Track editor

[prisonermonkeys]

I don't think it will be a full track editor where you can take bits and pieces from circuits and combine them. Rather, I can see it as being something like the Motegi and Suzuka circuits that have several variations and you can open and close roads as you like. For emxaple, I love the first half of Grand Valley Speedway, but I find the section after the tunnel to be really bland. So instead of bing limited to doing Grand Valley Speedway and Grand Valley East, you could have "Grand Valley North", which includes both hairpins, but cuts back onto the shorter course insteact of going through the second and third tunnels. Taking various parts from other circuits to build a super-circuit sounds like it would take way too much space, and there are no guarantees that what you create will even make a full circuit because the pieces won't necessarly align.

 

[Stevisiov]

I don't think it will be a full track editor where you can take bits and pieces from circuits and combine them. Rather, I can see it as being something like the Motegi and Suzuka circuits that have several variations and you can open and close roads as you like. For emxaple, I love the first half of Grand Valley Speedway, but I find the section after the tunnel to be really bland. So instead of bing limited to doing Grand Valley Speedway and Grand Valley East, you could have "Grand Valley North", which includes both hairpins, but cuts back onto the shorter course insteact of going through the second and third tunnels. Taking various parts from other circuits to build a super-circuit sounds like it would take way too much space, and there are no guarantees that what you create will even make a full circuit because the pieces won't necessarly align.

Yes I fully agree with this, the is something I would love to see actually. The ability to customize the track layout of an existing venue would be great. That said, not many tracks have much in the way of variation, so for most of the original tracks it doesn't seem all that useful.

 

[Antti-san]

I don't think it will be a full track editor where you can take bits and pieces from circuits and combine them. Rather, I can see it as being something like the Motegi and Suzuka circuits that have several variations and you can open and close roads as you like. For emxaple, I love the first half of Grand Valley Speedway, but I find the section after the tunnel to be really bland. So instead of bing limited to doing Grand Valley Speedway and Grand Valley East, you could have "Grand Valley North", which includes both hairpins, but cuts back onto the shorter course insteact of going through the second and third tunnels.

Yup, rather than a full-blown track editor, this seems more plausible, methinks. 👍

 

[prisonermonkeys]

That said, not many tracks have much in the way of variation, so for most of the original tracks it doesn't seem all that useful.

Well, in deciphering some of amar's cryptic comments, he makes mention of "new skypaths being built for birds to fly on" or something similar, which I'm interpreting as meaning that new circuits will be appearing, much like El Capitan in GT4, so there's plenty of potential there. And some of the current ones might be given an overhaul; I never liked SSR5 because the highway you start on completes a loop. There's only one place where you can turn off, and that's on the Clubman section. And that brings me to my segue: city circuits. GT4 had New York, Seattle, two in Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo while GT5 intorduced London and there is the suggestion that Madrid will appear in the final version, and there will probaly be more. If Polyphony were to map several square kilometres of the cities in-game, it wold be possible to open and close roads at will. Never one to resist unleashing my inner Hermann Tilke, I've taken the opportunity to show you one I prepared earlier. This is GT5's London circuit:



You'll have to forgive the inherent crudeness of the image as I did it quite quickly in MS Paint. Anyway, this is what an alternate version might look like with a track creator:



As you can see, there's been a few alterations, some major and some minor. The circuit drops off Charing Cross Road fairly early and then cuts back across it to take on a loop that go out to the Adelphi Theatre and returns to Trafalgar Square via Strand. We then zig-zag back up around the roundabout on the southern edge of the square to the route of the normal circuit and into Piccadilly Circus, which has gone from a narrow right-left combination to a much sharper switchback.

 

[Jay]

I don't think it will be a full track editor where you can take bits and pieces from circuits and combine them. Rather, I can see it as being something like the Motegi and Suzuka circuits that have several variations and you can open and close roads as you like. For emxaple, I love the first half of Grand Valley Speedway, but I find the section after the tunnel to be really bland. So instead of bing limited to doing Grand Valley Speedway and Grand Valley East, you could have "Grand Valley North", which includes both hairpins, but cuts back onto the shorter course insteact of going through the second and third tunnels. Taking various parts from other circuits to build a super-circuit sounds like it would take way too much space, and there are no guarantees that what you create will even make a full circuit because the pieces won't necessarly align.

This is what I've been thinking, I am also hoping it will allow us to place out own cones on a Gymkhana.

I don't care for a actual full track editor.

 

[Exorcet]

It's cool, but from what I understand it to be right now, it seems kind of like a distraction. It would have been better as an update.

I'd like a car creator option in game, but I don't think it's something PD should spend time on at the moment. To make a good one, it would take a lot of effort, it could even be its own game. I kind of feel the same with this. Either it will be too simple, or it will push the launch of GT5 back too far. But I guess if they're already working on it, there's nothing I can do.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It's cool, but from what I understand it to be right now, it seems kind of like a distraction.

How is it? It would be great for online, especially if there are private games going on. It's far more likely to be the above case of opening and closing roads rather than taking individual corners and stringing them together.

 

[Exorcet]

Well, we've got almost 100 tracks it seems. And if the editor is very complex, it will probably take a lot of time and effort to make it work. I'd rather the game come out sooner.

 

[sesselpupser]

I think this is a great idea, I mean look at LittleBigPlanet- Once the game is finished, why do you keep playing? For the community created levels, right? There's been over 250,000 made so far, I think, even if only 10% of those are any good that's still a lot of (free) replay value. So once you've gotten bored of all the tracks (which, if there really are 80+, will take years), you can make your own. I think it's a great idea and one that will see GT5's lifespan far exceed other GT games, but only if it is a proper Scalextric style editor and not a road opening/closing thing.

I have to say, I'm surprised that anyone sees this as a negative, how can more features be a bad thing? Each to their own, I suppose.

 

[=ReBeL=]

I can see potential in track editor, but this is not something I need in full GT5. I mean adding different corners from different tracks sounds good, but created track will look radiculous (scenery wise) - 2 corners from mountain track, 2 from city track, 3 from desert track... I mean... what?

As somebody said earlier I'd rather have full GT5 sooner without any track editor and then after a while they can release it as an additional tool.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Well, in deciphering some of amar's cryptic comments, he makes mention of "new skypaths being built for birds to fly on" or something similar, which I'm interpreting as meaning that new circuits will be appearing, much like El Capitan in GT4, so there's plenty of potential there. And some of the current ones might be given an overhaul; I never liked SSR5 because the highway you start ...

If im not mistaken, Yamauchi already said there will be some kind of GP version of London, a longer course (which is also needed because of the missing pit).

 

[Northstar]

How is it? It would be great for online, especially if there are private games going on. It's far more likely to be the above case of opening and closing roads rather than taking individual corners and stringing them together.

The only way for the created track to be online would be to somehow download it to some central server than download it other people's consoles or download it directly from the creators console. I'm guessing it will be the closing & opening roads also like in the PGR series.

 

[Hyst]

I hope it's there, but at the same time I would rather see a Track Creator.

Oh well, there's always rFactor.

 

[Wardy 944]

I'm guessing it will be the closing & opening roads also like in the PGR series.

Agree, and I think this will only work with the city maps, London, and I think Madrid are the only two confirmed so far 👍

 

[Mazda Mazda]

I'd rather have a full track creator. If the Tony Hawk series has Create-a-park, Soul Calibur has Create a Character, and Guitar Hero lets you create your own song, why can't we make our own tracks?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I'd rather have a full track creator. If the Tony Hawk series has Create-a-park, Soul Calibur has Create a Character, and Guitar Hero lets you create your own song, why can't we make our own tracks?

Too difficult for two reasons:
1) Create-a-park and Create a Character are nowhere near as complex as a racing circuit. Most circuits are a few kilometres long, and it's not just the road you'd need to make: the surroundings would need to be included, too. It'd take up a large portion of the game, something that could be better spent on new cars, new circuits and new features.
2) Have you ever tried to make a map in Counter-Strike or circuit in rFactor? They are immensely complex undertakings, even to make small maps or circuits. A custom circuit creator where the user makes them from scratch would barely be used by the average gamer because they simply don't know enough to use it properly. It's not simply a case of dropping sections of roadway in place and then let the game fill the rest in, but you'd probably have to create your own models for landscape and textures to fill them in to make it look realistic.

 

[Hyst]

To those far more knowledgeable on the subject - is there much likelihood of a 3rd-party making a track creator? Not necessarily another company, but a fan or group of fans? I play the Battlefield 1942 mod Forgotten Hope - it is a realism mod created entirely by a group of gamers in their spare time, and their work was endorsed and encouraged by Electronic Arts (who created BF1942). Is there any likelihood of software being created for the sole purpose of creating tracks?

 

[Northstar]

To those far more knowledgeable on the subject - is there much likelihood of a 3rd-party making a track creator? Not necessarily another company, but a fan or group of fans? I play the Battlefield 1942 mod Forgotten Hope - it is a realism mod created entirely by a group of gamers in their spare time, and their work was endorsed and encouraged by Electronic Arts (who created BF1942). Is there any likelihood of software being created for the sole purpose of creating tracks?

Simply no, unlike PC PlayStation is a closed platform meaning not just any developer can release stuff on the console. Thry have to go through a process of first getting the codes and all that, than after they get done with the development they have to get it approved by Sony(mainly just make sure it works). I highly doubt they would allow 3rd party software to edit a game, especially theirs.

 

[tlongman]

From a scenery standpoint I would hope that you could take portions from different tracks to make the track, but just the track. Not any of the scenery. Then you could place scenery in here and there. Trackside buildings from other tracks could be placed where ever you feel they are best suited. For instance, you could take the pit garags from Fuji and put it on the front straight at the Nurburgring. Then maybe take some of the houses from along the mulsanne at Le Mans and put them alongside the esses at Suzuka. Trees could placed alongside the track as you see fit. If Amar is correct (and our interpretation of Amar's post is correct) this would be great. A longtime hobby of mine is designing racetracks and I have always wanted a game where you could design your own tracks to race on. This is as close to my fantasy as any game has ever been and I would welcome this feature into GT with open arms.

 

[greenlightning]

My take is that it would for sure be limited to non real tracks only for license reasons. Also that way the real tracks are not defaced more or less. It would be amazing if they let us build tracks from pieces of others but even than not sure how well it would work. What I would see working is taking a game created course like complex string and letting the users modify and change that course to our hearts content. If they can do a decent job of a track editor program, then it would be another major benifit for GT5. Since one of the best features is the graphics of cars and tracks I doubt they would let this take away to much from that perspective. If they are going to do it they might as well go all the way. Create and save and share new track configurations with users online and allow us to race them online. Oh and lets not forget that they would need some very good programming to allow A.I. to learn the tracks. Unless the tracks was restricted to hot lapping and online use only. For those dreaming of modifying real tracks I would not count on it. I will place my money on it being limited to something like complex string with dozens of ways uses can modify it.

 

[Northstar]

You bring up a good point, I'm sure most tracks wouldn't want to see their tracks cut up and made into a Frankenstein track, especially since they don't even allow reverse races on the tracks.

 

[Hyst]

'They' being the track owners? I've read that reverse races on real world circuits was something of a respect issue with PD.

 

[greenlightning]

'They' being the track owners? I've read that reverse races on real world circuits was something of a respect issue with PD.

I am sure that the real tracks are licensed just like cars, from track owners and possibly even racing organizations.

 

[Kryz11]

If there is track builder.. I would love to see POINT TO POINT races options so I could try and recreate Philadelphia's Kelly Drive

 

[Boffin]

nices 👍

 

[prisonermonkeys]

From a scenery standpoint I would hope that you could take portions from different tracks to make the track, but just the track. Not any of the scenery. Then you could place scenery in here and there. Trackside buildings from other tracks could be placed where ever you feel they are best suited. For instance, you could take the pit garags from Fuji and put it on the front straight at the Nurburgring. Then maybe take some of the houses from along the mulsanne at Le Mans and put them alongside the esses at Suzuka. Trees could placed alongside the track as you see fit. If Amar is correct (and our interpretation of Amar's post is correct) this would be great. A longtime hobby of mine is designing racetracks and I have always wanted a game where you could design your own tracks to race on. This is as close to my fantasy as any game has ever been and I would welcome this feature into GT with open arms.

The only thing I can think of similar to what you're suggesting is the circuit creator in V-Rally 2 (I know it's on the original PS-1, but it's the only one I've encountered similar to the above). The problem was that you had a limited space in which to plot your course an it could be difficult to create a full loop because of the restrictions on the number of pieces available and the way the track had to be formed.

I seriouly doubt you're going to be able to cut-and-paste pieces of pre-existing circuits together. It'd be ridicuously difficult to get a full circuit to link back up with itself. Instead, you could drop 'tiles' of track into place, and specify the angle at which the corner pieces bend. The problems come from the limitations on space, which means you may not be able to create much more than a go-kart track, and the fact that pieces cannot 'collide' with one another or come so close that the game cannot fill the void between them as it is too narrow.

 

[shawtyoner]

I really wouldn't like to see any modifying of any real tracks, because they are real tracks, why would you want to change them?? I just think it lessens the value of the game really. I mean creating your own track from scratch would be kinda cool, but not altering an existing real life track. Im sure thats not the case though, PD wouldn't stoop to that kinda of malarky.

 

[mPWRD]

OK...so if this buzz of there being a track editor on GT5 is correct, what sections of tracks (IRL or previous GT tracks) would you combine?

Would the track editor allow us to mix real-life tracks? Or maybe just fictional locales...

 

[Boffin]

I have no idea...but if you read Amar212's thread...you might be able to extract more info

 

[chrisbroughton]

I must say although in an ideal world a track editor would be great, I'd rather have 25 extra tracks in the game and just not bother with all the disk space it uses up.

With the level of detail in the game I find it hard to see how any user-created tracks (except v. short ones) could come close to the PD ones (though maybe I'm underestimating how much free-time people have!)

A way of making city layouts from an area would be good though. You could draw the route on the map and let the game generate the barriers, pit lane, grandstands ect. for you.