[R. Mutt]

I've been playing GT since the original came out for the first Playstation....it's what got me into cars and automotive tuning to begin with. That said the franchise has lost some of its luster imo due to the lack of innovation. It's not to say that GT isn't a great game, but when you first played GT what set it apart was the fact that no other console game offered REAL cars with a REAL physics engine. Sure you have R34s and NSX's in other games but they were pos arcade style racers. I remember a car guy (who is actually a full time competition drifter now) showed me how much of a difference suspension tuning made to the way cars handled in-game. It was easy to dump of bunch of money into your car and make a lot of hp, put the "best" suspension, tires el al. The real benifit came when you started adjusting bound and rebound, camber and toe, brake bias and such. You could tame a car that suffered from snap over-steer. You could reduce if not eliminate understeer. When you delved into these finite aspect you truly realized what an amazing game it was.

And it evolved...two was great...you could hear those blow off valves kick and the graphic improvements were very noticable.

Trust me when I say I love and respect GT but the game hasn't really done anything "special" in a long time...and this is coming from a nutter who used to compete in tournaments and has gold in every single license test and race since GT1.

It's easy to complain about the problem, but what one must offer is a solution. How can GT be innovative and reinvent itself?

Why not offer proper ecu tuning? Take it to the next level where one can control timing and air:fuel ratios? Where one must tune their car properly for the type of race. Imagine being able to datalog and see knock, timing, boost and AFRs. Being able to adjust parameters and see your car make more/less power based on your tuning. And not some shitty "NFS Underground" style tuning model where you just move one thing up and the other goes down as a result....something that simulates real life engine dynamics to a respectable degree. It could be as simple as "Set AFR" "Set Timing Range" "Set Boost" and you get some kind of feedback through datalogging or a Virtual Dyno. It could be as complex as obtaining the licensing from a proper Engine Management System like Motec, AEM, Link etc who would like to have a "simulated" version of their product in a game (great marketing strategy) that gamers can remap their various 2D and 3D fuel, timing and boost tables.

In this sense, just because everyone buys the best parts doesn't mean they'll make the same hp. In like manner, just because you make a ton of power doesn't mean your engine will last....this will force players to really appreciate the time it takes in tuning an engine. So you're doing a drag race and EGT's aren't as critical because it's only for a few second...but it sure will be for a long circuit with lots of laps and of course and endurance race. Shit...maybe you run your engine leaner just to save gas and therefore a few extra pit stops on your competition. How about making sure you have a fat and responsive torque curve for rally and drifting....the list goes on.

What about being able to select your octane gas which coincides with how you tune your vehicle?

What about offering real tuning aerodynamic parts for common cars like the evo, sti, s2k, gt-r etc: Varis, Voltex, Chargespeed, Cwest etc

Being able to select actual tires diameters, widths and profiles which influence the handling characteristics

There's sooooooooo much more they could do rather than adding more cars, more tracks and better graphics. Improve the FOUNDATION instead of adding more content. This is what made car guys become gamers and gamers become car guys in the first place! Likewise what I'm saying doesn't have to be done in one foul swoop. It could be incrementally assimilated into the franchise and see how users feel. You could even introduce it based on experience or user level: novice, intermediate, advanced, simulation et al. so users unfamiliar or uninterested with such things don't have to delve into it until they choose to.