This Wiki page says it would be straight forward playing online with the console version of the game. However, at least the PS3 version uses GameSpy technology for online matchmaking and network play. GameSpy is also discontinued and the server are offline already for a long time.
I bought the game just yesterday and tried to connect online, which didn't work. I am getting connection errors. I tried to contact the support who told me to setup GFWL. Well... this won't work so well with a PS3 version... :)
So I assume, network play and matchmaking is broken in the PS3 version (at least until someone tells me it isn't and shows me how).
141.91.136.39 10:43, May 12, 2014 (UTC) Chris
Ok, I'll edit the page to note that both GFWL & Gamespy are down... pretty much neutering online gameplay for the game entirely. Happyhamster (talk) 21:39, May 12, 2014 (UTC)
FUEL network error[]
Pc version. I can login to GFWL, I can go online, and other computers can see my custom game, but I get a "network error" when trying to connect to it. Is this what others are experiencing and what you mean by GFWL not working? Other computers do not see me in free ride.
I haven't done anything with ports on the router (UDP Ports 88 and 3074), would that make a difference?
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Yeah. GFWL has been decommissioned. It was the only way for PC versions to do multiplayer and online play. (IE: there's no local LAN play). GFWL installs and runs when you start the game. But, it's just there as a holdover of it being baked into the game from the start. It serves no purpose now. However, Asobo & Codemasters didn't feel FUEL was popular enough to modify it and remove the GFWL requirement, and instead port it over to Steam servers (like I think they did with more popular titles like DIRT and GRID). Instead, they just removed the game from stores (like Steam). If you had it before, you can still download and play it. But, you can't purchase new copies of it on Steam. Likewise, GFWL servers no longer exist, so while GFWL client works on your computer to run the game, you can't use it to start or join multiplayer. This is the consequence of game developers letting someone like MS talk them into baking MS' online gameplay into their games. MS has all the control over whether it lives and dies. So, when MS decided to pull the plug on GFWL, a lot of games got their online & multiplayer hosed (which, for some games is the only reason to play them). This was a royal "fuck you" to a lot of consumers that just had the rug pulled out from under them when half their games' functionalities stopped working via MS having this much control with baked-in GFWL. Happyhamster (talk) 20:06, July 28, 2015 (UTC)
There's an error on this page, I can confirm that as of yesterday, Aug 29 2015, multiplayer on pc was in fact working
24.246.10.155 12:18, August 30, 2015 (UTC)
I managed to setup a multiplayer game through GFWL and launch it.
Make sure you have the most recent GFWL client.
If you get some "network errors" try deleting this entry from your registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Software\Microsoft\XLive | PCID