Can you explain GTS game saves to me?

[breeminator]

I have a problem with an account. I power up the PS4, log in with just that account, start GTS. It says it has checked the game save data, syncd, 100%, all seems fine. I can do things in game like buy things from the mileage exchange.

But when I try to go into Sport Mode, the game just totally freezes. I can go back to the PS4's home screen and close the game, but if I try the whole process again from restarting the PS4, the same thing happens again.

I looked in Upload/Download Saved Data, and the system storage saves are from right now, but the online storage saves are showing as being two months old.

I thought the whole point of needing to be online all the time was that the online saves are the authoritative ones?! Or are the saves in online storage additional saves over and above the authoritative online saves?

Is there anything "safe" I can try in terms of uploading or downloading a save to try to get my account working again?

 

[CTznOfTime]

Yikes...
That's one of my fear... Having things maintained and stored online...

I also would like to know.
Does it mean this game cannot be played offline ever ?
One day when PD will no longer support this and pull the plug, does it mean this is vaporware ?

Good luck mate...

 

[Satomiblood]

Yikes...
That's one of my fear... Having things maintained and stored online...

I also would like to know.
Does it mean this game cannot be played offline ever ?
One day when PD will no longer support this and pull the plug, does it mean this is vaporware ?

Good luck mate...

I hope they'll allow local saves by the time Sport's shelf life expires.

 

[Pigems]

Did your PS+ run out maybe?

 

[breeminator]

Did your PS+ run out maybe?

No, definitely not that. I think it would still let you do daily race qualifying even without PS+ anyway? It freezes before even bringing up the screen to choose between daily races, nations etc.

 

[ARTAsean]

The entirety of your precious GT online server-side save is entirely out of your control, and if it gets corrupted on PD’s end (through no fault of your own,) you’re totally screwed. Unfortunately this sounds like what’s happened to you.

 

[breeminator]

The entirety of your precious GT online server-side save is entirely out of your control, and if it gets corrupted on PD’s end (through no fault of your own,) you’re totally screwed. Unfortunately this sounds like what’s happened to you.

I've seen people talk about backing up to a USB drive? If you can do that, surely there must be some way to restore it to the online version, or there would be no point backing it up?

 

[breeminator]

I've been careful recently to always save the game, then close the GTS application. However, one thing I've noticed is it doesn't seem to like multiple accounts being logged in at the same time, which is what happens if you do "switch user". So if anyone wants to add an extra precaution to their regime, I'd recommend always restarting the PS4 when you want to log in with a different account.

 

[ARTAsean]

I've seen people talk about backing up to a USB drive? If you can do that, surely there must be some way to restore it to the online version, or there would be no point backing it up?

If I’m not mistaken, the client side stuff (which PS+ uploads to the cloud) is stuff like cars owned, liveries created, etc. Hence all the “I lost all my cars” threads. This happens as a result of client-side corruption.

I believe the PD side stuff is everything related to your actual online account.

 

[breeminator]

The account has started working again. I just kind of put the problem aside for a while, and used 2 other accounts, but only ever used one account at a time, I restarted the PS4 to use a different account rather than using "switch user". I also at one point left the PS4 turned off for a while. When I eventually tried the problem account again, it worked.

I very strongly suspect the problem happened because the account that had the problem became the 3rd concurrent account logged in on the PS4 when I used "switch user". I've had it freeze before with a 2nd concurrent account, but I've never previously had it persist through multiple restarts of the PS4.