Gran Turismo 7 is coming. We’ve known since right after the release of GT6, but in a recent interview Mr Kazunori Yamauchi the mastermind behind the legendary series shared some new details and bold statements concerning the early development and his vision on what will become PlayStation’s 4 best racer.
Before talking about GT7, we need to talk about GT6 and its shortcomings. Don’t get me wrong, I like GT6 a lot but it has problems. From outdated menus, horrible car sounds and underwhelming career mode it’s not the Gran Turismo we all wanted. I bought it day 1 and enjoyed about 20 hours of gameplay then I lost my appetite and haven’t touched it since. The career mode is the same as GT5 hidden behind the glorious new physics engine which is the only thing that I really enjoyed. You keep on chasing cars and the moment you pass them all you’re king.
Since GT5 it always felt like Polyphony digital are living in the past, new racing games and simulators are always evolving and they still have horrible engine sounds, boring career mode and the classical approach to everything in the game. I like the classical approach of the menus to be honest and the jazz music but it’s just me; Gran Turismo is supposed to be for everyone, the menus should be as friendly as possible and straightforward.
They have another shot, fortunately. PS4 is selling like crazy now, and it has a lot of racing games on the way so you shouldn’t worry about sales at all. But, people already got burnt; they don’t expect you to release the ultimate driving experience with GT7. PD had their chance to redeem themselves with GT6 and they failed, can they do it now?
Before we start our engines let’s make it clear that this is not a step by step on how to fix the problems with Gran Turismo nor is it a Gran Turismo 6 criticism. It’s just some ideas on how to make a more modern game and me wishing – as a fan – for a better Gran Turismo title.
In the recent interview with GamesTM magazine, Kazonuri discussed how powerful the PS4 and his vision on Gran Turismo 7, let’s take a look.
“Everything will be running naturally,” Yamauchi assured us. “PS3 was much, much more difficult. The high quality of data that we have being rendered on the PS4 I think is going to make an incredible difference.”
“For GT7, myself and my staff have a clear vision: to do everything we couldn’t do in GT6. We want to make it very Gran Turismo. By that I mean it’s going to be a game that matches the very era that we live in, in 2015 or 2016.”
“ it’s going to be a game that matches the very era that we live in “
This is one bold statement from Mr. Yamauchi, because it’s states the one problem with Gran Turismo. It seems that he is well aware what needs to be done in order to make a modern racing game, but how exactly?
Let’s talk about the PS4. It has more power and it is way easier to develop for. Any game developer can vouch that developing a PS3 game was hell due to the machine’s cell processor. So this means you don’t need from four to five years to develop a game, instead you could focus more on the game contents and let the PS4 help you with the development.
You can get your hands on a new Forza game every year too, and they keep getting better. There are many other franchises that are worth your time. From sim racers like Project CARS to arcade games like NFS, Driveclub and GRID. So why should any fan trust you now?
Competition is everything; Sim fans aren’t going anywhere, but they are moving away.
Moving away from Gran Turismo? Yes. Moving away from the PS4? Again, yes. Gran Turismo is the best selling franchise in Sony’s history, so it’s safe to assume many people bought the PS3 to get their hands on GT5, but are they going to get the PS4 just for GT7? The answer is no.
Many people already moved away and ignored GT6, because they were promised a lot of things and they never saw it. Now other games are good enough for the sim racer and he can live without his GT fix.
How can you fix an outdated game? Actually it’s very easy; ignore your rear mirror. GTPlanet has one of the most dedicated fan bases ever, with thousands of threads talking about GT’s problems and what they want to see in a game. They love and want to support the game in anyway, why not listen to them?
Leaving the past behind
Let us assume the problems with the game are easy to fix, well theoretically they are because we are not asking for a better physics model or a new engine, we are asking for small details which most of the time comes back to the developer’s choice of design. Let’s talk about some of the huge problems that need to be fixed if they really want to match the very era that we live in.
SOUND
One of most important aspects of a racing game is the sound, how can you feel like you’re driving a real car if it doesn’t sound like one? They’ve talked about it many times and promised they are working on it. They promised a huge sound update for GT6 but somehow that didn’t work out and they are going to wait for GT7.
Now after the huge disappointment with GT6’s sounds there are no excuses, they said that development for the PS4 is way easier, it means they will have more time to focus on it and find easier and more efficient ways to perfect it.
DAMAGE MODEL
Some people care, some don’t. PD’s excuse was that the game is a driving sim not a damage sim. Fair point, but in a real life race if you make an accident you can’t just roll about 5 times and then continue with your race; if it’s a real driving sim it should have a real damage model.
LIVERY EDITOR
Every game now has it, people like to customize their cars so what’s the big deal? They probably don’t want people to mess with how the car looks. Get over yourselves; it’s a video game at the end. Throw some paints and logos and people will be happy about it.
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY (or vice versa)
By which I mean standards in the game. Many will tell you it’s better to have a thousand standard cars than having 300 premium cars. I’d take a thousand cars than 200 any day, why? They are there; if you want to use them use them if you don’t then ignore them. But some people would like the 300 high-end premium approache and you can’t blame them.
Of course there is a solution in between; hire more people. PD has 110 employees working on a huge game like that, it’s not enough obviously. Maybe if they hire more people it would definitely help not just with car models but with the whole development process.
AI
It was never good. Not one GT title had good AI. It’s either too easy or too hard, and when it’s hard it’s basically chasing AI opponents until you pass them then they never pass again. Online will always have a better challenge but some people don’t like to play online, they want to just enjoy their time playing the career mode. And if you want people to forget that your AI is bad, make better events and a great career mode.
CAREER MODE
The core of a fun game. Forget about online, GT was always about the career mode. We don’t want it back from the old games we want something new. Now there are lots of ideas which they could implement to have a compelling story in the career. Oops, did I just say a story? Why not?
Not a real story out of a book, but a life of a racer. Where you could join teams, make money and have to choose what kind of racer you want to become. Many games give you the ability to have the life of a racer not just do races and collect cars.
WHEEL SUPPORT
This is not Gran Turismo related, but it’s an issue which is going to haunt most racing fans. The only supported wheels for the PS4 now are two Thrustmaster wheels, and they’re a bit expensive. People already own racing wheels from last gen and they already spent money on it, why would they upgrade if they’re happy with it?
They won’t, as a matter of fact I know many people who are going to ignore Project CARS because it does not support the current line of wheels. I am not going to get a new wheel either, I will have to adapt to the controller although I’m not a fan of playing a racing game without a wheel, especially Gran Turismo which feels a lot more better and real with a wheel.
If they really want to show support for the fans they should at least try with Sony and make older wheels supported for the PS4. If they can do this, and release an official statement before the release of the game, wouldn’t that be great?
Coming back with style
Can Polyphony Digital have a great comeback? We already know that the game is going to be released in 2015 or 2016, but how can people renew their love and trust in GT? How can you win your huge fan base back? You’ve done it before PD now you have to do it better, with a free demo.
PROLOGUE
Release a free prologue. Free because you are not in a position of power right now. You need to redeem your image as one of the best developers out there. Make a free prologue, you can benefit from it too. Make it an open beta, test your servers and listen to feedback.
Release it 2015 with the famous tagline of “4 the players “. Of course the improvements we talked about have to be present, most importantly sounds which should blow people’s speakers away. Imagine players downloading the prologue and finding the best engine sounds in a game, what will they think? The king is back. New menus, awesome music and an online experience like no other? Pre-ordered.
You can’t ignore the fact that no matter what they do many people will probably still buy the game. Not because it’s a Ps4 game, well maybe. But mainly due to the fact that it’s a Gran Turismo title after all. So why not put that extra work and finally release a complete game? I’m just dreaming I know, maybe because I’m a huge GT fan and always have been. I want GT to be back; I want it to be the best racing game on the PS4 and show what the machine is really capable of.
You want my honest opinion? I am excited to see if they can pull it off and bring back the king.
