Event/Championship Generator Idea

Fans of Gran Turismo 2 may recall the Event Generator. The Event Generator allowed you the opportunity to race in a random event against a bunch of cars. This is a great way to just go out and race. Gran Turismo 4 allowed you the ability to go to a race and compete in Family Cup races. What if this was re-introduced for Gran Turismo 5 and made better? A key inspiration for this topic has to do with what I've learned with Gran Turismo PSP.



--- Event Generator in Retrospective ---
When unlocked in Gran Turismo 2, the Event Generator allowed you the opportunity to just go race anything. You can choose between Easy, Medium, Hard, and Professional Levels. The Easy-Hard Modes just let you enter one race, and the Professional races are a championship series of five races. The randomness of everything makes the racing action so interesting. Unfortunately, all races in every generated event lasts only two laps. The random aspect also pertains to whether you're racing in the normal configuration or the reverse direction.



--- Gran Turismo 4 and Gran Turismo PSP's Respective Influences ---
The Family Cup races in GT4 are more like an Event Generator where you can control where you want to race at and choose cars based on difficulty. Really, I think the difficulty is based on the performance of your car rather than against more aggressive opposition.

Gran Turismo PSP gave you control in the Single Race mode with how many laps to run and if the race should be limited to a certain manufacturer. Longer races (I think up to 99 laps) yield more money than most shorter races.



--- Reviving This Idea for GT5 ---
When it comes to reviving this idea for GT5 and improving on it, I've put out a few different ideas. I also want to implement something different for this.

Implementing the Feature. The first thing to note is that you have a few options. You could go completely random with everything, or you can specify certain things. You can make everything completely random- cars and tracks. Or, you can specify a certain track or a certain manufacturer.

Customizing the Event Generator. A number of different fields can be customized. These are areas among many others that would make customization fun for this feature:

--- Tracks and Races ---
* Single Race, Championship, Drift Trial - determine what kind of action will transpire. A SINGLE RACE applies to just a single event with a set number of laps or a time distance. A CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES can be anywhere between three races and 15 races. A Championship Series requires at least three races. DRIFT TRIALS relate to either a single race or for a makeshift drift championship. The key here is on drifting.

* Championship Format - choose a format of different races, multiple races at one course (like in the British Touring Car Championship or the Australian V8 Supercar Series), or a format of sprint and feature races (like in the A1GP), or a double-race weekend. The double-race weekend can involve inverting the order for the next race or inverting certain drivers.

* Weekend - select whether or not to implement a proper race weekend. A basic weekend consists of a practice session (or two), qualifying, warm-up, and the race itself.

* Qualifying format (if Qualifying is allowed) - pick a qualifying format for each race or for certain races. Your options range between the following:
1.) hotlap - after taking to the track, you have only one lap to determine grid position. Make it your best!
2.) solo limited - a solo run limited to either laps or time.
3.) solo unlimited - a solo run where you have unlimited time and laps to get the best possible time.
4.) mixed unlimited - all cars are on the track at once for an unlimited amount of time.
5.) mixed knockout - qualifying with multiple rounds. Lowest qualifiers will have their position locked while the fastest drivers will continue to compete for the pole.
6.) mixed shootout - after mixed qualifying, the fastest qualifiers will have a single hot lap to determine pole.
7.) heat racing - specify a number of heat races to determine the qualifying order for the main race. Those who don't do well have one last chance in the Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ). A bonus option would be to pay a cash bonus to whomever (among qualified racers) wins a quick exhibition race among qualifiers.

* Pits - longer races likely mean pit stops. However, mandantory pit stops can be specified on certain laps or requiring you to make any number of pit stops (usually anywhere between one to maybe 3-5). This is ONLY for long races and longer tracks.

* Race Purse - select a suitable race purse. This all depends on the length of the race and championship, plus the level of the cars being raced against. So a race against supercars means a greater sum of money than a race against sport compacts. However, a series of factory-spec street cars will pay out less money than a series featuring highly-tuned or unlimited cars.

* Prize car and others - Bonuses after races (especially championships and endurances) can range between extra money, prize cars, free parts/services for a car, or whatever. This can also be for any online races.


--- Cars ---
* manufacturer(s) - imagine staying with one manufacturer or a rivalry series against other manufacturers.
For example: limiting a generated race to only Nissan, or making a generated race between Nissan and Toyota.

* car(s) - limit a generated race between variations of one car (including/excluding racing variants) or of certain variations of different cars. For example: a race limited to Chevrolet Camaros and all Ford Mustangs.

* car specifications - limit competition to types of cars based on certain specifications. For example- drivetrain, engine aspiration, displacement levels, nationality, car type (muscle car, kei, supercar, rally cars, etc.), cars from a certain decade(s) or cars up to a certain decade, and the like.

* distance - limit a race to a certain number of laps, time distance, or laps and time.
Examples: five laps around Grand Valley Speedway, a ten-minute race around Special Stage Route 5, or 60-lap or 2:45:00 race around Tokyo R246 (whichever comes first).

* tuning - decide how well the cars are tuned, whether to match your level



Specify a race, track(s), cars, and more. It's the best way to go do your own racing when you get bored racing the championships and races supplemented by Gran Turismo 5.





Comments are welcome (but not hate/racism)!