Sound Off! Track Variety

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnBM01
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I disagreed with the pace notes myself but one of my friends bought it up when we were doing the Last but one Purple licence test in Prologue (Grand Valley in a Subaru WRC)...

I agree that most of the rally circuits were just hard and fast with the occasional lift of the throttle or stamp on the brakes for a hairpin... I have to say though that the Grand Valley course is a bit more varied that that... and the Citta D'Aria track is a tarmac "rally" course which is far better than any other rally course in GT3, so I definetely think that PD have made some steps in the right directions here...

C.
 
There were two notable rally games I played. One on PS1, the other on PC. Respectively, they are Mobil 1 Rally Championship (based on British Rally), and Colin McRae 2. From what I played the rather clunky Mobil 1 Rally features some tough stages consisting of falling off edges, sliding around like crazy on ice... only thing I probably didn't do in the game is go through seriously dangerous forests and canyons. CMR2 featured some fun action, even though I played one real rally- the Rally of Finland.

So as far as co-drivers go, here's my thing. Voice-overs during a race will concern people. So that's why I say to animate or model a co-driver in the car for rally events. If you want to make him (or her) useful, you can read these little captions somewhere above the middle of the screen telling you about what's coming up quickly. So the co-driver idea... maybe or maybe not. There you have it, Yeti.
 
it looks like with citta d'aria and Nur Snow, Paris Tarmac, etc we're going to get some new rally goodness... hopefully we also get the return of the Pike's Peak climb (but extended) and some other p-2-p tracks to take those 4WD monsters on.
 
IMHO there is a very good variety, but I agree with everyone who say that city tracks are a little bit repetative. Rome day and Night were great tracks due to their elevations, and we all agree that elevations are very important for feeling of the track.

I also agree about the surface. I always found wierd that controler/wheel doesn't shaking on those concrete blocks in Rome. As a surface, blocks are totaly different from plain asphalt. And adding some true effects would do a big thing to an overall feel. Also, worn tarmac - which will have an premiere on Nordschleife, apparently - would be a nice touch.

As for scenery, it is obvious that most real racing tracks are visualy dull as a hell. But some tracks as Suzuka, Spa, Bathurst and LeMans (Legendary "Manage a Quatre" GT Wishlist) are diffrent from that common practice. I guess that we can expect some of these RL tracks even in GT4.

Tahiti Road, Red Rock or Grundenwald were perfect examples of "different tracks". Hope we'l see more of those in the DVD to come.
 
Eagle
Where's the champ car event at an airport, Portland? That'd make for a cool circuit.

We need to get some more tricky, challenging and wide or narrow circuits happening. Malaysia has a minimum track width of 16m. Things like that add a bit of variety as you explore more than one possibly racing line.
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I think the airport track was Cleveland.

Malaysia F1 track is great... would be a nice addition, also Bahrain looked pretty sweet (although the scenery is pretty baren being in the desert).
 
I just want bends and not 90 angles for corners. I would like to see some new fictional courses aswell as just the city road and real race circuit courses which seems to be all we are now getting (as NEW tracks at least.) I have said this in other topics but i really wish PD could design tracks like Namco have on the ridgr racer series. Their tracks have some great scenery around beaches, mountains and cities, sometimes all in one course!
 
We need blake, he's a Champ Car fan, I'll ask him when he gets home.

Bahrain wouldn't have much scenery but who cares? It'd play ultra smooth :D

Cities are generally designed with practicality in mind, and what's practical is rarely very exciting or interesting, it's not trying to be, it's just trying to fill a role as best it can. So cities are rarely a very exciting place for a race circuit, their tight confines make them an interesting challenge but if they're just mindless 90 degree bends then there's no point.
 
not sure if anybody's ever been in the northern pittsburgh area, but between Cranberry Twsp and Evans City there is a great road that stretches through the forest connecting the towns. Franklin Road has been featured in Car & Driver as one of the top roads in the country for "spirited" driving. complete with a one-lane bridge, plenty of ideally cambered hairpins and long, sweeping straights on a near-perfect road surface through a heavily wooded area. if anybody is interested in pictures if i get a chance tomorrow i'll grab the digital camera and take some pictures (the road's only 5 minutes from my house)
 
Er... out of curiousity... how can you have a long sweeping straight?!

Surely a straight is either long and straight or it's a long sweeping bend?!

C.
 
Hmm, I'd like to see it.

You know everyone tees off on the whole "This is a driving simulator, not a racing simulator" line from time to time, if that's the case, how about a few less race circuits and a few more things like the Nordschleife and the area jeff's describing? I'd find it way more interesting to race, I'd wager others would too. Or perhaps that's too NFS for us all.
 
BTW Eagle, as we were discussing earlier in this thread the Champ Car airport track is Cleveland... they just had the race yesterday. :cheers:
 
"Er... out of curiousity... how can you have a long sweeping straight?!

Surely a straight is either long and straight or it's a long sweeping bend?!"

alright, alright it was late when i posted. yes i meant long sweeping bends, my bad. anyways, the transmission in my car is about to **** the bed but if i can get somebody to drive me out there today to get some pics i'll do it. seriously though, this road kicks ass, you guys gotta see it
 
I think gt4 should have more tracks like Grand Valley in GT3, high speed and technical in one package.
 
phantasm
BTW Eagle, as we were discussing earlier in this thread the Champ Car airport track is Cleveland... they just had the race yesterday. :cheers:
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Ah, there we go, I didn't stay up to watch the champ cars last night, too many late evenings lately. Thanks for clearing it up 👍

jeffpresto
oh btw, can somebody host pics if i get them?
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Firstly, there's an edit button ;) Secondly, I'm sure Jordan could host them for you, if not, I could depending on the size.
 
Here was an idea I just thought of. When it comes to track variety, compare something like Burke Lakefront Airport to... Oulton Park. Note a difference? Oulton Park is narrow as crap! It seems more suited to touring cars and motorcycles. Maybe even Mini Coopers and Kei cars. So variety can come down to track width. The biggest, narrow nightmare I raced on was the Canberra V8 Supercar street course. When you play that game, you have about three lanes go down to two. And the turns are so confusing! The ultimate b*tch of a turn is that NARROW one-lane piece of road that leads to the rest of the race. One time in "Pro Race Driver," my car was banged up so bad that I had to retire to the next race. Canberra is worse than Monaco and Macau. Maybe even worse than them combined.

THAT's track variety. Canberra is more of a "lady in black" than the American "lady in black" (Darlington). What you think? I know what I'm talking about. There is a recent thread about smaller tracks. There's a difference. Narrow is narrow, small is small. So don't tell me about "didn't you read xxxxxxxx's thread?" Okay, let 'er rip.
 
Canberra was a horrible circuit.

I prefer wide tracks to narrow tracks, there can be more racing lines, more chances for passing. Look at Malaysia vs Canberra.
 
Bahrain (sp?) is as wide as Malaysia no? I really think a race in the desert would be cool for some reason... "track variety"
 
Sepang has a minimum width of 16m according to their site, I don't know if Bahrain is as wide, but it's certainly pretty open.
 
That minimum width must be at the first corner, it's gets real tight when Montoya, Schumi and the Renaults jump in there at the start...
 
JohnBM01
So variety can come down to track width.
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Alone? I don't think so.

But yes, it is one of the things that makes for variety as it was already been said. ;)
DiabolicalMask
Variety comes essentially from different track width, corners radius, camber and elevations. It's essentially the infinite combination of these variables that you have to play with to make a good and challenging track.
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JohnBM01
Here was an idea I just thought of. When it comes to track variety, compare something like Burke Lakefront Airport to... Oulton Park. Note a difference? Oulton Park is narrow as crap! It seems more suited to touring cars and motorcycles. Maybe even Mini Coopers and Kei cars. So variety can come down to track width.
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If you think Oulton Park is narrow, you ought to try Cadwell Park, its barely the width of two cars at some points - think of it as a cross between The Nurburgring and Citta de Alpa (sp?) - it would make a great GT circuit!
 
IMO gt needs more tracks like citta, it's fast, twisty, and has alot of elevation changes. Makes for a fun fast, edge of the seat race :D
 
code_kev
IMO gt needs more tracks like citta, it's fast, twisty, and has alot of elevation changes. Makes for a fun fast, edge of the seat race :D
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Problem is its good to drive and try to drive well as a ONE car affair, but quite simply there isnt anywhere on this track where you could overtake effectivley, the first long hairpin is about the only place you could either go down the inside or round the outside, everywhere else there is only one real line through it, get off line at speed and youll be in the wall.
 

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