There’s an article and then detailed Q&A if you click on the Press Release button.
Topics:
Can you describe the equipment used to scan a track? How big is the onsite crew?
From start to finish, how long does it take to create a new track for Forza 5?
What would the timeline for a very long track – oh, say the Nürburgring Nordschleife – look like?
How is the scanning/track creation process is different now than it might have been in previous iterations of the game?
What’s the rationale for the mix of fictional to real-life race tracks in the current game?
Can we continue to expect a regular cadence of DLC tracks as Forza 5 lives on?
Step-By-Step Walkthrough of Turn 10 Track Building Process
These are the general processes (with some added background on data) the Turn 10 Studios team follows.
- Pre-Production: Source Track
- Reference track: Gather on average tens of thousands of photographs for location and color reference, laser scan proposed track route and surrounding area
– Team captures more than 1.4 billion data points per track, resulting in sub-centimeter positional accuracy for unique surfaces, routes, and surrounding environments. - Organize reference material
– Reference material includes location statistics like surface materials, local architecture, vegetation, etc. - Track story/workbook created
– Background for track is discussed, to be included in descriptions for the game. Team sets internal build schedule and estimate delivery cadence.
- Course Mapped: Fully integrated into Forza engine
- Build track outline, test game play
– Laser scan composites are added into the game - Create AI splines
– Determine and build starting grid location - Create track in database
– Track will now become part of the official Forza daily build
- Rough Build: Memory & performance footprint are tested in-engine
- All objects are placed in their foot printed area
– The team added more than 200 percent increase in the number of distinct objects that make up the body of a track. - Forza Surface Based Materials properties assigned
– “Forza Motorsport 5” tracks have 6x more unique materials than in “Forza Motorsport 4.”
- Refine Build: All rough assets replaced with actual models, textures, & shaders
- Make all elements “shippable”
- Licensing – all real-life elements (track signage, advertising, etc.) approved and signed-off by partners
- Extensive bug testing, refining of materials and play experience
- Polish Build: Bug fixes, visual polish, & performance optimizations
- Work with Environment Leads to prioritize assets to be polished
- Testing by test leads
- Final Build Finish and Release: Final updates
- Comprehensive bug sweep, preparation for delivery to customers