Making the Ring more Real

[Brock5000]

By all accounts the recreation of the fabled Nurburgring in GT4 is as good as it gets, however one thing that does get mentioned is that in real life it feels narrower and the hills are steeper. Well here's an easy way to make that happen in GT4!

Simply change the screen setup from 4:3 to 16:9, it's that easy. click on the thumbnails to enlarge.

Standard 4:3 view


16:9 view on a 4:3 TV


As you can see from the graffiti the car is in exactly the same position for each shot, but in the 16:9 one the hill approahing Flugplatz is noticably steeper and not as wide as the 4:3 shot. Additionaly, the 16:9 view gives a wider field of view which helps one line up the apex of corners

Of course this won't be of much benefit for those lucky enough to have a widescreen TV, but for the majority with standard 'square' TV sets this will be an effective change.

Keep in mind that if you choose to race against other cars they will appear squashed up and the illusion is spoiled. Likewsie the dials are oval shaped, but those who are content to do lap after lap of the ring in time trial mode with the bumper view should get used to the it within a lap or so.

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, I haven't seen it, but hopefully it will make someone's GT4 experience just that much sweeter

/goes back to trying to beat 8:30 in a stock yellowbird on N1 tyres

 

[amar212]

Actually, if you have widescreen TV, and have a real need to do what you propose, there is a also simple way to do it.

As GT4 offers true 16:9 ratio, you choose it and then shrink the picture on your TV to 4:3. Effect is the same.

Blah, whatever.

 

[Greycap]

Or you can move your seat to about 1m from the screen. I can guarantee that the speed feels much higher and the road narrower!

 

[gibus]

Or you can move your seat to about 1m from the screen. I can guarantee that the speed feels much higher and the road narrower!

and u'll end up being at 10 cm of the screen after playing that close to the screen for a couple of months..

 

[niky]

No wonder I think the ring is so narrow... I sit about 1 foot away from my dinky 14" bedroom TV...

 

[Knickersfan]

Surely the car would feel narrower aswell as the track..?

 

[gibus]

Surely the car would feel narrower aswell as the track..?

yeah.. technically it should all be proportional..

 

[Oliver_Newton]

That's a pretty cool idea. I think I'm gonna have to try that out. Cool.

 

[T5-R]

Soon people will be trying to pick out individual colours from the white spec in the very centre of a dark TV screen. Followed by the invention of a paddle tennis game...

I can imagine the media stories now...

 

[ferrari_chris]

The pictures look good - I'll have to give this a try.

 

[JFM92_GTRacer]

wow never thought about that, i guess i'll try it!

 

[ving]

interesting!
thanks

 

[coolacrille]

Sure, this is interesting. But I doubt this makes the experience more "real"..
AND, if you compress the road by changing the image-aspect, the car "shrinks" too. So I don't see the difference..

EDIT: Ok, I'm going to try it right now and will be back in a half-hour with the results. =)

 

[speedthrill]

Sure, this is interesting. But I doubt this makes the experience more "real"..
AND, if you compress the road by changing the image-aspect, the car "shrinks" too. So I don't see the difference..

Wy don't we ask this at all the people who replied above saying that they would try it.

So have you tried it? Does it give a more real experience or a more squashed experience? Tell us...

 

[coolacrille]

So, I tried it. My first impression was, "wow, the road is really narrow!". But after just the first sector I had got the feel for it. And like I said earlier, I don't see the difference. Except it looks a bit funny! If you look at the car in 3rd person view it's uuugly.. Anyway, the track isn't narrower. Not in proportion to the car, it just looks like it. It doesn't feel like it is. If I could drive with my eyes closed there would be no difference between my 4:3-laps and the 16:9-laps...

 

[Alfaholic]

If I could drive with my eyes closed there would be no difference between my 4:3-laps and the 16:9-laps...

Never a truer word spoken! In both cases, with your eyes shut, your lap times would be similarly lengthy

 

[JasBird]

Just been at a friends house and tried GT4 with a projector. Was surprised how much more you sense the elevation change and the corners feel sharper for some strange reason. Took me a couple of minutes to readjust the driving. Now I'm even more impressed with GT4, and it really showed me how different perspective works, so we can't just "blame" PD.

 

[FastEddie12]

Just been at a friends house and tried GT4 with a projector. Was surprised how much more you sense the elevation change and the corners feel sharper for some strange reason. Took me a couple of minutes to readjust the driving. Now I'm even more impressed with GT4, and it really showed me how different perspective works, so we can't just "blame" PD.

Aha! Sounds like we're getting somewhere. Did the straights seem shorter too? cos that's what you notice when you're there.

You're mate's a lucky buzzard. I used to run a pub back in GT1 days and putting it on the drop down screen was sooo much better. Shame I had to work, really...

 

[JasBird]

Aha! Sounds like we're getting somewhere. Did the straights seem shorter too? cos that's what you notice when you're there.

Yes if I remember correctly I actually felt the straights were shorter, and I think I commented it to the friend of mine too.

I think I he had it set too 16:9? At home I play 4:3 at an normal 28" TV, so maybe that also had an impact on my impressions?

I was really surprised to find such a big change. It really changed the Ring experience. I only played for about 1/2 hour, but it was so fun. I started laughing in the begining, because I had trouble hitting the apex in the corners, because it felt so different. Like at Hatzenbach you really feel that you throw the car around in the corners.

But I have to say that the feel for elevation was the biggest surprise. First time I drove Fuchrorhe was almost scary

The bad things is that now I really want a projector too This is the guy who got me on the PS2/GT3&4/DFP bandwagon in the first place. Now that's what I call a friend

 

[FastEddie12]

But I have to say that the feel for elevation was the biggest surprise. First time I drove Fuchrorhe was almost scary

The bad things is that now I really want a projector too This is the guy who got me on the PS2/GT3&4/DFP bandwagon in the first place. Now that's what I call a friend

What about Pflantzgarten? there's a massive drop there that's awesome on a GSX-R!!

Think of it as one of your goals in life to have a projector TV. Fab for films as well, especially those that you are never again going to be able to see in the cinema: Alien, Lawrence of Arabia (I have a thing about deserts...), American Pie...

 

[arsenal]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that PD purposely had to distort the view of the tracks just a little bit, so that we don't suffer from tunnel vision by playing the game on a television screen. They gave us a bit of a wide angle view so that we could have a better overall view of the tracks and our surroundings. So it may distort what some of the tracks look like, but it probably makes the game more enjoyable overall.