http://www.gtplanet.net/gt6-course-maker-gps-data/

In last weeks’ GT6 info blowout, a radical and exciting new feature was quietly confirmed to be coming in an update for the game and its companion mobile apps:

“This feature, available at a later stage through an update, will allow you to create your own custom tracks that can be driven in the game. Additionally, in another update we will add the possibility to generate a track by capturing the GPS coordinate data of a mobile app while you are driving that course. This GPS-generated tracks will be available in the game as playable content.”

This puts the massive area of Gran Turismo 6‘s all-new Course Maker into perspective. In hismost recent interview with GTPlanet in September, Kazunori Yamauchi said the likely area would be approximately 20×20 kilometers in size.

U.S. Gran Turismo producer Taku Imasaki confirmed the GPS Course Maker apps would work much like many fitness apps available, which record your run or walk by determining your altitude and relative location as you move. GT6 will then translate this data, turning it into a track you can drive in the game.

If this ends up working it sounds like it would be really awesome. Glad they're working on some cool new things instead of just doing a graphics and UI overhaul of GT5.

Man I had dreams in gt5 to try to re-create tracks based on real roads around where I live. I have so many places in mind where I want to drive fast but cant cause you know, its reckless.

I just wonder how well it would handle hills.

Wow, that's really cool. I hope someone plots Deal's Gap. I have a few places around my area that were really fun when I was younger. I'll definitely plot those into the game.

That's actually a really good idea, there are some fantastic roads up in the north of England that would be fun to drive way too fast on.

I actaully plotted tracks on google maps of places I wanted to do in GT5. I hope I can make them real now. DOT DOT DOT. Fake?

I can imagine some liability concerns arising out of a feature like this...I'm guessing that if it ever does get completed, it may not be available in all regions.

@mb: why? Its not like its filming. What liability is there? capturing GPS data isn't a crime as far as I know.

It's a major corporation...all they need is some kid to go out and get in an accident and kill someone or himself while capturing GPS data for Gran Turismo. Media sensationalism ensues. Lawsuits and settlements start happening.

Believe me, if I have thought of this then you bet your ass Sony's attorneys have thought about it too, or will be very shortly.

I'm just assuming that in order to accurately capture something with the app that driving slowly will improve accuracy of the data.

@devil240z: That's completely irrelevant. All people need to hear on the news is "17 year old dies in car accident while making a race track for Gran Turismo 6", and you know that's how the media will report it.

We're not talking about reasonable or well-informed people here.

seems like a simple disclaimer and accept button is the answer here.

my neighborhood has 2 of the steepest drivable streets in the world (including the steepest one!) you better believe i'm going to map out some crazy jumps.

I hope it can capture fine detail in the depth of the roads. cause it would be really lame if every track just came out flat.

Why would that matter at all, Sony isn't liable for a driver speeding, and anyone who matters to Sony will know to ignore it. It's irrelevant.

Cool idea if it works, there are a few roads near where I live that I swear were meant to be raced on. They have banked turns and everything.

They are making two things to capture data, one for your phone and another that hooks up to your car (only a few models of cars i think for now). The phone app probably cant get that much detail, but the one for the car is hooked up to all the sensors in the car and looks fairly accurate, so hopefully it can be used for making maps and not just for the visualizer.

@lego_my_eggo: Cause Ill ever own one of those cars. :P I just hope the track editor has more freedom than the last one, which was stupid and I never used it for anything interesting, and I hope you can make point to point tracks cause rally.

How much does this feature cost? Should I consider a down payment? I'm not sure the bank will give me another loan :(

@lego_my_eggo: From the stuff I read there are two different things here.. Not quite sure you got it right.

One is a data visualizer used for cars. This sort of stuff exists for aftermarket ECUs, or open source software used on factory ECUs and programs used to take that captured data (more commonly known as data logging) and translating that data into some sort of visual representation, whether that be virtual gauges or track maps etc. They can capture basic stuff like speed, engine rpm and throttle, down to more detailed information depending on the ECU such as engine load, fuel injector duty, g-forces, boost pressure/engine vacuum etc etc very long list of crazy detail engine information. Nothing particularly useful about this for most people as they seem to indicate it will only work with certain Toyota ECUs. A somewhat limited/poor example of the Data Visualizer is this:

The second thing, the one people are actually excited because of the potential, is being able to put GPS tracking coordinates into the game and it would then generate a track based off that GPS data. I'm pretty sure I read that they hope or plan for this to use any standard GPS data that phones or GPS devices use. Some sort of standard file language. The question is whether or not it would factor in elevation or corner camber as a flat course would be boring. Also whether or not they'd let you adjust the course width like in GT5 but maybe a bit narrower, more inline with a standard single or two lane road.

@seikenfreak: I know, but i was thinking that some of that ECU data could be used to better map a road then a phone sitting in a car if they allow it, but it doesn't look like the will use it to make maps. Im not that into cars so im not entirely sure what can be tracked with an ECU, but if something like the suspension says there is a bump right here in the road, then the game could recreate it, and they talk about a gyro sensory in one of the videos that could probably get the camber of a road. You could probably get similar data from a phones accelerometer, but it probably wont be nearly as accurate as the data directly from the car itself.

Would a GPS created track just look like Rainbow Road? An exact path of where the car went? How would GT6 know what it looked like, road width, turn length, turn radius, etc. I feel like there's a lot of information just GPS wouldn't receive. If you take a turn on a track in car, that turn could look 100 different ways. How does a GPS know if a turn is a 90 degree turn that took perfectly or if it's not just the track being exactly where you drove?

yeah. great question. Maybe you will be able to modify the raw data taken from the gps to make it more like the real road. maybe it will be integrated with google maps or something which could give it a better idea of road width and the shape of the turns.