As ACG 2016 continues in Hong Kong, more details about GT Sport are revealed. If you missed it, our article yesterday covered multiple subjects: new images, slightly reduced counts for the events and track locations, and a recap of the Advanced Matchmaking System. An interview with Kazunori on A9VG.com sheds further light on the title and how the eSports focus will play out.
The biggest bit of news is Polyphony’s plan to hire real F1 coaches for the elite few gamers that make it through to finals in the game’s Sport Mode. GT Academy utilized numerous motorsport personalities each and every year, so this certainly seems like a natural progression given the FIA tie-in. Polyphony also has a long working relationship with Adrian Newey — he of F1 and fast Aston fame — thanks to the PS3-era Red Bull X-car program.
When GT Sport was first revealed last year, there was a line in the initial trailer about the game being for all ages (okay, fine: “7 to 77”). Some fans expressed concern about the seemingly contradictory pursuits of making the game more approachable, while also tapping into the eSports movement.
Yamauchi-san doesn’t see these two aspects as mutually-exclusive, stressing that so long as players are enjoying themselves, their driving skills will improve naturally thanks to the systems in place. He also makes sure to mention that players of similar skill levels will be grouped together, thanks to the Advanced Matchmaking System.
Players worried about a thin offline career mode may take comfort in Kazunori’s later comments. “The offline contents of GT Sport are very ample and complicated” Yamauchi says, “Sport Mode is a small part of the game, but not all.” While GT Sport appears to be a massive departure from what came before, it sounds like some things just couldn’t be changed: “The traditional pleasure of the GT Series is still there,” says the Gran Turismo creator, “old fans can enjoy the game as usual.”
We’ll have more details as they develop.
A huge thank you to GTPlanet user Michael Chen for translating the interview: you can read the the rest of the interview right here on our forums.
See more articles on Kazunori Yamauchi.
Just hope gts will have at least some street FR and FF cars from 80’s and 90’s.. If not then none of existing x gt fans will be pleased…. When I hear name gran turismo I don’t think about couches and FIA… I think about those Street cars and tuning, not to mention physics… Since I already got thrustmaster T300 Alcantara and ps4, it will be hard to skip it.. But I start to want to get back to my pc, so sad that everything on pc looking so bad… Without any gameplay.. Just drive… Pointless… At least hope that online will be working and with many stuff to do… this far assetto corsa looking fun to play with friends, hope they do something new, add tracks and cars from dlc for free… because I’m a bit tired of it on pc..
““The traditional pleasure of the GT Series is still there,” says the Gran Turismo creator, “old fans can enjoy the game as usual.”” A blatant lie. No technical or visual upgrades, no classic career mode and way less content than in the last couple of full games. GT Sport will be a good game, yes, but it won’t be a “proper” Gran Turismo experience.
Aside from, you know, all the technical and visual upgrades that continue to be demonstrated.
I’m confident that there will be updates and DLC (eventually) to bolster the numbers of both cars and track locations.
Just a thought – maybe the release numbers (cars in particular) are down because PD know of the disappointment that would befall GT players if there were standards and (maybe) they’re working on that… Like I said, just a thought!
Everything evolves, games included and, while there might be some quite major changes to the look and the technical feel, the overall feel of joy at playing the game will still be there!
Your vehement logic is a bit tortured there. No one believes that GT Sport is going to have a large stable of cars we can modify endlessly, or a GT Mode that takes us months or more to progress through. But, this IS an indication that the non-eSport part of the game is more than just license tests and challenges. Considering that this is the worry of many fans, I’d think this would be good news.
If Arcade Mode or some separate mode in Sport had an Event Maker we could use to create our own events and racing series, or if Arcade is more full featured in some way, that would be more than enough for many of us who don’t want to rely on online racing for a big racing experience.
To be honest, the visual upgrades are there, in comparison to GT6, but they still don’t look to be a match for the other, competitive games (Forza, Pcars, etc).
My hopes for another GT game are down. I feel like the team hasn’t put their best efforts into making the past 2 GT games. GT6 hasn’t been updated since November of 2015 (going on 9 months ago). We’re still plagued by the atrocious online servers (disappearing players, disconnections consistently), and that has been since day 1 of GT6. The chances that these problems will carry over to GTS look really high, from a time standpoint.
Tenacious D, thats a great way of looking at it mate, i would love to see this event creator that everyone in the forums seems to want! Me included.
Cobra2245, Kaz said that developing gt5 and gt6 on the ps3 wasnt fun. He says he wasnt allowed to do what he wanted and didnt like the whole experience. Thats why gt6 hasnt been updated for the longest of time. And there online better be great! There basically making a online focused esports of racing!
I’m a GT fan and don’t care if there are any cars from the 80’s or 90’s in there.