Pay for downloadable content?

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SSJChar
payment per car/track wouldnt really be good, but paying for an expansion i wouldnt really mind. much like how ffxi has expansions, GT4 could also have those. mayb one every 6 months or every year to get all the new cars that recently came out and whatnot. mayb 10 bucks per expansion or something.
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This is what, I think, is most likely to happen.....

At least it makes the most sense....


;)
 
Frankly I would be pissed if it was only available to download...

That would mean I would have to fork out on a at least an extra 200 quid's worth of kit to be able to download them in the first place and then would have to pay for the priveledge?!

I would feel raped.

C.
 
PjotrStroganov
Paying per car and per track won't work. To race online with a new car, your opponent has to have the same one too. With everyone buying their own different cars, you would often not be able to enter races.
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Where'd you get that idea from? They wouldn't both have to have the car, just the model would have to be put in local RAM from the other HDD, and then discarded after the race.

I don't think I'd pay $1 for a new car, unless they were something I really wanted, like Ferraris or Lamborghinis, or some hot LeMans cars or something. $.10-$.25 would be more reasonable for the most part. I probably would pay $1-$2 per track though. Especially for LeMans or something.
 
I don't mind paying for downloadable content because I would hope it would be good enough to pay for. But I would also like some free stuff along the way - it just keeps the crowd happy (:
 
I would like to see extra content available in the future. I help support a family, so paying for "extras" is out of the question. Maybe pay with game credits or have extra cars and tracks issued with OPM on the demo discs.
 
I don't think PD will charge alot for downloadable content, as it would alienate alot of loyal customers who do not have net connections or HDDs. The expansion disk (priced mabey $10-$15) would seem like a better idea, as long as it was worth it. Individual car downloads seems a bit stupid, because any skilless fool with a credit card can dl the best cars and win everytime against the people who could only get the basics.
 
I'm not opposed to paying for additional things, I doubt I'll have much left on my wishlist after GT4 surfaces.

Yeti: it's 'privilege' oh grammar master :P
 
I would certainly like this idea alot more if the cars and tracks were free......and I was just thinking.......if I was playing online with one of these new downloaded cars.........say a BMW E34 M5 3.8 :) Would I be able to play online with someone who hasnt downloaded it yet?

I know no one knows ......but any clues?
 
Leo_Straight6
I would certainly like this idea alot more if the cars and tracks were free......and I was just thinking.......if I was playing online with one of these new downloaded cars.........say a BMW E34 M5 3.8 :) Would I be able to play online with someone who hasnt downloaded it yet?

I know no one knows ......but any clues?
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They would have to have the file for the same car as you. Whether or not the game could temporarily download the image so you could race against it but not use it yourself would have to be seen. However, I doubt they would do this as It would only encourage people to hack into the PS2's ram and put the car onto thememory card. They might only be stealing 25 pence but hey, people do it. Nah, it seems likely that the opponent would have to have the car too, either that or just see a question mark go round the track... :dopey:
 
Polyphony001
They would have to have the file for the same car as you. Whether or not the game could temporarily download the image so you could race against it but not use it yourself would have to be seen. However, I doubt they would do this as It would only encourage people to hack into the PS2's ram and put the car onto thememory card. They might only be stealing 25 pence but hey, people do it. Nah, it seems likely that the opponent would have to have the car too, either that or just see a question mark go round the track...
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If so, how do they manage to have 30+ cars all with custom 'skins' racing online in the NASCAR games??? - i suppose the skin file size is smaller than a complete cars details?
 
TheCracker
How do they manage to have 30+ cars all with custom 'skins' racing online in the NASCAR games??? - i suppose the skin file size is smaller than a complete cars details?
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A skin would obviously be smaller than the car as it is only rhe paintjob rather than the sounds, the physics etc. etc. So yeah i'd imagine you could have at least 10 skins for the same file size as a car.
 
Skins are generally a tiny texture file in a very compressed image format that's wrapped around the car body, a car file itself has to hold the geometry data for all 5000+ polygons making up the car, and the statistical information for the car's performance. I don't even know how sound's handled.
 
Sven
Where'd you get that idea from? They wouldn't both have to have the car, just the model would have to be put in local RAM from the other HDD, and then discarded after the race.

I don't think I'd pay $1 for a new car, unless they were something I really wanted, like Ferraris or Lamborghinis, or some hot LeMans cars or something. $.10-$.25 would be more reasonable for the most part. I probably would pay $1-$2 per track though. Especially for LeMans or something.
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Like said in earlier posts. This is only possible with small files like maybe small skins. Polygon models and sound and whatever take up too much bandwith.

I race Live for Speed online(awesome game bytheway) and almost everyone has costum skins. I even make them myself. These skins can take up to 600KB and downloading would take up too much time and bandwith. Autodownload has therefor not been implemented in the game. I think the skin files are even bigger in GT3 and GT4, so I don't think even skins would be temporarily downloadable. Both drivers have to have the same file...

http://lfs-files.racesimcentral.com/?go=profile&user=PjotrStroganov
Heres a link of the skins I have made. Just download one to see how big it is. :)
 
Remeber the files on a PS2 disk are compressed quite well, add to that GT4 will more than likely be broadband only so even 500k isn't a problem, even with a full grid (which is only 6 cars remeber). that would take a good couple of mins to download at the slowest.

Oh and you can make skins for Live for speed under 200k without much hassle, I would presume the skins for GT4 will be under 500k.
 
live4speed
Remeber the files on a PS2 disk are compressed quite well, add to that GT4 will more than likely be broadband only so even 500k isn't a problem, even with a full grid (which is only 6 cars remeber). that would take a good couple of mins to download at the slowest.

Oh and you can make skins for Live for speed under 200k without much hassle, I would presume the skins for GT4 will be under 500k.
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Hmm, to keep a good skin quality it needs to be above a certain resolution. And with very rich skins it is very hard to keep it below 400 in lfs.
Still customizable skins in gt4 will probably not be supported anyway.

And your saying it yourself. It will take a significant amount of time to download the whole bunch in realtime. Realtime downloading will be a big nono. Certainly with a 30k adsl connection.

A total upgrade pack is the only way.
 
It won't take long to downlaod them all, GT4 will be broadband only and the min speed is 125k, I would think most people will use 512k and above so the very slowest connection will be a min or two max I would think most will be done in 20-30 seconds..
 
Still KY won't make it possible to make ugly assed skins. He just wouldn't let semi creative people make gt4 look like a circus.

On the account of bandwith let me make an equation. In Holland, people with 30kbyte/s connection can go online without a prob. Lets asume gt4 cars have 400kbyte skins. 6(cars)x400(kbyte)/30(kbyte/sec)=80 seconds. Thats a lot of loading-time for one race. People with faster connections will have to wait for the slowest connection. To maintain a high level of quality, KY will probably not allow this.

And now we are just talking about skins. Polygon models and complete tracks will be totally out of the question.

Expansion packs are the only way for new cars and tracks.
 
"Still KY won't make it possible to make ugly assed skins. He just wouldn't let semi creative people make gt4 look like a circus." I completely agree with this, but I don't see it being a problem if it was included with a 128k in conection.
 
I agree with Stroganov, how long does it take to load a race normally? A maximum of six seconds. If we have enitrely new cars and skins alone are 500K, cars are likely to be, say 2 Megs. Even with a 1 Mb connection that still means 16 seconds loading time. it won't happen. Not until sometyhing like 2 megabit is the stabdard connection 4 people. Bring on the day..
 
Online races take longer than 6 seconds to load, Live for speed can take 20 or 30 easily.
 
Online load times will be longer quite easily, there's all the fun of a normal load with the added bonus of negotiating transfers, connections and synchronisation.

I imagine that if new content is released, it will be the same as most current online services - if you don't go out of your way to download it separately, it won't be available for download from the server, so you won't be able to play. The problem there is that if you try to charge for content you bind people to different versions of the game and everything starts getting more and more complex and irritating.
 
And less fun, you spend hours trying to find a server you can play on and when you do it's full of ********s so you go off and spen another hour trying to find another one you can play on. If they released new content in bundles so you get pack 1 whcih has these cars and thoes tracks and then later pack 2 is relesed with thoes cars and these tracks and then when theres been a few packs released PD could release them on a cD for the on-net goers. Theres no point releasing a CD with 20 cars and 2 tracks for £10 but if they relesed one with 100 cars and 10 tracks for £20 I think more people would buy it.
 
live4speed
And less fun, you spend hours trying to find a server you can play on and when you do it's full of ********s so you go off and spen another hour trying to find another one you can play on. If they released new content in bundles so you get pack 1 whcih has these cars and thoes tracks and then later pack 2 is relesed with thoes cars and these tracks and then when theres been a few packs released PD could release them on a cD for the on-net goers. Theres no point releasing a CD with 20 cars and 2 tracks for £10 but if they relesed one with 100 cars and 10 tracks for £20 I think more people would buy it.
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Agreed. Once again I refer to the fact that technology is just not advanced to have temprary transfers just to play other people. No more than two expansion packs would work though, for the same reasons.
 
If were playing GT4 for as long as I think we will be then a new expansion pack every 6 months would be okay, and say they suppport GT4 for 2 years thats 4 packs which wouldn't be too bad. Maybe then they could release an all in one pack for £40.
 
Yeah, with extra races too, not just cars. I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to include a 'classic GT' expansion that would cover the older tracks that perhaps PD may ave missed out, should they miss any. Yes, that's a good idea. Then they wouldn't be under so much pressure and GT4 could actually get released... :)

IMO, expansions could be such...

1. Car expansion (say about 60 cars) and a couple of new tracks.
2. Classic tracks, include all previous tracks.
3. Update for new cars
4. New utilities pack (who knows, there's room for updates to the infrastructure too)
 
Also integrating new cars in the current game structure would be the best thing to do. It just wouldn't be fun to get the new cars in your personal garage. They should be bought with the ingame creds from the dealers garage. Just like the original cars.

Well at least if it is a big upgrade with 20+ cars. :)
 
Yep both of your ideas are great, all the cars should be added to the respective showrooms/car lots so if theres an old car it will be in a classic garage or a used garage and new cars in the new car showroom. Extra events are a must as well, they would add like a classic car endurance race and classic car world cup's ect. The packs could be Classics pack (includes all the classic cars KY couldn't include at release), rally pack (rally cars old and new and from variouse rally events like Pikes peak), sports pack (sportscars and GT racers old and new), and maybe a general pack that includes a mix of all the lesser classes and motorsports featured in GT like new DTM cars and Kei cars and all the extra stuff. Each pack could include new race mods for new cars and cars already in GT and maybe add some extra parts in the tune shop as well.
 
I think in the interest of compatability's sake, GT4 is all we'll get. What PS2 online games actually offer expansion at the moment? I don't know any personally but I don't know everything. I do know NFSU came with what you bought and nothing more.

I get the feeling PD will be more concerned with working on GT5 once they're physically able to and producing the PSP version of GT4 than supporting PS2 GT4 with expansions etc, they might do it, you never know, but we've managed to last 3 years with a game where most of us loathe certain aspects and features no real multiplayer whatsoever... It hasn't been updated, changed or refreshed and still we've stuck with it. We'd like these things if we had the option, but if we don't, most of us appreciate that GT games are great and worth playing to death regardless, and I think the developers are aware of that. They may be gracious, or they may leave us to it with the promise the time they spend not producing expansion for GT4 will instead go towards damage and other wonderful things for GT5.
 
Am i the only one feeling like.. "The idea is good but i doubt i will see it in GT4."?

I would much rather have PD work on GT5 then doing cars for GT4 and im pretty sure most of you will think the same when you have 8-10 months left before the release of GT5.
 
Like it or not, there will be downloadable content..... It has been officially confirmed.....


;)
 

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