After mostly silence since release, Sony/Polyphony finally announced the first bit of information about updates and content additions over the next several months. As a side note, the "Decal Uploader" feature was enabled for everyone the other day, but I have yet to try it.

First, scheduled for a November 27 v1.06 patch:

• 3 new vehicles:
  • Shelby Cobra 427
  • 2016 Audi R18 LMP1
  • IsoRivolta Zigato Vision GT
• Offline play enabled for Campaign Mode, Livery Editor, and Scapes (saving progress still requires you to be connected.)
• Further physics improvements.
• Sportsmanship Rating (SR) algorithm has been improved. You'll also be able to see SR deductions for yourself and other people involved in an incident.

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Following this, they've given us some details on what we can hope to see in the Dec v1.07 update:

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• GT League: A single player mode not dissimilar to what we've seen in previous GT titles. Contains various specialized race types.
• 12 vehicles as free DLC:
  • Chevrolet Corvette (C3) Stingray Convertible (C3)
  • Ferrari Enzo Ferrari
  • Ferrari F40
  • Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
  • Lamborghini Countach LP400
  • KTM X-BOW R
  • Mazda RX-7 (FD) Spirit R Type A
  • Nissan Skyline (R32) GT-R V-spec II
  • Nissan Skyline (R34) GT-R V-spec II Nür
  • Suzuki Swift Sport
  • Volkswagen Samba Bus Type 2 (T1)
  • Chris Holstrom Concepts 1967 Chevy Nova (2013 SEMA GT Award winner)

At the end they state "Regular updates will be released throughout 2018 and approximately 50 cars will be added until March 2018. We also plan to release additional tracks in the coming months."

My thoughts:

I'm really happy to see this December update. The November update is more along the lines of what my pessimistic side expected, based on Polyphonys previous content updates looked like, but what this game really needs to be successful is the quantity and scope shown for Dec. I'd assume that most, if not all of the cars in the 1.07 update are being carried over from GT6's "Premium" models, but I am more than okay with that. The cars looked stunning back then, and GT Sport desperately needs greater variety. I'm particularly excited for the R32, R34, RX-7 FD, and F40 additions and I really hope they decide to make Gr4 variations of these vehicles. They do mention adding more tracks in the near future and hopefully it's more than a handful.

I've continued to play the game casually which is somewhat surprising for me, since I typically bounce around to something new every week. Since I already 100% all the single-player content within the first week of release, all of my time has been spent in the online Sport mode racing with other players, often just logging in every other day or so to participate in the "official" FIA races. They're already on "Test Season 3" of the FIA races, fixing weird connection and race bugs plus gradually tweaking the servers I imagine. There are certain changes I think they should make to the current format, but it is also just testing, so who knows how it will really be set up when the time comes.

Other than that, just phenomenal racing online. It should be stated that I seem to be somewhere near the top tier of drivers (guessing based on placements in test seasons and such), which clearly means everyone is at a high skill level and taking it seriously. I have watched people race in the mid to lower segments and that seems like it can be a bumper car situation. I've been saving and uploading some replays here and there, as I find it weirdly absorbing to rewatch my own races. I'll often find myself just loading one to check something real quick and then watching the whole thing for the 5th time.

Race from last night. Not particularly exciting in terms of passes, but it demonstrates the level of driving by people at the top and how well the player matching system is working. Feels like every race I get into gets harder and harder. There is other, more entertaining replays I've uploaded.

Edit: I really hate this board formating sometimes. I don't understand wtf it's trying to do lol It looks fine on my end in editing, and every time I try to fix it, it screws stuff up a different way.

I've seen this yesterday and I got excited for all the singleplayer stuff. I was super bummed out when the game was revealed and when it came out that it's not the traditional GT. This update and the promise of more updates like this makes me more inclined to get it. It's 50% off for black friday digitally but I'm not gonna buy it until they implement offline saving for singleplayer stuff or I clear my blacklog a bit. I think I'll get it in summer. It's a great and beautiful game at its core though. I'm glad they are fixing certain issues and adding more stuff. Kaz said they have big plans for long term support and they seem to be delivering.

Did anyone get impressions after that first timed tournament thingy? All of the reviews mentioned that would be the real meat of the game but then the crew never mentioned it again on the casts and I don't know anyone personally that's playing it

@saispag: I believe what you're referring to is the FIA events, which the video I posted above is from last nights FIA Manufacturers race. They started a few weeks ago and, at least for now, are running a "test season" every week with about 6 races per week (1 per day). I don't expect this is the format they will use for the real seasons as it is too frequent for most people. And obviously a week long season doesn't feel much like a season lol

I suspect the pace of these test seasons is just to get people running the server system over and over as much as possible to work out the server bugs, because there have been a few, and figuring out the optimal race schedule time slot system that is fair for everyone across their particular vertical section of the Earth. In one (super awesome) event, they were running two separate races simultaneously (FIA Nations Cup & Manufacturers Cup) as they usually do, everyone was queued up for their respective events, but when the race started.. somehow people from either race got mixed into the others. It was hilariously great because people in Gr3 (faster) cars were dumped into our Gr4 (slower) race.. everyone was confused. It was almost like an experiment in Multi-Class racing (which I really want). We were able to run practice, qualifying, and one lap of the race before everyone got disconnected. Polyphony acknowledged the server issue and cancelled all the races for that night.

Other than that, I don't see how the "Official" races will be much different than what I posted above. It's really just about matching the best people together and taking it more seriously than the more casual daily races (which you can just run every 30 mins for fun or whatever)

I won't go into detail of how the FIA test seasons are functioning right now as I don't imagine people here care so much lol

@saispag: Most of the reviews seemed to have not bothered writing about the tournament things, which is a shame because I think they are probably the most compelling part of the game. Each tournament race is a much longer affair, with a warm-up, a qualifying round, and then the actual race. They also normally set the number of laps high enough for a 15-20 minute race (so 7-15 laps on most courses). I like having the longer races so mistakes are not as fatal, and I especially like having 10 minutes to qualify. You get 10 minutes to qualify and you have to race with everyone else on the track so it really helps keep starting positions from being so static. Maybe one race you are feeling it and get a great qualify lap in, maybe the next you do not. I like it better than just spamming practice until you finally get a good time and then riding that out for the rest of the day. Which I should also mention: they changed the quick match races to change every day now instead of every week!

This game is ridiculously cheap already (£19 on Amazon), so this December update has swayed me and I think I'm going to pick it up now.

@bollard: It's cheaper than that now on Shopto as well, it's insane. This must have bombed so hard to go to that price already. If this doesn't top the charts next week they have a real problem

@seikenfreak: @ev77: thanks both, does actually sound interesting!