Polyphony Digital has announced that it is reviewing “instances of improper” driving among players racing in a recent round of the Online Season 2 of the Gran Turismo World Series.
If you’ve been taking part the Gran Turismo World Series, it likely won’t have escaped your attention that something was amiss in Round 2 of the Manufacturer Cup event at High Speed Ring.
Players discovered that riding the wall around the outside of turn two was quicker and gave no penalty during the pre-event practice period. However it seemed like it wouldn’t be as much of an issue in the race, as players reported penalties were given in race conditions.
Subsequently though it became apparent that under certain situations — such as contact immediately before riding the barrier — a penalty would not be issued. As that turn has a high line anyway, some players began to brake-check to ensure contact, while others cooperated with each other to allow the lead car to wall-ride without issue.
Naturally, as the method became more widely known, more players up and down the Driver Rating tree tried it, though many high-ranked players condemned the trick:
In a statement on the official website, Polyphony Digital announced that it was aware that “some players have been abusing the penalty system” and that the GT7 Sport Mode Operations Team is “reviewing” the situation with a “suitable course of action” to come shortly.
Exactly what that action might be is a matter of speculation, however PD has previously suspended the accounts of “misbehaving” players in GT Sport — though that seemed to refer to attempts to modify save game data.
We’ve also seen rounds of official events that were subject to widespread cheating cancelled entirely in the past. That might not suffice this time round.
In addition PD has also altered two of the rounds of this year’s championship to limit players’ ability to cheat.
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps now has concrete barriers in the 24hr pit lane to prevent players using it as a shortcut this weekend — reminiscent of how it resolved GT Sport cheating issues at Spa and Goodwood. Round 5 of Manufacturers Cup has had its venue shifted from Blue Moon Bay Infield to Kyoto Driving Park Yamagiwa.
We’ll await an update on this issue, but if you took part in the wallriding exploit you might want to start building up a second account — after a long, hard look in the mirror.
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