How You Play Gran Turismo 7 Depends on Your Age, says Kazunori Yamauchi

[fullness]

If thats what the data suggests then fair enough, but it's the opposite for me. I must admit that i assumed the majority of online players were at least in the slightly older bracket! Im a Gen X player but have no interest in the majority of the offline content. With GTS i enjoyed the online racing (particularly FIA) and the community feel both the game and here on GTP provided, making many friends. It feels like that has gone with GT7. I miss it!! It doesn't help that it feels like PD have abandoned GTWS for the time being too. Why couldn't they have thrown in a couple of sort Exhibition seasons to keep the interest going? Because in all honesty, i'm bored of GT7 and it's rare i log into it these days.

I agree that the data seems incorrect (at least in my personal experience with my group of online friends). Im 46 and have been with the series since inception. I used to play sport mode a ton in gts, until i got into the high A and low A+ range when the racing seemed to be low key dirty but dirty all the same. I found a league and (where clean racing and quality racecraft are priorities to the group as a whole) and have used 90-95% of my time on gts and now gt7 driving in the league. The age range is (generally) between 30 and 50 for the most part. We do have outliers and the each end tho. I think most of us are all in the same boat as far as dividing our time in game. i would really appreciate it if pd gave us better online multiplar lobbies rather than just focusing on sport.

 

[B80]

I have abso6no idea what trophies I have. Couldn't care less. I want to race online only but are forced to race offline to get credits/cars/tuning parts and the super expensive tyres.
In GTS I ran maybe 50 sport mode races per lobby race but here it's more like 50/50. Because Sport mode as it is now is a joke.

Agree, I'm same across all games. Every now snd then I see some trophy popup, but just ignore it. No idea or interst in which ones I have or completing them in any game. I've no interst in playing a game (sometimes for hours /10s of hours) in a way I don't particularly enjoy just to earn a trophy which overall means nothing. Much rather spend my time playing in a way I like.

Not to say its a bad thing to want them of course, everyone has their way of enjoying/consuming games.

I wonder if trophy completion is more of a thing amongst younger gens. I'm 42, they weren't around for most mu gaming 'career'.

 

[GT_Alex74]

I was going to disagree about the offline campaign burst until I got thinking about it. I put in crazy hours at first. Completing licenses, collecting cars, racing, etc. Maxing out car completion with so many cars left to collect sucked. Then came the lack of races to compete in. Creating events for endurance setup doesn't hardly pay. I basically turned to creating liveries. Aside from that, the incentive or enjoyment isn't what I remember from GT1-3. I occasionally hop on to do the 30 minutes endurance or Watkins.

Main issue with the campaign is the café menu format. What made the older GT games great was the sandbox aspect of the game. You had the GT World Championship as an implicit end goal but the way you worked your way to that was entirely up to you. The game wasn't forcing you to buy a specific car when you started, nor it was forcing you to do events in a specific order, conveniently gifting you a car suitable for the next menu every time. You could get a used car you like as your first car and try to do as much with it as you could and that was great.

Before GT7 came out, I was thinking "cool, I'm gonna buy a NA Miata and see how far I can go with it in the solo campaign as a challenge". Turned out you're forced to buy a small hybrid hatch at first. Meh. So I farmed the first race a few times so I could buy the Miata. Second or 3rd menu, I don't remember, I'm already forced out of it.

GT7 globally removed a lot of freedom for the player. It's also true regarding the online aspect, especially lobbies, which still lack features and reliability. Legendary cars dealership is the worst idea ever brought to the series, can't host races involving cars that are only available once every 2 or 3 months. I mainly do liveries myself on GT7, sometimes for other people, the editor is absolutely amazing. But what if someone needs me to make a McLaren F1 livery ? I missed the car the only 2 times it was available in 10 months, so I just can't - and I'm someone who still turns the game on somewhat regularly. Imagine what it's like to dedicated livery creators working for teams. A great tool rendered useless by the surrounding game design being trash.

So yeah, to sum up, GT losing its sandbox aspect really hurts its replayability. To be fair though, the burst of playtime in solo happens for most games. Online, when available, is usually what make players stay after they're done with solo. GT1 to 4 managed to retain players through its solo mode because you could easily start a new save and approach the career in a very different way each time. GT5 and 6 lost a bit of that, but managed to retain players until the very end of their life cycle thanks to good online features. GT Sport online was ok for a while but died before it was replaced. GT7 is pretty much dead already because lobbies are barely functional.

 

[DaneTX]

Main issue with the campaign is the café menu format. What made the older GT games great was the sandbox aspect of the game. You had the GT World Championship as an implicit end goal but the way you worked your way to that was entirely up to you. The game wasn't forcing you to buy a specific car when you started, nor it was forcing you to do events in a specific order, conveniently gifting you a car suitable for the next menu every time. You could get a used car you like as your first car and try to do as much with it as you could and that was great.

Before GT7 came out, I was thinking "cool, I'm gonna buy a NA Miata and see how far I can go with it in the solo campaign as a challenge". Turned out you're forced to buy a small hybrid hatch at first. Meh. So I farmed the first race a few times so I could buy the Miata. Second or 3rd menu, I don't remember, I'm already forced out of it.

GT7 globally removed a lot of freedom for the player. It's also true regarding the online aspect, especially lobbies, which still lack features and reliability. Legendary cars dealership is the worst idea ever brought to the series, can't host races involving cars that are only available once every 2 or 3 months. I mainly do liveries myself on GT7, sometimes for other people, the editor is absolutely amazing. But what if someone needs me to make a McLaren F1 livery ? I missed the car the only 2 times it was available in 10 months, so I just can't - and I'm someone who still turns the game on somewhat regularly. Imagine what it's like to dedicated livery creators working for teams. A great tool rendered useless by the surrounding game design being trash.

So yeah, to sum up, GT losing its sandbox aspect really hurts its replayability. To be fair though, the burst of playtime in solo happens for most games. Online, when available, is usually what make players stay after they're done with solo. GT1 to 4 managed to retain players through its solo mode because you could easily start a new save and approach the career in a very different way each time. GT5 and 6 lost a bit of that, but managed to retain players until the very end of their life cycle thanks to good online features. GT Sport online was ok for a while but died before it was replaced. GT7 is pretty much dead already because lobbies are barely functional.

GT was the start for me, as my friend had it. GT2 is when I really got into it. I believe 3 or maybe 4 was the last one I played. It just seemed different. Gt7 is my first jump back in, but I feel the first few titles just had it right. Drive what you want, where you want. I don't play online. Tried it once on GT7...it just wasn't for me.
I'd love your input on liveries if you want to check mine out: danetx.

 

[Artremis]

Hmm interesting. I'm Gen Z and most definitely spend my time in GT7 racing online or in photo mode but that has more to do with the AI in the game being completely unenjoyable to race against. I leave my AI racing for AMS2 and ACC.

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

I'm 66 and the only online gaming I had ever done, up until GT7, was poker. Everything else seemed like it would be a bunch of snot-nosed kids laughing as they tore me apart.

For a while after I bought GT7, I didn't venture online for roughly the same reason. But when I exhausted all the offline content I cared about, I decided to try the daily races, and now I'm totally hooked. I realized right away that a racing game is way different than most other online games, because it's not about needing to destroy your opponent (not that that doesn't happen). It's about doing the best you can do, personally, and even coming in 10th might seem like a victory depending on the situation.

But most importantly, I realized that the other racers don't give a **** how well or poorly I do. Other than the few idiots out there, nobody's laughing at me if I do poorly - people only care how well they do, personally. Which takes all the perceived pressure off (the worry that snot-nosed kids will laugh at me).

Bottom line, I'm willing to bet there's a lot of oldies out there who feel the way I did, and they only need to be nudged a little to give online a try.

As an aside, the reason I chose the name "Grumpy Old Man" was so I could feel like I was able to yell at the snot-nosed kids to "get off my lawn!"

 

[OldandSlow]

I'm 66 and the only online gaming I had ever done, up until GT7, was poker. Everything else seemed like it would be a bunch of snot-nosed kids laughing as they tore me apart.

For a while after I bought GT7, I didn't venture online for roughly the same reason. But when I exhausted all the offline content I cared about, I decided to try the daily races, and now I'm totally hooked. I realized right away that a racing game is way different than most other online games, because it's not about needing to destroy your opponent (not that that doesn't happen). It's about doing the best you can do, personally, and even coming in 10th might seem like a victory depending on the situation.

But most importantly, I realized that the other racers don't give a **** how well or poorly I do. Other than the few idiots out there, nobody's laughing at me if I do poorly - people only care how well they do, personally. Which takes all the perceived pressure off (the worry that snot-nosed kids will laugh at me).

Bottom line, I'm willing to bet there's a lot of oldies out there who feel the way I did, and they only need to be nudged a little to give online a try.

As an aside, the reason I chose the name "Grumpy Old Man" was so I could feel like I was able to yell at the snot-nosed kids to "get off my lawn!"

In GT7, wouldn't that be, "get off my line!" ?

 

[benjoi84]

Like everyone else, I want more cars, tracks, events and features. It's clear all those are coming and so I am very much looking forward to the next few years with GT7.

I admire your optimism, sir

 

[CMB350]

I realized right away that a racing game is way different than most other online games, because it's not about needing to destroy your opponent (not that that doesn't happen). It's about doing the best you can do, personally, and even coming in 10th might seem like a victory depending on the situation.

But most importantly, I realized that the other racers don't give a **** how well or poorly I do. Other than the few idiots out there, nobody's laughing at me if I do poorly - people only care how well they do, personally. Which takes all the perceived pressure off (the worry that snot-nosed kids will laugh at me).

Bottom line, I'm willing to bet there's a lot of oldies out there who feel the way I did, and they only need to be nudged a little to give online a try.

I was at an HPDE event at Daytona a little while back and was talking to another driver about driving line, speeds, etc… He mentioned he used GT7 to practice since he had never been to the track. I told him I also have GT7 and mentioned playing online. He said he had no interest. I pretty much told him exactly what you wrote above. It’s similar to real life driving events, except it’s acceptable to wreck in the digital world. Unless you are a complete jackwagon, no one cares or remembers who you are. This applies to both real life track days and GT7.

 

[ProfDoobverk]

I believe people who put racing tyres and max out every car are not as spiritually developed as I am. I, however, also recognise this judgement of others is a flaw of myself too, hindering my own personal development.

 

[ruestchiva]

I don't have enough life to grind all the damn credits on the same circuit every day! We need more events (with good pay)!!!

 

[Nathan88]

Delete post.

 

[absbrain]

Been playing GT since GT sport, and that's my first ever online sim game. Personally i don't care about offline stuff at all, only sport mode. That said, i try to make progress, be a better driver, race cleanly etc. I'm 45 so i don't agree with kaz at all.
Though i wish sport mode had more stuff, endurance racing, multiclass racing, challenges.
Ai in offline mode is just too simple and boring.
Main plus for me is that i can play half an hour online and then do something else, then return later and play some more. I can't really do that with other games.

 

[CTznOfTime]

Age is a factor, but not the only determining factor for how we play...

I don't know if we covered this within these 6 pages, but I think a more important factor is family situation...

For those who are single or who do not have any children or have the ability to just spend time on themselves without interruptions... You would have better choices and control of your game time...
Those like me who have "adult responsibilities", we are limited to what we can spend time playing and enjoying on with GT7...

for me my focus is on the offline story line and collecting cars, I would spend more time on sport mode or online if I didn't have so much need around the house...

 

[Dave A]

Age is a factor, but not the only determining factor for how we play...

I don't know if we covered this within these 6 pages, but I think a more important factor is family situation...

For those who are single or who do not have any children or have the ability to just spend time on themselves without interruptions... You would have better choices and control of your game time...
Those like me who have "adult responsibilities", we are limited to what we can spend time playing and enjoying on with GT7...

for me my focus is on the offline story line and collecting cars, I would spend more time on sport mode or online if I didn't have so much need around the house...

So true, and personally I've found gaming overall has nosedived in my life in recent years. But particularly in the past couple of months I've been building a new CRM/BPM/TWF app for my team at work to manage projects and workloads and needless to say there's a lot of repetition involved in certain stages and the last thing I want to do after 8hrs of that is grind in GT7. So it's really taken a back seat in my house right now.

One difference to me though is I've never been interested in online gameplay. I'm just not interested in it at all and never really have been. I much prefer to have control over the pause button and game at my pace without waiting around for people to join lobbeys and all that comes with online gameplay.