It’s good to see Gran Turismo 7 back online, but the game shouldn’t have to be online at all.
Gran Turismo 7 is one of the best racing games of the year so far and a strong candidate for Game of the Year. Long-time fans will like the game’s huge selection of vehicles, tight gameplay, and rich customization choices, while beginners will find it easy to get started.
Even if you wanted to play it offline, you couldn’t on March 17 because of a technical issue. Although Gran Turismo 7 has only been out for two weeks, it is already suffering from the game’s always-online necessity.
The GT7 servers fell down yesterday (Mar. 17) and remained out for the following 30 hours. As a result, the game was unavailable to gamers who wanted to play over the internet. Even in single-player settings, the game’s always-online requirement meant that no one could play it at all. The progress of racers who were in the midst of a race was lost, while others were unable to begin the game.
You may find out more about what’s going on by reading the most recent entry on the Gran Turismo website. The CEO of Polyphony Studios, the company behind GT7, issued a clear and concise apologies for the game’s prolonged unavailability.
Yamauchi said that “just before to the release of the 1.07 update, we noticed an issue where the game would not start correctly in certain situations on PS4 and PS5 product versions.” To ensure that users’ save data is secure, we decided to halt the 1.07 update and release a 1.08 corrective update. This was an unusual problem that had not been encountered while testing on development hardware or in QA sessions before to release. Because of this, there has been a hiccup.”
As Yamauchi continues, he discusses how the 1.08 patch alters the price of automobiles and the rate at which players may accrue credit. Because high-end automobiles have become more costly, even casual gamers are tempted by games’ microtransactions.
Mess with micropayments
For a full-priced game from a prominent developer, both the microtransactions and the always-online requirements are perplexing. Considering that GT7 is the PS5’s most popular racing game, it’s unlikely to lose its popularity any time soon. Sony is denying gamers the functionality they should expect from a $60 game by requiring them to be online at all times and restricting their access to cars unless they spend money on in-game microtransactions.
Certain games, such as massively multiplayer online games or competitive esports titles, have always-online requirements that cannot be avoided. The single-player component of GT7, on the other hand, is really solid. In addition to being inconvenient, requiring players to maintain a continual connection is inefficient for gamers with limited data plans and potentially prohibitive for those without reliable connections.
There is no clear line of demarcation between GT7’s single-player and multiplayer modes, as the advantages you gain in one may be transferred to the other. This may not be the last time that an online game has to undergo maintenance that is longer than expected. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen during the next maintenance cycle or if the whole game, including its single-player components, will ever go offline, this is enough to make you think twice.
Recall that this is the series that sparked PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan’s remark, “Why would anybody play this?” concerning prior entries. As soon as a game is released, it should be preserved for future generations.