Idea - A-spec prestige mode

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White & Nerdy

White & Nerdy

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By now pretty much everyone knows the A-spec mode in this game is underwhelming. To solve the problem, I present... PRESTIGE MODE!

The first prestige would double the race length except for endurance races, so you're running B-spec length races.

The second prestige would introduce a lot of new events, including enduance races, and lengthen some of the existing events (as well as the individual races in some of the higher-level events... you can now run a 10-15 race Formula GT season with realistic race lengths again!). Some events would also get more restrictions. Playing on second prestige would be much like playing GT4 with regards to event structure.

The third prestige severely lengthens all races except for existing endurances, so that every race except for those in the first one or two events is affected by pit stops. You would also have fairly heavy regulations to ensure you're on a level playing field with the AI.

Once you finish out the thrid prestige, you have the option to prestige one more time. Instead of making the game harder, however, the fourth prestige simply allows you to go back and play on any level you want (including no-prestige, AKA original GT5 career), as well as the ability to repeatedly win prize cars - you've earned the right. It would also allow you to purchase all Stealth and Chromeline cars in the appropriate dealerships (pending final approval from whoever thought keeping half of them away from America was a good idea).

Higher prestige levels = better prizes.

Maybe such a prestige system could be patched in alongside the tracks from GT4 and other previous GT games (possibly including GTPSP which I heard has a few real-life circuits not seen in any other GT). The extra tracks could be unlocked only on higher prestige levels.
 
It was terrible in CoD, it would be worse in GT. I don't really play offline, but if I had to play lousy events just to get to good events, I would not be happy.

The game just needs to give people what they want. Unlock all option, suggested restrictions, race length/AI difficulty selector, and event creator.

All from the beginning.

The extra tracks could be unlocked only on higher prestige levels.
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Extremely, terribly, beyond imagining and the ability of words to express, bad.
 
Don't think of it as playing lousy events to get good events, think of it as playing easy events to get harder events.

It'd give the people who've already finished the original career something more to do, anyway.
 
Fine. Just throwing it out there. Thought I had a way to solve most of the problems with the game - short, easy events, too few events, one-time prize cars, and half-unavailable special cars for which you must trade away your most valuable car and get a Euro PSN account - with one change.

Also, if you don't like "prestige" then would calling it "difficulty levels" have been better?
 
Easy = lousy, the exception being when you need to play them to unlock things. This is why I like GT5's A-Spec being easy. It's terrible, but I'm forced to play it, so I'd rather not exert myself.

The whole GT system is messed up. The game should be about racing, but they put credits and maintenance in the way. It doesn't add an ounce of fun. If GT races had:

Good AI
Many laps, practice, setup, and qualification, and saving between races

I would play A-Spec. But if I was playing A-Spec for fun, why would I want/need credits and limited options? And why would I want to be forced into waiting for the harder events? The hard events would be the only ones worth doing.

If I made the game, every race would be hard. The drivers in the Sunday Cup would be pushing their Midgets to the limit of grip, and if you were also in a Midget (which would be completely optional, take the X1 if you want), you would need to be a very skilled driver just to stay out of last. Why would I possibly want to race mindless drones who can't even stay on the road instead?

IMO, any race where the AI isn't set to max is a waste (this is assuming that the single player is worth playing of course). People seem accustomed to the idea that faster car = harder race. It's not true. Racing is the kind of thing that gives you the same challenge no matter what equipment you're using. And that challenge is what the racer seeks, I assume. This is why unlocking and all that is pointless. All it does is give you less to play with.


White & Nerdy
Also, if you don't like "prestige" then would calling it "difficulty levels" have been better?
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If the options were all placed on the table at the very beginning of the game, it's fine. It doesn't matter what you call them. Your original idea seemed to be based on unlocking, which is something I will instantly shoot down.
 
Haha, first thing that came to mind is to lose all your cars and rebuild the garage again.
 
Abstrak0ne
Haha, first thing that came to mind is to lose all your cars and rebuild the garage again.
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That thought alone is enough to make me cringe!:ouch:

But I'm not sure I would want to do the same events repeatedly, only a little longer each time.

I'd opt for a larger number of events straight up with HP and tire limits - sort of like an updated GT2-style career. That way, I would have more to do with a greater challenge and more places to use my cars to make good money, which IMO is the single greatest flaw in GT5; So many awesome rides that can only be used competitively in races that pay next to nothing. I'd like to take my stock vehicle-x and race it against similar vehicles and be able to win money that makes it worth driving and tuning to perfection. THAT is what A-Spec needs!
 
Well it obviously needs more races to begin with, but how about having it so it supplies you WITH a car for every race, amd when you win that race, you also win the car that was used? I'm not saying you have to use the suplied car, any would suffice (obviously no Ferrari in the Japanese events). That way you can use the car provided, with a bit of a challege, or fork out your 'hard earned' on something to destroy the field?
 
People keep telling me I'm not supposed to be enjoying A-spec. Sorry, I don't know what it is I'm doing wrong but I'm absolutely loving it :)
 
Exorcet
If GT races had:

Good AI
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The only problem with the A.I. is it brakes too hard in turns. Every racing game has A.I. that blows in some aspects.

Frankly, I've had no fun online. Physics are frooked up. It seems there are always laggy cars. Thus, I'm stuck with racing the bots in A-Spec races. Not stuck exactly, in fact I'm having a blast. My latest thrill is "race modding" my Ford GT to about 700hp and entering one of the American Championship races. Even with Racing Softs, the car has less grip and can't take corners as fast as the others. Winning means very careful throttle control and turning, then drafting to have a chance to catch the leaders. And I don't always win, which adds some spice to the contest.

And on your Midget race example, while that sounds nice in theory, I'm not sure that's what most of us would like. If the bots rode the grip envelope but didn't lose it on occasion, that would mean they were racing about perfectly. Which means winning might be close to impossible in another Midget. Maybe you're one of those people who likes winning two races out of 100 tries. If so... well, that's you. While I don't exactly have a life right now, I also don't like beating my head against a wall either. Or resorting to overpowering the competition to have a decent chance. 50-50 sounds okay to me, although I much prefer a winning percentage that's above 60%.

Anyway, I think Kaz just needs to have the team look at GT4 and follow that template, and use all those freaking cool tracks they built! Creating a race is pretty simple. Just take a series of cars and tracks that fit a theme, define prizes, race length and any wear and tear, as well as any weather and time of day, and make sure the bots can race it properly. Then throw it out there for us. Don't put unnecessary walls in the way, other than needing to grind for a certain car. Well, and it would be nice if we could race mod more cars, even Standards.

GT5 has the potential to exceed every racing game if Kaz would just give us something remotely like what he blessed us with in GT4.
 
maybe...Race some online series?

COD single player was not really its strong point.... the longevity is online, GT5 is no different. There is enough structured online racing available (leagues and series) that you could spend the next 2 years racing every week and not drive the same car more than 1 event series....

AI.... Real Person... ... I know which I prefer to race against.
 
Or they could just give us the ability to pick a track, the number of laps, AI skill and various car requirements and reward us with credits relative to the race we created. This exists in "another racing game" so it's definitely possible.

Single race in arcade mode is close, except the randomized cars aren't very random at all (ending up with all Citroen GTs) and you can't set restrictions on drivetrain, weight etc.
 
I actually like a lot of what you said about the prestiges, they would just have to up the AI difficulty a little. Instead of prestige(because that will get COD hate), let's call call it New Game Plus (NG+) like a some RPGs or New Race Plus (NR+) for uniqueness. Same career, just increased distances and difficulty. You may be onto something. I think you should introduce on the feedback page, just as NR+.

Edit: I do agree with a lot of the earlier posters though, if they implemented something like this we shouldn't lose anything in our garage and all tracks and cars should be unlocked from the begining. I like the idea of it resetting A-spec so you do the events at longer distances and faster AI. Like Demon's Souls would say at NR+: The true Gran Turismo starts now. Oh man, I just had thoughts of hints and oil stains on the track where people crash. Make it happen PD
 
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Rossticles
Go play Call of Duty.
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This.

Because getting to level 40 isn't a grind. There is no way I'm doing it again. They should have just put more events to start with. And where's my online leaderboards.
 
Tenacious D
And on your Midget race example, while that sounds nice in theory, I'm not sure that's what most of us would like.
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It's was only an example. And one of the themes in my post, and pretty much every I say, is choice. I wouldn't care if there was the option to have the AI park in pit lane.

On the subject of losing, I don't mind it all. I wouldn't mind going through a GT game and never winning a race, except that the games are poorly structured such that you need to win to get stuff, basically. As much as I love competition and close racing, I will never likely race under such conditions in a GT game. Unlocks just ruin it because it becomes less about racing and more about progression.
 
As long as they unlock the UCD with the "prestige" mode, I'm cool.

Couple it with harder races and a much larger monetary reward, and we might be onto something.
 
The reason for this suggestion was that I was trying to solve the problems with affecting the existing content. It's intended as an add-on by patch or DLC. Uprooting and replacing content post-release just sounds a little bit improper to me. Sorry if this is a stupid idea.

In a week or two, I may have a better one.
 
White & Nerdy
The reason for this suggestion was that I was trying to solve the problems with affecting the existing content. It's intended as an add-on by patch or DLC. Uprooting and replacing content post-release just sounds a little bit improper to me. Sorry if this is a stupid idea.

In a week or two, I may have a better one.
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It wasn't a stupid idea, the problem was mentioning COD, there are a lot of idiots around here who have to prove they are cool by hating on COD.

People love the NG+ on many different style of games. Why couldn't it work on GT5? These people hating it are the same ones that would grind Indy dream car race for a week for credits and then call you an idiot for proposing that we can do A-spec career again but at longer distance/higher difficulty if we wanted to, not even make it required. So what is so bad about your idea?

I still say you refine it and put it on the feedback page, or I will if you give me permission. It is one of the more original ideas you will find around here.
 
Exorcet
On the subject of losing, I don't mind it all. I wouldn't mind going through a GT game and never winning a race
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Yeah, I had a feeling... :p Hardly anyone is going to agree with your sentiment, and not just because of winning stuff. You could structure a game to reward you with lesser cars for 2nd and 3rd place finishes, or as many positions as you want, but only a handful of gamers would put up with it.

No pro racer would be content to hear from his crew chief, "You're good, but you'll never finish first."

Just suppose a game maker proclaiming, "We've made a racing game so authentic and accurate that practically no one will ever win a race!" Imagine the... hundreds of sales. :D

Anyway, the Prestige Mode idea needs work. Doing the same things over and over, yuck. Expanding the racing with more events and tracks, to make GT5 events resemble GT4's event list, much better.

I grew to loathe Forza 2 because Turn 10 lobbed off some of the very nice tracks from FM1, and made up for it by using variations on their Test Course. And using them. And RE-using them. I began to hate that track very quickly.

Since many of us are unhappy with the way online racing is working out, we're making do with single player A-Spec, and using our own ideas to make it enjoyable, as I posted previously. A-Spec needs to be expanded, not recycled.
 

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