Gran Turismo 7 “Power Pack” Paid DLC Now Available: New Races Including Endurance Events, Qualifying, and “Sophy 3.0”

[Gingerale]

That's exactly what I'm saying

 

[Voodoovaj]

I wouldn't mind paying for new asset content (cars & tracks), but the idea of paying for what is essentially a collection of new scripting events seems a bit of a slap in the face.

You literally described what a video game is. ALL video games.

A game is a collection of assets (cars and tracks in your example). Those things are 100% useless to you without the "collection of new scripting events".

Again, if you don't want it, don't buy it.

And I still think that this Spec 3.0 update is going to bring Sophy game-wide, adding that missing 🌶️ to the overall IG difficulty scaler, essentially adding a second life to the entire game.

It doubt it, but hey, never say never, we won't know until it launches. IMHO we'll have to wait until GT8 for Sophy to be everywhere.

Here's what Sophy 2.0 does now. If Sophy 3.0 is an improvement, it's literally a game changer. Btw, this video is my third attempt at this. Different winner every time, and a different finishing position for me each time.

I'm in the Marlboro 512BB

 

[Sir Crashalot]

 

[Gingerale]

View attachment 1492931

Lol this would be so hilarious

 

[Lomic]

Lol this would be so hilarious

Hopefully they don't decide their price based on less than 200 voters on a forum full of dedicated GT players, not sure we weight a lot in comparison to the millions of other GT players

 

[Famine]

Well, the poll is "do you expect ... will" and not "do you want ... to".

Besides, I keep being told that PD doesn't read GTPlanet. Usually by people who couldn't put their finger up their own arse without step-by-step instructions and a how-to video, but still.

 

[Fruitcake]

Besides, I keep being told that PD doesn't read GTPlanet. Usually by people who couldn't put their finger up their own arse without step-by-step instructions and a how-to video, but still.

Link to the video?

 

[Famine]

Link to the video?

With pleasure.

 

[Nacho Libre]

With pleasure.

You are an evil, evil dude.

 

[Yard_Sale]

It doubt it, but hey, never say never, we won't know until it launches. IMHO we'll have to wait until GT8 for Sophy to be everywhere.

Here's what Sophy 2.0 does now. If Sophy 3.0 is an improvement, it's literally a game changer. Btw, this video is my third attempt at this. Different winner every time, and a different finishing position for me each time.

I'm in the Marlboro 512BB

Of course this is just speculation on my part, but damn near game-wide Sophy will be coming to GT7. They’ve had that missing difficulty level since launch. Its release will ultimately depend on when they look to release GT8. If not now, then probably in a “one last hurrah” update before they announce GT8. Honestly, they could have done it over a year ago if they wanted. I think what has been holding them back is a combination of drip-feed-by-design, as well as fine-tuning SOPHY’s wet weather driving capabilities

But we shall see in a couple weeks!

 

[Dave A]

Of course this is just speculation on my part, but damn near game-wide Sophy will be coming to GT7. They’ve had that missing difficulty level since launch. Its release will ultimately depend on when they look to release GT8. If not now, then probably in a “one last hurrah” update before they announce GT8. Honestly, they could have done it over a year ago if they wanted. I think what has been holding them back is a combination of drip-feed-by-design, as well as fine-tuning SOPHY’s wet weather driving capabilities

But we shall see in a couple weeks!

To include Sophy in most of the events, the events themselves would need to be completely redisgned. I don't think anyone is making up 30 seconds on the lead car if they're running Sophy AI. So a simple AI switch just wouldn't work, which makes it going game wide, less likely IMO.

 

[Yard_Sale]

To include Sophy in most of the events, the events themselves would need to be completely redisgned. I don't think anyone is making up 30 seconds on the lead car if they're running Sophy AI. So a simple AI switch just wouldn't work, which makes it going game wide, less likely IMO.

Would be a simple coding change - just about as simple as how we adjust starting distances in custom races

 

[snowgt]

To include Sophy in most of the events, the events themselves would need to be completely redisgned. I don't think anyone is making up 30 seconds on the lead car if they're running Sophy AI. So a simple AI switch just wouldn't work, which makes it going game wide, less likely IMO.

The way the Quick Races with Sophy work ... yes, you can. Once you're over 10s back, Sophy backs off so much, you can literally make up 5-10s per lap. (In my observation it's like a power cut for the AI that is put into effect in steps by how far you're behind the leader)

I'm not saying it's a good way to do it, but compared to the standard AI, it's also not worse.

 

[Voodoovaj]

Would be a simple coding change - just about as simple as how we adjust starting distances in custom races

The way the Quick Races with Sophy work ... yes, you can. Once you're over 10s back, Sophy backs off so much, you can literally make up 5-10s per lap. (In my observation it's like a power cut for the AI that is put into effect in steps by how far you're behind the leader)

I'm not saying it's a good way to do it, but compared to the standard AI, it's also not worse.

Again, this is a massive underestimation of the work involved. The most obvious point is that a custom races don't go through a test department for verification. Secondly, the PS4 doesn't get Sophy. Can it handle it or not, I can't say, but the decision has been made.

Redoing all of GT7 single player is akin to releasing a new game, and that game will be called Gran Turismo 8.

They are absolutely paying attention to the GT7 custom race thread and they will absolutely pay attention to how the DLC is received.

That said, never say never, there may be a special update or DLC down the road that replaces all of GT7 single player with Sophy, but I highly doubt it.

 

[Dave A]

Would be a simple coding change - just about as simple as how we adjust starting distances in custom races

It wouldn't be hugely extensive work, but it would be more than a simple coding change.You would be effectively recreating the event from scratch. How you'd do that depends if PD want the same race format where you start a way behind and catch first place near the end of the race. So the cars and tunes the AI use will need to be balanced specifically for that. If they change the format to rolling or standing grid starts then you are re-balancing the AI again but in a different way.

It wouldn't be hours upon hours of work per-event, but it's nowhere near as simple as changing the starting distances in custom races either. It's still not something I would expect as it will fundamentally change the core balance and experience of the game. Some might say, it would change it for the better, but they're unlikely to do that IMO.

 

[05XR8]

It’s another question that Kaz has to be asked. Does he want to see SOPHY run game wide?

For tracks, there are 39 locations and 118 variations, which it’s easy to have 50 different variations of races. If they got SOPHY racing at all the locations in the game, that’ll be great. However, I don’t think we’ll see SOPHY being used at Dragon Trail Gardens or Blue Moon Bay.

If SOPHY is only used at real world circuits for the DLC, hopefully The Glen and Fuji are at least included in the line up.

 

[Niko-H]

I had a random thought about this DLC and the worry about using our garage cars.

If the DLC truly limits us to provided vehicles (e.g., the "driving mission" style), what purpose do the 5,000,000 credits serve?

The announcement does say "Includes 5,000,000 In-game Credits to jumpstart your racing journey" - so if we're always given the cars, why do we need credits to jumpstart our journey?

I still think the mechanism will be similar to the online time trials where you can rent a suitable car if you don't have one - otherwise you can use one from your garage. That way a player who buys the DLC doesn't have to wait ~90 days for a JGTC or Group C car to cycle back into the legends dealership.

Admittedly, the 5,000,000 credits will be conveniently useful considering the prices of the Spec III cars...

 

[Yard_Sale]

It wouldn't be hugely extensive work, but it would be more than a simple coding change.You would be effectively recreating the event from scratch. How you'd do that depends if PD want the same race format where you start a way behind and catch first place near the end of the race. So the cars and tunes the AI use will need to be balanced specifically for that. If they change the format to rolling or standing grid starts then you are re-balancing the AI again but in a different way.

It wouldn't be hours upon hours of work per-event, but it's nowhere near as simple as changing the starting distances in custom races either. It's still not something I would expect as it will fundamentally change the core balance and experience of the game. Some might say, it would change it for the better, but they're unlikely to do that IMO.

Hiw difficult it would be depends to come from the back of the pack, depends on the drivers skill. I set up my custom races where Sophy has a 10-20pp advantage, just so I have to do a little work to cone through. And there’s still noticeable rubber banding in Sophy Custom races, as well as light scripting in the curated races. I only play with Sophy at its hardest setting, so I can’t speak to what Sophy looks like at its lower settings.


I just keep coming back to the missing 🌶️ skill level since launch. If it’s not Sophy, then what is it?

 

[Kurlee66]

Everyone drives for their own reasons. I couldn’t care less about more events or Sophie. We have enough cars, most don’t get used anyway. The only thing I’d pay for would be tracks. But hey, that’s me 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Voodoovaj]

Hiw difficult it would be depends to come from the back of the pack, depends on the drivers skill. I set up my custom races where Sophy has a 10-20pp advantage,

This is actually a custom race thread topic, but here we are, so here's my advice; You're doing it wrong.

An advantage like that is more useful for Sophy racing Sophy. For you racing Sophy, you should put yourself on par as much as possible. (Also, just in case, don't forget to turn on the weak boost).

And there’s still noticeable rubber banding in Sophy Custom races...

And by unbalancing yourself relative to Sophy, you'll be exaggerating the situation. Sophy has to adapt to MILLIONS of different players. If you are slower or faster, it's adapting to you. Also, this is why I always recommend using RH no matter what. That creates less variation/range in the rubber banding, which creates a better experience.

I just keep coming back to the missing 🌶️ skill level since launch. If it’s not Sophy, then what is it?

The base AI, without boost, is capable of lapping faster than you, on every track, in the same car. Get far enough ahead of it, and you will see. The peppers are just a UI feature to let you know how difficult the race is. "The missing pepper" could be considered as the AI maxed out.

 

[snowgt]

Again, this is a massive underestimation of the work involved. The most obvious point is that a custom races don't go through a test department for verification. Secondly, the PS4 doesn't get Sophy. Can it handle it or not, I can't say, but the decision has been made.

Redoing all of GT7 single player is akin to releasing a new game, and that game will be called Gran Turismo 8.

They are absolutely paying attention to the GT7 custom race thread and they will absolutely pay attention to how the DLC is received.

That said, never say never, there may be a special update or DLC down the road that replaces all of GT7 single player with Sophy, but I highly doubt it.

I was talking about applying Sophy to all offline races. (on PS5 obviously)

The behaviour of the Quick Races is pretty simple and works pretty much for any situation except a handful. It selects the opponents' cars depending on yours (random, but between 0% and 10% better PP than you) and then adapts its speed during the race depending on your gap. It could well do that within the confines of every particular race. That strategy would work for pretty much every race and would make it reasonably close (as soon as you're in the lead, the whole Sophy field goes 100%). So, yes, definitely possible with current Sophy 2.0.

Obviously, we're hoping for something more, shall I say sophysticated, with Sophy 3.0.

 

[hawkeyez]

Expecting to pay for this, but not for that... these are all very subjective and theoretical discussions.

1.) Paying for cars and tracks would fragment the online community.
2.) Casuals - and these are the most GT players - don't need more content. They haven't even used half of it. So they wouldn't buy even more cars and tracks.
3.) Offline content was always critizised so they try to deliver and see how it resonates.
4.) Casuals will probably be the reasons why it won't be as expensive as many here think. They won't value it as high as we do.
5.) Sophy in career mode is new for PD. So they can try things out before GT8. What resonates and what doesn't.

1- How would paying for cars fragment the online community? As it sits, I can join a lobby and not own the car people are running so I just bring something else. If they don’t want me to run just anything there’s other rooms I can join.

I’ve seen this said before and I just don’t understand it. Games like Project Cars 2, the host could make specific cars available to use. It was great because sometimes I got to pick from cars I never purchased. Which did entice me to buy the dlc.

There are ways around it but maybe I’m not understanding what you’re getting at?

2- I’m definitely not a hardcore player. Mostly online lobbies for fun, I’d gladly pay for more cars and tracks if it meant we got themes dlc like muscle car packs or track packs from different countries. I don’t have all the cars in the game nor do I wish to own them all, but I’d sure like to see a lot more muscle cars in game as well as group 5’s and can ams.

 

[Ande3200]

There's just one misunderstanding, I don't question why PS5 gamers get more, I actually would agree that PS4 gamers just could have a basic version of the DLC - at discount to the full pack - while the PS5 gamers could be catered with the whole menu. It just feels really unfair because I also have invested, during my lifetime, a lot of money already in PD.

Further I'd like to apologise for being this negative, or to bring frustration to this community, I do have unpopular opinions.

Also I'd like to argument that I am a passionate GT player (and livery editor) but I am getting very confused and frustrated about the evolution of the GT brand and gaming entirely.
I need to be online to play offline?
I need to pay to play online?
I get extra cars, I don't need nor want, for free?
I don't get any new tracks or great tracks from previous versions exempt SPEC 3?
I need to pay for pretty basic features?
I need to buy the latest console to be able to buy the DLC to get some basic features?

Where are they going with this? And yet people just get it while I'm looking for logic.

This was not a rant.

Gt7 should not even have released on ps4 in the first place. It should have been ps5 exclusive. Ps4 has really hold gt7 back.

 

[snowgt]

1- How would paying for cars fragment the online community? As it sits, I can join a lobby and not own the car people are running so I just bring something else. If they don’t want me to run just anything there’s other rooms I can join.

I’ve seen this said before and I just don’t understand it. Games like Project Cars 2, the host could make specific cars available to use. It was great because sometimes I got to pick from cars I never purchased. Which did entice me to buy the dlc.

There are ways around it but maybe I’m not understanding what you’re getting at?

You're setting up the possibility of a situation that is pay-to-win. The DLC car may have an advantage in some situations and without paying you would have a handicap. I think they're right on this one.

 

[hawkeyez]

Gt7 should not even have released on ps4 in the first place. It should have been ps5 exclusive. Ps4 has really hold gt7 back.

Not to mention we had one PS4 user who lives in the same city as us and their car would teleport and do all kinds of weird stuff, when they got a PS5 that all disappeared.

It’s only speculation on my part, but I do believe GT7 graphics got dialled back because of PS4 support. I know I was in awe of the graphics playing it on the first day. Update after update it felt like it was getting less sharp and less graphical effects like rain, smoke and dust. Still looks great but doesn’t look like it did, to my eyes anyway.

 

[hawkeyez]

You're setting up the possibility of a situation that is pay-to-win. The DLC car may have an advantage in some situations and without paying you would have a handicap. I think they're right on this one.

For online lobbies? Not competitive? I disagree. Maybe in sport mode but then just make the car available. Other than that, it doesn’t matter.

 

[Nebuc72]

For online lobbies? Not competitive? I disagree. Maybe in sport mode but then just make the car available. Other than that, it doesn’t matter.

If they make the car available then you annoy people who paid. Same goes for a track - why would an online player have wasted money on the DLC for them to be able to play it for free?

In lobbies, the host could switch to a DLC track and oops, half the lobby could be unable to play. If they can play, why did the other half bother paying up?

Soon as you bring stuff like that into a paid ecosystem in a game like this you're just asking to splinter the community over it and nuke purchasing power.
Call of Duty used to work like that and even they changed away from it because it wasn't a good business model.

 

[benjoi84]

Keeping the online player base whole seems to be huge priority for PD.

Understandably so...

 

[Yard_Sale]

This is actually a custom race thread topic, but here we are, so here's my advice; You're doing it wrong.

An advantage like that is more useful for Sophy racing Sophy. For you racing Sophy, you should put yourself on par as much as possible. (Also, just in case, don't forget to turn on the weak boost).

And by unbalancing yourself relative to Sophy, you'll be exaggerating the situation. Sophy has to adapt to MILLIONS of different players. If you are slower or faster, it's adapting to you. Also, this is why I always recommend using RH no matter what. That creates less variation/range in the rubber banding, which creates a better experience.

The base AI, without boost, is capable of lapping faster than you, on every track, in the same car. Get far enough ahead of it, and you will see. The peppers are just a UI feature to let you know how difficult the race is. "The missing pepper" could be considered as the AI maxed out.

You forgot the most important Sophy hack IMHO, which is to put a rabbit car up front, as if to trick the AI into using the rabbit car as its adaptive benchmark, not the player. Once I started to do that, I began having really fun battles with the AI. From there I’ve just been tuning individual cars to get everyone as equal as possible. In my experience, that ended up with the cars being anywhere from 10-20pp higher than me, with a few tuned higher than that.


This is the “missing 🌶️” I’m referring to:

Regardless, I’m excited for what we’re going get in a couple of weeks. If Sophy 3.0 includes less awkward lines, and is able to extrapolate time from pushing the track limits like Demo Sophy was able to (albeit overall pace dialed back a bit), not dive bomb us from two zip codes back and drive in wet weather, I’ll be ecstatic! If she’s able to legitimately strategize even at a basic level (I remember reading an article here probably 2 years ago, where the SOPHY devs were talking about it), then I’ll be over the moon! At any rate, I’m excited where this game is going! My only request to PD and Sony, is to please give me a legitimate reason to buy a PS5 Pro for this game. I WANT to give you more money!

 

[suomi1]

You forgot the most important Sophy hack IMHO, which is to put a rabbit car up front, as if to trick the AI into using the rabbit car as its adaptive benchmark, not the player. Once I started to do that, I began having really fun battles with the AI. From there I’ve just been tuning individual cars to get everyone as equal as possible. In my experience, that ended up with the cars being anywhere from 10-20pp higher than me, with a few tuned higher than that.

This is the exact way to do it.