Will the GT8 be the last GT ever?

[Keef]

I haven’t been logging in as much, mainly because life has gotten in the way as of late — BUT — I find myself making time for the game now with the expansion of Sophy and custom races. I actually have a couple days off this week, and daily C is right up my alley, but nah…. I’d rather tweak my custom grids to get the cars as close to possible for a Group (4/5/A) endurance series I’ve been working on. We’ll see what Sophy-enabled tracks we’ll get with this update.


Oh, and GT8 is already confirmed more or less. I remember reading an article here early in GT7’s life, where Kaz commented that GT8’s theme had already been decided upon. My hope is that it comes out in the next 18-24 months so it’ll be a PS5 exclusive, but my gut is telling me it’ll be another cross-gen title, because that’s where the money is at

My prediction is that PS6 will come out before GT8 and be a cross-gen PS5|PS6 title (PS6 November 2027, GT8 March 2029 based on a 7 year console cycle)

I'm thinking GT8 as a debut title for PS6 or very close to release would be a good business idea, especially if they offered special GT8-themed PS6 bundles. I'd have that ordered on day 1. The prospect of GT7 was enough for me to get a PS5 after dealing with GTS's loading times lol.

Edit: PS6, GT8 with full Sophy AI allowing effective endurance and B-spec modes, full ray tracing and whatever other tech they come up with for PS6, as well as all the lessons learned from GT7, and you've got a helluva baseline game. And the cool thing is that most of the hard work is done already because GT7 assets are good enough that graphics and lighting tech will keep them relevant for another decade or more. A little streamlining UI here, a little more parts accessories there, change up the graphic design some, boom. One request of mine is to bring back the historical track concept from GT4 as most of us young folks (I'm 37, that says a lot) have never seen older versions of these tracks.

I really hope hope Le Mans Ultimate comes to PS5 soon so we can get rid of these cry babies who go on about GT3 and Hypercars all the time. GT Sport was probably the worst thing that could have happened to this franchise.

Keep in mind the game isn't the problem, it's players who can't temper their expectations. They believe GT is a different type of game than it is, even though it's been basically the same game since 1999 just with expanded content. They're delusional.

 

[Theufcveteran]

To be honest, they could just release GT7 again with a proper career and no long rolling starts and it would be a better game. If that isn't their focus for GT8, I am going to be very disappointed.

It's a key area that the game lacks in, and the special event weeklies aren't giving me much hope. They're the same thing, with a bit closer rolling starts.

The core of the game is there. They don't even need to add new cars or tracks. Of course it would be good, but the parts are there already. They just don't put them together. Whoever oversees the single player design at PD needs to play their own game. It's been the same approach since GT4 with regards to on track action, it's gotten worse with each game, and it's seriously wearing thin.

Hell, just port over GT League 1:1 from GT Sport, make the races grid starts and set Boost to Weak. Immediately the best career GT has ever had from a gameplay perspective. GT3 is a close second because the rubberbanding kept races close, there were grid starts, but the AI in GT7 fights more and is smarter.

It is so easy to make this game the best GT game ever from a gameplay perspective. I really wish we had a direct line to PD's communications because so many of us would be banging that drum, that they might finally consider that their approach isn't ideal.

 

[hawkeyez]

To be honest, they could just release GT7 again with a proper career and no long rolling starts and it would be a better game. If that isn't their focus for GT8, I am going to be very disappointed.

It's a key area that the game lacks in, and the special event weeklies aren't giving me much hope. They're the same thing, with a bit closer rolling starts.

The core of the game is there. They don't even need to add new cars or tracks. Of course it would be good, but the parts are there already. They just don't put them together. Whoever oversees the single player design at PD needs to play their own game. It's been the same approach since GT4 with regards to on track action, it's gotten worse with each game, and it's seriously wearing thin.

Hell, just port over GT League 1:1 from GT Sport, make the races grid starts and set Boost to Weak. Immediately the best career GT has ever had from a gameplay perspective. GT3 is a close second because the rubberbanding kept races close, there were grid starts, but the AI in GT7 fights more and is smarter.

It is so easy to make this game the best GT game ever from a gameplay perspective. I really wish we had a direct line to PD's communications because so many of us would be banging that drum, that they might finally consider that their approach isn't ideal.

A lot of people say in defense of Gran Turismo, that’s it’s been the same game since it first released. I’d have to agree with that, but that’s a big downfall in my opinion. It feels like if you purchased a car, and it was a lemon, say the head gasket kept going, but you just keep buying a new version of it every few years thinking it’ll be different, but the head gasket blows on every single one you buy.

There is nothing wrong with looking at something, customer feedback, and improving on it.

The game has lacked a customizable HUD for years, the single player/AI has always left something to be desired, the rolling starts are lame yet a few races you do have grid starts, no qualifying, the cafe menu book style of game progression was pretty poor and felt thrown together, you can’t share tunes (anymore) you can’t race against AI with friends… there’s quite a bit list but hey, let’s just keep making the same game year after year with minimal changes.

Don’t get me wrong the game feels and sounds different than it use to, but GT7, once on track in single player, racing the AI is extremely reminiscent of previous games, even going back as far as GT3.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s time they take a good hard look at the forums, jot everything down, get each department together and hash out some details and try to glue it all together better.

 

[jonoholland29]

I think a 911 is a better comparison.

A head gasket is a failed component and the comparative version of that would be a bug.

They’re simply just Polyphony design choices - like putting the engine in the wrong place.

 

[hawkeyez]

I think a 911 is a better comparison.

A head gasket is a failed component and the comparative version of that would be a bug.

They’re simply just Polyphony design choices - like putting the engine in the wrong place.

Fair enough, I’ll change it, we used to have a book of lemons (cars). Some of these cars looked cool but you realize they had design flaws, like a rear spoiler that was moulded into the body, when it rained you’d get a pool of water sloshing around on the trunk. Not the end of the world, but you certainly wouldn’t design the next one like that. You’d have learned your lesson.

PD seems to do that kind of stuff with their game. Keeping some feature in that is simply frustrating, you can’t figure out why they keep doing it that way with each release, they’re oblivious of the problem or stubborn. An example is rolling starts/chase the rabbit races. That isn’t something that makes Gran Turismo what it is (some would argue it is, I’d disagree). I don’t think anybody has ever said, I really hope Gran Turismo doesn’t have optional grid starts and/or qualifying. Another one is tune sharing. I found an article or video of Kaz explaining how he thinks taking three screen shots and sending through PS chat is a sufficient way of sharing tunes. In all fairness to them, they did have tune sharing but removed it. To me that is a big game design flaw, not a bug, it’s built into the game.

Actually on that point, Subaru boxer engines have head gasket issues, it’s due to the design of the engine. So is that just a failed component (bug) or a design flaw? I mean they haven’t done much to remedy it.

Anyway at this point I don’t really expect much from GT8. I’m hopeful, and it has always been a pretty good game. It does have potential to be better, which would or could make it THE best out there. Imagine that lemon car, with a couple of drain holes, easy fix, but then the company refuses to make the change.

 

[HarVee]

I’d be perfectly fine paying for dlc to prolong the life of GT7

I'm the opposite. I'd actually wish for them to drop support of GT7 and make one final "offline" patch already and shift entire focus on another title at this point.

I've enjoyed the ride that 7 has given, but the game is getting stale. A lot of that staleness feeling for me is due to lack of PD actually adding new features and QoL fixes. They seem way too focused on "Sophy" now and are forgetting about the rest of the game. if they are to support this game for another few more years then they really need to fix/add some basic things;

-Engine and part selling
-Music in SP time trial
-Payment for SP time trial
-Seeing your currently selected car in GT Auto paint shop instead of the preset Supra/Beetle
-Better/increased cockpit slider settings (like they were in GT Sport)
-Cockpit height and distance settings on per-car basis instead of global (like it was in GT Sport)
-ABS setting per-car basis instead of global
-Looser chase cam preset
-Setting to turn cockpit wobble off
-Auto-equip dirt/snow tires for dirt/snow tracks if those tires have been purchased for the currently driven car (like in GT Sport)
-Quick menu (like GT6 has)
-Ability to mute racing transmission whine entirely.
-Ability to see how many "wins" a car has gotten (like in every GT game prior?)
-Ability to see total earnings and expenses per each car

 

[Nakano219]

Hell, just port over GT League 1:1 from GT Sport

This is exactly what I don't want them to do.

We all know how the café is lacking, there's no need to tread that ground. But one thing I'll give them credit for is actually having an in-universe reason to be doing the races. Sure, it's not a very interesting reason for anyone who isn't new to the genre, but there's at least something there for once. And I'd like them to get better at that instead of throwing it aside after one attempt.

The GT1-Sport career setup of "here is a few spreadsheets of events, go do them because ticking them off is how you beat the game, no there's nothing else to the career" got stale by GT5 in my opinion and I don't want them to go back to it.

 

[HarVee]

This is exactly what I don't want them to do.

We all know how the café is lacking, there's no need to tread that ground. But one thing I'll give them credit for is actually having an in-universe reason to be doing the races. Sure, it's not a very interesting reason for anyone who isn't new to the genre, but there's at least something there for once. And I'd like them to get better at that instead of throwing it aside after one attempt.

The GT1-Sport career setup of "here is a few spreadsheets of events, go do them because ticking them off is how you beat the game, no there's nothing else to the career" got stale by GT5 in my opinion and I don't want them to go back to it.

It isn't so much that they need to do a copy-paste of GT League as it more to do with they need the same variety of events in the current GT7 career structure, as well as more menu books to give reason to do said events.

 

[Cayit]

Kaz needs to be Replaced, GT7 is a big let down!
Hopefully GT8 will be better but i DON'T think so, it will be the same!

 

[Theufcveteran]

This is exactly what I don't want them to do.

We all know how the café is lacking, there's no need to tread that ground. But one thing I'll give them credit for is actually having an in-universe reason to be doing the races. Sure, it's not a very interesting reason for anyone who isn't new to the genre, but there's at least something there for once. And I'd like them to get better at that instead of throwing it aside after one attempt.

The GT1-Sport career setup of "here is a few spreadsheets of events, go do them because ticking them off is how you beat the game, no there's nothing else to the career" got stale by GT5 in my opinion and I don't want them to go back to it.

It's not ideal but it would be an instant upgrade to the career imo. Classic event theming + proper AI settings = best GT career gameplay wise with very little effort.

Really the GT League thing is just a "how to get classic GT feel with little effort", but the key is the AI needs to be set up properly.

I imagine there is some way to use the custom race function if they need to/wanted to and just have the ability to put custom event names and thumbnails in and make it appear in the World Circuits menu for example.

If they did the AI adjustment for the Café it would be much better to play as well. Progression not withstanding.

They should do a bespoke career with proper AI but I was just spitballing an easy way for them to do it. I agree with what you're saying on the in-universe thing. Never really minded it myself (or thought about it now you mention it) but it would be good if they set it up/ground you in the world.

GT League to me feels a lot like GT3/4's single player "atmosphere", and in function, just without the prize cars. And of course the used cars and what not, but event wise I mean.

 

[nickf1gr]

No, I don't think so.
That means the GΤ8 will be the last of its kind.
As long as there is demand, there will be sales!!!
For Sony, as for all console manufacturers,
they must have a top game that will be connected to each console era.

 

[Mafio]

I hope some of you guys got Forza, even if it was only to make a point. Waiting until the next GT to NOT buy it would be after the fact. Thats how you kill a franchise, not make it better.

 

[ShonnDaylee]

I hope some of you guys got Forza, even if it was only to make a point. Waiting until the next GT to NOT buy it would be after the fact. Thats how you kill a franchise, not make it better.

What in the world...

So when a business makes a subpar product we should suck it up and buy it anyway? That's backwards. Turn 10 did a lot of things wrong with their handling of the franchise and it's creative team. They shouldn't necessarily be rewarded for such things. Hopefully the backlash to Forza Motorsport helps them to realize they have been going about it all wrong. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your opinion of Turn 10) they have lost over half of their team due to budget cutbacks (and corporate decisions from Microsoft). So, they are going to have to completely restructure and reevaluate if they want to come back from this mess. It's not on us. It's on them.

 

[Mafio]

They're not going to keep making a product that doesn't sell. There isn't going to be a "Well, maybe next time if we..". The product will just be dropped altogether. The real car racing genre is so thin, skipping a title could outright kill the whole genre. My point is spend $$$ on other games to A) Keep the genre alive and B) Show PD that maybe its time to change things up a bit.

 

[ShonnDaylee]

They're not going to keep making a product that doesn't sell. There isn't going to be a "Well, maybe next time if we..". The product will just be dropped altogether. The real car racing genre is so thin, skipping a title could outright kill the whole genre. My point is spend $$$ on other games to A) Keep the genre alive and B) Show PD that maybe its time to change things up a bit.

That is not how any of this works. For a start, PD is NOT looking at Forza or their player base for ideas. There has never been any indication from PD they are doing this. Forza has never had much impact on GT sales, and PD obviously knows that. Secondly your assumption that not buying a specific racing game is going to kill the entire genre of racing games is insane. Not to mention your assumption that the racing genre is "thin". There are quite a lot of racing games (sim or otherwise), and Forza's success or failure is not going to have such a catastrophic effect on the genre. It's one game in a sea of many. You are placing way too much importance on Turn 10. Look... If you like the game, have at it. Enjoy it for what it is. I have it, and I've enjoyed it somewhat (although the physics still leave a lot to be desired), but Turn 10 made the mistakes that brought us to this discussion. Not the player base. Propping up a business for some half brained assumption that it is going to save sim racing is just ill informed.

 

[watto79]

They're not going to keep making a product that doesn't sell. There isn't going to be a "Well, maybe next time if we..". The product will just be dropped altogether. The real car racing genre is so thin, skipping a title could outright kill the whole genre. My point is spend $$$ on other games to A) Keep the genre alive and B) Show PD that maybe its time to change things up a bit.

I'm so confused by this. I buy and play games I enjoy. I don't buy a game to "make a point".

I've skipped several Gran Turismo titles and the franchise seems to be doing just fine without me making a point.

I've no idea how my buying a Forza game or not changes anything PD does.

 

[Mafio]

Ok.

EDIT: How often did you guys get surveys when you booted up GT Sport?

 

[watto79]

Ok.

EDIT: How often did you guys get surveys when you booted up GT Sport?

Never from what I recall. There were surveys when entering the Toyota Cup Championships and there was one to get the Gr.4 Supra. That's all I remember though and none on booting up the game.

 

[Gabe_777]

I don't know if you're keeping up on industry news at all, but along with a lot of territories walking back impending legislation on pure-ICE new car bans, a lot of manufacturers are revisiting the idea too. Only this week Audi announced it was reversing its decision to phase out ICE by 2033. Additionally, low-volume manufacturers (which includes brands like Aston Martin) have remained exempt from large parts of the legislation on the matter, and motorsport keeps on kicking the EV can down the road - WRC moved away from hybrids this season.

We're looking at no sooner than 2035-2040 for a phase shift from all-ICE to hybrid in Europe, never mind the USA where the executive branch thinks EVs, even the "it's all computer" ones, are stupid cars for weenies. And they're not even the largest car markets in the world. 2035 is more than two Gran Turismo games away (if you don't think Sport was one; if you do then it's three GT games away), and even then GT rarely adds cars newer than a year old - so there's still at least three titles left with recent "pure gasoline soul cars".


A better question is if GT7 will be the last GT game.

Yamauchi is pretty well-off and 57 years old. He keeps making games because he keeps wanting to get his vision across - and that vision isn't necessarily always cars; he keeps on talking about simulating the world itself - yet, according to self-proclaimed fans, every game is the worst game ever and every update is the worst update ever, and he's stupid and dumb and disconnected and doesn't know anything about cars or fans and "we" want this and "we" want that, and he literally can't post anything anywhere on social media without being deluged with "give us new GT3s", "give us hypercars", and what amounts to "stop being lazy and having fun and go back to making our game".

At some point his desire to make games is going to give way to getting zarked off with entitled babies crying about this that and the other everywhere, and he'll go enjoy a nice retirement somewhere remote with his family and car collection. No Yamauchi more or less means no Gran Turismo; unless he has a successor lined up or they can find someone else who both grasps what the goals are and can say "no" to the management above him (and even Yamauchi doesn't always get his own way), post-KY GT will just sink into the same-as-all-the-other racing games mire with no distinct identity.

Of course, for those who only care about buying a game with GT on the cover for some inane territorial reason, that's fine.


Edit: Lol, this post upset exactly the people who do this, who are behaving in exactly the manner predicted and detailed in the next post...

Exactly.

He's so self-indulgent the original spirit of the game has been lost. Period.

Personally I'm no longer prepared to support his selfish "Vision."

 

[HarVee]

I genuinely cannot tell if the post above me is sarcasm or if they're serious. But my 2 cents on the subject of a Kaz-less GT is that I'd welcome the change but with a bit of reservation. I'd have to ultimately see how the final product turns out before I'd consider a purchase. I don't honestly believe that a GT game without Kaz would be an immediate disaster, in fact I do believe it could potentially be the opposite given the right management decisions.

Kaz isn't what makes GT for me. To me Kazunori is a bit of a 'figurehead' if you will. While it may be his series, if it was truly his and his vision only then it begs the question why each GT game changes direction. We've seen this series evolve from a game that had its main focus on racing and tuning turn to what is now essentially about car collecting and taking photographs. This isn't me being intentionally snide, I'm simply stating what I've observed having been a player since GT2. There are definitely other people who have and are influencing Kaz's "Vision"

Though admittedly I might not even buy the next GT game regardless unless they do a reversal of this car collecting emphasis and focus more on implementing an exciting single-player race structure and a do away with the silly eSports and forced online connectivity requirements. But again, this is why I said earlier in my post that I'd be a bit reserved. I do find myself often returning to earlier titles simply because they had better game structure.

All and all in a nutshell, GT "8" will have much bigger shoes to fill for me regardless of whose "vision" it is and simply put, many things need to change with the current "vision" of the series anyway because it feels like they've lost sight of the main essence of GT and that was always the driving/racing and to essentially "drive your car on the television" as Kazunori once had said. GT7 currently lacks incentive to even race a majority of the cars you collect, and without the incentive to race/drive your cars in a racing game, then what is the point of it? 🤔

 

[Famine]

I'd have to ultimately see how the final product turns out before I'd consider a purchase. I don't honestly believe that a GT game without Kaz would be an immediate disaster

Unless you have a particular desire for the next GT to present as if EA/Ubisoft published it, I'd suggest being careful what you wish for.

 

[HarVee]

Unless you have a particular desire for the next GT to present as if EA/Ubisoft published it, I'd suggest being careful what you wish for.

I'm not sure what you honestly mean. But you seem a bit biased toward Kazunori. I'm looking at it from a broader perspective and less about personal bias.

 

[Famine]

I'm not sure what you honestly mean.

Really? It's in my earlier post.

No Yamauchi more or less means no Gran Turismo; unless he has a successor lined up or they can find someone else who both grasps what the goals are and can say "no" to the management above him (and even Yamauchi doesn't always get his own way), post-KY GT will just sink into the same-as-all-the-other racing games mire with no distinct identity.

But you seem a bit biased toward Kazunori. I'm looking at it from a broader perspective and less about personal bias.

Not really. I mean, I do like the guy (it's quite difficult to dislike him, though I know people try), and think that constantly harassing him for this car and that car and insulting him on social media doesn't really help anyone (apparently not an opinion that's universally shared) but I also understand the developer/publisher dynamic.

This is a pretty constant deal in the industry, where developers tend to want people to play their game and publishers tend to want money, money, and also money - especially those losing a lot of it elsewhere - which are not always pulling towards the same goal; both positions are understandable, but one is not so much player-friendly as the other. A developer with seniority, influence and tenure (and even a position high up the chain of command in the parent company) would have quite a bit of pull and would be able to resist the monetisation excesses to some degree* whereas a younger, newer, less experienced replacement would not be able to do so as effectively.

That would apply regardless of the names involved (I've met, and liked, a few other key developers from racing games too; Alain Jarniou is great ), so quite how it's influenced by a bias towards any individual escapes me.


*As noted previously, GT has had monetisation aspects since GT5 - and they were at their most egregious then, locking content behind a paywall (the special, one-use paint chips were just an awful anti-player decision, whoever it was that made it). That was in an era where he said that the model would be a small core game and then pay for content you want (GTHD) in the manner we've seen from iRacing and others. Since then the monetisation has been more and more sidelined, with GT6's being pointless credit packs, GT Sport's being cars you could obtain anyway but couldn't be bothered to (except the most expensive) and the weird, weird Hamilton thing, and GT7's being back to credit packs which have always been unobtrusive and too high-priced to make any sense even originally but increasingly rendered irrelevant by bumps in credit-earning potential across the game.

 

[GTRedman]

GT7 currently lacks incentive to even race a majority of the cars you collect, and without the incentive to race/drive your cars in a racing game, then what is the point of it?

For me it was VR that made me want to try all the cars I've collected.

 

[hawkeyez]

I'm the opposite. I'd actually wish for them to drop support of GT7 and make one final "offline" patch already and shift entire focus on another title at this point.

I've enjoyed the ride that 7 has given, but the game is getting stale. A lot of that staleness feeling for me is due to lack of PD actually adding new features and QoL fixes. They seem way too focused on "Sophy" now and are forgetting about the rest of the game. if they are to support this game for another few more years then they really need to fix/add some basic things;

-Engine and part selling
-Music in SP time trial
-Payment for SP time trial
-Seeing your currently selected car in GT Auto paint shop instead of the preset Supra/Beetle
-Better/increased cockpit slider settings (like they were in GT Sport)
-Cockpit height and distance settings on per-car basis instead of global (like it was in GT Sport)
-ABS setting per-car basis instead of global
-Looser chase cam preset
-Setting to turn cockpit wobble off
-Auto-equip dirt/snow tires for dirt/snow tracks if those tires have been purchased for the currently driven car (like in GT Sport)
-Quick menu (like GT6 has)
-Ability to mute racing transmission whine entirely.
-Ability to see how many "wins" a car has gotten (like in every GT game prior?)
-Ability to see total earnings and expenses per each car

I agree with a lot of your fixes and additions. Just not the transmission whine. I wish that more cars had it.

For me I would hope with DLC comes fixes as well. But yeah, if it’s just content, forget it. The game feels like specific developing departments sort of just glued it together.

 

[HarVee]

I agree with a lot of your fixes and additions. Just not the transmission whine. I wish that more cars had it.

For me I would hope with DLC comes fixes as well. But yeah, if it’s just content, forget it. The game feels like specific developing departments sort of just glued it together.

It really feels like with every update they just slap together a couple races and add 3 cars and call it good. Even the Sophy additions aren't anything spectacular, at least, if you're a PS4 user. They've really lost direction with this game and are seemingly just chugging it along until they get GT8 out.

 

[hawkeyez]

It really feels like with every update they just slap together a couple races and add 3 cars and call it good. Even the Sophy additions aren't anything spectacular, at least, if you're a PS4 user. They've really lost direction with this game and are seemingly just chugging it along until they get GT8 out.

Yeah, I don’t get the whole Sophy thing. People rave about it. I still remember having much better races in older sim games. They also didn’t have race limits or emoji faces. This next update looks pretty bad too.


I won’t be buying GT8 until I know what it’s all about. MOST of the time, Gran Turismo releases have mostly been, little better graphics and sound, but the rest of the game is almost the same as it’s always been. I know people rave about GT4. I think I’ve only played GT2/GT3/GT5/GT6 and now GT7. And they all pretty much seem the same to me only prettier and better sounds. GT5 is when I really got into it and got myself a wheel, the graphics is about all it had going for at the time compared to other games.

Push SOPHY all you want, it’s definitely not something I’m looking forward to each update. I could care less. I think the game needs more circuits, real or fake, bug fixes and some changes in HUD and game options (not going to list here) and then some more cars that are properly classed to race together would be nice instead of SUV, electric vehicles and mostly repeat cars we already have.

With Project Motor Cars on the way, GT8 is going to have to blow me away. I will continue to make liveries, I will give them that, the livery editor is awesome.

 

[Cayit]

GT7 could/should be a much BETTER Game...! But they suck!