Dear Mr. Yamauchi - A question regarding the future of GT Offline.

[Soupturtle]

I find it unbelievable that this is only the fourth or fifth most liked question on these subforums. I guess a large part of the gtplanet community only cares about online racing or something, because to me, this is the one and only issue that determines whether GT7 will be a good game or a disappointment. If GT7 was basically GT5 with proper AI, proper race setup in career mode (standing starts, optional qualifying) and a difficulty slider, I would buy it.

edit: And I'd take it without the difficulty slider as well. If the AI is good and the racing close but you're just a bit faster than the opposition, it's easy to neuter your car a bit to make it close. Downgrading tires is especially easy, as it limits all aspects of your car's performance. But in GT6, there's no way to neuter your own car to make the races interesting - the rubberbanding, terrible AI racecraft, and chase-the-rabbit rolling starts make it impossible.

 

[TayeezSA]

I'm quite happy that this thread got to where it is now, with votes etc.

Has Kaz seen it and taken it into account? We'll have to wait and see.

 

[smitty33]

I'm quite happy that this thread got to where it is now, with votes etc.

Has Kaz seen it and taken it into account? We'll have to wait and see.

I agree that this is one of the most important questions asked in this forum. However I don't think we could get an answer in anything other than very general terminology. That would be akin to giving PDs competitors advanced knowledge of their thinking.

 

[Nooboogering]

I find it unbelievable that this is only the fourth or fifth most liked question on these subforums. I guess a large part of the gtplanet community only cares about online racing or something, because to me, this is the one and only issue that determines whether GT7 will be a good game or a disappointment. If GT7 was basically GT5 with proper AI, proper race setup in career mode (standing starts, optional qualifying) and a difficulty slider, I would buy it.

edit: And I'd take it without the difficulty slider as well. If the AI is good and the racing close but you're just a bit faster than the opposition, it's easy to neuter your car a bit to make it close. Downgrading tires is especially easy, as it limits all aspects of your car's performance. But in GT6, there's no way to neuter your own car to make the races interesting - the rubberbanding, terrible AI racecraft, and chase-the-rabbit rolling starts make it impossible.

Playing GT1 to GT4 was like being in school and playing Prologue was like leaving school and entering the big bad world of online racing!

 

[research]

^ key word 'bad'.

 

[Nooboogering]

^ key word 'bad'.

Bad yes. Whole lot of fun inbetween.

 

[MarchingSaint]

Bad yes. Whole lot of fun inbetween.

When the lobby fills at least 2-3 spots

 

[05XR8]

I'm really surprised there hasnt been a "Random" button update for events by now. Even taking into account favorite car/track in the Stats sheet. Its funny there is a Single Player mode. Its already Single Player in all events. This should make it seamless play no matter which tier the player chooses.

Good question. Im waiting to see how GT7 will incorporate infinite playability offline.

 

[TRLWNC7396]

The best integration of that would be the ability to invite your friends into ANY race that you enter. Self created, A-spec, B-spec, seasonals, or quick match. THAT would be incredible!

 

[Tenacious D]

in GT6, there's no way to neuter your own car to make the races interesting - the rubberbanding, terrible AI racecraft, and chase-the-rabbit rolling starts make it impossible.

This is actually untrue. Now this does mean that you don't select a 630PP car for a 650PP race. The rule of thumb is to take something between 20% and 40% of the race limit depending on tires and handling, and how ninja you are. I have done almost nothing but run through I-A Class races for months doing this, and hope to again this weekend, an album project notwithstanding. I've won some races, but I've lost most of them, some of them badly, and had some exciting battles with these boring old bots who supposedly won't race and can't win. A lot of people here don't want to have to make the game fun like that, and some just don't like it, but it's there if you want to give it a try.

 

[Adamaw11]

This is actually untrue. Now this does mean that you don't select a 630PP car for a 650PP race. The rule of thumb is to take something between 20% and 40% of the race limit depending on tires and handling, and how ninja you are. I have done almost nothing but run through I-A Class races for months doing this, and hope to again this weekend, an album project notwithstanding. I've won some races, but I've lost most of them, some of them badly, and had some exciting battles with these boring old bots who supposedly won't race and can't win. A lot of people here don't want to have to make the game fun like that, and some just don't like it, but it's there if you want to give it a try.

I agree that the challenges are there if you look for them, but unfortunately it defeats the purpose of modifying and tuning cars to make them faster - which was a big part of single player offline in the older GTs.

 

[TRLWNC7396]

I agree, but at what point does tuning the car for better driving come in? If all you do is max out a car, does it make you a better driver?

 

[Johnnypenso]

This is actually untrue. Now this does mean that you don't select a 630PP car for a 650PP race. The rule of thumb is to take something between 20% and 40% of the race limit depending on tires and handling, and how ninja you are. I have done almost nothing but run through I-A Class races for months doing this, and hope to again this weekend, an album project notwithstanding. I've won some races, but I've lost most of them, some of them badly, and had some exciting battles with these boring old bots who supposedly won't race and can't win. A lot of people here don't want to have to make the game fun like that, and some just don't like it, but it's there if you want to give it a try.

@Soupturtle isn't saying you can't detune a car, he's saying you can't detune your car and make the races interesting - the rubberbanding, terrible AI racecraft, and chase-the-rabbit rolling starts make it impossible - for him. In other words even if you detune your car so you can cross the finish line at the same time as the first place rabbit it's still not interesting racing because it's still chasing a rabbit that doesn't corner like you, doesn't have the same straightline speed and has horrible racecraft, starts 25 seconds ahead of you and then just slows down and waits for you to catch up. That's not racing.

You've posted replays of some of your "best" races and upon review this holds true. The AI started 25+ seconds ahead of you, ran a hot first lap, then simply slowed as much as 10 seconds a lap IIRC correctly so you could catch up. Maybe you are able to suspend disbelief and pretend that's somehow good racing, I would guess most of us don't have that kind of imagination. We'd prefer to have cars that accelerate like us, have top speed like us and corner like us, hence the need for a complete overhaul of GT Offline and the point of this entire thread.

 

[TRLWNC7396]

I can't disagree from that aspect, but at the same time, it helps those who aren't as good as many to get a win. So, a better thing would be to be able to remove (or maybe even add to) a "catch up boost", and make it better for those who can.

OPTIONS!!!!

 

[Johnnypenso]

I can't disagree from that aspect, but at the same time, it helps those who aren't as good as many to get a win. So, a better thing would be to be able to remove (or maybe even add to) a "catch up boost", and make it better for those who can.

OPTIONS!!!!

That isn't necessary in any other game, I don't know why it would be necessary in GT. All you need is a difficulty slider that actually works. Alien? Set it to 100 and go nuts. Fast? Set it to 90 and go crazy. Slower than average? Set it to 60 and have fun. Throw in qualifying, random grid and "pick your grid spot", standing starts, and it works for everyone. There should be a difficulty level that works for everyone. While you're at it do like PC Sims do and have different levels for AI aggression, passing, retaliation, accidents etc. Simple.

 

[05XR8]

I'd be happy to see qualifying return.

 

[TRLWNC7396]

That isn't necessary in any other game, I don't know why it would be necessary in GT. All you need is a difficulty slider that actually works. Alien? Set it to 100 and go nuts. Fast? Set it to 90 and go crazy. Slower than average? Set it to 60 and have fun. Throw in qualifying, random grid and "pick your grid spot", standing starts, and it works for everyone. There should be a difficulty level that works for everyone. While you're at it do like PC Sims do and have different levels for AI aggression, passing, retaliation, accidents etc. Simple.

I agree. It's rather silly they don't have the option for a difficulty slider. But, for the moment, what they have works okay. (Not great, not horrible. Just okay.....)

So, a slider for consistency, and a slider for speed. (shrug) Either way, we need more options!

The other thought I have had for this (and I've posted it before) was to have a high-numbered slider (100 to 1000) that would increment +1 every time you won. Not sure it would work if you couldn't turn it down, and I'm not sure it would work if the SAME slider increased each time. Which is why I want multiple sliders.

 

[Gruven]

The difference between 5 and 6 is quite noticeable. I installed 5 and gave it a go again. After 5 minutes uninstalled and never looked back. 6 I feel is a great game. Yes there could be more, but compared to 5 it's a no brainier. Add the track editor, get porsche into the game, new cars not the same we keep getting.

We def don't need a crapload of miatas or other cars no one really drives. Oh and long distance races that aren't seasonal.

 

[Gruven]

One other note, in a custom seasonal have the AI adjust to your lap times in offline mode.

 

[05XR8]

One other note, in a custom seasonal have the AI adjust to your lap times in offline mode.

I've felt this should have always been! Its "A-I", I thought that was what computers are programed for. To learn.

 

[raven214]

I've felt this should have always been! Its "A-I", I thought that was what computers are programed for. To learn.

...To learn so they may one day take over the world.

 

[RuddRacer]

As a longtime fan of Gran Turismo since GT 4, this is my biggest concern. The career mode has gotten smaller each new title.

I bought the game at launch and I had finished it sometime after version 1.02 was released. I am unable to join a weekly racing series and the amount of content & frequency of updates to the seasonal events were not enough to keep me busy. I went on to my other interests assuming additional content was coming.

Over 11 months have passed since I last played GT6. There have been significant changes and additions to the game but I don't see it taking me over 1 week to complete. Where I am most disappointed is that the past seasonal events are not available (even if the rankings are closed). This is where I found replay value from GT 5, particularly found of the pp handy-capping that was available.

I know there is a new "Quick Match" feature and I want to give it a try but I have concerns about having a small garage selection and being rusty on some of the new tracks. I will create a separate post for this.

 

[TRLWNC7396]

The Quick Match races all use loaner cars, so they are more readily available to all.

 

[Adamaw11]

I agree, but at what point does tuning the car for better driving come in? If all you do is max out a car, does it make you a better driver?

When you're at the point of the career mode where you can't afford to max it out, but the AI is fast enough that you still need every bit of performance you can get from the tuning you can afford, so you try tuning suspension, gearing, LSD etc.
Or maybe the car you're using, even when maxed out, is still not quite fast enough because of the type of race you're entering.

And if you're entering a "hard tuned" type race, you'd assume the AI's cars would be "hard tuned" enough so you need more than a basic standard road car to be competitive.

 

[05XR8]

And I can only imagine what races will be like when I tune the suspension on the M4 Coupe. I came in second overall in the 5race GT Championship. How can I catch and pass a McLaren F1 anywhere? In a stock 4-seat coupe on SM tyres.

The AI FXX won all 4 previous races, about 15 seconds ahead, until I passed it at Grand Valley on the last lap.

 

[RuddRacer]

The Quick Match races all use loaner cars, so they are more readily available to all.

That is great to hear, I will be sticking around for much longer than I thought.

I still don't understand why a game with 1000+ available cars and only a handful needed to complete it. What is worse the $ economy of the game encourages buying as few cars as needed.

 

[raven214]

That is great to hear, I will be sticking around for much longer than I thought.

I still don't understand why a game with 1000+ available cars are only a handful needed to complete it. What is worse the $ economy of the game encourages buying as few cars as needed.

I have found quick match to be fairly ineffective/glitchy so far. I gave it another try over the weekend and after staring at a black screen for a few minutes I finally got the disconnected message. The opportunity to run with driving aids forced on didn't entice me enough to try again. I have gotten it to work in the past - I would prefer the cars were given to us at random ala GT5 shuffle but oh well. Hopefully it will work better for you.

 

[RuddRacer]

I have found quick match to be fairly ineffective/glitchy so far. I gave it another try over the weekend and after staring at a black screen for a few minutes I finally got the disconnected message. The opportunity to run with driving aids forced on didn't entice me enough to try again. I have gotten it to work in the past - I would prefer the cars were given to us at random ala GT5 shuffle but oh well. Hopefully it will work better for you.

Are you saying all the races have driving aids enabled or at the time you tried there were none available?

 

[raven214]

Are you saying all the races have driving aids enabled or at the time you tried there were none available?

If I remember correctly as the "level" of the event increases the aids do decrease, but there is no way to turn them off for races where they are set on. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[TRLWNC7396]

I thought it was the other way around for aids. (shrug, haven't been there many times, and haven't looked closely)

But, the biggest problem that I have is that my connection is 1.5 down, .9 up. If I enter a room with more than 8-10 people, I can't stay connected no matter what.