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The Sports Desk – GT Sport Moves Into The Future
GT Sport came out over a month ago, and while at the time I liked how the game felt on the track and some of its marginal features, it was handicapped by its online-based structure. The game was never intended to be like the previous numbered entries, but the extent to which it affects the title is significant. Single-payer content is hampered by the need to be online. Content like the FIA Manufacturers series and Daily events are doled out in drips. The single-player campaign is too bite-sized to satisfy. Developer Polyphony Digital has promised to keep improving the game, and true to their word the game's updates through the end of the year and beyond will do more than just add new cars.
The brand-new 1.06 patch (click for full details) adds three new cars and improved physics model, but more importantly, it allows players to experience the campaign mode, livery editor, and Scapes photo mode while offline. Although the game still uses the online-based save method, the patch at least makes more portions of the game more accessible.
But the big news is that for the December update, Polyphony is adding a free single-player mode called GT League that is based on the familiar career structure of the old Turismos – seemingly bolstering GT Sport's content offering significantly. The League consists of four leagues (Beginner, Amateur, Professional, and Endurance) within which you'll find open and spec championships like favs such as the Sunday Cup, Clubman Cup, and FR Challenge (all in the Beginner League, BTW). Also, more races will be added to these leagues in 2018.
Apart from the content itself, this makes the cars in your garage more useful since you'll now be able to use them in more parts of the game. It also boosts your chances to earn more credits and distance/milage points, which could fundamentally alter your progression. Finally, Polyphony says that new tracks are on the way – which is valuable for a title that could use more, and in terms of the GT Leagues could be important to make sure players don't burn out on it too fast.
We won't know the update's sum effect until it releases in December, but on the face of it, this is a big change for the title, and represents the kind of improvements that we ask from our developers. This is heartening in the face of recent structural controversies engulfing titles like Star Wars Battlefront II and Need for Speed (albeit those involve loot crates, which GT Sport does not have), and could point to the kind of meaningful support for the title until the next GT title likely years from now. In a year where both GT Sport and rival Forza Motorsport 7 stumbled out of the gate due to their online-reliant structures, GT Sport's updates are very welcome.
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Have a suggestion or comment? Put it in the comments section below, send me an email, or reach me on twitter at @mattkato.
REVIEW ROUND-UP 
Madden NFL 18
NASCAR Heat 2
NHL 18
Pro Evolution Soccer 2018
FIFA 18
NBA 2K18
NBA Live 18
Golf Story
Project Cars 2
Forza Motorsport 7 (shown)
NBA 2K18 (Switch)
FIFA 18 (Switch)
GT Sport
Mutant Football League
THE TICKER
A quick rundown of some of the sports news from the week
UFC 3 Info, Including Details on Damage, Stamina, Range, Combos & Much More
The beta has begun, by the way.
Draft Day Sports Pro Basketball 2018 is Now Out
Old Time Hockey Is Now Bush Hockey League and Coming To The Xbox One
The title has changed its name, and hopefully its gameplay has been updated as well. It was not good at launch.
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