Ideal Track Length | Forums

[rlmergeuser]

I've been thinking about this for a few days now as when I'm making tracks I just lay down a random driving line then build a track to fit. Unfortunately I usually get 2/3 to 3/4 though and then struggle to think of what to do for the rest of it. This may well be due to not really having a theme for anything I've done so far I'm just messing with what I can do in the editor.

Do you have an ideal length for your driving line or do you just adjust it to fit what you've put on the track?


If you want to see some of the things I've made search GT: The King Prawn

[CuBNI]

I only place start and finish points about 30/40 meters apart to begin with and try to finish driveline obstacles in that section before i increase the drive line another 30/40 meters and repeat. This way i can stop when i run out of ideas/obstacles that fit the theme and dont end up with too much dead space with nothing going on (rather than trying to fill gaps in the driveline with obstacles).

Prefer tracks to be around 30 seconds minimum and 3 mins max (platinum/fast gold kinda runs) depends what mood im in

[rlmergeuser]

I think that's really up to you, isn't it? Considering the Gigatrack can easily take up to 15 minutes for an average player while others can be easily finished in under a minute, I honestly think a track's length is down to the creator. If you're track is good and interesting enough, players aren't going to mind playing through long tracks.

Of course, the longer you want your track to be, the more you risk going over the complexity limit.

Having said that, I don't even think the driving line is of real significant importance to the actual track length, as you can easily have the starting checkpoint 1/3 of the way in your driving line and have the finish checkpoint at the 2/3.

I think it's most important you communicate to your players what to expect. Do this in the track description of with some clever camera angles to show the scope of the track.

For the record, I created a track that's taking some players between 2-6 minutes to finish. If you're interested, my gamertag is 'SeriousStu UK', and the track is called Let's Fly.

[Ojotango]

I think it also depends on the difficulty. A beginners track that's too long will get boring, and an Extreme track that's too long will put people off, but a long Medium or Hard track can work well if it has the flow.

[rlmergeuser]

"the flow" is one of my biggest problems building a track, definately something I'm working on.

[NovaDarkStorm]

Anything from 25 seconds to 40 is good and ideal unless it's a extreme to ninja track, depends on the player of course.

[rlmergeuser]

I like to make my tracks around 20-40 seconds for a flawless run.

What I do is lay my driving line down first and I make it about 350-400m. I make it that long in case I keep coming up with new ideas, but if I don't, I just move the finish line to the last obstacle. You can always move your finish line to wherever you want it.