IMO, You think like a logician and you're right.
It's just surprising that they don't even unveil the new road map. I was sure there would be a big April update given all the signs. If 1, 2 and 3 exist, probably the next number is "4" and I don't need a proof to a certain extent.
https://www.gtplanet.net/gt-sport-could-eventually-feature-up-to-500-cars/
“In the end, there will be around 4 to 5 hundred cars. All cars have been re-modeled, and there won’t be standard cars.”
I can't see how they will reach this number if they take hiatus for an unknown time.
There was no proof of an April update the size of the Jan–Mar ones, though. There was a mention of an "April Update", but all that could really mean is that PD sees one patch as the "main" for the month. Sure enough, the content update with the Supra covered a lot of similar ground; revisions to Sport Mode, expansions of GT League and Circuit Experience, and an expansion of the car lineup (yes, a single car
).
It's entirely possible the plan at the time that was said — August 2016, before a year's delay — was the 500 car goal.
Six months later, the total isn't even at 250, and more recent interviews from Kaz have suggested the next GT game will absorb Sport Mode but potentially return to the numbered approach. Contrast that to pre-GTS interviews about the game being the start of a new era for the franchise, and it seems plans may have changed at some point. Or not. But we just don't know.
It's like all the complaints leveled at Kaz or PD are completely unfounded based simply on previous prejudice.
People need to wake up; how may racing games in the last decade have offered continuous, always free DLC and communicated that from more or less the word go?
Racing games? Not many. Other games? There's been some.
One could also make the argument that GT Sport was in the sort of position where it made more sense to offer the DLC for free. It launched with far less cars and tracks than its main console competition, and a much less diverse lineup of both as well. Sure, the game was targeting a different niche of the genre with its largely class-based system — but then, why has the vast majority of the DLC not conformed to any of those classes?
You remember the debacle with FM5's DLC, right? Paid for, and most of it was returning cars from the previous generation? Most of the cars in GT Sport's post-launch phase have been cars we saw in GT6. Charging for them might not've went over swimmingly with the fans that waited four years for a current-gen GT title.
On the flip side, PD has such a reputation in the genre and with Sony that it's entirely possible it insisted on the DLC being free. Who knows — perhaps the business model argues extensive free DLC translates into more profit via full-game purchases than a smaller take rate of paid DLC.
Relating to that...
It was quite obvious DLC plans upto March where damage control after the games reception and resistance to the new direction.
That's an admittedly common theory, but it's just that: a theory. It's very unlikely the team was able to bash out the three dozen or so GT6 revisits — nevermind the new cars — within mere weeks of the game's launch reception. Unless you're suggesting the original plan was to make the monthly additions paid versus free, but even that seems a stretch. If the original plan was for paid DLC after the original release in autumn 2016, would you (in Sony's shoes) sign off on making it all free after a year's worth of additional costs for development?
IMO, the diversification of GT Sport over a long period of time was intentional. We're seeing the same thing elsewhere in the genre; when I talked with Dan Greenawalt about FM7 last October, one of the first questions he was asked was about the much smaller online hopper selection. He said that was from community feedback: some players were overwhelmed by
too many options. GT Sport's steady roll-out of features and content allows players to focus on specific aspects of the game over time. Sport Mode had two months in the spotlight before GT League popped in, and reading the forums, quite a few offline career mode traditionalists used that time to hop into the eponymous mode. Some people didn't like it, but some did.
Also, again only a personal opinion, PD must've known it couldn't rely on winning the numbers game like it did in the PS3 era. Reframing the Gran Turismo franchise via Sport Mode made sense; there's no way the team will match Forza 7's 770 cars even if it focused solely on car models from now until PS5 launches. I've been replaying GT5 for Platinum purposes and it's, comparatively, a mess. GT Sport is lean and focused, and while that's bound to turn off the kitchen-sink portion of the playerbase, I think it was the right move.
