- 7,823
- U S A
- Tetsumura
- Nigel Fox
If you look at my stats, you'll see I'm not a big topic starter. But I think this one should have been made long ago. So without further ado...
Memo to SONY:
THANK you very much for supporting Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital in their work to produce GT5. No doubt, the money is rolling in from holiday sales, and will continue to do so solidly through the beginning of next year.
HOWEVER... surely by now, you have become aware of a few complaints. Many fans are disgruntled. A number of games have already been returned. Simply running the game with our PS3s net connected caused problems. I'll discuss two of these, which are main issues with the fans.
Online: you may have been caught off guard with how big a drain GT5 is on PSN resources, but you need to get this sorted, especially if Polyphony implements the online structures we expect them to, with online race building tools, league and season play. You need to have a Playstation Network in place to handle this when it develops.
Meddling with and making demands of Polyphony: many of us hated how you forced GT PSP on Polyphony, causing work to stop on GT5 for a period of time. And forcing the implementation of 3D on GT5 has apparently hurt the performance of the game. And this is especially bad considering that very few of us are buying 3D TVs just yet, and may not for some years. This should have been OPTIONAL, not required of GT5 as a whole. The graphics and performance are even worse than in GT5 Prologue. And there are other matters which have taxed Polyphony's time and resources, and hurt the quality of GT5, not the least of these are the inclusion of Standard cars and tracks. Yes, we asked for the moon. Kazunori did what he could, and ported assets from GT4 and PSP, but many fans aren't happy with having two levels of quality in this game.
Okay, so the money is rolling in now. Support Polyphony Digital.
They need modelers more than anything, to my estimation. Fund them so they can hire these people. We would like to see extra content at some point. Those of us dissatisfied with the Standard cars and tracks would like to see these replaced with Premium versions. Many of us would like to see the track list expanded. And we expect a much better Gran Turismo 6.
I know expanding a network infrastructure is expensive, but this needs to be done if you want to keep selling games. Give Polyphony's online team the support and resources they need to realize a good online game environment.
To me, one big issue is STOP MEDDLING. Don't force side projects on Polyphony, like GT PSP, which was intended by Kazunori to be released after GT5. Don't push fringe technology on us like 3D, when very few of us will even be able to use it. Let Kaz and Polyphony do their job. We will reward you with lots of money.
Memo to Kazunori-san:
I am very grateful for Gran Turismo 5. Many of us are, and are having the drive of our lives. But it has issues.
Single Player offline mode is much too small, and to make matters worse, it has been split into A-Spec and B-Spec Modes. While in GT4 they worked together, and B-Spec could be enjoyed or ignored, and was very useful in endurance races for many of us, making B-Spec a separate mode is a strange idea. Many of us don't like it at all and resent being pushed into playing it. I understand your reasoning, but I personally think the way it was implemented could have been better. For that matter, the range of tracks used in Single Player Mode is surprisingly limited, which makes the game seem even smaller and more repetitive. I understand that you wanted Online Mode to be very large and comprehensive, with lots of events and user generated events. But not only is the PSN not up to this demand right now, many of us can't race online at all. A-Spec Mode should have been much larger, even bigger than it was in GT4, which was the greatest game in the series in many eyes. Single Player A-Spec Mode needs to be expanded greatly, with many more events, and using all of the tracks. Using the Course Maker to generate tracks is fine, but your team did some marvelous work, and I'd like to see all of it.
The economy is very stingy compared to previous games. It would be fine if we could win prize cars endlessly as before, or could race for prizes and experience points online, but we can't yet. It could use some adjustment.
On prize cars, I think some changes are in order. Many of them don't make much sense. They should all be greatly valued, and all or almost all should be useful in subsequent events.
The Experience Point system makes no sense to many of us, and seems to be an unnecessary obstacle to force us to race more. It walls many of us off from parts of the game until we unlock them, which once again makes a small game seem even smaller. And since there are so few events, "grinding" for points becomes boring and frustrating for many. Personally, I think adding this redundant structure was unnecessary, and not all that well thought out.
The used car lot is a source of frustration to many of us as well. While a few of us refuse to have anything to do with Standard cars, the rest of us like or even love them. I do, I think they're fantastic. However, the used lot is way too small, and we are often forced to wait for some time for a car or truck we want to use in a certain event. It really should be expanded, and some of the ideas kicked around here used for it, such as laying deposits to hold cars wanted, or notices sent when a certain vehicle is available. Or even a certain color.
On that topic, the Paint Shop needs to be overhauled. A Paint Shop with no paint colors of its own is just bizarre. At the very least, it should have a range of basic colors available. Collecting paint chips is still a good idea, because cars have a very wide range of exotic, unique, high quality finishes.
I love Standard cars, but others do not. One thing which would help out a great deal with them would be just a few changes:
I have some personal requests.
Please port over all the tracks from previous Gran Turismos, and provide them as DLC. I would also like to see all the missing cars from the previous games, brought up to Standard... standards.
I'm sure you're well aware that many of us also want additional Premium cars and tracks as DLC at some point, historical as well as fantasy tracks.
I would like to see Race Modification provided for all Premium cars. If at all possible, I'd like to see it for Standards as well. I would prefer a few choices of liveries for our cars, as you did so marvelously in GT2. And if possible, I would greatly enjoy having some sort of Livery Editor added at some point, as creating race cars in "that other game" is pure joy.
Work closely with SONY to get the online system you envisioned for GT5 in place as soon as you can, because it sounds like the greatest online racing structure for any racing game.
I would like the game patched to disable features we don't want or can't use: namely, 3D. Hopefully, this will improve performance. I'm hoping that the graphics will be improved to the level of Prologue, at least.
I'm still urging you to make all driver views adjustable.
Please implement all the tuning features of the previous games. Not having access to brake upgrades at all is baffling. We desperately need access to the gear ratios in racing transmissions. And it would be very nice to have saves for our tuning and modifications, and more than three of them.
Urge SONY to fund the hiring of more modelers, and others as you need them. And force them to leave you and your team alone so you can focus on making Gran Turismo what it should be, the best racing series in gaming.
EDIT: one more thing. Look to the bot A.I. I know it's been improved a lot, but they still slam on the brakes rather than drive like people.
And one more personal request. Could you add the Time Trial (tweaked)/Mercedes/BMW demo physics as an option? Even if it meant fewer cars, I really loved it.
Memo to SONY:
THANK you very much for supporting Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital in their work to produce GT5. No doubt, the money is rolling in from holiday sales, and will continue to do so solidly through the beginning of next year.
HOWEVER... surely by now, you have become aware of a few complaints. Many fans are disgruntled. A number of games have already been returned. Simply running the game with our PS3s net connected caused problems. I'll discuss two of these, which are main issues with the fans.
Online: you may have been caught off guard with how big a drain GT5 is on PSN resources, but you need to get this sorted, especially if Polyphony implements the online structures we expect them to, with online race building tools, league and season play. You need to have a Playstation Network in place to handle this when it develops.
Meddling with and making demands of Polyphony: many of us hated how you forced GT PSP on Polyphony, causing work to stop on GT5 for a period of time. And forcing the implementation of 3D on GT5 has apparently hurt the performance of the game. And this is especially bad considering that very few of us are buying 3D TVs just yet, and may not for some years. This should have been OPTIONAL, not required of GT5 as a whole. The graphics and performance are even worse than in GT5 Prologue. And there are other matters which have taxed Polyphony's time and resources, and hurt the quality of GT5, not the least of these are the inclusion of Standard cars and tracks. Yes, we asked for the moon. Kazunori did what he could, and ported assets from GT4 and PSP, but many fans aren't happy with having two levels of quality in this game.
Okay, so the money is rolling in now. Support Polyphony Digital.
They need modelers more than anything, to my estimation. Fund them so they can hire these people. We would like to see extra content at some point. Those of us dissatisfied with the Standard cars and tracks would like to see these replaced with Premium versions. Many of us would like to see the track list expanded. And we expect a much better Gran Turismo 6.
I know expanding a network infrastructure is expensive, but this needs to be done if you want to keep selling games. Give Polyphony's online team the support and resources they need to realize a good online game environment.
To me, one big issue is STOP MEDDLING. Don't force side projects on Polyphony, like GT PSP, which was intended by Kazunori to be released after GT5. Don't push fringe technology on us like 3D, when very few of us will even be able to use it. Let Kaz and Polyphony do their job. We will reward you with lots of money.
Memo to Kazunori-san:
I am very grateful for Gran Turismo 5. Many of us are, and are having the drive of our lives. But it has issues.
Single Player offline mode is much too small, and to make matters worse, it has been split into A-Spec and B-Spec Modes. While in GT4 they worked together, and B-Spec could be enjoyed or ignored, and was very useful in endurance races for many of us, making B-Spec a separate mode is a strange idea. Many of us don't like it at all and resent being pushed into playing it. I understand your reasoning, but I personally think the way it was implemented could have been better. For that matter, the range of tracks used in Single Player Mode is surprisingly limited, which makes the game seem even smaller and more repetitive. I understand that you wanted Online Mode to be very large and comprehensive, with lots of events and user generated events. But not only is the PSN not up to this demand right now, many of us can't race online at all. A-Spec Mode should have been much larger, even bigger than it was in GT4, which was the greatest game in the series in many eyes. Single Player A-Spec Mode needs to be expanded greatly, with many more events, and using all of the tracks. Using the Course Maker to generate tracks is fine, but your team did some marvelous work, and I'd like to see all of it.
The economy is very stingy compared to previous games. It would be fine if we could win prize cars endlessly as before, or could race for prizes and experience points online, but we can't yet. It could use some adjustment.
On prize cars, I think some changes are in order. Many of them don't make much sense. They should all be greatly valued, and all or almost all should be useful in subsequent events.
The Experience Point system makes no sense to many of us, and seems to be an unnecessary obstacle to force us to race more. It walls many of us off from parts of the game until we unlock them, which once again makes a small game seem even smaller. And since there are so few events, "grinding" for points becomes boring and frustrating for many. Personally, I think adding this redundant structure was unnecessary, and not all that well thought out.
The used car lot is a source of frustration to many of us as well. While a few of us refuse to have anything to do with Standard cars, the rest of us like or even love them. I do, I think they're fantastic. However, the used lot is way too small, and we are often forced to wait for some time for a car or truck we want to use in a certain event. It really should be expanded, and some of the ideas kicked around here used for it, such as laying deposits to hold cars wanted, or notices sent when a certain vehicle is available. Or even a certain color.
On that topic, the Paint Shop needs to be overhauled. A Paint Shop with no paint colors of its own is just bizarre. At the very least, it should have a range of basic colors available. Collecting paint chips is still a good idea, because cars have a very wide range of exotic, unique, high quality finishes.
I love Standard cars, but others do not. One thing which would help out a great deal with them would be just a few changes:
- Give Standard cars a hood view to replace the missing cockpit view, unless an interior view is coming for them, such as the black borders of the PSP cars.
- Give us the standard wheels of GT4. In addition, provide whatever customizations you can, such as nose splitters to go with the rear wings.
- Re-skin them with higher resolution textures.
- Give them high beam headlights for night driving.
- Perhaps fix the lesser quality models imported from GT3, or wherever they are from.
I have some personal requests.
Please port over all the tracks from previous Gran Turismos, and provide them as DLC. I would also like to see all the missing cars from the previous games, brought up to Standard... standards.
I'm sure you're well aware that many of us also want additional Premium cars and tracks as DLC at some point, historical as well as fantasy tracks.I would like to see Race Modification provided for all Premium cars. If at all possible, I'd like to see it for Standards as well. I would prefer a few choices of liveries for our cars, as you did so marvelously in GT2. And if possible, I would greatly enjoy having some sort of Livery Editor added at some point, as creating race cars in "that other game" is pure joy.
Work closely with SONY to get the online system you envisioned for GT5 in place as soon as you can, because it sounds like the greatest online racing structure for any racing game.
I would like the game patched to disable features we don't want or can't use: namely, 3D. Hopefully, this will improve performance. I'm hoping that the graphics will be improved to the level of Prologue, at least.
I'm still urging you to make all driver views adjustable.
Please implement all the tuning features of the previous games. Not having access to brake upgrades at all is baffling. We desperately need access to the gear ratios in racing transmissions. And it would be very nice to have saves for our tuning and modifications, and more than three of them.
Urge SONY to fund the hiring of more modelers, and others as you need them. And force them to leave you and your team alone so you can focus on making Gran Turismo what it should be, the best racing series in gaming.
EDIT: one more thing. Look to the bot A.I. I know it's been improved a lot, but they still slam on the brakes rather than drive like people.
And one more personal request. Could you add the Time Trial (tweaked)/Mercedes/BMW demo physics as an option? Even if it meant fewer cars, I really loved it.
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