why did PD map the stars?

[Ryan81]

I understand your frustration with some of the persistent issues in the series, but I think you are vilifying the starry sky unfairly. I doubt it takes away from any aspect of the game.

On a personal note I'd love a modern racing game that completely drops textures in favour of super-fast frame rates, complex sound generation and 50+ on track opponents with human-like AI. But that would look something like this much loved relic, and I'd probably be the only one who'd buy it..



Racing games sure have come a long way. Some of y'all youngsters have no idea

Yeah, remember Test Drive 2 on the Amiga 500? Or Lotus Challenge? Damn, they were the good old days!

But yeah, it's absolutely incredible how far racing games have come, even in the last 10-15 years.

 

[CarreraGT]

I have been wanting to make this comment for a while now, but resisted in fear of being called 'Grandad'.

Now the floodgates are open, I'd like to wholeheartedly agree.

Some of the comments around here have been a little ridiculous of late, with heart wrenching tales of tearing artificats and unmodelled dashboards. Wake up and smell the coffee kids, GT6 looks amazing.

Very true when you put it into perspective. I remember being blown away by the "transparent glass" in Toca 2 back in 2000 or whenever it was. Admittedly the AI in that game was better than GT some 13 years later...

Even still when you look at the graphics and physics models of GT6 it makes you realise how far things have come in a relatively short period of time

 

[cjr3559]

that would look something like this much loved relic, and I'd probably be the only one who'd buy it..



Racing games sure have come a long way.

Thanks for the link, I used to play Sega VR all the time way back when. What a blast from the past.

Makes me appreciate the stars in GT6 even more. :-)

 

[Vegard]

Has anyone else noticed how out of proportion everything is?
I see multiple objects of various colours that are large enough to be small satelites to earth.
I realize that Mars and Venus can be quite bright and large on the sky, but nothing like this.

 

[Samus]

The whole thing is stupid, the night sky does not look that clear to the naked eye and certainly not in a well lit area such as a racetrack.

 

[KilzoneStrife]

Pssst. Let me tell you a secret. . . .
I wish every track had day/night transitions. . and the view is so limited of the sky when driving, I wouldnt really care if the sky box stars were just thrown in random places.

On a more serious note, I would like for them to add other objects in the sky. Even UFOs, you know to make it mysterious!

The whole thing is stupid, the night sky does not look that clear to the naked eye and certainly not in a well lit area such as a racetrack.

@Samus! how dare you bring your logic, correctness and earthly truth and apply it to Gran Turismo World

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

To me, they were just added as a selling point to the game because they certainly don't add any clear functionality to the game, as far as being a driving simulator goes. I mean sure, they look pretty and all, but they really don't add any clear functionality/benefit to the driving/racing aspect to the game, which is the main focal point. With emphasis throughout the game being mainly on racing, you really don't notice them anyway. They're good for pictures and that's about it, so I'm sure the photographers of the game like the idea, but picture taking is not the main focal point of the game. Not knocking you picture guys because I like taking pictures too, I just think that putting such a big emphasis on mapping the stars in a driving/racing game is a bit silly in my opinion.

 

[ShiftingGears]

It was added because they perfected the rest of the game.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

Just like Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 is the lead in for GT1, GT6 is the lead in to GT7. In short they took time to develop, study and add features to GT6 for GT7 and beyond.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Just like Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 is the lead in for GT1, GT6 is the lead in to GT7. In short they took time to develop, study and add features to GT6 for GT7 and beyond.

I haven't heard that one before.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

I haven't heard that one before.

Motor Toon GP 1 is Kaz's first game. He used the 2nd as test bed for his dream game Gran Turismo.

 

[paoloevans]

Because driving a 24hrs race with a pitch black sky is not realistic, it's easier than modelling the sounds of 1000+ cars if that is what someone was thinking of saying.

But we dont have endurances races??!!

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

It was added because they perfected the rest of the game.

....stop, you're killing me.

 

[Samus]

Because driving a 24hrs race with a pitch black sky is not realistic

It most certainly is.

Like I said, you do not see amazing star constellations let alone distant planets with the naked eye in clear detail. Not with all that light pollution.

The real Daytona will NEVER look like this.

Read up on light pollution - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution

 

[GTP_CargoRatt]

It most certainly is.

Like I said, you do not see amazing star constellations let alone distant planets with the naked eye in clear detail. Not with all that light pollution.

The real Daytona will NEVER look like this.

Read up on light pollution - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution

That first picture suggests that those stars/planets that are millions of miles away are brighter (to the naked eye) than the lights a few yards away. Very unrealistic on PD's part. 👎

 

[wowbaggerBR]

The whole thing is stupid, the night sky does not look that clear to the naked eye and certainly not in a well lit area such as a racetrack.

Haha, when they showed that trailer with lots of stars, I posted something like this here and people almost set me on fire.

 

[Samus]

Haha, when they showed that trailer with lots of stars, I posted something like this here and people almost set me on fire.

Meh, I'm pretty used to it by now. FWIW I doubt this took them very long, it's just a moving skybox which one person could've done in a few hours but yeah, it's certainly not realistic.

 

[wowbaggerBR]

Meh, I'm pretty used to it by now. FWIW I doubt this took them very long, it's just a moving skybox which one person could've done in a few hours but yeah, it's certainly not realistic.

You are right, it's not that hard to get a fully night sky map and put it into the game.

The stars are cool on Willow Springs, where you probably would be capable to gaze upon the starts in real life.

 

[Samus]

I still doubt you'd see much there.

 

[ironman44321]

I really don't get all the complaints about the stars. It looks cool, and now that they've done it they never have to do it again.

 

[cjr3559]

I'm going out on a limb and say I like the exaggerated stars feature. Gives the experience some depth and interest. It's better than the stagnant clouds and stars of GT5 or (gasp) complete lack of sky/time changes in all the previous GT's if anyone even recalls. Sigh, just distant memories...

 

[wowbaggerBR]

I really don't get all the complaints about the stars. It looks cool, and now that they've done it they never have to do it again.

We are not complaining, we're just saying that it is not realistic, although it does look very cool in some occasions.

I still doubt you'd see much there.

Hum, well, I guess the real thing is much more alive in real life.

 

[Samus]

I really don't get all the complaints about the stars. It looks cool, and now that they've done it they never have to do it again.

Why does anything remotely negative posted here get labeled as moaning?

"I hate the stars, they suck, they're not even realistic" = Moaning
"The stars aren't very realistic, here are some examples and reasons why" = An observation

 

[wowbaggerBR]

Why does anything remotely negative posted here get labeled as moaning?

And yet, we are the ones ruining GTP, PD, Kaz and Gran Turismo!

Back to topic:

The other day, one of the last races that I enjoyed with friends, ended up in tragedy. I got very distracted by the stars and the city far away in Mount Panorama. I did crashed right in the begining of the downhill bit, destroyed the car, lose the race and ragequited.

 

[ShiftingGears]

Motor Toon GP 1 is Kaz's first game. He used the 2nd as test bed for his dream game Gran Turismo.

Everyone is expected to learn from past experiences. So it follows that naturally, businesses and game developers learn from and build upon their previous releases. So what I don't accept is this "test bed" idea being used as an excuse for mediocrity again and again.


We heard no end to excuses being made for the GT5 delays and how they would lead to a great game. Then it turned to how GT5 was really a test bed for GT6 and how the enormous development time would mean that the development of GT6 would be streamlined and would be much, much greater than GT5. And now that GT6 has come out without advertised features being released within 3+ months of release and many features in GT5 being mysteriously absent, the talk is then turning to how the shortcomings of GT6 are an indication of how GT7 will be just so much better.

The problem with the "test bed" argument is that it can be used indefinitely without actually producing any evidence to support it. And that's ignoring that games should be able to stand on their own merits when they're released.

 

[ULTRAVIOLENZZ]

Everyone is expected to learn from past experiences. So it follows that naturally, businesses and game developers learn from and build upon their previous releases. So what I don't accept is this "test bed" idea being used as an excuse for mediocrity again and again.


We heard no end to excuses being made for the GT5 delays and how they would lead to a great game. Then it turned to how GT5 was really a test bed for GT6 and how the enormous development time would mean that the development of GT6 would be streamlined and would be much, much greater than GT5. And now that GT6 has come out without advertised features being released within 3+ months of release and many features in GT5 being mysteriously absent, the talk is then turning to how the shortcomings of GT6 are an indication of how GT7 will be just so much better.

The problem with the "test bed" argument is that it can be used indefinitely without actually producing any evidence to support it. And that's ignoring that games should be able to stand on their own merits when they're released.

Creating video games are generally difficult and time consuming. Im also losing patience with PD but all we can do now is to wait.

 

[hardvibes]

My question is "how much money you invested in useless things like this?"

If the answer is "a lot", my next question would be "why you didn't invest in the SOUND DEPARTMENT instead"?

 

[Roger the Horse]

It's because the stars look fabulous, haven't you ever been to Cornwall?

Please, spend more time in Cornwall.

But not too much time, you might get radiation poisoning.

 

[AudiMan2011]

PD mapped the stars because of their silly "simulate everything" mantra.

 

[Roger the Horse]

You people seem very jaded about minor flaws in an overall excellent game. Perhaps you should take a camping trip to Cornwall, lie back, and watch the stars.

Although I advise against going to Britain at the moment, the smog was so bad at Gatwick on Thursday that the plane was still over the airport at the point the ground stopped being visible.

Smog, something much worse than the sounds in a game not being absolutely perfect.