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Meka's points on realism in gaming had me thinking last night, as you do, about Gran Turismo vs TOCA.
TOCA Touring Cars is fun, because you can mash up your car and your opponent's car as much as you wish within the limitations of the game, and you can take out the corner signs so if you play in two-player mode, your opponent, if he's behind you, looses track of his breaking point....and so on.
Gran Turismo, on the other hand, doesn't have this find of feature, you cannot damage the cars (they get a bit dull after a few laps, hence the carwash to add a bit of sparkle), but you can't rip wing mirrors off, dent bodywork and so on.
Even TOCA has its failings, you can take out some barriers, but slam head on into others at 159 miles per hour and they just sit there looking at you, totally immovable objects.
How about in the future, you could crash THROUGH them, fly OVER them, get tangled up UNDERNEATH them, get stuck in the field on the other side, take out a few cows or the spectators even. The space on the disk is there to allow this, it just hasn't really been used. There should be a way of taking some of the concentration away from the circuit and concentrating a bit on the peripheral space around the track, outside the circuit itself.
This would add more realism to the game.
Damage to cars in Gran Turismo is another point, the developers have said it's more of a racing sim, with arcade elements (i.e. no damage) thrown in. But the point is, they could add this kind of feature if they wished to. They've already got tyre marks programmed in so that you can see where you spun off on the previous lap as you come around to that hairpin again, why not add things like:
Hit a barrier, see the dent the next time around.
Hit a grass verge, get grass and mud stuck to your bodywork that can come off in clods later on, causing a hazard if you drive over it next time around.
Leaving great scars in the grass verges instead of just letting them slow you down a bit.
Hit a car in Gran Turismo and there's no sound, how about adding some nice scraping metallic ripping noises?
I see no reason apart from budget and time limitations why they don't go ahead and add these features. Surely the benefit to gamers is worth the wait and the cost? Both genres of the games mentioned above would fully benefit from these additions.
TOCA Touring Cars is fun, because you can mash up your car and your opponent's car as much as you wish within the limitations of the game, and you can take out the corner signs so if you play in two-player mode, your opponent, if he's behind you, looses track of his breaking point....and so on.
Gran Turismo, on the other hand, doesn't have this find of feature, you cannot damage the cars (they get a bit dull after a few laps, hence the carwash to add a bit of sparkle), but you can't rip wing mirrors off, dent bodywork and so on.
Even TOCA has its failings, you can take out some barriers, but slam head on into others at 159 miles per hour and they just sit there looking at you, totally immovable objects.
How about in the future, you could crash THROUGH them, fly OVER them, get tangled up UNDERNEATH them, get stuck in the field on the other side, take out a few cows or the spectators even. The space on the disk is there to allow this, it just hasn't really been used. There should be a way of taking some of the concentration away from the circuit and concentrating a bit on the peripheral space around the track, outside the circuit itself.
This would add more realism to the game.
Damage to cars in Gran Turismo is another point, the developers have said it's more of a racing sim, with arcade elements (i.e. no damage) thrown in. But the point is, they could add this kind of feature if they wished to. They've already got tyre marks programmed in so that you can see where you spun off on the previous lap as you come around to that hairpin again, why not add things like:
Hit a barrier, see the dent the next time around.
Hit a grass verge, get grass and mud stuck to your bodywork that can come off in clods later on, causing a hazard if you drive over it next time around.
Leaving great scars in the grass verges instead of just letting them slow you down a bit.
Hit a car in Gran Turismo and there's no sound, how about adding some nice scraping metallic ripping noises?
I see no reason apart from budget and time limitations why they don't go ahead and add these features. Surely the benefit to gamers is worth the wait and the cost? Both genres of the games mentioned above would fully benefit from these additions.
Remember though, you cant have all of the processor working out the graphics. It also has tro calculate all the AI routines as well.
So far there hasnt been a processor powerful enough to do amazing graphics, real time physics (needed for the crumpling bonnet, barriers etc) AND carry out complex AI stuff.
Thats probaby why we havent seen the dents etc appear, as they are the least important, although they would be a nice touch.
Now that we are getting faster processors, they will be able to handle all of the informatiin for all 3 things mentioned above.
Another point is, and MSR is a good example, the actual car manufactureres dont like to see there cars have damage, quite why im not sure. But thats the way it is in some games.
So far there hasnt been a processor powerful enough to do amazing graphics, real time physics (needed for the crumpling bonnet, barriers etc) AND carry out complex AI stuff.
Thats probaby why we havent seen the dents etc appear, as they are the least important, although they would be a nice touch.
Now that we are getting faster processors, they will be able to handle all of the informatiin for all 3 things mentioned above.
Another point is, and MSR is a good example, the actual car manufactureres dont like to see there cars have damage, quite why im not sure. But thats the way it is in some games.
With today's graphic capabilities i would think they could put in more detail!
Crashes in ATV Quad Racing sees your character drop over cliff edges apparentley!! This is going to be one hell of a game I can tell you!!!
FM - they're onestep ahead of you! Check out reviews of World Rally Championship 2001, coming soon to PS2.
Misjudge a turn and you actually can go plummeting several hundred feet down a mountainside. And it looks almost as good as GT3.
As for the damage in GT3 - it's not a developer issue, but a manufacturer issue... several European car manufacturers will not let their cars be seen damaged; hence none of them can be shown damaged.
Misjudge a turn and you actually can go plummeting several hundred feet down a mountainside. And it looks almost as good as GT3.
As for the damage in GT3 - it's not a developer issue, but a manufacturer issue... several European car manufacturers will not let their cars be seen damaged; hence none of them can be shown damaged.
Meka's points on realism in gaming had me thinking last night, as you do, about Gran Turismo vs TOCA.
TOCA Touring Cars is fun, because you can mash up your car and your opponent's car as much as you wish within the limitations of the game, and you can take out the corner signs so if you play in two-player mode, your opponent, if he's behind you, looses track of his breaking point....and so on.
Gran Turismo, on the other hand, doesn't have this find of feature, you cannot damage the cars (they get a bit dull after a few laps, hence the carwash to add a bit of sparkle), but you can't rip wing mirrors off, dent bodywork and so on.
Even TOCA has its failings, you can take out some barriers, but slam head on into others at 159 miles per hour and they just sit there looking at you, totally immovable objects.
How about in the future, you could crash THROUGH them, fly OVER them, get tangled up UNDERNEATH them, get stuck in the field on the other side, take out a few cows or the spectators even. The space on the disk is there to allow this, it just hasn't really been used. There should be a way of taking some of the concentration away from the circuit and concentrating a bit on the peripheral space around the track, outside the circuit itself.
This would add more realism to the game.
Damage to cars in Gran Turismo is another point, the developers have said it's more of a racing sim, with arcade elements (i.e. no damage) thrown in. But the point is, they could add this kind of feature if they wished to. They've already got tyre marks programmed in so that you can see where you spun off on the previous lap as you come around to that hairpin again, why not add things like:
Hit a barrier, see the dent the next time around.
Hit a grass verge, get grass and mud stuck to your bodywork that can come off in clods later on, causing a hazard if you drive over it next time around.
Leaving great scars in the grass verges instead of just letting them slow you down a bit.
Hit a car in Gran Turismo and there's no sound, how about adding some nice scraping metallic ripping noises?
I see no reason apart from budget and time limitations why they don't go ahead and add these features. Surely the benefit to gamers is worth the wait and the cost? Both genres of the games mentioned above would fully benefit from these additions.
TOCA Touring Cars is fun, because you can mash up your car and your opponent's car as much as you wish within the limitations of the game, and you can take out the corner signs so if you play in two-player mode, your opponent, if he's behind you, looses track of his breaking point....and so on.
Gran Turismo, on the other hand, doesn't have this find of feature, you cannot damage the cars (they get a bit dull after a few laps, hence the carwash to add a bit of sparkle), but you can't rip wing mirrors off, dent bodywork and so on.
Even TOCA has its failings, you can take out some barriers, but slam head on into others at 159 miles per hour and they just sit there looking at you, totally immovable objects.
How about in the future, you could crash THROUGH them, fly OVER them, get tangled up UNDERNEATH them, get stuck in the field on the other side, take out a few cows or the spectators even. The space on the disk is there to allow this, it just hasn't really been used. There should be a way of taking some of the concentration away from the circuit and concentrating a bit on the peripheral space around the track, outside the circuit itself.
This would add more realism to the game.
Damage to cars in Gran Turismo is another point, the developers have said it's more of a racing sim, with arcade elements (i.e. no damage) thrown in. But the point is, they could add this kind of feature if they wished to. They've already got tyre marks programmed in so that you can see where you spun off on the previous lap as you come around to that hairpin again, why not add things like:
Hit a barrier, see the dent the next time around.
Hit a grass verge, get grass and mud stuck to your bodywork that can come off in clods later on, causing a hazard if you drive over it next time around.
Leaving great scars in the grass verges instead of just letting them slow you down a bit.
Hit a car in Gran Turismo and there's no sound, how about adding some nice scraping metallic ripping noises?
I see no reason apart from budget and time limitations why they don't go ahead and add these features. Surely the benefit to gamers is worth the wait and the cost? Both genres of the games mentioned above would fully benefit from these additions.