Was playing Rocket League again tonight and realised how similar it is in concept to what GTS is trying to do. That's gonna sound nuts so let me explain.
The gameplay of Rocket League is incredibly simple and limited. It's a soccer field, you have a rocket car, you try and score goals. There's a lot of room for nuance and skill with the controls, but they're not exactly complicated. The cars look different but they're basically the same. There's a handful different fields not counting the labs ones.
But it's so polished and the gameplay is so refined that you can spend hours trying to get better. The feeling I get from dribbling the ball over someone, bouncing it off the wall and boosting to smash it into the goal is incredible. Variety be damned, the gameplay is so engaging that it just doesn't matter.
In addition, there are casual modes, ranked modes, and fun modes (yay, basketball!). There's a single player, and some pretty good training modes. Collecting hats and aerials is a cute addition for the pack rats.
I feel like this could all be done with a racing game instead of soccer cars. The concept of a racing game is very simple. The controls are few with a lot of room for skill and nuance. With classes a lot of the cars are basically interchangeable. And I know when you nail a hot lap at a key time or pull an amazing overtake it's that same feeling of exhilaration.
Can Polyphony pull off an experience that gives the same rewarding feelings as Rocket League and be as simple and addictive to play?
For what it's worth, I think Rocket League nails the 7 to 77 gameplay. Anyone can play, but only the best can be great. The fun is trying to get there, and the odd moment when you get totally lucky and pull an amazing move out of your backside.