Nick Laslett said:
I don't want to appear argumentative, but Gran Turismo series is a very poor example for your argument.
The progress from 1 to 4 have brought fundemental changes to the series. First we have the upgrade to constant 60fps for framerate and player input. Graphically this makes things look smoother, but the real impact is on the control side. A higher input value means more sensistive controls, increased reaction times. For a racing game played at great speed, framerate and reaction time are very important.
The second improvement is with the physics model. There must be something like 10x the complexity in the physics model now. This brings many positive attributes to the game. It allows the game to differentiate between front-wheel drive, four-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive. It allows the game to differentitate between different types of road surface and different types of tyre compound and how cars of different weights would respond.
These two changes make playing GT4 and huge departure from GT1, virtually unrecognisable.
The last change is the steering wheel interface. For a serious game like GT the steering wheel is the way it was designed to be played. This completes the package.
You can now take a non-games player, sit them in a racing seat and they can master GT4 very quickly. This is not something you could do with GT1. Their real world driving experience will now translate very quickly to playing GT4. If the objective was to make a statisfying simulation game then we can see that GT4 has moved much closure to that objective than the first game in the series.
The fact that it looks prettier helps the whole process but the underlying changes are not about pretty pictures.
Well cant disagree with what you said actually. Not saying the difference in controls due to improved physics and framrate isnt noticable.Just pointing out it's not like a difference of night and day. The biggest difference was on the graphics.
I didnt consider the steering wheel either since I am comparing how the game feels generally as an overal experience with the Dual Shock and since I thought the subject was directed mostly towards Physics, AI, and graphics than state of the art peripherals.
Lets see how the new generation will improve the next GT though since framerate will still remain at 60fps. I think destructible cars and enviroments will make the biggest difference this time. IF implemented.
What I visualise is something like a real rally conditions. Where every bump, stone, dirt, water affect realistically the car than just predetermining certain handling on certain surfaces.
To understand an example of this....Imagine you are driving a very short car (Ferrari, Integra, Laborgini?) and run over a big pool of water. If this happens in real life and 1/3 of the car sinks to water while running fast, the spinning wheels make the water hit the car under it from the opposite direction. You lose control and feel as if your car is beeing pushed back by the water.
Another example, you drive an evolution through mud. When you enter the mud your car doesnt feel slippery. As the wheels gather mud the car feels more slippery while your steering becomes tighter. Now if you enter asphalt your car still is slippery but gets less and less according to your speed on the road as you are getting rid of the gathered mud on the wheels.
Also these conditions like rocks on the ground, continuous drifting and braking can create huge forces on suspension or heat up the brakes, causing various problems on the car.
It will also be great if tires brake realistically and affect handling just like a real car.
