Gran Turismo 7 Must Be Played Online For Virtually All Content

While many games feature some sort of online component these days, players tend to expect their single-player experiences to be left intact when playing offline, but such is not the case with Polyphony Digital's huge new racer, Gran Turismo 7. In playing the game ahead of launch, we've found that nearly the entire game is made unavailable when playing offline. In fact, the game is whittled down to little more than a demo mode if you're not connected to the internet while playing.

Gran Turismo 7 features a great number of modes and experiences, and all but one of them, World Circuits, is made unavailable if you play GT7 without an internet connection. This is something Sony detailed last fall, when series creator Kazunori Yamauchi said most of the game needs to be played online "to prevent cheating overall from people trying to modify the save data."

World Circuits is meant to be the game's story mode, but even that is diluted to what could reasonably be called an in-store demo, the likes of which you'd find at a Best Buy or Target. Progression markers such as credits and XP do not carry over when you race offline in World Circuits, and you're stuck choosing from the same 13 cars and 16 tracks with no way to unlock more unless you go online.

All other content, meanwhile, is totally unavailable without the internet. Alongside the obvious lack of multiplayer racing, this includes modes and features such as:

• Missions
• License Center
• Used Cars
• Brand Central
• Sport
• GT Auto
• Garage
• Cafe
• Showcase
• Scapes

For most players, this DRM-like approach is probably going to be fine anyway--most players staying up to date with games are playing online, after all--but note that if you're planning to play offline by choice or by, say, internet outage down the line, you're likely better off playing something other than Gran Turismo 7.

In our Gran Turismo 7 review in progress, Alex Goy said "It plays as close to driving a real car as you can get on a console, and much like shaving a few seconds off your commute, or playing on your favorite road in the real world, the game draws you in with challenges, physics, and luscious visuals."