Well, I can't believe how people got the concept so wrong on his presentation.
You're exactly right. There are simply too many blind, unthinking people in this world who are much better at complaining and whining and for that matter, rioting, than thinking and communicating, and seeing big pictures.
TL;DR Version: this has little to do with Gran Turismo, but everything to do with a wide variety of games, and these are the people Kazunori is addressing. And if you're using this as an opportunity to bash GT once more, this isn't the point of the thread, and you're wrong to even be in here. For the thinking people, read on.
Just set aside the whole argument of whether or not GT5 is enjoyable, or should even have been released. What Kaz is talking about to the developers of the world is what I've been wanting to see in gaming for about 20 years. It most directly applies to adventure games and RPGs. Games like WoW, which... sorry WoWers, I just don't get the huge addiction to this game you guys have, and this game in particular. I do have my own MMO I love, Anarchy Online, so I do see the perspective you guys have. But when I see these epic teaser trailers for every new update and expansion, or the slick YouTube vids, I think, "Yes, it should be like this, but it's not." I don't get the sense that I'm fighting monsters who are alive and thinking, and getting increasingly worried as a team is tearing them a new one. I
sort of do in Anarchy, though I think mostly my addiction to it is because of the superb soundtrack it has. But at the same time, I'm not that addicted to it because I haven't played my characters for months.
I do get this sense much more in Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2. I even get it in the original Ratchet & Clank game from 2001. I suppose I should throw in Halo, but I'm just not into XBox games, sorry, thus no experience. But in these two games which I have played, I do get the sense that I'm surrounded by people. The opening scene in MGS4 in particular had my skin crawling. These are both heavily cinema driven games, as is the whole Ratchet & Clank series. They give you a sense of involvement with people, you learn to care for them, if you have any sense, and you work a little harder to keep them alive because of this, hopefully. In the case of MGS and R&C, because they are both series, you hopefully build up a rapport with the characters and get to know them, feel a connection to them, like with a movie or TV series, James Bond or 24 or House.
I don't know about you, but I hate to get my characters killed.
Suppose in these MMORPGs, if your character died, you had to start a new one. Yes, the games would have to change for this. The ridiculous chore of building your characters would have to ease a bit, but also the ceiling of power would have to be raised. Or perhaps the rise to power would have to be more gradual. Either way, it would require some heavy thinking on the part of the developers.
But this is just what Kaz is asking for. It's what I've been asking for. For games that aren't just more involving, but more alive.
It does seem that Kaz was tinkering with ideas along these lines, somehow, and trying to incorporate these into GT5. Okay, whiners, you have a point with this. I'm not sure how it could figure in. Obviously, even after they interfered and made demands on Polyphony, SONY brought the hammer down and had them release GT in this cobbled together form. Heck, most of us demanded it too, so don't act so stunned or like we had nothing to do with it. We did. If most of us were like, "Yeah, take your time while we play LittleBigPlanet 2 or Home," I'm sure GT5 would have had a different form. It might not make any more sense, and there would have only been a few more Premium cars, but it surely would be less clunky and feel more complete. The epic online playground Kaz enthused about might be good to go.
I'm not sure how these concepts could apply to GT, other than having bots which behave more realistically. I'm puzzled over how Gran Turismo could evolve, even though a small group here has been asking for this. Other than taking bits from Forza, such as the Livery Editor and Storefront which I'd love to see, perhaps actual drift and touge events which frankly I disdain, no one has anything else to offer. I do have a concept for Gran Turismo Vision which I posted way back in 2005. It's very ambitious, and honestly, I think only Kazunori could pull it off. I think if anyone can truly evolve the racing genre, only Kaz can do it. I should find those posts and polish them up.
And I'll leave with this point: Gran Turismo
is the evolution of racing. If there was anything else out there like it, we would have bought it in the millions while we waited for GT5. That game just doesn't exist. Otherwise, the complainers would have fled to it by now, and the noise level would have dropped considerably.
