GT4\'s Photo Drive: taking the scenic route
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 11:23 am
[b]GT4\'s Photo Drive: taking the scenic route[/b]
Of all of Gran Turismo 4\'s myriad new features, the Photo mode has always struck us as the most inspired. In previous editions of GT, so much of your time was spent viewing the action from inside the car and focusing on expertly manoeuvring around the next bend that you barely had a moment to appreciate the expertly modelled vehicles, or fully take in the splendour of the environments.
Of course, the beautiful replays have always given you the opportunity to observe the action from afar, but the choice of camera angles has always been at the whim of the virtual replay director. Photo Drive finally puts paid to this - albeit on a static level - by allowing you to pause a race replay at any moment you choose and construct a professional shot that perfectly captures the moment, while at the same time giving you as much time as you like to admire the cars and their surroundings.
Freeze frame
Not to be confused with Photo Travel, which lets you drop your car into any one of 15 static and highly picturesque international scenarios and pose it in any way you see fit, Photo Drive lets you get snap happy in any of the 50-plus race locations, and actually offers a slightly different method of shot construction.
There are a couple of ways to embark on a Photo Drive experience. The first is to choose any available circuit from the World Circuits, Dirt & Snow, Original Circuits, City Courses, or Driving Park areas in GT Mode\'s GT Resort and then pay a meagre three Credits to race as many laps as you like around the track. Once you\'re done, exit out to the replay and then press Select at any point throughout the playback to halt the action and set up your shot. The second is to save your replay from any other race, open it up in the Replay Theatre, and then follow precisely the same procedure as a Photo Drive replay.
Say \"oil change\"
Photo Drive\'s composition screen is quite different to Photo Travel\'s, dominated as it is by a preview of your photo and a helpful list of button commands. Pressing left or right on the directional pad cycles through 64 different camera angles, each of which can be panned around, rotated, or zoomed in and out with careful manipulation of the left and right analog sticks. Holding down a shoulder button and using up and down on the directional pad will affect the Exposure (brightness), White Balance (varies the tint), Aperture (depth of field), and Shutter Speed.
Altering the latter option is ideal for taking shots that convey a sense of motion, with a slower shutter speed opening up an array of dynamic speed blur effects that that you can\'t achieve in Photo Travel. The face buttons also play their part, with Triangle switching between three filters (normal, muted, and black & white), Circle changing the orientation of the shot between landscape and portrait, and Square altering the central focal point of the picture. Once you think you\'ve created your latest masterpiece, a single press of the X button will take the photo.
One for the Memory Card
If the full-screen result matches up to your creative vision, press Start to bring up the Save Photo menu, which not only lets you save your photos to Memory Card, but also to a USB Flash memory device, which can be plugged into either of your PS2\'s USB ports. The resulting ultra-high resolution image can then be transferred over to your home computer and used to show off to your friends, or even as a stunning desktop wallpaper. As with Photo Travel, it\'s even possible to print your expertly-composed shot using a compatible USB printer.
Check out the video to see how simple Photo Drive is to use, then peruse the gallery below for just a small sample of the results we\'ve achieved. Happy snapping!
[url=\"http://au.playstation.com/news/gt4_photomode2.jhtml\"]Source[/url]
Of all of Gran Turismo 4\'s myriad new features, the Photo mode has always struck us as the most inspired. In previous editions of GT, so much of your time was spent viewing the action from inside the car and focusing on expertly manoeuvring around the next bend that you barely had a moment to appreciate the expertly modelled vehicles, or fully take in the splendour of the environments.
Of course, the beautiful replays have always given you the opportunity to observe the action from afar, but the choice of camera angles has always been at the whim of the virtual replay director. Photo Drive finally puts paid to this - albeit on a static level - by allowing you to pause a race replay at any moment you choose and construct a professional shot that perfectly captures the moment, while at the same time giving you as much time as you like to admire the cars and their surroundings.
Freeze frame
Not to be confused with Photo Travel, which lets you drop your car into any one of 15 static and highly picturesque international scenarios and pose it in any way you see fit, Photo Drive lets you get snap happy in any of the 50-plus race locations, and actually offers a slightly different method of shot construction.
There are a couple of ways to embark on a Photo Drive experience. The first is to choose any available circuit from the World Circuits, Dirt & Snow, Original Circuits, City Courses, or Driving Park areas in GT Mode\'s GT Resort and then pay a meagre three Credits to race as many laps as you like around the track. Once you\'re done, exit out to the replay and then press Select at any point throughout the playback to halt the action and set up your shot. The second is to save your replay from any other race, open it up in the Replay Theatre, and then follow precisely the same procedure as a Photo Drive replay.
Say \"oil change\"
Photo Drive\'s composition screen is quite different to Photo Travel\'s, dominated as it is by a preview of your photo and a helpful list of button commands. Pressing left or right on the directional pad cycles through 64 different camera angles, each of which can be panned around, rotated, or zoomed in and out with careful manipulation of the left and right analog sticks. Holding down a shoulder button and using up and down on the directional pad will affect the Exposure (brightness), White Balance (varies the tint), Aperture (depth of field), and Shutter Speed.
Altering the latter option is ideal for taking shots that convey a sense of motion, with a slower shutter speed opening up an array of dynamic speed blur effects that that you can\'t achieve in Photo Travel. The face buttons also play their part, with Triangle switching between three filters (normal, muted, and black & white), Circle changing the orientation of the shot between landscape and portrait, and Square altering the central focal point of the picture. Once you think you\'ve created your latest masterpiece, a single press of the X button will take the photo.
One for the Memory Card
If the full-screen result matches up to your creative vision, press Start to bring up the Save Photo menu, which not only lets you save your photos to Memory Card, but also to a USB Flash memory device, which can be plugged into either of your PS2\'s USB ports. The resulting ultra-high resolution image can then be transferred over to your home computer and used to show off to your friends, or even as a stunning desktop wallpaper. As with Photo Travel, it\'s even possible to print your expertly-composed shot using a compatible USB printer.
Check out the video to see how simple Photo Drive is to use, then peruse the gallery below for just a small sample of the results we\'ve achieved. Happy snapping!
[url=\"http://au.playstation.com/news/gt4_photomode2.jhtml\"]Source[/url]