Gran Turismo 7's Kazunori Yamauchi Explains the Always Online Connection That Has Riled Fans - IGN - IGN

"The requirement for the online connection isn't specific to the Cafe per se — it's just to prevent cheating overall from people trying to modify the save data, so that's the reason for the online connection," Yamauchi said.

"The only part of the game that doesn't require an online connection is the Arcade mode, because that has no effect on the save data, so that's possible.".

He continued and said if a part of the game deals with save data, it will require an always-online connection.

One part of the game that doesn't require any online connection is the Arcade mode, because there's no interaction with the save data and there are no liveries involved, so it doesn't require a network connection to do that.".