cannot be understated. The multfunctional display inside the Nissan GT-R? Polyphony designed that, along with a host of other notable car components. The efforts of Kazunori and his band of passionate petrolheads go above and beyond most racing game designers, which is why he’s such an industry icon. As the pioneering Vision GT programme proves, Gran Turismo’s allegiance with car manufacturers is growing to the point the recently-unveiled Peugeot Vision GT concept car designed exclusively for GT6 had its own prestigious Paris press event. The Vision GT programme was an interesting novelty, but one that noone asked for - I would have happily traded the numerous Vision GT DLC installments with contemporary cars that are already in DriveClub and Forza.

It leaves you with the feeling that Polyphony are losing sight of what gamers want for Gran Turismo, as the lack of communication on Polyphony’s part and their reluctance to move the series forward to catch up with the competition with more up to date cars and features is starting to allienate even the most patient players.

So, when can we expect Gran Turismo 7 to be announced? Well, Sony’s next major event is the Paris Games Show following their departure from this year's Gamescom, followed closely by the Tokyo Game Show. Given that Polyphony are Japanese, an announcement at the Tokyo Game Show isn’t out of the question. Then again, it’s possible Polyphony want to avoid being a part of a main conference – Gran Turismo 6 had its own announcement event held at Silverstone as part of the series' 15th anniversary celebration to give it maximum exposure. Gran Turismo 5, on the other hand, was announced at E3 2009 but was delayed until the following year.

Gran Turismo 7’s belated announcement will most likely take place at E3 2016 if we’re to assume it will be released later that year - Kaz has promised we'll be playing GT7 before 2017, so late 2016 is a feasible target in-line with GT6's December 2013 release.

At that point, the PS4 would have been out for three years. Gran Turismo 5 had a similar release schedule, arriving in late 2010 four years after the launch of the PS3. Let's just hope it's not too little too late like GT5 was – the series has struggled to stay relevant in recent iterations, arriving with outdated car lists and archaic features. The GT mode's convoluted structure, for example, needs a drastic overhaul.

The longer we have to wait for Polyphony to break their silence, the more astronomical our expectations for Gran Turismo 7 will become. People will now expect Gran Turismo 7 to run at an unflinching 1080p and 60fps, have night time and weather effects available for every track and over 1000 premium cars with full interiors if it has any chance of catching up with the competition.

However, there is still hope that Polyphony will respond to the competition and innovate the genre once again. There’s a possibility of seeing the return of bikes which haven’t been featured in a Polyphony game since Tourist Trophy (bikes were originally planned to feature in the canned Gran Turismo HD PS3 game before it became a digital demo), since Polyphony were previously spotted on location at the Isle of Man TT. The audio design is apparently getting a radical revamp, too, as Polyphony have enlisted a former Forza Motorsport sound engineer, as is the car damage – two key areas that have always let the series down. Gran Turismo 7 could well be a spectacular return to form and reclaim the racing game crown it used to proudly wear all those years ago. Anything less than that simply won’t cut it anymore.

Were you surprised not to see Gran Turismo 7 at E3? Are you losing your patience with the series or do you think it will be worth the wait?"


source: http://www.teamvvv.com/en/news/comments/GT7-Prolonged-where-was-Gran-Turismo-7-at-E3-2015
 
Well boo-hoo... GT6 already has around 500 premiums if not more, giving them 2 more years I think the count in GT7 will be about 700+.

Same goes with track count or even track variables like weather/temperature/time... Not even talking about physics simulation.

So. Who's catching who? :)
Considering that Forza had zero next gen premiums less than two years ago and will certainly catch and pass GT6 and is also likely to pass GT7 sometime during it's lifetime, I'd say Forza is running in 6th gear and will surpass GT for good and become the defacto leader in next gen car count before too long. It was the most significant advantage that GT had and now has no longer. Add to that how eclectic and varied the car list is and that it plugs a significant number of holes relative to the GT car list, likely leaves the overall quality of the list higher as well but of course that depends on your preferences.
 
Some would consider that a good thing, particularly since many of them aren't variations at all.
True, it's also a regional thing as well, I noticed the different version of them, I.e.: Jp, eu, us models. I can't really complain when it comes to car selection except for. Which one ? The damage is the biggest factor though visually. Who slams into a wall and comes out with a minor scratch?
 
I wonder if Sony Computer Entertainment will finally get off their butts and act responsible as a publisher so they can have some control over the Gran Turismo project. Polyphony is trying to be a jack of all trades, which is an order they clearly can't fulfill in today's age of the high-definition standard. Outsourcing some of the more time-consuming tasks to outside companies as Microsoft Studios did with Forza would drastically lower the time in between releases of the games and probably lead to a higher standard of production across all areas.
 
Not going to pretend like I know what's going on over at PD but it would naive not to think that they have been bolstering the premium count for GT7 during the post-release support for GT6. One can quote the notorious lack of communication as a point that can be made regarding how far along GT7 could possibly be.
 
I wonder if Sony Computer Entertainment will finally get off their butts and act responsible as a publisher so they can have some control over the Gran Turismo project. Polyphony is trying to be a jack of all trades, which is an order they clearly can't fulfill in today's age of the high-definition standard. Outsourcing some of the more time-consuming tasks to outside companies as Microsoft Studios did with Forza would drastically lower the time in between releases of the games and probably lead to a higher standard of production across all areas.

Which is unlikely to happen if Kaz continues to keep everything in-house and desperately cling on to that stupid "shokunin" philosophy for the car modelling.
 
Considering that Forza had zero next gen premiums less than two years ago.

Not entirely true. It's pretty apparent, at least in FM5, that a handful of the cars have not had the same care put into them as others (the 22B is still pretty awful). It's not the quality disparity you see in GT's Standards/Premiums, but it's not all even.

Also, FM4 first introduced AutoVista (before the ForzaVista rebranding), with the completely modelled engine bays and other opening parts. It's not a stretch to imagine those were the first of their XBOne-quality models, previewed in a 360 game. Every car from that mode, bar the old Bentley, made it in on launch for FM5...

If I feel like driving any sort of car in gt. I can.

...so long as it's one of those MX-5's or RX-7's, I suppose. Even if they didn't even exist in real life at any point.
 
...so long as it's one of those MX-5's or RX-7's, I suppose. Even if they didn't even exist in real life at any point.
I just used those as an example. I don't quite like to drive those 2 particular cars, but I see a ton of them. They do satisfy my skyline craving. everyone is different though. Them existing in real life or not isn't much of a big deal, I can drive a real car that I can find on a lot, or dip into fantasy world within the same game. GT6 really does have a lot more than people give it credit for. My favourite part on the whole game honestly is the car descriptions >.> I've spent hours reading those.

I do wish they had tyre settings, and more dirt tracks, and more rally events. They have all the rally cars they could possibly want. But with no where really to drive it. Same with pike's peak cars. Where's the pike's peak to run, said cars for? That part never made sense to me. I do know they are missing quite a few manufacturers that I'm sure a lot of people would love to see, Only problem is licensing.

VGT is a great concept though, it should have been saved for gt7 where we would be able to truly enjoy it, with a full interior, and gallery views of the concepts the companies create. They're pretty neat looking, but the final product might look completely different.


EDIT: But I did see Amplitude HD at E3 :D
 
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I just hope that they premiumise cars like 180SX, Chaser, M3 CSL because no other game have them in HD. For example we need 340 new cars of which 50 should be Asian, 100 American, 30 Australian, 150 Euro and 10 cars from Africa and South America. Meanwhile we need at least 50 Japanese premiums, 30 Euro and 20 US. And please Z-Tune. You're in Japan Kaz, It's easy for you. They definetly need to balance it out and bring back dealerships like GT5 (ofcourse UCD should be improved).
 
I just hope that they premiumise cars like 180SX, Chaser, M3 CSL because no other game have them in HD. For example we need 340 new cars of which 50 should be Asian, 100 American, 30 Australian, 150 Euro and 10 cars from Africa and South America. Meanwhile we need at least 50 Japanese premiums, 30 Euro and 20 US. And please Z-Tune. You're in Japan Kaz, It's easy for you. They definetly need to balance it out and bring back dealerships like GT5 (ofcourse UCD should be improved).

Having all the Standards and a few premium cars in UCD would be excellent.
 
The Vision GT programme was an interesting novelty, but one that noone asked for - I would have happily traded the numerous Vision GT DLC installments with contemporary cars that are already in DriveClub and Forza.

It's an article that I pretty much agree with (give or take a few items) but I completely disagree with this. The VGT Program was the most enticing feature to me in GT6 and I would much rather have them as compared to a few "new" models.
 
I am not going to read that wall of text but as other said it is same thing people have been saying here :lol:

Obviously they are working on the game of years. When it is ready they will show and announce it. I would be worried if it was something like Pcars who have limited time frame and money. PD can take their time and have the money for the game.

Considering that Forza had zero next gen premiums less than two years ago and will certainly catch and pass GT6 and is also likely to pass GT7 sometime during it's lifetime, I'd say Forza is running in 6th gear and will surpass GT for good and become the defacto leader in next gen car count before too long. It was the most significant advantage that GT had and now has no longer. Add to that how eclectic and varied the car list is and that it plugs a significant number of holes relative to the GT car list, likely leaves the overall quality of the list higher as well but of course that depends on your preferences.

What are you talking about. As far I know all forza cars have cockpit view. There is no standard or premium cars. Some looks better than others and obviously GT cars have more detail especially in gameplay compared to Forza. Auto vista mode which has nothing to do with gameplay is their new thing which was implemented since Forza4.

Forza6 will probably have around 500 cars? I would like to think GT7 target is the same and hopefully ditch the standard cars. Car variety is GT is pretty unique but they are lacking new cars. Forza is good in this department
 
But they can change their mind, right.

We never know.

This sounds an awful lot like wishful thinking.

Until they announce otherwise, I think it's fair to stick with the very clear statement that we already have that standards will be staying.

Otherwise you're just putting your fingers in your ears and singing "la la la, I can't hear you" just because it's not the answer you want to hear.

I wish they'd get rid of them too, but we have Kaz's statement along with two games now that say that Polyphony seem to be pretty comfortable with them. Apparently they're not aware of the irony of shooting for best in class graphics while still including assets from 2001.
 
There is really no reason to argue about all these small things about the past games. All i know is "I want to see the best damn Realistic Simulated racing game ever. So whatever Polyphony and Sony are planning on doing with Gran Turismo 7, better be ****ing amazing. No matter how long it takes." I'm pretty sure we can all agree on that. Sorry about the curse words, i'm getting too pumped and excited.
 
There is really no reason to argue about all these small things about the past games. All i know is "I want to see the best damn Realistic Simulated racing game ever. So whatever Polyphony and Sony are planning on doing with Gran Turismo 7, better be ****ing amazing. No matter how long it takes." I'm pretty sure we can all agree on that. Sorry about the curse words, i'm getting too pumped and excited.
First post I see... Welcome to GTPlanet. :gtpflag:Must've joined us for the wait towards GT7? ...I joined for GT5 racing leagues... :P
 
...A lot of what's in the OP sorta makes sense, but it hasn't even been two years since GT6 shipped so I'm not sure what the author of that article was expecing to hear in E3 2015.

There are a few things that doesn't sit well with me regarding how PDI goes about their business, yes, but still, I am currently thinking having a three year dev cycle isn't "glacially slow" at all.

True it was a miscalculation that GT6 came out on PS3, as the current gen consoles just about hit the market but that was (probably) due to GT5 being delayed.

I haven't lost any patience. After the shenanigans of GT5, I got wise and didn't expect much from GT6. Keep your hopes/goals low and the ensuing disappointments will be less severe. My life philosophy. :sly:
 
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