Online Career Mode

[Johnnypenso]

After a bit of back and forth with @Chrunch Houston and @Goruk in another thread I want to put forth an idea spawned from one of Chrunch's posts and furthered by @Goruk.

I think it's time for an "Online Career Mode" where you don't run A or BSpec races as part of that career and along with it maybe some exclusive lobbies perhaps autohosted by PD or with parameters set up to facilitate an online career. As a minimum, some kind of tag beside your name saying you are doing Online Career Mode. Of course all the cars unlocked in ASpec would also have to be incorporated somehow into the Online Career perhaps for passing milestones in Wins, Win%, Podiums, #of Races Entered, % of Races Finished, Career Earnings etc. And perhaps certain milestones like running a 1 hour online enduro at the 'Ring, 2 hours of Spa etc.

This would be very attractive to those of us that have no desire whatsoever to race against AI or have anything to do with A or BSpec but still desire the challenge to build a virtual racing career through head to head competition. It might be a good idea if we could also have 2 separate bank accounts and garages, separating our winnings and cars won in both offline and online racing at our choice.

Of course, this would still leave the usual method of playing GT intact, it would just be a separate option available to those that wish it, without taking anything away from anyone else who isn't interested in an Online Career Mode.

Thanks Gravitron for fixing my poll questions!

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

After getting hooked on the F1 2011 online co-op Career mode I put a yes in this vote! Played through the entire campaign with an online friend. Which reminds me, we both need to pick up 2012 in the near future so we can play through that co-op career mode. Really enjoyed F1 2011 online career mode.

 

[eSZee]

I've played many games that had some sort of "online career" whether co-op or other type. I've never enjoyed them as relying on others to help you progress usually ended up in disappointment or frustration.

 

[mcfizzle]

I've alway thought that A-Spec races should be run offline or online. Allow matchmaking for each event so you could run the races with the same restrictions but against people instead of AI. The number of events could make it hard to keep each one full but it sounds fun.

 

[Downhill Dino]

I'd really like to see it happen. It was something I really wanted in GT5.

 

[tezster]

This would work, if there was a reliable system which filters out idiot racers. Right now, too much responsibility is placed on the hosts in terms of scheduling/managing/organizing fun, clean races. If all that 'work' was shifted to the online infrastructure, it would make online mode much more appealing.

 

[Vagabond]

Good one.

I love the completely unbiased voting structure Johnny. I think its a great idea of course.

And what's more, I'd definitely give it a go.

 

[jules283]

A great idea !
I would love it and would want to see it adequately policed for cheats.

This idea makes me think of my son playing COD. He spends a few hours shooting AI in Campaign Mode and then 12 months shooting people online, either solo or in a clan.

 

[FT-1]

Sounds like a nice idea. However, a lack of co-operative players will make career progression such a hassle.

 

[Exorcet]

It's a good idea. I wouldn't bother with it though, no where near as good as plain online mode.

 

[Downhill Dino]

It does however get people who want to race similar/same cars together. No need to waste time finding that one good room.

 

[Gejabo]

No thank you.
I'd like to just run competitions with my friends online.

Offline a-spec is fine.
Not a big fan of the codemaster carreer way.

 

[Bluntified]

If it was totally sperate, that would be cool. Most other games have sperate offline and online profiles, GT online career could work in that sense.

I still like my career mode offline.

 

[doblocruiser]

I like the idea but it's not for me. If the AI is good i prefer to my play career offline.

 

[kolio]

I love this idea... <--- That is the key word.

It is just an idea, it seems awesome and it would sweet!(IMO)

My only concern is will it be optional.

I have always wanted to create a racing league where you start at the bottom and make your way up. This would be near impossible with my brain skills and GT5's features(Not complaining what so ever).

Starting with karts, quarter midgets or hornets on dirt track would be awesome in my opinion! Then you would continually make your way up the ladder to your liking.

 

[Chrunch Houston]

I voted ‘I think it's a great idea but I'm not interested in it personally’. It would certainly be a lot more fun than the current A-spec racing though.

I think this could work better with matchmaking not lobbies. Suppose you have an event like Sunday Cup. You can choose to play it in A-spec, B-spec or C-spec (or O-spec). It could have an indicator next to it to let you know there are other people currently playing that event so you wouldn’t just sit there waiting.
I guess it would be similar to GT5 Prologue online, except it would have a lot more events to choose from.
Once you win the event the game could lock you out for some amount of time, and you would move on to another event. This would prevent someone from just dominating the event.

 

[SagarisGTB]

Sounds like communism: good in theory, doesn't really work with human beings.

 

[Lawndart]

If they maintain the a-b spec, then a third blade mirroring events online would be cool.

You could simply swap AI for real people as they join or not.

But it would need a much deeper and 1000x events over GT5...

All I ever wanted was more A-spec events after the first month... Such an easy update but it never came. And the seasonals all had the same structure of catching up to the leader... Not really racing.

 

[Johnnypenso]

This would work, if there was a reliable system which filters out idiot racers. Right now, too much responsibility is placed on the hosts in terms of scheduling/managing/organizing fun, clean races. If all that 'work' was shifted to the online infrastructure, it would make online mode much more appealing.

I'm thinking that if it's relatively popular and by relative I mean 10-15 lobbies or more going at once, that only the more "serious" players would be interested in it and the quality of racing would step up as a result. By quality I don't mean speed, I mean as in clean racing.

I would also expect that since it's something we're basically in control of that a series of good hosts would develop that run clean rooms and get a reputation for that. The Clubs/Leagues or whatever the new race organizing features coming from PD are, could also be utilized to organize more formal racing events. With the assistance of various established organizations here at GTP combined with some way to rank players, either through formal testing as in the WRS or through in game functions, leagues and races could be stratified by skill level so that you'd be racing against people around your very own speed when you choose to do so.

 

[MustangManiac]

I think it would be great, but as others have said, only if they can keep the cheaters, hackers and kiddies out. Sony or PD neither one have made much effort in that so far (or any other game co or service provider for that matter) so I am not holding my breath.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

Personally I think it would be cool if you could have 1 or more friends racing with you in career mode races, the only issue is that you would have to run more races and the endurance races would be to much unless you were sharing driving duties with some friends.

That said so long as it is optional I think it would be fine though in the case of game hosted rooms I see the potential for lots of mayhem causing people to like the AI a bit better

 

[jacnob]

Good idea, yet one that I wouldn't use due to my crap internet.

 

[HarVee]

It's a good idea. But I have no interest in relying on others.

 

[Tenacious D]

I had thought of this a few years ago, but the notion immediately popped into my head, "Yeah, and this would work for the top one percent of racers..."

However, PD have some practice at collecting data. If our A-Spec racing data was well managed, that would serve in an online matchmaking system where certain PP race servers would be listed by some kind of ranking system, so that your average lap on that given track with cars of that PP rating would match up with the other racers to within some margin, say 1-3% so you could have a chance of winning. If you wanted a real challenge, you could even join servers with gamers that outranked you. Clean racing vs dirty racing could figure in, so that bad racers would be blocked. Bots could be added to fill out racing fields (co-op racing).

I might want to see what the fuss is, but most likely, I'm another guy who would use A-Spec to progress through the game, and online for the thrills of competing with real humans.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I think it would be great, but as others have said, only if they can keep the cheaters, hackers and kiddies out. Sony or PD neither one have made much effort in that so far (or any other game co or service provider for that matter) so I am not holding my breath.

Cheaters, hackers and kiddies is kind of a generic, overall GT problem, but it would make an online career mode rather annoying. This is where @Tenacious D's suggestions would come in handy, matchmaking, clean ratings etc. I firmly believe this stuff can be done, whether Sony/PD takes that extra step is up to them, but I also believe that with the implementation of an Online Career Mode and separate lobbies for those racers if they choose to use them, it would end up being self policing to a large degree. There are many good racing hosts out there and I think many or most of them would gravitate towards this. With the vast majority in the lobby intending to race seriously, the host will be pressured to fix problem racers much more than now, and would soon find his room empty if he does nothing about it.

 

[Brutaka]

At first the idea sounded weird to me, but thinking it over it may actually be very fun if implemented well. I vote yes!

 

[ZeroTheNorth]

That idea sounds very intresting to me. I would give that a try!

 

[MJRL]

Iracing licence model.

 

[SuperCobraJet]

Since "not a good idea", was the only viable option available, I had to choose it.

I think it is more of, unnecessary compared to, than, not a good idea.

It sounds like, a GT counter to Forza5's concept of mapping players styles.

It also seems to be an idea, born out of the existing AI lack of sophistication, than anything else.

If the AI were brought up to snuff, it would accomplish the same thing.

That is why I have been such a proponent of GT4 and the Aspec points system,
even though admittedly, it was far from perfect in many respects.

Such as it was, it did however offer a optional range of challenge, within the career mode.

As well, it created a complete hidden scope of play, to be explored and conquered, again if desired.

 

[Aphelion]

i find that whenever i play online, i get hotheaded and crash into a wall, because instead of being able to overtake everyone in the first corner i actually have to try! so everyone who has raced me online will thing 'wow this guy sucks' when actually i can go around a lap just as fast as them on single player! this is just a state of mind, but i dont think i would ever bother with online because of this!