Gran Turismo Sport (PS4)

Trelliz wrote: races should feel like events rather than 2-3 lap overtaking challenges strung together with little continuity between them.

Rubix wrote:Still undecided, are the reviews out yet?

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If the campaign is geared towards making you a better driver, the online puts systems in place to ensure you're a better racer. I've already spoken a little about how Gran Turismo Sport wisely cribs from iRacing, in my view the premier sim on PC, for its online, appropriating the safety rating system that leads towards fairer, more enjoyable racing. It borrows from elsewhere, too, its lexicon lifted from sportscar racing; events are bound by Balance of Performance, the tweaking that takes place in real-life sportscar racing to ensure all competitors are on an even keel. There's even a button dedicated to flashing your lights as you bear down on your opponent - sportscar racing's equivalent of the fighting game taunt.

The result is some of the most exciting online racing I've come across on console, an enjoyably approachable spin on iRacing's formula that makes for tense and - mostly - fair match-ups. There have been quirks throughout the demo and beta periods, and there will always be those left scratching their heads by the necessary rule that means any contact between players means both will see their safety rating hit, but Polyphony Digital has been quick to address issues. The foundation is there for something special - though we'll have to wait until early next month, when online championships that join the daily races currently available go live, to see where exactly this is headed.

What shape Gran Turismo Sport's future will take remains to be seen, and Polyphony Digital is, not altogether wisely, being enigmatic about how exactly these strong yet slim foundations will be supported in the coming months. There will be updates, with cars and tracks inbound - though whether or not we'll have to pay for the restoration of the tracks and cars that have defined the series and been cast aside for Sport is a matter that is still perfectly unclear. For all the positive changes ushered in by Gran Turismo Sport, some things remain the same.

Some things have surely changed for the better, though. Gran Turismo has come in for criticism in the past for operating in a bubble, of ploughing its own path in ignorance of everything else that's going on in the genre. Gran Turismo Sport feels, for the first time, like a little of the outside world is being let in. In its inclusion of features like a livery editor - and a fairly decent one at that, allowing you to create your own designs and share them online - and its slim implementation of virtual reality, this once antiquated series is even in danger of feeling positively modern.

Let's not forget what's been lost for the series' PlayStation 4 debut, though. There's none of that old scope, and only a fraction of the old madness that made Gran Turismo so endearing. There are no lunar rovers, no 19th century single horsepowered wagons and not even anything by way of an open wheel racer to be found in its car list at launch. Yet, conversely, this is possibly the most focussed, directly enjoyable game Polyphony Digital has put out since the heady days of Gran Turismo 3. Racing improves the breed, industrialist Soichiro Honda once said, and Gran Turismo Sport is proof positive of that.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017- ... ort-review

KK wrote:Biggest, perhaps only real disappointment is the news of this ridiculous online-only save system.

It also dawned on me that this game is going to have a shelf life, because there will come a point Sony decide to effectively turn the game off.

Pros

- A true driving simulator
- Racing is better than ever
- Each car is painfully unique
- GT is finally on the PS4

Cons

- Doesn’t look great
- Not a lot of content
- Feels like a missed opportunity

3.5/5

Gran Turismo Sport is a bona fide virtual motorsport and that’s awesome. But single-player modes are lacking and it’s demonstrably outshone by Forza Motorsport 7 in virtually every area. 4/5

Photek wrote:Just to wind Trelliz up

Gran Turismo Sport is a bona fide virtual motorsport and that’s awesome. But single-player modes are lacking and it’s demonstrably outshone by Forza Motorsport 7 in virtually every area. 4/5

http://www.gamesradar.com/gran-turismo-sport-review/

Ad7 wrote:Do I get to kick all your arses on the time trial mode then?

arstechnica wrote:Gran Turismo Sport is extremely limited in offline mode

If servers or Internet are down, you’re stuck in “Arcade” mode with no saves.

On Tuesday, October 17, the long-awaited Gran Turismo Sport arrives for the Playstation 4. This seventh installment of one of the world's best-selling games franchises introduces a number of updates designed for high-end TVs, virtual reality, and e-sports enthusiasts. Although we've had a copy for a few days now, you'll have to wait a few more days to read a proper review.

In large part, that's because Sony's Gran Turismo Sport servers were down for the past few days. Since being connected to those servers is such an integral part of the game, there's very little left to do if you're offline.

But let's not pretend like we weren't warned. In a blog post last month, Sony revealed that "[i]n order to ensure fair racing for all, GT Sport will require an Internet connection for the majority of functionality. This connectivity requirement is to ensure that progress, car availability, and driver ratings are properly maintained at all times."

Now we know what "the majority of functionality" means: everything other than "Arcade" mode. This means you can take part in one-off races against the AI, time trials, "drift trials," split-screen two-player battles, and the limited VR mode. And you'll only have access to cars and racetracks you unlocked while you were online.

If the servers are down or your PS4 is not connected to the Internet, no other parts of the game are available and no progress can be saved. (This means you'll lose any in-game credits or level progression earned in Arcade mode.) Obviously, online matches depend on the servers. But so, too, does the rest of the game—stuff that has always been available offline in the past. Campaign mode (the career mode that includes the notorious Gran Turismo driving school) is off limits while offline. Also unavailable offline: buying new cars, viewing your garage, editing car liveries, and even the "taking photos of fancy cars in exotic scenery" mode.

The reasoning behind the move has to do with the linkup between Gran Turismo and the FIA, the international organization that runs world motorsport. FIA-recognized e-sports are an integral part of the game, so keeping everyone's saves in the cloud is meant to keep everyone honest and above-board. But the move raised eyebrows in the Ars office as offline single-player content in console games is rarely restricted in this manner.

When asked why Polyphony Digital chose to restrict so much usual Gran Turismo content to online-only use, a Sony representative referred us to the September blog post announcing the change. "The local save only contains hardware settings such as monitor resolution/HDR calibration, etc.," the rep added.