Following the racing line of Gran Turismo Sport, Polyphony Digital’s upcoming Gran Turismo 7 will also require an internet connection in order to save your profile. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing competitive racing online, “offline” in the game’s campaign, and even using the Livery Editor, Scapes Photo Mode, GT Cafe, or GT Auto. The only thing you can do without an internet connection is play Arcade Mode.
Already revealed in fine print on the PlayStation Blog last week, this fact was followed up in an interview with Eurogamer. Series creator Kaz Yamauchi explained that the reason “is just to prevent global cheating by people trying to edit save data, so that’s the reason for going online.”
He then clarified: “Online connection is required for campaign mode. The only part of the game that doesn’t require an online connection is the arcade mode, as that has no effect on save data, so it’s possible.
This has the potential to be a bit inconvenient for some gamers, even though internet connectivity seems like a given in the modern gaming world. Where GT Sport received a pass on the matter due to its clear focus on online multiplayer racing at launch (it gradually got more offline racing events), Gran Turismo 7 is a step back. towards the more classic form of the series with tons of single-player racing, car buying, and upgrades, and I’m sure some would have hoped that would mean an escape from the always-online game.
From Sony and Polyphony’s perspective, it comes down to two things: making sure people can’t cheat for online races, and making sure people can’t cheat if and when microtransactions appear in the game. If hackers can just modify their save files, it will have a pretty big impact on both of those things.
However, the online requirement undermines one of Yamauchi’s other assertions that “car culture is something that has been going on for about 150 years. It is our mission to preserve these cars in driving condition in a large museum format.
Until they decide to shut down the servers, of course. Although you’d expect there to be a new Gran Turismo game and a new PlayStation console by then…
Sigh…
Gran Turismo 7 will be released for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on March 22, 2022.
Source: Eurogamer
