Most of the Kazunori Yamauchi interviews from “mainstream” gaming sites are generally pretty weak, but I’ve got to hand it to IGN editor Ryan Geddes for asking some direct, important questions during his time with the GT series creator at SEMA. Although Yamauchi’s ability to talk his way out of specific answers remains strong, Geddes’ latest interview drew some interesting comments. Watch the interview above (look out for replay interior footage of J.R. Rocha’s G37), or keep reading for complete analysis of all the high points…

The first highlight comes when Geddes tries to dig deeper into the often-debated “20 locations, 70 variations” comments regarding the number of tracks in Gran Turismo 5:

“As I mentioned before there will be 20 different types of scenery the game will be set in, and in those 20 different locations there will be 70 different layouts of tracks that will be available to play.”

As always, when evaluating quotes, remember to take the issue of translation into consideration. Regardless, “20 different types of scenery” appears to support a more narrow interpretation of the word “location”. Geddes continued digging deeper, addressing the track editor:

IGN: “Have you finalized plans for a track editor?”
Yamauchi: “Things like that I can’t really discuss yet. This can be said about all the GT development. Until we’re very close to release we won’t have a finalized decision on a lot of things.”

IGN: “If there is a track editor, that will make your job easier, right? Because you can make fans design the tracks instead of your team.”
Yamauchi: “[Laughs] A lot of the courses we set up, we take a long time fine-tuning the details and building the track, so it would probably be a bit different than the types of tracks the users will set up in the game.“

The key word in Yamauchi’s response to the last question is, of course, “will”. I don’t want to focus on this too much (once again, within the context of translation), but it is an interesting word choice given the recent track editor rumblings… He also provided a hint at where Polyphony Digital is at in the decision-making process regarding dynamic weather and lighting:

“Technically it’s already possible to do in the game, it’s just how we’re going to have that have meaning in the game.”

It also seems Yamauchi got a chuckle out of the excitement and interest around the mysterious Gran Turismo 5 packaging which a GTPlanet reader originally noticed in a video by Mercedes-Benz:

“[Laughs] That’s something else we can’t really talk about yet, but I’m surprised at the level of detail everyone is focused on.”

Oh yes, sensei, we are focused!

http://www.gtplanet.net/yamauchi-responds-to-gt5-track-editor-rumors/

Wooohoo, the man himself has spoken, and he has given hints about the track editor itself!!! :D As GTPLANET points out, interesting choice of words in this phrase:

IGN: “If there is a track editor, that will make your job easier, right? Because you can make fans design the tracks instead of your team.”
Yamauchi: “[Laughs] A lot of the courses we set up, we take a long time fine-tuning the details and building the track, so it would probably be a bit different than the types of tracks the users will set up in the game.“

The user WILL set up in the game... If, and I still don't want to get my hopes up too much, so i'll continue to be iffy about this until it's 100% confirmed, but IF there's a track editor on the game, then by the holy mother of the motor god, then GT5 hype has just gone through the roof xDD

"Cant discuss yet."

"...different than the types of tracks the users will set up in the game."

Confirmed.

I dont see no hints lmao

Why is this a big deal? I'm personally against this. First of all, user-created tracks would never even come close to pre-designed tracks in the game in terms of detail and authenticity. Secondly, it's not needed, as the game will have 70 tracks to begin with. This would just lengthen development time.

Imo they shouldn't do it. Modnation Racer is coming out. They should just leave it for MR. They don't want to overshadow it with Gran Turismo

That is actually pretty awesome, yet another reason to get it.

already posted..... and got locked

Hopefully it will have a track editor... but I wouldn't get my hopes up based on either a translated comment or a second language comment.

Does that apply to everything in all games? All big features will lengthen development time.

If you stick with the standard features that every other game in that genre has, how do you expect to stand out? Why do you think KZ2 was hyped to death and still managed to get completely pushed aside by the CoD series (even before the MW2 hype was starting)?

The point of a track editor isn't to match the detail and authenticity of the standard tracks. The point is to mix fantasy with the realism of GT5. It's really too early to talk about it now since "track editor" can mean alot of things.

If GT5 has a track editor with full customizable turns/bumps/scenery/etcetc, it'll be massive. 

Yes, it's true that all big features will lengthen dev-time. However, when a game has been given several different release time frames and consequently pushed back, it really can't afford to stall any longer. For a feature like damage modelling this makes sense, but track editor is really not worth it.

As for KZ2, I don't get what you mean when you say it got completely pushed aside by CoD. If you mean sale-wise, then sales aren't an indication of quality of a game. Take Mario and Sonic at Olympic Games and Valkyria Chronicles, for example. Plus, KZ2 had many things that made it stand out in the ever-growing pool of FPS. CoD, on the other hand seems to be the victim of the case you state: it includes the standard features that every other game in the genre has (it implements them very well, mind you).

Knowing the designer of this game, the point of  a track editor, in his eyes, would be to realistically recreate tracks. GT5 doesn't need a track editor; it will still be massive.

BTW, your sig is really creepy.