Gran Turismo series creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, has detailed why Gran Turismo 7 will require an always-online connection. While this has fans riled up, Yamauchi says the connection is necessary for save data and livery data.
In a new interview with Eurogamer, Yamauchi was asked about PlayStation's recent announcement that GT Cafe will always require an online connection.
Yamauchi explained that the online requirement isn't specific to just GT Cafe, but every aspect of the game except for its Arcade mode. He also touched on why such a requirement is even necessary in the first place.
"The requirement for the online connection isn't specific to the Cafe per se — it's just to prevent cheating overall from people trying to modify the save data, so that's the reason for the online connection," Yamauchi said. "The only part of the game that doesn't require an online connection is the Arcade mode, because that has no effect on the save data, so that's possible."
He continued and said if a part of the game deals with save data, it will require an always-online connection.
In a separate interview with gtplanet, Yamauchi further touched on the always-online debacle, adding that "another aspect is for the liveries."
"Livery data is downloaded from the servers even when you're playing offline," Yamauchi said. "So, an online connection is something that is needed pretty much throughout the game. One part of the game that doesn't require any online connection is the Arcade mode, because there's no interaction with the save data and there are no liveries involved, so it doesn't require a network connection to do that."
While this always-online connection sounds necessary (at least according to Yamauchi), fans haven't been happy since word about the requirement was revealed.
If it’s single player mode that needs an online connection, the developers have made an objectively bad decision, not only for people playing it at launch, but in terms of future preservation, because once the servers go down… https://t.co/SIf8mOQEGY
— 🏳️⚧️ Remy ~w~ (she/they) 🏳️⚧️ (@RemyRaccoonYT) September 14, 2021
The always online requirement kills any hope I had for getting GT7. If they'd have made it so I could play the campaign fully offline but obviously without the online related features like in GT5/GT6 then I'd be absolutely fine with that.
— 🏴🏳️🌈Thomas🏳️🌈🏴 (@ShadowRush2112) September 16, 2021
I did not buy the previous GT because of its always online bs, GT7 i will not be getting also.
— Curtis (@Meday354) September 11, 2021
Companies have reversed always-online connection requirements before — Microsoft's Xbox One stands are probably the biggest example of such a reversal — so perhaps Yamauchi and the rest of the GT7 team will opt to get rid of the requirement. Based on what Yamauchi has said, though, it seems necessary for the game.
Gran Turismo 7 hits PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on March 4, 2022. While waiting for the game, read IGN's interview with Yamauchi about bringing 25 years of history to Gran Turismo 7 and then watch the Gran Turismo 7 PlayStation showcase 2021 trailer.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.