Gran Turismo 5: Kaz Yamauchi Intervju

[UrgeLoL]

Strålende intervju med en ærlig Yamauchi, må leses.

 

Kikizo: Would you say it's getting incrementally harder to continue the high standard of visual quality with Gran Turismo? Because obviously, GT4 was already extremely good looking.

 

Yamauchi: Well I feel that yes, there are obvious difficulties, but the passion we have is always to create the best visual qualities available, that we can possibly extract from PlayStation 3. In a racing game, one of the most important aspects is that, because you are travelling at high speeds, you need high resolution to accurately create objects in the distance, and also to give you enough sense speed, sixty frames at 1080p resolution display is another must-have to further enhance the racing experience.

 

 

Kikizo: One of, or perhaps the only real criticism of Gran Turismo 4, was the lack of accessibility; it was very difficult for many players to get into the game. Is this something you would look to address in Gran Turismo 5?

 

Yamauchi: One thing is that we now have two levels of driving physics available: Standard is more for the beginners or the novice players; Professional is a further enhanced and more real experience, where even professional drivers can use Gran Turismo as a training tool.

 

Kikizo: So does Standard mode offer things like braking assist to achieve this more accessible play, or something else?

 

 

 

Yamauchi: Actually braking assist and things of that nature are in other categories you can select; it's more that the core physics design itself is geared towards less experienced players; it picks up on your mistakes, and is more forgiving, whereas Professional is more hardcore; you know, you make a mistake, you will pay for it! To try to explain it more simply, Standard would be closer to the original Gran Turismo, whereas Professional is where we are taking it to these extreme [physics] calculations. You know, a simulator designed for the novice player is not applicable for Michael Schumacher to use, and vice versa. So they are two different things that are included.

 

Kikizo: Could you give us your opinion on Forza MotorSport 2 for the Xbox 360, and in particular, the ability to reskin your car in very great detail - are you going to have this degree of superficial car customisation in GT5?

Yamauchi: Straight off the bat, I think that in terms of feature sets, Forza is ahead of us. They have more options, you can do basically anything. We take a different approach obviously - we try to concentrate on what are the core values for a racing game, and we try to elevate those standards up as high as we possibly can. I am having difficulty trying to explain the differences, but one way you can look at it is, you can buy a watch that is super multifunctional, but economical, or a watch that is reduced in functions, but premium - higher end.

 

Kikizo: Certainly, this demo you have shown us looks phenomenal, please can you tell us about some of the background to achieving this standard on PS3?

 

Yamauchi: On average, the car models in GT5 Prologue is 200,000 polygons - this is fifty times more than what we used to have on GT4 PS2, which was on average 4,000 - so fifty times upscaled. We are now able to see very fine details. Another new feature is the in-car camera, because we are now modelling the interior of the car as well. You'll also notice that we have taken the extra step to represent the stitching of the leather, to the full extent, and the dashboard and so on. We've notice throughout our development process that to allow for an in-car camera it gives you a further enhanced experienced that is even more real that it was in GT4. To the extent of even reverse, or other angles, it's not just the front dashboard that is detailed like this. GT5 Prologue will also allow up to a maximum fifteen [other] cars on the same track, previously it was six. And the visual quality in-game is 1080p, 60fps.

 

Kikizo: With sixteen cars on the track, it looks more like a race when you see the replay. Is this the reason why we can see that it runs at only 30fps in the replay view?

 

Yamauchi: Yes that's right. There are two reasons why. For example, in the race, the camera is fixed, so the amount of power you need is measurable. Whereas in a replay, the camera may zoom in, zoom out very wide, so the variables we need are quite wide, so we took the route of choosing in-game 60fps, replay 30fps, but enhanced with more effects, motion blur and so on.

 

Kikizo: Another visually striking aspect is in fact humans - the crew that you see in the pit as they change wheels or just chill out before an event presumably - how do you justify so much effort into this exceptional detail? Is it all real graphics?

 

Yamauchi: These sequences are rendered realtime rendering in 1080p, and you will notice that the pit area decoration and attire for the pit crew and driver - everything is along the lines of the Ferrari image. Right now, because it's Ferrari, it's red. Red is the colour of the direct link with the image of Ferrari, and that will change depending on which car or manufacturer you have chosen. This area itself will take full advantage of the high dynamic range [lighting] technologies - we have taken the extra step to make sure that the qualities are very high in that area, and we think that this is a unique point.

 

Kikizo: And all these animations on the humans in the pit crew are all seriously real-time as well?

 

Yamauchi: Yes. The idea is that, for example this is the pit for the Suzuka circuit in Japan, but we will have a number of other circuits worldwide, for which we want to feature the pit area that is true to each of the respective locations.

Kikizo: How far have you come in terms of adding new vehicles to your line up since the last game?

 

Yamauchi: [Takes controller to demonstrate] - this is the Nissan GTR Prototype; Nissan will unveil their production vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show later this October, so between the window of now until the end of the year, we will be featuring lots of new and upcoming performance vehicles.

 

Kikizo: So this is the first time this Nissan has been seen?

 

Yamauchi: Yes, that's right - first time in a game.

 

Kikizo: This must reflect strong relationships with the manufacturers - so on what level will you be incorporating car damage? Forza has fairly extensive car damage; they told us they were able to achieve this because they have particularly close relationships with the car manufacturers. What would you say to this?

 

Yamauchi: I think they have different levels of damage, perhaps depending on their relationships with each of the brands. What I mean is, there is still a limitation that still exists within the agreements that we have with car manufacturers, even with the example of Forza; one car will be more damaged than another, and that is probably because they are limited with that brand. And that would apply to us as well. To clarify, our main objectives are to raise the bar for AI, physics, car modelling, sixteen cars on the track, 1080p, 60fps, these kinds of things - the core of the racing game category, we want to bring the standards to a high level. Of course, on our road map, yes we have damage, we have changing weather etcetera, but we will get to that once we build our pillars first; those are details that you can add afterwards.

 

Kikizo: Does the AI make mistakes now? Or is there a dynamic element to the AI opposition drivers, now that you have more power with PS3, so that it is more authentic in a race?

Yamauchi: The simple answer to that is yes. But in reality when you design the AI, the most difficult part is to make sure that all of the opponent cars are driving and trying to keep their positions without bumping into each other, or destroying the race. It is actually easier to incorporate, for example, what a driver would do under pressure and things of that nature, but we need the core bit done first, to allow for that. The AI has also been redesigned completely; it had to be; the new AI drives the opponent cars more smoothly throughout the track.

 

Kikizo: You have redesigned the front-end of the game quite extensively so that it is more sophisticated and perhaps more in-line with more recent rival games. Can you tell us more about how this is set up?

 

Yamauchi: So, the front end of the game is quite different and unique this time. The standard configuration before was that you would have a title screen and then a game mode underneath, inside the game mode second layer would be to select the track, select the car, but now, it's a big difference. This was our answer when we studied, what happens when we combine the Gran Turismo experience together with the online feature set. In a nutshell, the user has his own 'Mypage' within the world of Gran Turismo. For example, players can collect their favourite cars and their favourite background image to be part of their Mypage.

 

The one I showed you happens to be a background showing a town in Germany near the Nürburgring track, but eventually we will have background scenes for Tokyo city at night, London, whatever - a variation of locations, and various cars that the users can select and combine to use as the background for their Mypage. Looking at the top of the Mypage, you will be able to put on the global map where you are located, it will display your time zone in your local area, and you will be able to see other players online who you have met - maybe someone in London or so on - and you will see on the map where they are, their time zone, and their weather, and it gives a more intense experience by getting to know them online. The scheduler you see here will help players do their schedule management, remind you of race events that are coming up, and things of that nature.

 

Yamauchi: If we then look at the icons at the bottom, we can start the race - very straightforward; the next one is Garage, again something you may be familiar with in the GT franchise, it's the collection of cars you have obtained within the world of GT. Just like in previous GT, when you start the game, there are zero cars in your garage, but as you play and build experience, you will obtain more. The next icon is TV. To give you a conceptual idea, this is a mix of car related video material - it could be a famous TV show that covers cars, it could be in-house Polyphony-created video features, it could be something car manufacturers give to us, asking us to make it part of the content - it's something people can come to when they want to watch car-related things of this nature.

 

The Album is another feature that is part of the user's profile, for example in Photo Mode you can take still photos of your experience in GT, and you can put them in there to show to your friends. The same applies to any of the replay movies from in the game experience, for example I can post my best lap time from Nürburgring and show it to my friends, and challenge them to beat me. The final icon we have is Home. We are trying to create a seamless experience between Home, within the PS3 environment, and for players to be able to seamlessly go interact between the Home environment and the GT environment.

 

 

Kikizo: Could you elaborate on how GT5 will be integrated with the Home service for PS3?

Yamauchi: One example would be, you start off in the Home environment, you open a door and discover the Gran Turismo world, you walk in, there's an online dealership - the car is rotating like on a car selection screen. All that past that door is actually GT, but the experience is a lot more seamless. Ideally anyway - that's the ideal scenario, we're still studying this.

 

Kikizo: There is a rumour that the Home service will come to the PSP in some form. If this were to be the case would you look to replicate this kind of concept on GT Mobile?

 

Yamauchi: That would be an assumption on top of an assumption! But if that were to happen then yes, that would be the case.

 

Kikizo: Can you give us an update on how GT Mobile for the PSP is progressing at the moment please?

 

Yamauchi: Right now we're targeting GT5 for next year, maybe later next year. The PSP will come following that.

 

Kikizo: OK, but previously I thought you had said it would come before GT5?

 

Yamauchi: Currently, our objective is to make sure that we have a strong core on PS3, before we go on to PSP.

 

Kikizo: How important do you think rumble feedback is to the GT experience? Everybody knows that a rumble controller is coming, so is it something that you have already been working on with this in mind?

Yamauchi: Yes, that is correct.

 

Kikizo: Kazunori, thank you so much for your time and we look forward to playing more.

 

A demo of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue will be released in Japan on October 26 to coincide with the Tokyo Motor Show. This page will be updated with the latest word on European and North American release info shortly.

 

Kilde

[Mala]

Veldig godt intervju det der ja

 

Kommer nok til å bli eit meget meget godt spill dette her.

[Luc1fer-]

Ser flott ut dette. Litt bekymret for det han sa om skademodellering da. Forresten, betyr det at vi som har en JPN bruker kan laste ned en Prolouge demo fra JP-store den 26 oct?

[Haansi]

Ser flott ut dette. Litt bekymret for det han sa om skademodellering da. Forresten, betyr det at vi som har en JPN bruker kan laste ned en Prolouge demo fra JP-store den 26 oct?

Jepp, i think so.

 

Men problemet er jo at den blir på japansk :!:

[psino]

Jepp, i think so.

 

Men problemet er jo at den blir på japansk :!:

 

Basert på menysystemet på GTHD så blir språket neppe et problem.

[The Walking Dead]

hmm, hvis de ikke klarer å få med seg skademodellering denne gangen heller så skal det vel heller ikke bli kalt en bilsimulator, men et bilspill?

[boundishh]

yes da jeg har jpn konto på ps3'en

[Peritass]

Virker som skade motoren kommer til å bli humbug etter og ha lest dette intervjuet... Hvis ikke gt klarer og få en real skade motor denne gangen så er jo spillet null verdt som racing simulator... Da er jo toca til ps2 bedre