- 4,894
- Connecticut
- Ridley-X4
Let's begin with a relatively simple question: Why desire a livery editor? And I think this has a relatively simple answer: self-expression. But if that is so, I think it's a bit ironic that many liveries I've seen both in GTS and in other racing games are just replicas of other liveries, or slight modification thereof. So I want us to think deeply, about what exactly we're trying to accomplish here?
For a lot of racing liveries, they're made to expand reach and exposure of a company, so we should keep that in mind. For non-race cars, I think the rules are a lot more open and expressive, (just look at some of the made-for-game liveries of cars in series like NFS, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, The Crew, or Midnight Club) but at the same time, there can be fun in trying to work around limitations, regulations, and restrictions, which real-world racing liveries do have.
I think it could be good to see more customization options return in a future installment, such as aero parts, or even stuff like the horns. I also think many of the made-for-game race cars would be great as part of a resurrected RM system, where you turn a car that's yours into a car that's more "orthodox." I also wouldn't mind seeing more headlight covers, which is something that seems odd in GTS - it's often only an option on various Gr.4 and Gr.3 cars, with the Ferrari 512bb being a sole exception, and the only option is yellow. It's funny how a specific color is listed there, as opposed to a more vague but binary term.
The goals I'd personally have is to both have somewhat extensive customization but also making it easy to encounter a field of cars that's aesthetically pleasing, rather than just your own.
Here were my other suggestions for customization as a whole, beyond tuning:
-When adding stickers, you can only select from companies either involved with the car (e.g. brakes, the wheels you've selected, seats), can be involved (e.g. fuel/oil or tires), appear on the car's default livery (e.g. PIAA for the GT-R Gr.B) or are otherwise available (e.g. publication stickers and original decals). Overall, this would also clean up the list of available decals, and you'd still be free to use uploaded decals at your discretion - anyone who's made liveries for the Ferrari models would understand what I'm saying.
-There would also be default decals based on other stuff, such as the racing series a car was being used for when it was scanned, the stylized name of the car (it'd also be colorable), and the manufacturer's logo at that time alongside their current logo. That last part would also apply to the "involved entities," such as the brake and wheel manufacturers, and also coachbuilders like Pininfarina or Giugiaro. You'd also have manufacturer decals that are just the company's logo, the text for the name, or both alongside. Even the stylized name of the chosen wheel model would be a decal option, too.
-On top of this, wheels would be similarly limited depending on the class of car. So center-lock wheels would be the only options for Gr.1, Gr.2, and Gr.3 cars. For Gr.4 and other classes, the number of lugs on the available wheels depends on the class/car itself, and this would also apply to other wheel motifs, such as wheels typically meant for drift cars.
-You could also edit the default livery instead of completely clearing it, where you can replace all instances of a given sticker with another. For example, if you wanted to pick a different tire company, you could replace all instances of a particular Michelin sticker with something like Bridgestone, rather than just one at a time.
-For less creative people, there could also be some GT-original liveries available. This could include the liveries from GT League, but also liveries seen on GT-original liveries in prior games, such as the stealth models & chrome line cars from GT5, the 15th Anniversary skins from GT6, the Black Cars from GT4, or even the various cup cars from some installments, like the Beetle Cup car. I'd like to see this for the suits/helms, too, as I recall there being such an idea in GT6. (Some could even be rewards on top of credit/car prizes for some campaign events!)
-For the displayed name, I'd really like to have the name on the car be customizable, and perhaps even being able to change the flag, and add up to three driver names & flags. Perhaps even the font for this option could have a few alternatives. (Similarly, instead of individual letter decals, perhaps you could just pick a font, then type in the text you wanna use as a decal.
-Instead of having the many colors and special attributes to them, you could still use the color wheel, and pick these options from a drop-down menu. You could then select more than one color (I can't remember if it was two or three) for the colorshift paints. Instead of "special color" in the livery editor menu, there'd just be "real car paints," which you could then narrow down to a given automaker, (which are listed alphabetically rather than by all colors starting at red). A given paint option would become available when buying a car from that automaker in that color. I had thought of making every color option for a given car available even after buying it once, but I think that'd make this new menu too rough to scroll through, so instead, players could essentially customize it by buying a car multiple times in different colors if they're really interested in having that color be available.
-I'd also like to potentially change the interior color for cars that may undergo those changes when picking a different color at Brand Central. But perhaps it could be limited to the options already displayed at the manufacturer. (Doesn't window tint have similar changes for some models?)
-For the sake of uniformity in a given championship, perhaps you could also have original window stickers and/or additional decals that are forced on for some series other than the number stickers, like each of the two FIAGTCs.
-As another note, maybe there could be a "GT Creative Suite" where you create/upload/share liveries, photos, track designs, and/or other stuff instead of having be in-game. Heck, the social network could be there, too, instead of being in-game. I think it'd be good to have on mobile devices, or perhaps being also available as an official website app, but ideally used on desktop in that latter case.
-Perhaps you could also pick various OEM parts, too, especially if a given model of car has multiple factory wheel options.
-Finally, I had more ideas on pre-order bonuses. You could be given an in-game voucher for a car (similar to what I had in mind instead of being directly gifted the car, so you can still pick the color option and whatnot), and these cars would still be available to those who don't pre-order. It's just that they'd be gifted to pre-ordered copies instead of using in-game credits, though both sorts of players would need credits if they want additional examples of that same model. The part where I mean "more ideas," would be the actual cars offered as bonuses. I had already thought of Launch Edition cars, like the Alfa Romeo 4C, revived Alpine A110, and the Dodge SRT Viper GTS '13, but perhaps prototypes (not as in Sports Prototypes like LMPs) could also be bonuses, like the Audi R18 Prototype from the PS3-era games, or more recently, the Lexus RCF GT3 Prototype that was introduced in GTS' vanilla (it's a prototype because it was still pending homologation) and later supplemented with the formally-homologated RCF GT3. Another example being the Honda NSX Concept-GT (which could appear alongside the more formal 2nd-gen NSX GT500), or various concept cars that were later produced, like the Toyota FT-1, the FT-86, or the 2nd-gen NSX Concept seen in GT6. Again, pre-orders would only be gifted a in-game voucher for these cars, but after that initial sample, they'd need to use in-game credits for additional ones. This is more or less exactly the same in principle as the pre-order cars we've seen offered for GTS, except I was thinking of having the actual pre-order cars follow a neat little "Launch Edition/prototype" motif.
For a lot of racing liveries, they're made to expand reach and exposure of a company, so we should keep that in mind. For non-race cars, I think the rules are a lot more open and expressive, (just look at some of the made-for-game liveries of cars in series like NFS, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, The Crew, or Midnight Club) but at the same time, there can be fun in trying to work around limitations, regulations, and restrictions, which real-world racing liveries do have.
I think it could be good to see more customization options return in a future installment, such as aero parts, or even stuff like the horns. I also think many of the made-for-game race cars would be great as part of a resurrected RM system, where you turn a car that's yours into a car that's more "orthodox." I also wouldn't mind seeing more headlight covers, which is something that seems odd in GTS - it's often only an option on various Gr.4 and Gr.3 cars, with the Ferrari 512bb being a sole exception, and the only option is yellow. It's funny how a specific color is listed there, as opposed to a more vague but binary term.
The goals I'd personally have is to both have somewhat extensive customization but also making it easy to encounter a field of cars that's aesthetically pleasing, rather than just your own.
Here were my other suggestions for customization as a whole, beyond tuning:
-When adding stickers, you can only select from companies either involved with the car (e.g. brakes, the wheels you've selected, seats), can be involved (e.g. fuel/oil or tires), appear on the car's default livery (e.g. PIAA for the GT-R Gr.B) or are otherwise available (e.g. publication stickers and original decals). Overall, this would also clean up the list of available decals, and you'd still be free to use uploaded decals at your discretion - anyone who's made liveries for the Ferrari models would understand what I'm saying.
-There would also be default decals based on other stuff, such as the racing series a car was being used for when it was scanned, the stylized name of the car (it'd also be colorable), and the manufacturer's logo at that time alongside their current logo. That last part would also apply to the "involved entities," such as the brake and wheel manufacturers, and also coachbuilders like Pininfarina or Giugiaro. You'd also have manufacturer decals that are just the company's logo, the text for the name, or both alongside. Even the stylized name of the chosen wheel model would be a decal option, too.
-On top of this, wheels would be similarly limited depending on the class of car. So center-lock wheels would be the only options for Gr.1, Gr.2, and Gr.3 cars. For Gr.4 and other classes, the number of lugs on the available wheels depends on the class/car itself, and this would also apply to other wheel motifs, such as wheels typically meant for drift cars.
-You could also edit the default livery instead of completely clearing it, where you can replace all instances of a given sticker with another. For example, if you wanted to pick a different tire company, you could replace all instances of a particular Michelin sticker with something like Bridgestone, rather than just one at a time.
-For less creative people, there could also be some GT-original liveries available. This could include the liveries from GT League, but also liveries seen on GT-original liveries in prior games, such as the stealth models & chrome line cars from GT5, the 15th Anniversary skins from GT6, the Black Cars from GT4, or even the various cup cars from some installments, like the Beetle Cup car. I'd like to see this for the suits/helms, too, as I recall there being such an idea in GT6. (Some could even be rewards on top of credit/car prizes for some campaign events!)
-For the displayed name, I'd really like to have the name on the car be customizable, and perhaps even being able to change the flag, and add up to three driver names & flags. Perhaps even the font for this option could have a few alternatives. (Similarly, instead of individual letter decals, perhaps you could just pick a font, then type in the text you wanna use as a decal.
-Instead of having the many colors and special attributes to them, you could still use the color wheel, and pick these options from a drop-down menu. You could then select more than one color (I can't remember if it was two or three) for the colorshift paints. Instead of "special color" in the livery editor menu, there'd just be "real car paints," which you could then narrow down to a given automaker, (which are listed alphabetically rather than by all colors starting at red). A given paint option would become available when buying a car from that automaker in that color. I had thought of making every color option for a given car available even after buying it once, but I think that'd make this new menu too rough to scroll through, so instead, players could essentially customize it by buying a car multiple times in different colors if they're really interested in having that color be available.
-I'd also like to potentially change the interior color for cars that may undergo those changes when picking a different color at Brand Central. But perhaps it could be limited to the options already displayed at the manufacturer. (Doesn't window tint have similar changes for some models?)
-For the sake of uniformity in a given championship, perhaps you could also have original window stickers and/or additional decals that are forced on for some series other than the number stickers, like each of the two FIAGTCs.
-As another note, maybe there could be a "GT Creative Suite" where you create/upload/share liveries, photos, track designs, and/or other stuff instead of having be in-game. Heck, the social network could be there, too, instead of being in-game. I think it'd be good to have on mobile devices, or perhaps being also available as an official website app, but ideally used on desktop in that latter case.
-Perhaps you could also pick various OEM parts, too, especially if a given model of car has multiple factory wheel options.
-Finally, I had more ideas on pre-order bonuses. You could be given an in-game voucher for a car (similar to what I had in mind instead of being directly gifted the car, so you can still pick the color option and whatnot), and these cars would still be available to those who don't pre-order. It's just that they'd be gifted to pre-ordered copies instead of using in-game credits, though both sorts of players would need credits if they want additional examples of that same model. The part where I mean "more ideas," would be the actual cars offered as bonuses. I had already thought of Launch Edition cars, like the Alfa Romeo 4C, revived Alpine A110, and the Dodge SRT Viper GTS '13, but perhaps prototypes (not as in Sports Prototypes like LMPs) could also be bonuses, like the Audi R18 Prototype from the PS3-era games, or more recently, the Lexus RCF GT3 Prototype that was introduced in GTS' vanilla (it's a prototype because it was still pending homologation) and later supplemented with the formally-homologated RCF GT3. Another example being the Honda NSX Concept-GT (which could appear alongside the more formal 2nd-gen NSX GT500), or various concept cars that were later produced, like the Toyota FT-1, the FT-86, or the 2nd-gen NSX Concept seen in GT6. Again, pre-orders would only be gifted a in-game voucher for these cars, but after that initial sample, they'd need to use in-game credits for additional ones. This is more or less exactly the same in principle as the pre-order cars we've seen offered for GTS, except I was thinking of having the actual pre-order cars follow a neat little "Launch Edition/prototype" motif.
