It’s official: Gran Turismo 6’s days are numbered, at least in terms of online play. Polyphony Digital has pencilled in the PS3 title’s server shutdown for Spring 2018.
The announcement arrived this morning on the official Gran Turismo website:
“On 28 March 2018 at 12:00 UTC, the online services of the PlayStation®3-exclusive software ‘Gran Turismo 6’ will come to an end. Prior to this on 31 January 2018, we will also end the distribution of downloadable content that can be used in-game.
After the end period, it will no longer be possible to utilise online services such as the Community, Open Lobby, Quick Match, and Seasonal Events. The offline portions of the game can still be played.
We would like to thank the many users of the Gran Turismo 6 online service since its first launch in 2013. From here on, we will continue to further improve the online services for the currently available title ‘Gran Turismo Sport’.”
The news will be disappointing to those that still enjoy the game on a regular basis. On the other hand, it won’t be too surprising to long-time fans; the death knell for GT5 came the same month GT6 released.
What About the Track Path Editor?
Keen readers will have already started wondering what this means for GT6’s much-loved Track Path Editor. Our community took quite a liking to it when it (finally) arrived in September 2015. To this day, we’ve had over 2,800 user-created tracks added to our Track Database. The feature uses the online servers extensively, and Polyphony addressed that too:
“With the end of the online services, the distribution of the ‘GT6 Track Path Editor’, currently available on ‘Google Play’ and the ‘App Store’, will also end as of 28 March 2018. After the end of the online services, it will no longer be possible to transfer track data created with the ‘GT6 Track Path Editor’ to ‘Gran Turismo 6’.”
Just before GT Sport launched this past October, we took a look back at GT6. Launched in 2013 — mere weeks after the PS4 — it’s the last of the “old school” GT games. It boasted a kitchen-sink approach, with over 1200 cars (comprised of both PS2-era “Standard Models” and PS3-level “Premiums”) and over 100 circuit layouts across 40 locations. It celebrated the past with things like the Ayrton Senna DLC and the bizarre Moon Rover events. The game also looked to the future as it kicked off the Vision GT program.
Polyphony Digital also used the game to celebrate the franchise’s 15th anniversary. Those keeping score at home will note it was actually released days before the 16th anniversary of Gran Turismo: we just marked the 20th anniversary last week.
Featured image courtesy of RaY29rus.
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