Last updated on January 16th, 2021 at 06:31 pm
So, what does it take to go from a hit racing simulation, to a franchise, to a dynasty? In a word, “vision.” Making a video game into a hit simulator is hard enough. Taking a one hit wonder and making it a franchise, even harder still. Going from solid franchise to an era leading dynasty within the genre becomes extremely difficult for any game, simulation or not.
Ultimately it is the vision of the creator that will dictate the direction and line a game follows. Initially the creative idea is fundamentally simple and straight forward in nature. E.g, create a car racing game that imparts a sense of reality. From there it goes to, how much reality should one impart?
Flight simulators for example, such as the, “Microsoft Flight Simulator” franchise dynasty, are at the extreme end of simulation technology entertainment, and as such are less entertaining than they are instructionally interesting. To their credit they have stayed the course pursuing simulation perfection since about 1982.
As focused, long lasting, and strong as their vision was for their award winning product, it still became a victim of, “management issues and delays in project delivery combined with increased demands in headcount, at a time that Microsoft was attempting to lower costs.” Sadly, the “Microsoft Flight Simulator” team “ACES” was laid off in 2009.
Were they a failure? Not at all, especially when you consider their longevity in the industry. In fact, they were the most successful flight simulator of the video gaming industry ever. Today’s automotive simulation counterparts would love to have a nearly 30 year run of success such as this.
Still, there is a lesson to be learned from what happened to “ACES.” It would appear that, “management issues and delays in project delivery” can rot out even the most successful titles. We see this same malignant issue in the two leading racing simulation franchises of, Microsoft’s “Turn 10’s” Forza Motorsports, and Sony’s “Polyphony Digital’s” Gran Turismo, today.
Gran Turismo
Polyphony has become the butt of delay jokes in the industry. In the same period of time that Turn 10 has released Forza 1, 2, and 3, Polyphony has yet to release its successor to the 2005 hit “Gran Turismo 4” sequel. (Please don’t mention, “Prologue.”)
Not to be out done, Turn 10 has been highly criticized for the opposite problem of prematurely releasing each of its sequels, as noted by the plethora of minor programming glitches and incomplete admissions stated in various interviews.
In the case of Polyphony Digital it has long since been argued that the president and creator of Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamauchi, is simply a fanatical perfectionist in the same spirit of the most patient master samurai sword smiths. He refuses to birth his next creation until his vision of the game is fully and completely realized. The problem with this strategy (or is it a fetish?) is that the longer one waits to perfect every iota of their game, the more, “Moore’s Law” thwarts the effort. Moore’s law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware, in which the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years. That means that computing power has quadrupled during the years GT5 has been under construction. Is it any wonder then that Kazunori Yamauchi never catches the carrot on his stick? Every time he thinks he has everything in place, technology offers yet another advance that he wants to exploit.
The result of this chasing after your technological tail is delay after delay to the point that you leave the door open for your competitors to try to step in and steal your hard won market share, and rabid fan base. Enter Forza Motorsports. To date the release of GT5 is still only rumored to be any time between March, and July 2010, but no one is holding their breath.
The fascinating thing with Polyphony and Gran Turismo is that in spite of the numerous project delays and obvious single minded dictatorial management style, they appear to be poised to reclaim their once undisputed position, and in fact finally become the dynasty of the genre that everyone thought was a foregone conclusion 5 years ago. What accounts for this? Perhaps a dictator with a racing vision is more powerful, than a democracy of driving ideas.
The main theme or point of Gran Turismo has been very constant over the years. It’s all about racing perfectly simulated cars on a level that impresses everyone from casual gamer to car racing fan. There has always been something extra special, extra “sweet” about the content and flavor of a Gran Turismo game. The presentation has a legendary or mythical-like quality that many attractive RPG games would do well to capture. Gran Turismo as a major in-house Sony Playstation title is famous for setting the new benchmark in gaming entertainment. Polyphony’s influence has been so great that dozens of racing games were inspired by it, not the least of which was Forza Motorsports.
Dan Greenawalt, the curator and head of “Turn 10” was very impressed by the first Gran Turismo, and like so many of us wanted more. He set out to create his own unique version of the game with some added features like the wildly popular in-game painting application. With major support from Microsoft Studios it was easy to see that Forza Motorsports would become a chief competing title.
Greeenawalt’s vision was generally the same as Yamauchi’s at first, but with expanded features not found in Gran Turismo. Over time and subsequent sequels, those extra features were so well received that they became equal in importance or greater than any other aspect of the game, including racing. As the Turn 10 team grew, departmental democracy took hold, twisting and warping the original vision into something arguably more than a driving or racing simulator. With more people and more sub-teams handling the immense Forza3 project in an effort to better manage the work load, and get the product on the shelves, you see an indistinct homogeny of features designed to attract the attention of dissimilar interests, all under one guise. This broad one size fits all approach allows artists, painters, photographers, filmographers, buyers, sellers, drifters, and oh, almost forgot, racers, to cross each others paths in the same game.
While each new version of Gran Turismo strikes one as being revolutionary, each new version of Forza falls on the less dramatic side of, evolutionary. With Forza the basic game play, physics, and sequenced interface is mostly unchanged once you look past the revised graphical facades. The look is different with each new version, but the underpinnings for how the cars behave and are manipulated, have barely changed.
The feeling is that aside from some minor enhancements to the physics engine, and the performance indexing, Turn 10 has tried to keep a, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to car building, tuning, and performance. Going even further to try to appeal to a still broader casual gaming audience, Turn 10 created and adopted certain options, features, and functions, to make the game easier to gain access to, so the uninitiated can be more quickly immersed. All laudable choices and sincere aims no doubt, but through it all the original vision has been clouded somewhat, and possibly even lost or discarded. Helping to add to this opinion, is the inconsistent application of the, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra when it comes to the latest multiplayer match making hopper system of FM3. The ability to freely associate with random players of a like mind through the use of player host controlled lobbies of FM2, were deleted for FM3. In its place is a more automated hopper system intended to make it easier and friendlier for the casual player to experience.
Unfortunately, the exact opposite response Turn 10 desired occurred, resulting in less players playing, while acting with greater anonymity, and less socializing. FM3 lobbies compared to FM2 lobbies are mostly silent crash fests with fewer people using microphones.
A great uproar on the FM.net forum erupted to produce some of the largest most angry thread posts ever seen in fan protest of any game. The powers that be at Turn 10 reluctantly and infrequently responded with what the fans thought was a casual indifference at best, and down right hostility at worst.
At first Turn 10 tried to solicit the help of community leaders to extinguish the flames, but the tsunami of fire was already too great. The fans, especially the core fan base felt a sense of betrayal on all fronts. They saw a repeating pattern from Turn 10 of over hyping the newest game release, being silent on fundamental changes to the game prior to release, ignoring the pleas for correction, and the core fan base being marginalized for being too passionate.
It didn’t help that many of the same old game issues reared their ugly heads at the same time, such as the engine swap money glitch. Worse still was that if you used this glitch/dev secret, Turn 10 was going to delete your account, something they did not do in FM2. Add to this a long list of glitch/cheater cars and parts swaps ruining the integrity of the leader boards, and you get the distinct impression that the game was hardly beta tested, but rather, thrown on the retail shelves as fast as possible in a bad economy for a company needing cash.
Above and beyond all of these acerbic things was a noticeably suspicious lack of simulation racing emphasis to the franchise. Forza had become a pseudo-simulator in which its creator openly admitted that he saw less and less of a meaningful reason to draw a distinction between what was an arcade racer and a simulator.
The once uncompromising fans of Gran Turismo who were lured away by Turn 10 because of the huge delay between GT4 and GT5, have watched Forza go down a different road than what originally attracted them to simulation racing in the first place, and that is, to simulation race. These same GT fans embraced the then upstart Forza 1 wholeheartedly, and became the hardcore base of the Forza franchise. This core fan base gave Turn 10 the respect and dollars they needed to continue the franchise’s sequels, in their (Turn 10’s)non-stop march to supplant any and all other racing simulators including Gran Turismo, as a dynasty in the genre.
But low and behold, the fact is the Forza franchise has taken a turn away from the single minded Gran Turismo emphasis on racing, and yet has successfully branched off into a more open field of dreams. But at what cost? Is it worth losing the core fan base that made the franchise possible? Has Forza grown enough to succeed as a dynasty on mass appeal alone? The answer will have to wait, but if the recent actions of Turn 10 are any indication the wait is already over.
Recently Turn 10 deleted, removed, and rearranged the thousands of feedback posts characterizing their new multiplayer system as being an unpopular flop. They also removed any negative references or opinions on how they have handled the situation, and added a warning to those who might persist. At the same time many have left the forum and game in protest. These are not signs of a burgeoning dynasty my friends.
It can be fairly argued that fan appreciation is at an all time low for Turn 10, odd considering its recent release of FM3. But the spin is, the greater Forza community is what’s important, not the hardcore minority base who frequent the forums.
Of course this schism comes at an opportune time for the folks at Polyphony Digital who have already been ramping up pre-GT5 events with time trials, and turning simulation racers into real racers. Though neither franchise has actually become the simulation racing dynasty they were hoped to be for reasons of management style, and project delays/development, could it be that the once wayward brethren and prodigal sons, who left GT to follow Forza, will now return to make the difference?
With Sony discounting its PS3 price to Xbox360 levels, will it be enough to entice this shunned hardcore fan base to return home to a more focused console simulation racing experience? Will FM4 be just one more step removed from simulation racing towards a broader based game generating greater sales figures than before, even without the self-important hardcore users? Or will a third party arrive on the scene to create what probably should have been done by now, produce an incomparable console racing simulator without rival and with lasting dynastic value.
Full throttle,
AAR GTDon
Very well written article. Describes the current situation nicely. But as to Polyphony Digital, the Hardware for both the X360 and PS3 are non-upgradable. So technology would be a constant, therefore any delays would simply have to mean a loss of financial backing (SONY losing $1.1 Billion in Sales to Microsoft) or a Resource issue (Programming).
I do agree that the word “Simulation” is used too loosely nowadays. There is currently only one Game that can considered a “Simulator” for the Consoles, RACE Pro. Being as small a Company as they are, Simbin didn’t have the resources to advertise as much as they needed and ATARI did a very poor job of handling it, while Turn 10 must have spent Microsoft-Millions.
Both Polyphony and Turn 10 need to be careful. Racing is where they started and Racing is where they lack. They have one foot in the Grave and the other on a banana peel ..
Thanks for the comment! It is true that the console hardware is non-upgradeable, but, as was the case for GT2, and GT3, and even GT5, it took time for software gains to be realized in order to fully exploit the limited hardware. On the hardware side there is the server issue, and Polyphony has spent some coin on their new one in Tokyo for GT5, so they can cleanly run more than 8 cars pushing that many polygons.
I agree lol, of the two titles, Gran Turismo actually did die but is about to be ressurected and brought back to life in a big way. Forza, almost entirely void of any racing emphasis is more like the walking dead, a kind of zombie on DLC life supports.
I maintain that the title with the strongest most focused simluation racing vision will in the end be the champion and forge a true gaming dynasty. If RacePro gets the dollars and steps up their graphics they’d be in the hunt too. Their physics modeling is as good as any if not better, and their game play pays great attention to the subject of racing, all they really need is a massive injection of more polygons. 🙂
It is a well written article, good job don…it’s a bit too neutral at times, but I understand why it needs to be. Me personally I can’t wait for GT5 the only thing that would keep me playing forza for any amount of time will be IF I’m involved in a user created tournament like IFCA stuff…I came from GT to FM when I realized that it was gonna be the better part of a decade before I got a quality racing game on sony’s next gen console. I thoroughly enjoyed FM2 despite some of it’s flaws it was a great game, and I met some of the coolest people on there and have no regrets for the time I spent playing it. T10 can say what they want about the PI system change, bottom line is that the cars were closer in 2 than 3, especially if you take into account the whole Issue of drivetrain superiority in FM3. I would love to see the “perfect lap” that the computer simulates when determining the PI that puts a Honda civic FWD, Mazda rx7 RWD, and 03 celica AWD, when all 3 are at the C class 425 PI limit, I would love to see all 3 of those ran to an identicle lap time on a “theoretical perfect lap” because so far I don’t see that it can be done.
I won’t rant about too much, because this could quickly get longer that the article lol. But when it comes to FM3 the only thing that could keep me around is a major overhaul of the game and it’s major flaws. (AWD domination, multiplayer issues, and the miniscule number of cars available if you want to even think about the leaderboards, really T10, over 400 cars and only a total of about 20 are worth a shit?!?) and/or quality user generated tournaments like the bismark series or IFCA…because let’s face it once GT 5 comes out there will be no one sticking up for forza…free online play no gold membership fees, more than 8 cars on the track at a time, not to mention the fact that physics wise FM STILL has not caught up to GT4 let alone what GT5 should be.
Race pro was a joke. That game was aweful, sorry if you guys like it, but I had major problems with that game. I still maintain that a better game than fm3 would be fm2 with plenty of well put togrether DLC tracks to keep it fresh. I can’t wait to watch T10 squirm when they are the ones reaching to us for something when we all leave for GT5 and we finally get our turn to ignore their requests the way they currently do ours.
Hi Body, c’mon, don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel! lol Thanks for the comments.
Yeah, you may be right in the end, if GT5 pulls it off. It’s no secret I’m originally a GT man myself, hence the gamer tag, “GTDon.” I own a PS3 and as console tech goes when compared to a 360, it’s like night a day. The PS3 looks like it is from th future, while the 360 looks like someone who uses extra large crayons made it. I’ve gone through 3 Xbox360’s and 3 steering wheels because they are not robust durable machines. The wheel glitches, and the 360 freezes with regularity. The PS3? Not a single problem.
I do think that if T10 knew and understood that a large majority of their hardcore fan base were actually Gran Turismo transplants patiently waiting for GT5, –and only making do with Forza in the mean time, T10 would have tried much harder to keep us.
True, the PS3 and X360 are very different beasts. The PS3 – quality build, kept up with current technical innovations and all Games demand 420fps. While the X360 – inferior build, kept up with current technology, demands a less robust 360fps, uses XID: better peripherals and incorporates much easier into Home Entertainment.
Simbin, in their own rights have become a ‘Dynasty’ of their own and have recently expanded to the Console market. Selling 20’000 copies of a Game to people (in North America; 120’000 copies in Europe) who have never even heard of them before is actually quite an achievement. There are rumours that Simbin are still staying in the Console market and may go multi-platform with their new Lizard Engine. If Simbin releases something that includes the PS3 – I may switch also.
T10 forgot where they came from and Polyphony simply refuses to be outdone. Which makes your assesment quite accurate; they’re afraid to fail. But fail they will if they don’t release something soon.
Another good read Don and some good comments in return.
I agree with most of what has been put here and where i differ i am fully conscious this is more down to my subjective preferences than anything else. What we are talking about in this is our own “feel” of these games
As an aside: this is a classic example of why the driving fraternity over the first person shooter specialists appeals more to my mentality. I know there are fanbois for all genres but could you imagine a post about the relative methods and merits of Halo vs. CoD vs. Counter Strike vs. etc. being as balanced as possible and being responded to with an equally considered riposte?
Possible but IMO rarely – but i would lay money that someone would call someone ghey or question their IQ or parentage within the first ten comments afterwards. Racers, generally tend to appreciate an alternative view, racing line or skill – an inspiration to add that to their own repertoire rather than as a challenge to masculinity or competence.
That said in any racing lobby there is usually some cock in the fastest straight line machine that mistakes the ability to Google the game PI or rating imbalances with an ability to select, tune and drive any lesser car at its limits. And they will be the ones who moan loudly about you cheating/their set up/the connection if you beat them and mess up their “guaranteed” win because of a glitch car.
if the game designers get that wrong on a few cars it limits choice. Get it badly wrong for one car and you essentially have a one car per class game. So you might as well save the polygons you used for the other 400 cars on the disc or DLC. They wont be used much.
Oh… and making the killer car/track/set-up premium DLC only? Off my Christmas card list instantly.
But the type of driver who just gets the best car and next week will be on the best jet ski or best MW2 load out won’t go to https://www.onlineracedriver.com or anything similar – they aren’t racers, they are gamers who have learnt to beat teh game itself, they have little loyalty or preference and their skill is in exploiting the holes left in AI or physics. They enjoy breaking the illusion of gaming by being conscious of the mechanics involved.
We meanwhile accept and understand clearly the compromises made to make a fun game that also works within accepted rules – it may not be real world physics but we prefer to have a level playing field that is enjoyably equitable to those constraints. What level the accuracy and what you prefer as the level of reality is personal.
Its not going to be perfect, but if we can agree that we race like it IS accurate enough to separate skill from button mashing then the simulation of “racing” and competition is a lot more accurate than you would believe.
You could have a well balanced race game which was fun waaaaay back in the 8 bit and 16 bit days.
One of my favourite all time is PS1 Micro Machines. And that is far from a simulation – but it was consistent and well balanced within its own limitations. Mario Kart SNES was another arcade game that in a lot of ways was a better race “simulator” that many of the latest generations of shiny car models on GPS generated tracks. I suppose it must be simpler with three model types – nimble and slow but fast off the mark, fast but uncontrollable with slow recovery to punish mistakes, medium handling medium speed for the balanced.
But in the same way if you introduce a “real world” your rules need to be consistent within the terms you have set and the balancing needs to be very careful. To not stick to this makes odd things stand out and this creates cognitive dissonance – something doesn’t feel right and it drags you back out of the fantasy where you have to account for something that doesn’t fit the perception you have engaged with – this is a when real world coding, AI and PI issues that don’t fit the rest of the game seem way worse than the small difference would seem to make to the overall picture.
Easily covered by lens flare and huge car list if you are marketer but spoils the whole game for the people that actually care and in turn pay their money to use the product.
I think both GT and Forza most recent releases (not counting the PSP) have both polished over some graphical and glaring balance mistakes from previous iterations but have in some ways either changed only part of the ruleset or unbalanced the experience in another more intrusive way which have spoiled the game more.
Having made an aside as long as the original post to finish off I wanted to actually add my response to the article itself too but apologies if this has been too much comment for one post!
Take a breather here but the last bit is actually quite short:
Like Don and most other racers i am a graduate of GT I also filled the gap in my gaming life between GT releases with Forza and it was instantly fun.
I prefer more realistic to arcade but find the time and subjective interpretations of “simulation” mean the true simulators leave me a little cold. If you are trying that hard to be accurate i may as well go and play in the beemer in real life.
Games are the perfect world, no traffic, little rain, no crash cost version for fun not torture.
GT and Forza have both managed to find that balance with me but coming from their different angles.
Personally i think in a lot of ways Polyphony lost its way with GT3 and for all the technical polish applied to 4 i prefer the jankier predecessor for feel and racing.
FM1 becoming FM2 and fixing a lot of things in the graphic fidelity and handling model was a near game winner for me. GT4 took GT3 and added in “improvements” which in part ruined that “feel” in the driving for me, FM may have been less accurate but felt more like it was doing an accurate representation of a computer game car with some decent modelling. GT4 felt like it was going for simulation accuracy and missed on the feel part that softer predecessors had. FM3 for me kind of went the other way: different method but ultimately the same result.
Neither is there yet and for me, after these last releases, both have to re-prove themselves completely before I will consider the next iteration. And as it is subjective I will actually want to spend some time checking this before that purchase too.
We can all appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the two current titans but with reference to and deference to the shoulders they are standing on. And with that knowledge that it could be better but for oversights, corporate and technical issues it is doubly frustrating.
They are all compromised. Pick your favourite. Enjoy it.
Keep it rubber side down.
Ahh, now here is a little said observation that is exceedingly true:
“But the type of driver who just gets the best car and next week will be on the best jet ski or best MW2 load out won’t go to https://www.onlineracedriver.com or anything similar – they aren’t racers, they are gamers who have learnt to beat teh game itself, they have little loyalty or preference and their skill is in exploiting the holes left in AI or physics. They enjoy breaking the illusion of gaming by being conscious of the mechanics involved.” –PadawanJedi
A very well put together overview of some important issues surounding on-line racing! Superb read, thanks Don.
Don a great article as usual.
I enjoy reading your stuff and it always points to the issues I seem to be thinking about in the world of online racing. I was just tonight looking at GT5 and everything that it promises and yet to deliever. I held of on making my choice of console because of this very issue, Forza vs. GT.
Although I am new to the online stuff I have been racing on consoles since NES and I remember how GT1 blew my mind. I was what a car racing game should be. I remember that when GT5 was announced, in 2006, that I held off getting any console because I wanted the PS3 because of that game and that investment would not be made til that game came out. GT has been the franchise that moved me onto the PS1 and then onto PS2, it was supposed to move me to a PS3. Finally I got tired of waiting, and I’m still waiting. I don’t know what I will do when GT5 hits the shelves, if it ever does. More and more I want the game but I feel sort of betrayed by the promises made of a game that once again was to move this genre forward, the only one I care about, and yet Polyphony has not come through.
Ultimately I will go where the action is at. If I can find the quality of racing on the otherside I may go but right now I am staying where I’m at and waiting and waiting for the time that decision has to be made. I just feel that any game should not take over 5 years to make, and if it does it better be that good.
Ray
Don, you have always been a great writer, but now I see you are the first real journalist of online racing. Everything you’ve written at “Online Race Driver”, is an absolute gem, worthy of major publications. They are insightful, concise, and accurate in their conclusions. I am proud to have competed against you. If these companies had any sense, they would hire you to be their chief consultant in all things regarding the gaming community. I hope these articles are being seen by the powers that be. I too, have a few visions about this virtual sport, and that will be the major sponsorship these games will attract when the manufacturers finally all realize that online racing is one of the greatest marketing tools ever invented. (See, that convoluted sentence is something that you would never allow. Lol.)
Cheers.