Emperor Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamuachi, only yesterday held his hands up to fans informing them that the damage system on GT5 will be getting a patch at some point in December (not again with ambiguity, argh!), giving players customizable damage levels and doing some general tweaking to the mechanics.
After nearly five years of waiting and numerous delays, some fans were a little disappointed that Polyphony released PS3’s racing star with moldy bits hanging off it, and some clumsy mistakes spoiling the interface. While most of the issues are fairly simple, it tarnishes the games reputation more easily, because one of its many subheadings were ‘perfection’, and Polyphony delayed the game so many times to “create the ultimate driving experience”.
Mr Yamuachi since then has spoken out to fans worldwide, assuring them that he wants to improve the GT5 experience. It is being suggested that a whole array of game patches are in the works, with a full list courtesy of GT Planet, who translated it below.
Kazunori has previously complained about the PS3 hardware limiting his vision for the game.
* Flexible camera angles and “dynamic and wide-area lighting needs” are to blame for the sometimes blocky shadows. Yamauchi admits they are a problem and wants to improve them.
* Yamauchi appears to consider the possibility of removing the in-game HUD (heads-up-display features) at some point in the future.
* To unlock the Red Bull X1, you’ll need to complete the “Sebastian Vettel Challenge”, which appears at Level 30.
* Online “lounge” functionality and other features will be added “one by one”.
* Polyphony Digital continues to work on fully supporting the Logitech G25 and G27, though Yamauchi admits he would like a “new steering device soon”…
* Mechanical damage options will be implemented in a new update for GT5 coming “early December”.
* As you may know, many players noticed that GT5’s face-tracking functionality only worked in Arcade mode. According to Yamauchi, it’s not available in GT mode due to memory issues with the PS3.
* In-game rewards (such as the monetary prize in GT5 Prologue) for your performance in online events is something Polyphony Digital is considering, and may be implemented in a future update.
* Gran Turismo 5’s official, 2-disc sound-track will be released soon.
* Yamauchi wanted to implement a “free roam” gameplay mode in GT5, where players could drive around, respecting speed limits and obeying traffic laws, and even exit the car to walk around and explore the environment on foot.
* The YouTube replay upload feature had to be pulled from the final version of the game because it took a very long time to render and it consumed too much memory. Yamauchi is still considering it, however.
What do you guys make of all this?