Sport Mode, and in particular the two rank-affecting weekly races, is a main part of Gran Turismo 7‘s appeal – we even publish a weekly article every time a new menu of events is published.
However, since last week, there have been times when the dedicated server-based events have been slow to load, freezing, or just simply not working.
In one instance, a friend of mine waited 15 minutes for one race to load, and then by the time it did, only two other entrants had bothered to stick around. A guaranteed podium, sure, but a hollow one.
I’m writing this as a Gr.4 race at Laguna Seca is trying to process following the warm-up, but 20 minutes later no joy. To be clear, getting into an event and matchmaking works without a hiccup, it’s loading into the grid from the entry list that slows to a crawl.
Once you’re in a race, then the event looks to run as expected, it’s just getting in there once the matchmaking process is complete is, at times, slower than the game’s 1968 Fiat 500. This isn’t every time, but every handful, its seemingly random cadence doubly frustrating.
It should be noted that lobbies, which run on a peer-to-peer, are seemingly not affected by this. I completed several races last night with a usual gathering and we didn’t encounter slow loading or game freezes.
In response, developers Polyphony Digital has issued the following statement last week, but there’s no further update or acknowledgement:
“In Sport Mode Daily Races or Championships, once the matchmaking has completed, the game may freeze, or an application may error occur on the loading screen before a qualifying time trial or race,” reads the comment.
“We are currently investigating the issue and working on a fix.”
But, that’s all we know, as there’s been no new game update or social media post in the interim period. It’s not clear what’s causing the issue, as once in a race, the mode is still as fun as ever. Hopefully, developer Polyphony Digital will clarify the situation further sooner rather than later.
Update – we got into a race, with one other racer who promptly retired. Yes, we took the win, no we don’t feel cheap…
