Super disappointing.
Thank you Sony for letting Motorstorm guys go, while keeping racing game devs that stem from the last century it seems.
Really? I think Polyphony is
right on the money with Gran Turismo Sport. Ignore the graphics and the expectations for a moment here. Consider the following and let that sink in:
- competition / tie in with FIA online championship
- simulator
- real, well known tracks around the world
Sorry, but as nice as Drive Club was, Gran Turismo is aiming to be something entirely different. Fancy graphics at 30fps, unpredictable weather changes, fancy rain drops moving across the windshield... it all doesn't matter. Drive Club was entertainment, Gran Turismo Sport has the potential to be much more than that.
I might be bordering going offtopic here, but I've been literally glued to Trials Fusion for months now. Why? It's certainly not the graphics (although nice!), but it's the competitive nature that makes me come back to play Trials over and over again. The core experience is the skill set and competing against other Trial players around the world. In a game like Trials, you don't want i.e. changing weather conditions that change grip levels when trying to beat an opponents best-time. You want equal conditions. If we move back to cars and motorsports - why are Nordschleife times used to compare cars? Why did TopGear lap times become relevant to car fanatics all over the world? Because it gives us a reference to compare cars on the same track. In TopGear, the attractiveness was the assumption that it's always the same driver under usually similar conditions, the Nordschleife is regarded as a true testing ground for the same reason.
Now imagine a racing game built around this ethos - no more driving assistance, but a game that actually promotes this online competitiveness and even allows you to compete in an online championship. For these things, the priority must be foremost high constant framerate (you want high responsiveness) and an environment that offers equality for those participating. You don't want cars with hundredths of tuning parts and customization to the finest details. Changeable weather conditions, day/night, dry/wet conditions - it's all nice, but for a game designed with a competitive nature in mind, IMO not important in the slightest. Even damage is not relevant. It's all about showing off your ability to drive and not waste resources on damage that for the most part is usually never realistic anyway.
Motorsports is exciting. It's doesn't work when you pit different cars against each other - you either want a spec series (equal machinery) or some other way to allow similar cars to compete with each other under a fair championship. If Polyphony does it right, I think they could be on to a winner here. And most importantly, if the base game is good, it can grow and evolve into something much larger. I do track days with my car and from experience, actually tracking a car is very expensive. This game might just promote and allow this kind of motorsports in a virtual way without the costs and risk. But for that to work, the complexity must decrease in the sense that you want a few spec championships where drivers don't compete by having better cars, but by being the 'better' more skilled driver in equal machinery.
It looks like SS5 track is back? (some people are mistaking it for a Tokyo track remake). Really remade beyond recognition, or maybe it's a new alternate route? Likely the lighting is real-time then (all the new reworked tracks tend to have day-night cycles and weather), though these effects probably aren't in the game yet. Have a hard time determining if the sky is an image or something more - probably not yet fully rendered. The new speedway looks pretty good too - better stadium around it than most sports games 
