"GT Sport will require an internet connection for the majority of functionality"

[Scaff]

@Rallywagon Mass Effect Andromeda is in horribly un-optimised state on all platforms, and they (huge EA) will just leave it there! Well lets hope smaller teams with smaller publisher will not cut costs and run like that as well.

Like demands being placed on journalist that they must not review at any cost without D1P!!! (in fact at a cost of being banned from any further cooperation with SMS or Bandai).

I personally don't have an issue with a title being reviewed in the form that most users will experience it, I have far more of an issue with review embargo's that are set to the games day of release.

It also tends to be the smaller studios that support titles on an ongoing basis (at least in the racing arena). AC and PCars were both well supported in that regard from launch, while the likes of Codemasters and EA failing at this to a great degree. Of the larger studios it tends to only be the MS and Sony run ones that support racing titles post launch well (Forza, DC and GT).

Its also worth noting that breaking review embargo's and facing potential sanctions is not unique to any one publisher, and far more of an issue for the very large ones if the embargo is set to release date, as for example GT5 and GT6 were. It will be interesting to see what date we get GTS reviews in the wild and if anyone will break that embargo.

 

[Famine]

I never understood the great divide on internet required for gaming.

When PSN was hacked in 2011, I could carry on playing GT4 without a fuss. I could play all of the offline portion of GT5 too, although the economy was broken without the multipliers from logging in.

If a game requires the console to always be online*, another PSN hack stops you from playing it altogether. As does any other network outage. Not just the online part of the game, but the whole game. And when the servers are turned off at the end of its life, you won't be able to play it any more - I spent a lot of last week playing a game from 1993 on its original device.

*GT Sport does not, as far as we can tell. "Portions of the Arcade mode and single player races on some circuits" are playable offline.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I never understood the great divide on internet required for gaming.

these people that already have internet at home, with wifi routers, that watch NetFlix and KODI, or run a PLEX server, that have GTPlanet in a browser, along with reddit and other incogneto mode related media, pausing a multiplayer Nintendo 3DS game in session, to take a bathroom break whilst reading snapchat instagram'd news bits,

ARE SUDDENLY RAISING FISTS IN ANGER ABOUT ONLINE REQUIRED FOR A VIDEOGAME

this is why I don't have faith in humanity.

Odd. The only one I see raging, in ALL CAPS nonetheless, is you.

 

[PhaedrusSocrate]

When PSN was hacked in 2011, I could carry on playing GT4 without a fuss. I could play all of the offline portion of GT5 too, although the economy was broken without the multipliers from logging in.

If a game requires the console to always be online*, another PSN hack stops you from playing it altogether. As does any other network outage. Not just the online part of the game, but the whole game. And when the servers are turned off at the end of its life, you won't be able to play it any more - I spent a lot of last week playing a game from 1993 on its original device.

*GT Sport does not, as far as we can tell. "Portions of the Arcade mode and single player races on some circuits" are playable offline.

It's great that we know GTS is NOT title that will require "always on-line". Apart when you want to enter actually on-line race

 

[ImaRobot]

It's great that we know GTS is NOT title that will require "always on-line". Apart when you want to enter actually on-line race

Well from the articles we've seen, it seems like it's requiring it for offline portions as well.

 

[SavageEvil]

I can't say the Blog isn't thorough, it states the majority of functionality requires internet which I'll take with a grain of salt since I'm no grammar expert but that just isn't very clear. The sentence immediately following the articles title tells you what that functionality is that requires connection. So let's layout what we know so far:

PS+
Online Lobby
GT Sport Mode

Online required possible PS+
Portion of Arcade mode

Offline
GT Mode
VR
Portion(s) of Arcade mode
Photo Mode

Based on my outline of sorts the majority of the game is offline, I mean 3 full modes are offline and the bulk of Arcade mode is as well, and for online you get Sport mode which has races setup, thus has some bulk to it and the usual online mode which is make what you want public/private affair. Also a part of Arcade mode which I assume is the multiplayer part is online, so take from that what you will. Face it GT Mode will almost always be the bulk of GT.

The article title changed to exactly what is in the blog, although that is still taken out of context and folks will do what they will with partial information, usually make a mess. As we saw with the original title causing this slew of folks scrambling with notions of impending doom or something world rending. Common sense is a fleeting trait it seems.

So from the Blog only PS+ necessary parts are anything multiplayer, only other thing that isn't necessarily multiplayer is a part of Arcade Mode which I am guessing they glossed over when they saw that there was Online function within Arcade mode, so it ended up in the presser as the bulk of arcade mode is offline except for the OBVIOUS multiplayer part that requires you connect to the internet for reasons I don't have to explain. I tried my best this time folks, my last post wasn't so clear. I will venture to try and interpret stuff to the best of my ability, lol. The writer of the Blog just wasn't clear enough and left the door open to wild speculation.

Quoted from the Blog

This connectivity requirement is to ensure that progress, car availability, and driver ratings are properly maintained at all times.

Here is where I am confused, which progress? Is it overall game progress or limited to progress associated with Driver ratings and online in total, you do have offline progress as well and is that separate? I assume it is but only time will tell once reviewers get their hands on it. Right now crisis averted for the whole connectivity hoopla, put your pitchforks away and out those torches.

Let's all hope that GT Sport doesn't need a mission critical day 1 update, like err Project Cars 2 seemingly needs according to the reviews I read this morning. That said release windows carry seemingly severe financial repercussions, sucks to be in this sort of climate.

 

[zzz_pt]

Offline
GT Mode
VR
Portion(s) of Arcade mode
Photo Mode

(Can't find the source now but I've read it somewhere what I mention bellow. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and has the source at hand, please share it.)

But if I remember correctly, we might need an internet connection to download each scape every time we want to use the feature. According to PD, each scape, due to their high resolution and detail, weights up to 200MB.

Even if we make them 100MB each, 100MB x 1000 scapes = 100GB (!). No one will download 100GB of scapes day one just to have them sitting there on their HDD I guess.

So, probably we will need an internet connection to use scapes too. And that's a huge feature.

Ignore my post if what I recall is not accurate or was "fake news".

 

[FPV MIC]

(Can't find the source now but I've read it somewhere what I mention bellow. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and has the source at hand, please share it.)

But if I remember correctly, we might need an internet connection to download each scape every time we want to use the feature. According to PD, each scape, due to their high resolution and detail, weights up to 200MB.

Even if we make them 100MB each, 100MB x 1000 scapes = 100GB (!). No one will download 100GB of scapes day one just to have them sitting there on their HDD I guess.

So, probably we will need an internet connection to use scapes too. And that's a huge feature.

Ignore my post if what I recall is not accurate or was "fake news".

I recall something about downloading Scapes aswell. I found this showing some as DLC, so they will definitely require an internet connection.

 

[zzz_pt]

About DLC Scapes: (google translate)

https://japan.cnet.com/article/35104942/2/

Q: In this work, it is stated that the required hard disk capacity is 60 Gbytes or more. Although it seems that there is also a fight with the capacity of Blu - ray Disc when it comes to the title so far.

A: It is true so. For example, photos in Scope has HDR and RGB each 32 bit information, yet has spatial information. So the data capacity per photo is as much as a few hundred megabytes. At the time of release date we prepared about 1000 locations, but since we did not enter all the discs, we had the format to download as necessary. I think that it is not technically impossible to say that it is technically impossible, but in the present era, it seems that the form that you download to one as you download it as needed is more convenient for the user I will.

Found it.

 

[Tassie_tiger]

(Can't find thetoo."urce now but I'feature" it somewhere what I mention bellow. If anyone knows what I'm talking about and has the source at hand, please share it.)

But if I remember correctly, we might need an internet connection to download each scape every time we want to use the feature. According to PD, each scape, due to their high resolution and detail, weights up to 200MB.

Even if we make them 100MB each, 100MB x 1000 scapes = 100GB (!). No one will download 100GB of scapes day one just to have them sitting there on their HDD I guess.

So, probably we will need an internet connection to use scapes too. And that's a huge feature.

Ignore my post if what I recall is not accurate or was "fake news".

From what I've read, some of your post seems to be the case.
It's been mentioned that due to HDR, light sources, etc being included in the scape images that they are of significant size.
And due to physical blu-ray disc space limitations, not all will be present on the disc at release.
I expect there will be some available on the disc at release though.

But I disagree with you in other areas.
"need an internet connection to download each scape every time we want to use the feature" doesn't sound right to me.
As with all DLC, you will of course need the internet to access it, but it then becomes part of the game data stored on the consoles HDD.
Download it once, job done.
This probably means that over time, if 1000 Scapes become available, and someone downloads them all, GT Sport will consume a significant portion of your consoles HDD.
But I guess that's a different discussion.

Which means I also disagree with this line.
"So, probably we will need an internet connection to use scapes too."

Obviously I don't know the final outcome, but if I have the game software, the car I wish to photograph, and the scape image I wish to use all on my HDD, it seems unlikely to me that an internet connection would be required to simply take a photo.
I can't even come up with an advantage for PD or Sony to impose such a restriction, only the internet service provider would seem to win there.

On topic but branching off slightly, there are Achievements for things such as liking someone else's photos, liveries, etc.
So without internet connection, checking out someone else's profile and pictures obviously becomes impossible, and therefore progressing through the Achievement likewise.

This video is the best one for people to refresh their memories.
At the nine minute mark you see the full Arcade menu, including the brief visit to "Multiplayer Battle".
It also has plenty of footage showing Achievements, both your own and a friends, etc. etc.
*Edit* 8:40 is a better time mark for the Arcade menu.

 

[zzz_pt]

From what I've read, some of your post seems to be the case.
It's been mentioned that due to HDR, light sources, etc being included in the scape images that they are of significant size.
And due to physical blu-ray disc space limitations, not all will be present on the disc at release.
I expect there will be some available on the disc at release though.

But I disagree with you in other areas.
"need an internet connection to download each scape every time we want to use the feature" doesn't sound right to me.
As with all DLC, you will of course need the internet to access it, but it then becomes part of the game data stored on the consoles HDD.
Download it once, job done.
This probably means that over time, if 1000 Scapes become available, and someone downloads them all, GT Sport will consume a significant portion of your consoles HDD.
But I guess that's a different discussion.

Which means I also disagree with this line.
"So, probably we will need an internet connection to use scapes too."

Obviously I don't know the final outcome, but if I have the game software, the car I wish to photograph, and the scape image I wish to choose all on my HDD, it seems unlikely to me that an internet connection would be required to simply take a photo.
I can't even come up with an advantage for PD or Sony to impose such a restriction, only the internet service provider would seem to win there.

From my previous post:

About DLC Scapes: (google translate)

https://japan.cnet.com/article/35104942/2/

Q: In this work, it is stated that the required hard disk capacity is 60 Gbytes or more. Although it seems that there is also a fight with the capacity of Blu - ray Disc when it comes to the title so far.

A: It is true so. For example, photos in Scope has HDR and RGB each 32 bit information, yet has spatial information. So the data capacity per photo is as much as a few hundred megabytes. At the time of release date we prepared about 1000 locations, but since we did not enter all the discs, we had the format to download as necessary. I think that it is not technically impossible to say that it is technically impossible, but in the present era, it seems that the form that you download to one as you download it as needed is more convenient for the user I will.

I don't know japanese so I can't confirm what Kaz said or not. But it seems he's saying you will download spaces as you need them. If every scape has a few hundreds of MB and there are 1000 scapes, you'll need 200GB only for the scapes. Plus 60-80 (?) GB for the game. That's 250-280 GB only for a game... It's ludicrous.

This topic came out here and I'll just quote @Imari since he made a good point about it and (I think) he also knows japanese.

Sorta sucks for people on limited internet though. Optional install is a good idea, but if it doesn't fit on the game disc I'd rather they included a second disc of Scapes data in the box for people to install from. Forcing large downloads to use a feature seems like it'll frustrate more than a few people.

I mean, I have decent internet for Australia and if I want to try a few Scapes that means I have to download a couple of gigs of data? From Sony's servers that's not a quick download. Even from Steam that'd be at least 5-10 minutes, and from PSN I'd expect more like half an hour. It's really going to interrupt the opportunity to browse through the Scapes and experiment if you have to spend a minute or two downloading each one.

Add to that the fact that 200MB times 1000 locations is 200GB, and it's going to be largely impossible for anyone to keep all the Scapes on their hard drive if they want to also play other games. It feels like another feature that seems cool but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired. Polyphony won't have the same experience as the users in this case, they'll have the Scapes pre-installed or coming over gigabit ethernet from the server in the next room. I predict that users are going to find this aspect of Scapes somewhere between frustrating and game-breaking, because for some this will mean that they can't really use the Scapes in any moderately fluid fashion.

 

[Tassie_tiger]

From my previous post:



I don't know japanese so I can't confirm what Kaz said or not. But it seems he's saying you will download spaces as you need them. If every scape has a few hundreds of MB and there are 1000 scapes, you'll need 200GB only for the scapes. Plus 60-80 (?) GB for the game. That's 250-280 GB only for a game... It's ludicrous.

This topic came out here and I'll just quote @Imari since he made a good point about it and (I think) he also knows japanese.

I understand what you are saying.
And hey, it may turn out to be the case.
But as it stands, I personally don't think it will.

I'm fairly positive some Scapes will ship with the disc.
But perhaps you want to take a photo with your car under Big Ben, for example, but that scape isn't one of the options already available.
You have the option to download it.

That's how I see this playing out.

 

[zzz_pt]

I don't know what will happen. I just posted what that japanese interview with Kaz seems to point to. I hope not to have to download scapes when I want to use them.

 

[Tassie_tiger]

I don't know what will happen. I just posted what that japanese interview with Kaz seems to point to. I hope not to have to download scapes when I want to use them.

Well I'm with you there.

With my current data cap and free HDD space, I wouldn't even contemplate downloading 1000 scapes should they all be available at release.
The alternative, as you sort of suggest, is accessing the scape perhaps via PD servers.
But would that mean you actually download them? I don't know.

I guess, on the flip side, one positive outcome is that not everyone will have the same scape images.
So originality of photos should last for a while.

 

[zooburner]

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2017/09/14/gran-turismo-sport-eight-things-you-need-to-know/

Very bad "feature", for no reason 👎. Make a seperate online profile. Problem solved.

I think my money will go on PC2, i will wait till GTS is on the cheap sell off list

 

[Tassie_tiger]

Watching the TGS stream I noticed some extra text on the box art.
Checking out the Japan section for gran-turismo.com it states this.
(Google translated)

"Online only.

• You can play arcade mode even when you are offline. (1 to 2 players)
• It can not be saved offline. Please be careful.
• You need to join PlayStation®Plus for online multiplayer."

http://www.gran-turismo.com/jp/products/gtsport/


The same info. doesn't seem to be on any English speaking areas for the website as yet, so that’s the best I can find.

 

[dbarrade]

I guess it's a sign of the times:

My kids will never experience driving to a Block Buster, standing around with your friends choosing a movie, driving back home, watching it and then rewinding it and then dropping it back.

I think it's too late to turn the tide now.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Watching the TGS stream I noticed some extra text on the box art.
Checking out the Japan section for gran-turismo.com it states this.
(Google translated)

"Online only.

• You can play arcade mode even when you are offline. (1 to 2 players)
• It can not be saved offline. Please be careful.
• You need to join PlayStation®Plus for online multiplayer."

http://www.gran-turismo.com/jp/products/gtsport/


The same info. doesn't seem to be on any English speaking areas for the website as yet, so that’s the best I can find.

Sounds like an online save and no local save then. It works okay on the games I play that do that.

 

[Tassie_tiger]

Sounds like an online save and no local save then. It works okay on the games I play that do that.

Well that's something I guess.

But to be able to play offline and then not be able to save sounds daft to me.
Probably makes sense for split screen, as that's really just for having fun with your mates on the couch.
But earning credits, experience, and mileage in your custom Arcade races but not being able to do anything with it seems crazy.

 

[fikridroid]

Watching the TGS stream I noticed some extra text on the box art.
Checking out the Japan section for gran-turismo.com it states this.
(Google translated)

"Online only.

• You can play arcade mode even when you are offline. (1 to 2 players)
• It can not be saved offline. Please be careful.
• You need to join PlayStation®Plus for online multiplayer."

http://www.gran-turismo.com/jp/products/gtsport/


The same info. doesn't seem to be on any English speaking areas for the website as yet, so that’s the best I can find.

This worries me a bit (especially for people with spotty or almost non-existent internet connections), why not just allow progress to be saved offline and then automatically syncing them to PDI servers if connected online? I hope it didn't end like NFS2015 and SFV (online-oriented mainline iteration of the mostly offline based franchise)

 

[drivatar]

The manual says:

Is anyone else worried about the fact we can only save when online?

From the manual: http://www.gran-turismo.com/gb/gtsport/manual/#!/save/content01

NOTE: Online Saving Only

Gran Turismo Sport only supports online saving. Your game progress data will be stored on the online server. Please be aware, therefore, that any progress you make while offline cannot be saved (certain contents are saved onto the PlayStation®4 console's hard disk drive.) If you are playing offline, you will be able to use previously saved game progress data.

Gran Turismo Sport supports autosaving. To save manually, select "Save" from the Top Screen.

You can't save any progress offline.