- 1
- Russian Federation
Good afternoon, everyone!
I’ll start by saying that English isn’t my first language, so I may not come across exactly as intended. I apologize in advance for that, and I’m happy to clarify anything in the comments if needed.
I’ve been reading this forum—specifically the GT7 thread—for several years, but only as a spectator. And I guess the time has come to finally register here so I can try to discuss an issue that’s been bothering me a lot: the underdeveloped split-screen mode.
But first, I’d like to thank the creators and members of this forum for the huge amount of information posted here! I’ve learned a ton of useful things, both about GT7 and about related topics in general. Thank you for all the work you put in!
Next, I’d like to ask the community: is split-screen really that unpopular or undervalued among players? Am I right in thinking that almost nobody uses it in GT7? In my experience, that’s definitely not the case. My buddy and I have put in something like 300–500 hours in split-screen, first in GT Sport and now probably about the same in GT7. How does it usually go? You grab some beers on a Friday night and you’re off! We’ve had so many fun evenings that way. So personally, it really saddens me that the mode has barely improved since GT Sport and in some ways has actually gotten outright worse.
We can probably conclude that times are changing, players get together around one screen less often and play online more, so PD stopped paying attention to split-screen because there isn’t enough demand. But… BUT! Then suddenly we see info about the Spec IV update, where PD wants to add a “family mode” to GT7 to make it more fun for multiple players on one screen. So we can conclude that PD definitely has an interest in improving the game in that direction—they’re even adding a whole separate mode for multiple players—but they aren’t fixing what’s already there, what’s already been done, badly or left unfinished. A paradox.
That’s part of why I decided to create this thread, because there probably won’t be a better moment—right before Spec IV drops—to draw attention to this issue.
Correct me if I’m wrong. But doesn’t PD also monitor this forum from time to time? There’s a chance they might notice this thread, right? Or is that too naive? Anyway, regardless, even if the chance of being noticed is 0.5% or lower, I had to get this off my chest. Action is better than inaction 💪
So here’s the point of my post.
Overall, I understand there are probably endless requests for improving split-screen, but here are five options that, in my opinion, would drastically improve the experience specifically in split-screen:
I’ll start by saying that English isn’t my first language, so I may not come across exactly as intended. I apologize in advance for that, and I’m happy to clarify anything in the comments if needed.
I’ve been reading this forum—specifically the GT7 thread—for several years, but only as a spectator. And I guess the time has come to finally register here so I can try to discuss an issue that’s been bothering me a lot: the underdeveloped split-screen mode.
But first, I’d like to thank the creators and members of this forum for the huge amount of information posted here! I’ve learned a ton of useful things, both about GT7 and about related topics in general. Thank you for all the work you put in!
Next, I’d like to ask the community: is split-screen really that unpopular or undervalued among players? Am I right in thinking that almost nobody uses it in GT7? In my experience, that’s definitely not the case. My buddy and I have put in something like 300–500 hours in split-screen, first in GT Sport and now probably about the same in GT7. How does it usually go? You grab some beers on a Friday night and you’re off! We’ve had so many fun evenings that way. So personally, it really saddens me that the mode has barely improved since GT Sport and in some ways has actually gotten outright worse.
We can probably conclude that times are changing, players get together around one screen less often and play online more, so PD stopped paying attention to split-screen because there isn’t enough demand. But… BUT! Then suddenly we see info about the Spec IV update, where PD wants to add a “family mode” to GT7 to make it more fun for multiple players on one screen. So we can conclude that PD definitely has an interest in improving the game in that direction—they’re even adding a whole separate mode for multiple players—but they aren’t fixing what’s already there, what’s already been done, badly or left unfinished. A paradox.
That’s part of why I decided to create this thread, because there probably won’t be a better moment—right before Spec IV drops—to draw attention to this issue.
Correct me if I’m wrong. But doesn’t PD also monitor this forum from time to time? There’s a chance they might notice this thread, right? Or is that too naive? Anyway, regardless, even if the chance of being noticed is 0.5% or lower, I had to get this off my chest. Action is better than inaction 💪
So here’s the point of my post.
Overall, I understand there are probably endless requests for improving split-screen, but here are five options that, in my opinion, would drastically improve the experience specifically in split-screen:
- Add a proper garage for car selection.
Right now there’s no proper garage; scrolling through a single row of favorite cars is extremely inconvenient. The available cars can’t be sorted by any criteria at all.
In GT Sport, you could select cars from the garage and sort them by several criteria.
- Add the ability to choose tire compound during race setup.
Right now, to change tires—say, from Racing Hards to Wets—on even two cars, you have to make an absurd number of clicks: exit split-screen, go into the garage from the main menu, find the right car, etc. And after a rainy race, if you don’t want to keep driving on wets, you have to put everything back, again spending 2–4 minutes changing tires for each car.
In GT Sport, you could change tires during race setup in two clicks, literally in five seconds.
- Add an opponent marker to the minimap.
On the minimap at the bottom of the screen during a race, only your car is shown. So when you look at the minimap, it’s literally like you’re driving alone on track. It’s hard to race an opponent when you can’t tell from the minimap how far away they are from you or you are from them.
In GT Sport, both players were shown on the minimap during a race.
- Turn off the cornering assist indicator—the yellow turn indicator—by default.
Right now the option to display those indicators is always checked by default. You have to go into that menu every time and turn them off. And if you forget, you have to quit the race, uncheck it, and restart the race. It’s a waste of time, and there’s no way to turn it off once and for all.
In GT Sport, all assists were off by default, and you only enabled them if you needed them.
- Add weather condition customization, like in Custom Race mode.
This one is especially close to my heart.
Right now in GT7, just like in GT Sport, split-screen gives us a set number of preset time-of-day and weather options for each track layout. Rainy time/weather options are an immediate no, because changing tires is a nightmare you’d have to endure if you wanted to race in the rain in split-screen (see point 2 in this list). So depending on the track, we get 3–4 time-of-day/weather options per track layout. And that’s despite the fact that GT7 can let you enjoy dynamic time and weather changes, for example in Custom Race mode. I know what I’m talking about because besides split-screen, I also play in VR—I have a modest setup: a cockpit, a G29 wheel, and a manual shifter. I know what an incredible sunset turning into night at Dragon Trail looks like, or the beautiful sunrise at Nordschleife, etc. Sometimes the beauty I see in certain custom races literally takes my breath away. Obviously, a huge amount of work went into making all of that possible in GT7—it really is incredible. That said, I’m not saying static weather and time are always bad. No. Among those 3–4 split-screen options, there are also some very beautiful and pleasant weather/time combinations. But the weather and time-of-day simulation in GT7 is something you can’t help but admire. The number of weather/time options in Custom Race mode is huge, almost endless. But in split-screen we get only 3–4 options. You might assume that dynamic weather in split-screen specifically involves some unknown difficulties or is impossible, but among those 3–4 available options, 1–2 actually have dynamic weather changes, and the rest are static. So dynamic weather in split-screen is possible and has already been implemented, but only in this absolutely stripped-down version, with no customization whatsoever. And that’s depressing, because GT7 is more modern and technologically advanced than GT Sport, but in this mode, where weather and time of day are concerned, we barely see any of that.
