Gran Turismo 7’s Pricey Microtransactions Are Stirring Up Controversy

[Tsing]

Image: Polyphony Digital



Gran Turismo 7 finally launched for PlayStation gamers yesterday, but the debut of the seventh installment of Polyphony Digital’s celebrated racing series hasn’t gone without a hitch in part to the game’s new microtransaction system, which has prompted all sorts of controversy.



Instead of being able to sell cars or buy vehicles individually at set prices, somebody at Sony decided to center things around credit packs, which are available in the following amounts, as typed out by VGC:



100,000 credits – $2.49 / £1.99250,000 credits – $4.99 / £3.99750,000 credits – $9.99 / £7.992,000,000 credits – $19.99 / £15.99



Okay, so what? Well, here’s what some of the prices of higher-performing cars reportedly look...

Continue reading...

 

[David_Schroth]

I don't know about you, but these certainly don't seem like microtransactions...

 

[MadMummy76]

And don't forget they made absolutely sure you can't accumulate money easily by playing the game, as they removed the option to sell cars. So any garbage tier cars you win are left sitting in your garage, you can't get rid of them.

 

[Denpepe]

Not that I play a lot of racing games, but I'm just about done with these games that ship with the barebones in the game and the rest to be paid for later like this one or fighting games like SF and MK.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

Well guess I wont be buying GT7 after all and stand by my previous comment.

GT3 was the last best GT game. All others since then have been driving down hill.

 

[Grimlakin]

I also don't get the microtransaction thing. And the amounts available seem to be supplemental not meant to completely offset earning credits in the game.

 

[DrezKill]

Well guess I wont be buying GT7 after all and stand by my previous comment.

GT3 was the last best GT game. All others since then have been driving down hill.

Completely agree. GT3 was the height of the series. I own all the games except 4 (first GT game I didn't really care for) and 6 (never played it and it slipped by me somehow), and it looks like I won't be grabbing 7 either.

 

[MadMummy76]

Completely agree. GT3 was the height of the series. I own all the games except 4 (first GT game I didn't really care for) and 6 (never played it and it slipped by me somehow), and it looks like I won't be grabbing 7 either.

Funny, because I'm positive that GT4 was the top point for the series, it started going downhill after that.

I think polyphony and GT7 is treated like Kojima, they could get away with murder and still get 8/10 and 9/10 reviews. GT7 is getting unreasonably favourable reviews in my opinion. I enjoy the game but on so many levels it is a letdown. In some aspects it is still stuck at the level it was with GT2 in 1999, 23 years ago.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

GT4 was basically the same as GT3, but more cars and tracks. So technically, GT4 is better, but GT3 came out first and it's what I bought first, played 1000s of hours and by the time GT4 was released it simply wasnt as interesting being so similar to GT3, just with more cars and tracks that I didn't spend a whole lot of time playing it.

 

[MadMummy76]

GT4 was basically the same as GT3, but more cars and tracks. So technically, GT4 is better, but GT3 came out first and it's what I bought first, played 1000s of hours and by the time GT4 was released it simply wasnt as interesting being so similar to GT3, just with more cars and tracks that I didn't spend a whole lot of time playing it.

It was the same with GT1 and GT2, the latter was basically the same with significantly more content. I still played the heck out of GT2.

 

[DrezKill]

So technically, GT4 is better

I dunno, even though GT3 and its engine served as the basis for GT4, I still feel like GT3 had a better handling model and better controls. Then again, it's been eons since I played 4 (and many years since I last played 3), so I don't know if I would still feel the same way today.

 

[MadMummy76]

Wait, it gets worse. They also added timed "invites" to buy certain expensive cars. If you don't buy it in the given time frame poof, it's gone. This has to be a new low.

 

[Grimlakin]

Wait, it gets worse. They also added timed "invites" to buy certain expensive cars. If you don't buy it in the given time frame poof, it's gone. This has to be a new low.

Lol that is clearly a shot a forza horizon but thst uses in game currency.

If forza horizon had actual race tracks it would be the only racer I want installed.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

It was the same with GT1 and GT2, the latter was basically the same with significantly more content. I still played the heck out of GT2.

Yep, and I played a lot of GT2 since I didn't get into the series until GT2. I only played GT1 a few times, but it did seem like GT2 was a little polished and had way more content.

I was disappointed that GT3 had less content than GT2, but the visuals and controls of GT3 had me hooked.

I never played a lot of GT4, despite buying it on day one. I just lost interest in my PS2 by that time, but it seemed good.

 

[Uvilla]

The economy of nearly all MT games Ive considered putting money into are always pretty terrible. MT games are just not for me.

 

[Denpepe]

The only GT I ever played was the first one, could not get my license to race and gave up on it, one of my friends borrowed it from me and had a good time wiith it, but I never looked at the series again.

 

[LeRoy_Blanchard]

Well GT1 and GT2 didn't age all that well. They play and look like crap compared to today's standards. However, GT3 and GT4 are still pretty decent games even today. I've loaded up GT3 on emulators recently (within' the past two years) and they were surprisingly fun.

 

[MadMummy76]

Well GT1 and GT2 didn't age all that well. They play and look like crap compared to today's standards. However, GT3 and GT4 are still pretty decent games even today. I've loaded up GT3 on emulators recently (within' the past two years) and they were surprisingly fun.

I recently played through both GT1 and GT2 using an emulator to get hyped for GT7, and it's actually not that bad. Especially since you can render at any resolution with the emu, even at 4K.

What's even more interesting is that the basic game mechanics and physics are not that far off the modern games either. It's a bit more basic but I don't think Polyphony ever completely rewritten the physics of the series since the first game.