Its had to be a game based around the single player experience, as the unavailabilty online, and lack of opportunities to connect machines for most people has lead it this way.
However The AI versus single player game has to be limited in its challenge, to appeal to the broad market.
For true racing fans, it is not about getting 100%, its about being the best you can against other likeminded players, which again for the majority of us unil now has existed in offline OLR only, Off course there is split screen, and even the occasional drag your ps2 and tv to a GT party and while this provided great racing action(mostly) it was a very rare occurance that only a few have had the opportunity to experience Amar212.
The Physics Engine, the cars and the multitude of tuning & setup options, crys out for much more than just whooping the general AI, it is perfect for a world of multiplayer racing.
A world far more satisfactory in competing in than with any AI based 1 player racing sim.
In previuos GTs we had to make up our own rules to get the best out of a easy to beat game, but Gt4 is set to change all that when it finally makes online racing available to the masses.
One thing is bothering me at the moment tho...Although SCE, divisions world wide say it will be Six player online, in the press releases, im a little concerned that PD and KY have blankly refused to make comment about this.
So far the only talk directly out of PD, over the last year or so has been about online communities for talk, trading cars, viewing replays and photos, Ive not seen or heard anything From PD about the Actuall Online 6 player mode, and often when questioned about it in interviews, diversion comments or flat refusal (often suggesting miss translation, then comments on the online features talked of above) to answer is all thats been heard.
So are they still struggling to get Online racing to a satisfactory stage? I belive they are.
Theve been proud to talk about all other aspects of the game, even other aspects of the online arena, but way to quiet on the most anticipated element of the online world, and its hardly an element to keep secret, its just multiplayer online racing others have done it before.