Possibility of GT8 going Open World

[PirovacBoy]

Hi People,
so as far as I'm aware of, there is still absolutely no evidence of GT8 or whatever PD is going to call their upcoming project.
Of course, we logically expect the Series to continue in its known Format.

Yet, i'm curious to hear some thoughts and theories of what probably might be realistically to be expected, looking at the latest open world Games and their undeniably big player attraction across all platforms.

Forza Horizon, Motorfest just to name the current pinnacle of OW Driving Games on Console, or the lesser attractive TDU.
But as well as the upcoming AC Evolution OW Expansion...

There is at least from my point of view definitely a huge player base digging this type of game design.
So my thoughts on this topic are the following.

I'm honestly expecting PD to realize that We the players, the consumers, the ones who actually made the series become what it is thesedays are finally going to introduce something new to the series, something fresh and unique.
Something no other OW Racing game does.
My idea of what this might look like is combining Race Track based and OW Gameplay.
Like being able to drive on Real World or Fantasy environment OW Maps within an area which is directly, fictive or not, designed around the real world circuits.

I have so much more thoughts on how this actually could be implemented in the game offline as well as online, be it competitively focused or not.
I read lots of comments here of members sharing their thoughts on what to improve to make the game more QoL focused... Yet...
No real direction change at all.

So what do you guys think?
How realistic looking at the whole picture and given 2025 is not 1998 ...
Can we expect PD to radically take a new step?
A step which could once again make GT as a series a unique driving experience as a whole?
Because besides PD's step towards focusing on Online Multiplayer Competition i haven't seen them showing the will or wish to go down a complete new route.
A route which could or would make GT outstanding the way it was back in 1998.
Not the same Bublegum chewed over and over... But instead adding a complete new flavour to its existing formula yet keeping the winning formula and staying true to its roots. What do think... 😁

 

[Joey D]

I don't see GT8 being an open world, but I've often wondered why PD doesn't make an open world game based on GT. Forza Horizon and The Crew have both been pretty popular, and I can't see a GT open world game being any less popular.

 

[suomi1]

Please no.

 

[newmedia_dev]

I find it highly unlikely.

1. They like the controlled nature of racing
2. Freedom gets boring pretty quick when there are no objectives, and repetitive ones in an OW format would really start to wear thin, think TDU
3. There is a growing resurgence in the more racing orientated games (LMU is far better than AC EVO)
4. Racing in this gen and the next gen are getting more approachable and affordable
5. It would throw 27 years of the franchise ethos out the window.

That said however, there is space for things like point to point and hill climb to reappear.

The problem with open world driving games is they never really land in any camp the outlier being something like GTA where it’s fun outside of any delusion of reality and unrealistic (ridge racer meets wipeout) and custom player made tracks etc

Even with GTA ignoring the gameplay choice for car handling driving is still a secondary function with the play being focused around bad traffic and living NPC world.

Lastly, being honest I don’t think that’s a way to design the game they want that focuses on cars themselves. Can you imagine a GTA world with Sophy driven NPC cars or worse the standard AI trying to obey traffic laws etc.

I think some of the OW games feel like 3D versions of outrun.

It would get quite old quite quick to “drive from your garage, to participate in a car park race (Sunday cup) in a chase the rabbit fashion”

 

[Nakano219]

I mean, think of how long it seemingly takes PD to make a track these days.

Now, expand that rate of progress over to a full open world, and you'll see why this isn't going to happen (and no, the asset quality isn't going to go down to accommodate the size, this is PD we're talking about).

 

[Voodoovaj]

Why in god's name would they do that? Who wants this?

 

[newmedia_dev]

I mean, think of how long it seemingly takes PD to make a track these days.

I think that’s a bit of a misnomer to be fair, I don’t think in relative terms. The modelling isn’t gonna be slower than anyone else but the level design is more complex for them as the track has to work a very wide range of asks.

Single player races and car classes
Difficulty of the AI has to be tuned
Sophy?
Availability for dailies
GT orientated track limits

I think there is an over focus on PD detail and it’s mostly PR to be honest.

What PD do is prioritise the look of the game/cars/tracks/scapes and compromise on the physics a little for gameplay reasons.

It won’t take them 270 days to model the car/track, that’s done in a few weeks, it will be textures and physics tuning that take the most time. The CAD and scanning is the relatively speaking easy part. It’s the rest that takes an immense amount of time for them. IMO

Edit: just added track in to the last para to be clear

 

[Rockonen]

Open world with physics leaning towards simulation rather than forzarcade. Why not? As long as they still keep race tracks included. Because those are the salt in meat, ne on se suola as we say in here home of the santa claus, joulupulin maassa.

 

[PirovacBoy]

Good evening and thanks to everyone who actually took their time to share their thoughts.
Albeit some more or less quite questionable and actually hands down, not very productive responses, i strongly believe and to be honest somehow still feel convinced that PD is currently cooking using some never to be expected ingredients.

Of course i might as well be wrong, and probably and following their logical route they might as well dish out and serve their tested and approved meal.

Never change a running system they say, yet evolution is undeniable.
The big task is to please both the nostalgics as well as the ones being open minded...
With the Horsepower a PS6 and an AI Machine learning code, hardware limitations become obsolete.
Its the design choice and most of all bravery to claim new Territory aiming to deliver something special.
Something unexpected and unique.

Time will tell and i truly hope PD delivers like only PD can deliver.
At its finest.

And yes i fully understand the ones who shudder by only hearing OW and GT in a sentence... But Folks the World will continue to spin with you or without you or me.
PD should aim to expand their audience and aim to cater towards nothing less then everyone who is into cars and driving as well as racing the cars.
Closing the circle and establishing new standards.
If not PD who else...

 

[Skython]

I always thought it would be cool if all the Tokyo Expressway layouts were linked up to make a small open world map. But we have TXR now so I don't think it's necessary, GT is probably best off to stay in their lane. And also GT's track output is slim as it is, if I remember right they said Tokyo Expressway was a nightmare to make and it's why they haven't made any more city tracks. Which is a shame, but I guess it is what it is.

 

[T4UR14N]

honestly cannot see polyphony going fully open world.
but…

what they could do is redesign the useless “meeting place” & “paddocks” features into a larger tokyo map based on the daikoku parking area in Japan & make it 24-26 players instead of 16

each map that has a “meeting place” could have a mini open world based on the track location or the real life area where the track is located

waste of hard drive space for unused features 🤷🏽‍♂️

 

[Tornado]

Zero chance.

 

[05XR8]

Of course there’s a possibility. So far, out of eight main Gran Turismo games, we haven’t seen it yet.

 

[lbpomg95]

Open world is a buzzword that usually translates to "expensive triple A game that isn't fun" so hopefully not.

I'm going to bet the chances are zero. The biggest open-world car games like GTA Online (ugh) and Forza Horizon 5 are now both available on PS5, so it'd be pretty short-sighted of PD to enter a market that's saturated by two of the most successful games of all time.

Not to mention PD's historic competitor, Forza Motorsport seems to have recently taken a massive hit with the microsoft layoffs (though we obviously don't know what happens long-term with FM). Right now if you ignore the PC gaming market, GT7 pretty much only has Assetto Corsa for direct competition, and even then the two games have vast differences that appeal to very different players.

Gran Turismo despite its current stale reputation is more or less in the strongest position it's ever been in, because it's dominating its market, and is one of the only options in its market. I wouldn't think pivoting to a different market makes much sense right now.

 

[Old_Setzer]

¿Open world?

There are already plenty of games like this out there, I'll never understand when they try to change the foundations of a franchise.

GT is what it is. If someone wants something completely different, it's best to look for another game that better suits their tastes.

 

[PirovacBoy]

honestly cannot see polyphony going fully open world.
but…

what they could do is redesign the useless “meeting place” & “paddocks” features into a larger tokyo map based on the daikoku parking area in Japan & make it 24-26 players instead of 16

each map that has a “meeting place” could have a mini open world based on the track location or the real life area where the track is located

waste of hard drive space for unused features 🤷🏽‍♂️

Exactly.
My thoughts in regards of Meeting Points and Paddocks were quite similar.
It's this feature or design choice which is partly giving me these possible open world vibes.
Yet it's implemented completely weird and uninviting to players.
Way to restricted and honestly lame as a whole.
There's nothing to be done exclusively which can't be done in any other multiplayer game mode.
To me it seems like a game design choice with a great idea but implemented without any convincing standout or stand alone features.
Which of course is down to actually sitting on a race track, rather than an open road.
Racing on a race track, a closed circuit with boundaries is sometimes COMPLETELY different compared to driving on a public road.
Let alone public roads with more or less dense traffic.
Traffic rules being a completely different story as well.

Just imagine the thrill and guts, the skill it takes to drive in a sporty and dynamic way on these OW Roads, real or fictive, doesn't matter.
EVERYONE can become fast driving the same track over and over learning a tracks' specifics, but having to maneuver a car on public roads is a completely different beast.
With various and random asphalt and tarmac characteristis depending on many variables...
Variables which only and most probably only a powerful hardware is capable to comprehend and deliver.
Some mentioned OW gameplay features become lame over time, but they think to narrow minded.
Forza or Motorfest just to mention and i totally agree on that.
But that's not what an OW gameplay design feature i had in mind for GT.
Not at all or in the slightest.
Maybe as an offline feature, why not.

But that would most probably just take the single player chase the rabbit current design choice to another level which under the hood wouldn't differ in its core design from the actual single player design choice.
Forza party does it quite interesting with their convoy feature.
A great idea for strengthening the community aspect and giving the game a great feature.
A feature which could then be expanded i so many different ways which i won't mention at this point, but i have so many more ideas... 😁

Nostalgics and conservative players but sweats and so called competition focused players might not feel it, fair play... But stating who in gods name would want that, well looking at Forza or Motorfest, i think should be pretty much self explaining 😁

 

[Scuderia Paul]

I always think that Driveclub would have become PlayStation's Forza Horizon rival of it had been more successful.

PD have a long way to go to make a circuit racing Gran Turismo realise it's full potential without focusing on an open world title.

 

[Ande3200]

I always think that Driveclub would have become PlayStation's Forza Horizon rival of it had been more successful.

PD have a long way to go to make a circuit racing Gran Turismo realise it's full potential without focusing on an open world title.

The problem is see with driveclub was that it had very limited car list, and it was not really open world, there was no tuning and customize options, witch is big part of forza horizon and gran turismo.


Gran turismo dosent need to be open world, but they could create one open map world area, i expect big things with gt8.
Maybe not open world, but things like sophy ai in the main career, bspec maybe,
Put more depth into the tuning maybe with more options with visual exhaust options that gt7 already already built on.

 

[Scuderia Paul]

The problem is see with driveclub was that it had very limited car list, and it was not really open world, there was no tuning and customize options, witch is big part of forza horizon and gran turismo.


Gran turismo dosent need to be open world, but they could create one open map world area, i expect big things with gt8.
Maybe not open world, but things like sophy ai in the main career, bspec maybe,
Put more depth into the tuning maybe with more options with visual exhaust options that gt7 already already built on.

I should have said that I felt that a Driveclub 2 would have gone open world. One of the devs days a few years ago that concept art had been done with that vision in mind. Unfortunately the IP was killed off pretty quickly.

 

[Imbissbrunto]

I think the chances for Gran Turismo to ever becoming an open world game (or getting an open world spin-off like Horizon) are slim to none. It's just my opinion but I also wouldn't want Gran Turismo to go in that direction either. I also can't see PD going down that road. At this point it's pretty obvious that they're doing what they think is right and don't focus on the playerbase or their competitors (for better or worse).

I'd be more than happy if Gran Turismo 8 implemented a back to the roots career mode again that lets you rise through the ranks from being an amateur driver with a modified s...box to becoming a professional racer driving GT3 and LMP cars. Gran Turismo 7 actually does many things right, the only thing it's missing is a proper sense of progression which is what made GT4 such an amazing game. I think to this day, no other racing game has done this as well as Gran Turismo 4 did. Let's go back to starting the career with a used sportscar or hot hatch (like in GT4) and work our way up. That's also a lot more realistic than starting our racing career with a Honda Fit like GT7 makes us do - I don't think this car would be any enthusiast's first choice lol

 

[kjb]

While there's always a chance they could do an open world game I doubt it. If they do that I would it be a spin off and not a main line game. TBH I wouldn't mind some point to point races added in GT8 though

 

[suomi1]

Albeit some more or less quite questionable and actually hands down, not very productive responses, i strongly believe and to be honest somehow still feel convinced that PD is currently cooking using some never to be expected ingredients.

The only "Open World" feature that would fit GT's spirit is a free picture mode as a spectator around tracks. Or in an "upgraded" brand central / LCD / UCD feature.

Other than this, it's just a harmful fad for many franchises that have nothing to gain from adding these kinds of features, other than a barrage of problems, delayed development, and at the cost of many much more important things.

It's already a pain to navigate through menus to buy a car, upgrade it, add an aero kit, change oil, or find and apply a livery. If you have to do all that by driving your car in an open world for the sake of realism (because that's their guiding line at PD), I can't imagine how time-consuming and tedious it will quickly become.

That was my more constructive take about this really bad idea..

 

[o000o]

I wish that the open world is utilized for the return of the map menu (not as main/huge focus of the game, just a bonus feature):

And it'd make good use for the many of pedestrian cars that got added in the game.

 

[Johnny Caisse]

I wouldn't mind a big map or two of open road for lobbies. Problem is that imo it more than probably won't be introduced.

 

[PirovacBoy]

really bad idea..

Bad ideas are mostly the result of an badly implemented Otherwise good idea...
Its not about what one personly wants or thinks would be good or bad, because that's all subjective and down to ones personal likes or dislikes which is absolutely fair play and not to negotiate in either way.
Everyone would argue for his own sake of being right or vice versa wrong.

Its about implementing Features in a way to please EVERYONE in the best and most achivable way.
That's actually my take on the whole topic.
Not arguing pro OW but more in a neutral perspective looking at it as a whole picture 😁

Edit: grammer 🤭🫣

 

[Nakano219]

Being more grounded, the reason we know this isn't happening for anything more than a moon mission/music rally style side thing is Sophy.

You don't invest half a decade and very sizeable electricity costs (training LLMs isn't cheap!) into developing a state-of-the-art closed ciruit racing AI, just for your next game to not be primarily a closed circuit racer.

 

[Ande3200]

I should have said that I felt that a Driveclub 2 would have gone open world. One of the devs days a few years ago that concept art had been done with that vision in mind. Unfortunately the IP was killed off pretty quickly.

Maybe but i think if they would have gone open world they would have to intoduced a more varied car list, tuning and customize option, because we all know that is big part of the open world.

Going to street race scene with a stock looking car would be really weird.

 

[PirovacBoy]

developing a state-of-the-art closed ciruit racing AI,

i wouldn't particularly call Sophy AI state of the art in its current iteration at all.
Its still to be honest just a pre programmed algorithm reacting to pre calculated or in a pre calculated way.
ACC to just name a more recent game does it better.

Project Cars 2 was a desaster for example.
A blistering quick AI has to be more than just quick, the hindering factor was hardware limitations and processing power in general to not get to much in depth technical wise.

I mean we are not talking PS5 when talking a possible GT8 or whatever it is going to be called.
I'm talking PS6 and AI Machine learning.
It certainly will sped up the process as a whole so i dont see why it shouldn't be achievable having a more belivable and less pre programmed AI.
An AI which can and will adapt in real time to its surroundings like location geometry as well as player induced individual behavior.

So an OW GT8 should not be hindered by my understanding or be related to Sophy AI in the slightest.
Just imagine the possibilities having an AI Agent in an OW GT Universe.
As a stand alone feature it would certainly be a unrivaled.
And now imagine having this feature implemented to GTs' Root receipe.
Closed circuit racing but not static and boring as it is.
I'm not saying GT is bad the way it presents itself but hands down some design choices are ancient and definitely quite questionable, but unfortunately it is down to PD.
They don't care about the Community they never did and most probably never will.
But that doesn't mean it won't happen because the core Player Base doesn't give a dime on the sweat part aka multiplayer/daily races/GTWS.

The main audience still would prefer a proper career / Single player campaign over any newly introduced shopping trolley or artificially boosted AI.

Not everyone feels the urge to measure meat 😉
As long as it works and provides fun 😁

So again looking at the latest OW Boost or hype or whatever one may call it... I wouldn't neglect it completely.

And like i mentioned in a post earlier, who else than PD/Sony...who?!
Imagine the hype the earnings and margins it would bring.
The Prestige.
And at the end of the day, if it wouldn't happen, GT8 willl still be king.
Yet every Kingdom fell, one sooner one later.
Hence my question of a possibility of GT8?! Going OW.
Me personally i would love an OW GT, and at the same moment i would love it if nothing changes besides some QoL improvement as well.
But neglecting the possibilities is naive.
Because well, sony as well as PD want our money in exchange for the product they offer us.
Personally i would prefer the best possible or most achievable iteration.
A cost/gain calculated development in mind i don't think an OW Development would ruin either side, but bri g even more of our hard earned cash transfered in their greedy pockets 🥸

 

[newmedia_dev]

i wouldn't particularly call Sophy AI state of the art in its current iteration at all.

Not with the version currently implemented in the game, sadly we didn’t get Violet after the beta data gathering session which points to it was too good (sic) for the majority (99%) player base. Nor do we see the ultimate Sophy like here

ACC to just name a more recent game does it better.

The sandbox other dedicated racing games plays in and typically also the player base mean it’s given higher priority than out and out poly counts and ability to mix in extreme conditions (pandas vs tomahawks etc)

Also ACC and PC2 play much better on PC than console for a whole bunch of reasons rather than as console games.

Just imagine the possibilities having an AI Agent in an OW GT Universe.

Just to clarify we aren’t really talking open world in the MMO type way but more larger OD (Open driving spaces)?

I just don’t see how it fits the style of racing GT has always provided and refined over 2 decades resisting realistic damage models, resisting very dramatic racing dynamics and courses. Everything has been focused around traditional racing formats (excluding some missions etc that are side games) even the coffee break challenges were given difficulties to a degree etc

Which then points to another issue with OD games, naturally comparisons are drawn between things like GTA it’s a little bit, no a lot apples to oranges but if we go with it. GTA has a full universe, NPCs pedestrians, police, destructibility.

These are things that add the layer required to have a fun OW/OD game.

These are not things where GT has ever focused on nor probably have the right people to even execute on them in a AAA+ way.

Secondly, and being pragmatic how big/niche is the player base for GT that wants to play an RP GT7 game?

As I said before long point to point or city circuits can fit and have done in the past, but what your suggesting is very far away from a GT experience for both new and old players.

Imagine the hype the earnings and margins it would bring.
The Prestige.

Imagine how badly it could all go wrong in an instant, with big leaps come big falls.

I think you’d actually find the markets would react very badly from a known product that is already best in class and dominating and highly profitable, unknowns scare investors, they aren’t VCs but fund managers etc

Let’s not forget the initial reception to GT7 was somewhat overshadowed with even the basic introduction of MTX that required some back pedalling, and other issues.

Rightly so the company (Sony) experimented via a different studio and that didn’t really work.

Ultimately they really don’t need to reinvent anything more refine the magic sauce they have. Anything else is a distraction for what could be called a moderately sized studio.

 

[Famine]

Its still to be honest just a pre programmed algorithm reacting to pre calculated or in a pre calculated way.

Yes, of course it is. The training occurs offline (in PC clusters), the game gets the results - and the wick is turned down to make it accessible.