How would I handle GT7/GT8? Let's find out together!

[MIE1992]

I regretfully realize that GT7 fails to inspire the feeling of class and sublimity that I particularly desire from Gran Turismo. Furthermore, not only am I not a game designer, but I have zero intention of entering the field, especially when I hear how poor the pay is. However, I love learning about game design and appreciating every last detail, from the more notable stuff like the progression to subtle stuff like the UI design. I also enjoy writing critiques/reviews/analyses for various games and/or features within them.

If I were to write every last thing I'd do for GT7, and/or how I'd handle GT8, it would take too much time for me. But I have a solution to make the disclosure of my ideas more efficient. Simply put, just ask me about how I'd handle a certain facet, and I would prefer you be as specific as possible. For example, don't simply ask me about the car list - ask me about how I'd include a certain group of cars, such as late-90s/early 00s JDM sports cars, or cars penned by a certain designer like Giovanni Michelotti. This can also include much narrower things, such as:

-The racing and menu UI. For example, the racing UI could vary more notably depending on the car, such as how some newer cars these days show you your current MPG, which often varies with your RPM.
-How I'd approach some brands to make another Vision Gran Turismo, especially Pininfarina and Toyota.
-How certain cars are acquired, such as more rare or vintage machines.
-How penalties are served.
-The soundtrack.
-How dynamic time/weather could be handled better.
-Selling cars, which I'd make something fun in its own right.
-How the game would be monetized. These games likely aren't cheap to make, y'know.
-Regulations for Sport Mode events, including championship rounds for the Nations Cup and Manufacturers Series Cup.
-Scapes locations.
-Options for lobbies.
-The formation of racing teams.
-The jingles that play when you buy certain cars or start/finish certain events.
-How the campaign would be structured, including license tests, missions, and special events.
-Even the basic control scheme, including how things like driving assists and transmissions would be handled.

I have ideas for almost anything and everything you could account for in a GT title.

Some parts of GT7's design are seemingly set in stone - and I seriously wonder if they really used the UI designer from Ridge Racer, seeing how I'd describe GT7's UI as milquetoast at best. That said, I'd still love to take some ideas that would fit into a GT7 update, such as new Bonus or Extra Menus. Of course, I have tons of ideas that I only see being integrated into an all-new installment, which likely would be GT8. Who knows, maybe PD will see this thread and some of my ideas within it, seeing how it's an open secret that they occasionally watch this forum.

So I implore you all to ask away!

 

[Dave A]

I love threads where people can be creative with ideas. They can really show how some creative thinking can turn tried and tested formulas into something new and fresh.

With that in mind, I'd love to hear how you would implement the GT Cafe and menu system in GT8? If you would include it at all. I have my own idea for a system that could make the menus interesting without being the focal point of the single player career.

 

[MIE1992]

With that in mind, I'd love to hear how you would implement the GT Cafe and menu system in GT8? If you would include it at all. I have my own idea for a system that could make the menus interesting without being the focal point of the single player career.

I wouldn't really include the menus as much as I'd have more events (both in the campaign and Sport Mode) that incentivize the actual usage of as many different cars as possible. Meanwhile, the Cafe in most cases is just fine with you collecting a car and then letting it sit indefinitely. I like the idea of getting more info from the "characters," but I'd rather than just be part of the car's flavor text. Perhaps there could be multiple sections/tabs you could jump to for a car's flavor text, not unlike a Wikipedia page, such as on its engine, origin, accolades, design, and/or other facets.

However, since the Cafe (and menus) are a thing in GT7, I'd love to offer my ideas for future Bonus/Extra menus.

For one example, we already have an Extra Menu featuring Gr.2 cars, but I'd love for there to be a Bonus Menu event for those machines, too. With how I've seen things go so far, I'd likely be all-inclusive for Gr.2 cars, with a PP limit of 850. I'd personally select the three rounds to be at Fuji Speedway, Le Mans, and Trial Mountain.

Or there could be a Group C-themed Extra Menu, featuring the Mazda 787B, the Mercedes-Sauber C9, and the Porsche 962C.

Another idea would be a Bonus Menu that solely only permits the use of the Nissan Skyline Super Silhouette, the Nissan Skyline GT-R GT500 '99, and the Nissan GT-R GT3. Perhaps this could be a great way to have a slightly different take on the "Race of the Red 'R' Emblem" event. (Although then again, I'd rather that event be limited to a wider range of variants of the Nissan Skyline and/or Nissan GT-R. Maybe it could include both road-going and racing variants, not unlike the Deep Forest One Hour, and like that event, all cars would be limited to a certain PP. That could get a bit hectic, though, so maybe it'd be better to limit a future iteration of this event to road-going variants of the Skyline and/or GT-R, and tuned to a certain PP limit.)

Naturally, there are some potential one-make events we could definitely have in the form of Bonus Menus, featuring the following cars and rounds:

Dallara SF19 (Both Honda and Toyota) - Fuji Speedway/Autopolis/Tokyo Expressway South
Gran Turismo F1500T-A - Interlagos/Brands Hatch/Nurburgring GP
Gran Turismo Racing Kart 125 Shifter - Catalunya National/Kyoto Driving Park Miyabi/Suzuka East
Gran Turismo Red Bull X2019 Competition - Red Bull Ring/St. Croix C/Sardegna Road Track A
McLaren MP4/4 - Spa-Francorchamps/Suzuka/Monza

 

[Dave A]

I would defintiely expand the single player career, but I would probably seperate the Cafe and the Menus, use the Cafe as an online meeting place if I had to keep it but I would rebrand the Menu's as Collections. Each Colection would provide benefits on completion, but they wouldn't all be the same. So for example, collecting 5 Ferrari's would invite you to purchase the Ferrari Enzo, this would be indefinite and remove the randomness from the invites. Purchasing the F40, F50 and Enzo would then unlock the La Ferrari and FX models for purchase.

Take the recent Silvia sisters menu, you could turn that into a collection and when you have the three cars you are invited to join the Silvia Club which contains a handful of Silvia related races and events. This is very much in a similar vein to your ideas with the one make races.

Some collcetions might provide a discount from the manufacturer, invitations to buy special cars, unlock events, some might provide more than one thing and more. But they wouldn't be the core aspect of the single player career mode. I would like that to remain and be broken down into singel race and championship based events that are tiered by license level, licenses are something else I would change but I can go into that seperately.

There would also be no order of completing the collections, you could ignore them for most of the game if you wanted and just complete ones as and when you happen to meet the criteria naturally. Completionists would want to complete them all no doubt, but the game should have enough content that if you chose to avoid them, there would still be plenty to do. They shouldn't be required to open up the bulk of the game.

When a collection is completed there should be no darting around the menu screens to confirm that, it should just happen automatically with a pop up notification informing you that you've completed x collection and that has done y for you.

 

[SportCoaster]

How would the Track Editor be improved from the 2 Gran Turismo titles before Gran Turismo 7? I personally feel a little bummed out that it wasn't brought back for the current game.

 

[MIE1992]

I would definitely expand the single player career, but I would probably separate the Cafe and the Menus, use the Cafe as an online meeting place if I had to keep it but I would rebrand the Menu's as Collections. Each collection would provide benefits on completion, but they wouldn't all be the same. So for example, collecting 5 Ferrari's would invite you to purchase the Ferrari Enzo, this would be indefinite and remove the randomness from the invites. Purchasing the F40, F50 and Enzo would then unlock the La Ferrari and FX models for purchase.

Take the recent Silvia sisters menu, you could turn that into a collection and when you have the three cars you are invited to join the Silvia Club which contains a handful of Silvia related races and events. This is very much in a similar vein to your ideas with the one make races.

Some collections might provide a discount from the manufacturer, invitations to buy special cars, unlock events, some might provide more than one thing and more. But they wouldn't be the core aspect of the single player career mode. I would like that to remain and be broken down into single race and championship based events that are tiered by license level, licenses are something else I would change but I can go into that separately.

There would also be no order of completing the collections, you could ignore them for most of the game if you wanted and just complete ones as and when you happen to meet the criteria naturally. Completionists would want to complete them all no doubt, but the game should have enough content that if you chose to avoid them, there would still be plenty to do. They shouldn't be required to open up the bulk of the game.

When a collection is completed there should be no darting around the menu screens to confirm that, it should just happen automatically with a pop up notification informing you that you've completed x collection and that has done y for you.

Maybe. But I'd rather have something more in-line with previous GT games, where there would be Beginner/Amateur/Professional/Extreme/Endurance events, complete with missions, which is where you may find hillclimb events, drift events, and drag races. There would be prize cars that fit the motif of each event, much like in all titles up to GT6. PD could still add new rounds to a single race event or perhaps new events altogether, and either would have a special "bonus" tag to differentiate them from events you'd need to complete for 100% completion - or at least something resembling it.

That said, I do like a lot of your ideas here, especially with the idea of using collections to unlock special events, like the Silvia Sisters, or cars that are locked behind invites in GT7.

How would the Track Editor be improved from the 2 Gran Turismo titles before Gran Turismo 7? I personally feel a little bummed out that it wasn't brought back for the current game.

I actually wouldn't include it. I think the resources spent developing it could be spent in much better places. For one thing, most people aren't that creative, so you'd likely just get a bunch of circuits that exist either in the real-world or in other videogames - including previous GT titles - and the effort a player spends on replicating a real-world (or GT-original) circuit could very well go to waste if PD ends up adding that very circuit in an update. Besides, I'd rather there be more courses in general, both from the real world, returning from previous GT games, and new original circuits.