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For any competitive game, no matter how much the devs may try to balance out a player's options, there's always going to be a "meta" option. And if there's a balancing patch, then that option just gets changed to something else. I used to think that it'd be cooler to have more races in both the daily races and championships where you could pick more than one car, like in the first couple weeks of GT7, but now I realize that outside the Manufacturers Cup - where you cannot change cars per race - I'm afraid that a diverse field is a pipe dream.
However! I did have some ideas to make Sport Mode races more fun, while still considering the reality of all this. But first, we need to consider some factors at play here:
-PD likely wants to get as many players involved in Sport Mode as possible, including the GTWS. This means that I doubt the addition of more championships is likely, though we did get the GR Cup, and in some territories, there was a Porsche Cup. (I think there was also a Super Formula cup, too, in Japan, but I might be wrong about that.)
-Permitting settings all the time does not seem likely, either. Again, this could alienate potential players, perhaps even including myself. But it could be an option on rare occasions.
-As another part of trying to get as much participation in Sport Mode as they can, PD also likely won't allow us to enter our own tuned/customized cars, as I could see players who don't have many credits having a barrier to entry.
-However, I could see PD offering pre-tuned cars as rentals, and I do recall a couple Sport Mode races in GT Sport that did such a thing. Who knows, maybe they could even offer cars that have had engine swaps.
-As for players, even if you permit settings while enabling BoP, they'll still find a way to "optimize the fun out of the game," as a famous game designer once said. There will always be a meta pick, no matter how many options you provide - and this issue is far from being exclusive to Gran Turismo. For example, in Pokemon, Landorus-Therian is usually very popular whenever it is permitted, and in the most recent VGC broadcasts, Incineroar has been incredibly popular.
So, with all this in mind, here's what I would propose.
-Nations Cup rounds could generally avoid Gr.3 and Gr.4 races, as the Manufacturers Cup already does that. The former could feature new cars that are not part of Gr.4 or Gr.3, while the latter could feature new venues/layouts provided they're ones based on tarmac.
-More of the Daily Races could follow my idea for the Nations Cup, where it'd generally avoid races that use Gr.4 or Gr.3 cars. It also could feature races that permit a sub-set of cars, like how in the upcoming GTWS Nations Cup round at Le Mans, you're limited to the Porsche 919, the Toyota GR010, the Audi R18 '16, and the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo. Or how just recently, there was a race at Daytona that only permitted the Group C cars within Gr.1. Or, it could indeed feature more one-makes, but specifically for cars that are highly unusual, like how there's an upcoming GTWS Nations Cup round that features the new Suzuki VGT.
-More Gr.1/Gr.2/Gr.B cars could be added insofar that the Manufacturers Cup could also offer races in those categories, as well. Between the real-world categories of LMDh, LMH, Group C, made-for-game racers, and the prospect of more VGTs - including from automakers that may've already had one added - I could see these groups being fleshed out a lot more, especially Gr.1. As for Gr.2, it'd be ideal if PD could get DTM racers from Audi, Mercedes-AMG, BMW, and Aston Martin, but if they (still) cannot, then I'd be just as interested in some made-for-game cars, potentially based on other models like the new BMW M8, or the Mercedes-AMG GT R. (A Gr.1 version of the C8 Corvette could be really cool, too, perhaps designed as if it were a LMDh racer, kind of like the older C7 Corvette DP.)
-Alternatively, if the Manufacturers Cup really want to just stick with Gr.4/Gr.3, more manufactures could be added to it, just as we can see with the addition of Genesis in GT7. Perhaps Alpine could be next, as I do recall there being a GT4 version of the new A110. The same could apply to Abarth and the new 124. I could also see Acura joining, perhaps with racing versions of the new TLX Type-S and the new Integra. Or maybe instead of using a re-badged Honda NSX Gr.3, they could have a Gr.3 car based on the newer, visually different Acura NSX Type-S.
-If in the case that the Manufacturers Cup does eventually have more than Gr.4/Gr.3 races, then the Nations Cup could still have a niche by having us race stuff like a certain sub-set of road cars, or continue to have one-makes with interesting models. It could also have us race a sub-set of race cars in the "main" groups, too, like the aforementioned Group C races.
So, any thoughts on all this?
However! I did have some ideas to make Sport Mode races more fun, while still considering the reality of all this. But first, we need to consider some factors at play here:
-PD likely wants to get as many players involved in Sport Mode as possible, including the GTWS. This means that I doubt the addition of more championships is likely, though we did get the GR Cup, and in some territories, there was a Porsche Cup. (I think there was also a Super Formula cup, too, in Japan, but I might be wrong about that.)
-Permitting settings all the time does not seem likely, either. Again, this could alienate potential players, perhaps even including myself. But it could be an option on rare occasions.
-As another part of trying to get as much participation in Sport Mode as they can, PD also likely won't allow us to enter our own tuned/customized cars, as I could see players who don't have many credits having a barrier to entry.
-However, I could see PD offering pre-tuned cars as rentals, and I do recall a couple Sport Mode races in GT Sport that did such a thing. Who knows, maybe they could even offer cars that have had engine swaps.
-As for players, even if you permit settings while enabling BoP, they'll still find a way to "optimize the fun out of the game," as a famous game designer once said. There will always be a meta pick, no matter how many options you provide - and this issue is far from being exclusive to Gran Turismo. For example, in Pokemon, Landorus-Therian is usually very popular whenever it is permitted, and in the most recent VGC broadcasts, Incineroar has been incredibly popular.
So, with all this in mind, here's what I would propose.
-Nations Cup rounds could generally avoid Gr.3 and Gr.4 races, as the Manufacturers Cup already does that. The former could feature new cars that are not part of Gr.4 or Gr.3, while the latter could feature new venues/layouts provided they're ones based on tarmac.
-More of the Daily Races could follow my idea for the Nations Cup, where it'd generally avoid races that use Gr.4 or Gr.3 cars. It also could feature races that permit a sub-set of cars, like how in the upcoming GTWS Nations Cup round at Le Mans, you're limited to the Porsche 919, the Toyota GR010, the Audi R18 '16, and the Nissan GT-R LM Nismo. Or how just recently, there was a race at Daytona that only permitted the Group C cars within Gr.1. Or, it could indeed feature more one-makes, but specifically for cars that are highly unusual, like how there's an upcoming GTWS Nations Cup round that features the new Suzuki VGT.
-More Gr.1/Gr.2/Gr.B cars could be added insofar that the Manufacturers Cup could also offer races in those categories, as well. Between the real-world categories of LMDh, LMH, Group C, made-for-game racers, and the prospect of more VGTs - including from automakers that may've already had one added - I could see these groups being fleshed out a lot more, especially Gr.1. As for Gr.2, it'd be ideal if PD could get DTM racers from Audi, Mercedes-AMG, BMW, and Aston Martin, but if they (still) cannot, then I'd be just as interested in some made-for-game cars, potentially based on other models like the new BMW M8, or the Mercedes-AMG GT R. (A Gr.1 version of the C8 Corvette could be really cool, too, perhaps designed as if it were a LMDh racer, kind of like the older C7 Corvette DP.)
-Alternatively, if the Manufacturers Cup really want to just stick with Gr.4/Gr.3, more manufactures could be added to it, just as we can see with the addition of Genesis in GT7. Perhaps Alpine could be next, as I do recall there being a GT4 version of the new A110. The same could apply to Abarth and the new 124. I could also see Acura joining, perhaps with racing versions of the new TLX Type-S and the new Integra. Or maybe instead of using a re-badged Honda NSX Gr.3, they could have a Gr.3 car based on the newer, visually different Acura NSX Type-S.
-If in the case that the Manufacturers Cup does eventually have more than Gr.4/Gr.3 races, then the Nations Cup could still have a niche by having us race stuff like a certain sub-set of road cars, or continue to have one-makes with interesting models. It could also have us race a sub-set of race cars in the "main" groups, too, like the aforementioned Group C races.
So, any thoughts on all this?
