Microtransaction Scandal

[J4MES OX4D 9,793]

I was going to pick up the game the other day for a low of £56 but I've been hearing some major controversies regarding microtranasctions and their predatory implementation. There was apparently an update that slashed prize money by 50% and a host of cars that not only cost 8x as much as they did in GT Sport, but they are timed offers and priced where users essentially have to pay real money and in many cases, have to make two or more transactions leaving a reserve because there isn't enough credits to buy a car outright i.e a car may cost 3.1m CR so you have to pay $20 for 2m CR and then make up the rest either with grinded funds banked or more payments. I also hear you cannot sell second hand cars which is absolutely ridiculous. Although it's mostly high-end vehicles affected, the whole point of Gran Turismo was to go on a journey to be able to buy such things with credits outright whilst not under constraints or having resort to real money purchases. 

 

The game is now getting review-bombed which is a shame and the media are angry because this framework wasn't in the review copies, nor was it ever mentioned until after launch. I also heard there was a major outage of around 30 hours the other day too which is bloody unacceptable really especially if offline options are limited. I'm really having second thoughts about picking this up now which is a shame because the driving element seems absolutely fantastic as does the visuals but if they are going to implement such crafty microtransactions on an unreliable live service then that is a personal concern that I just can't overlook and something unnecessary for a game of this nature. 

[Greboth 2,705]

They didn’t universally slash prize money but they did rebalance it.  Prior to the update a number of 1 and 2 lap races paid higher than 5 or 10 lap races.  So they reduced the short races and buffed the higher.  It does mean a reduction in how much you could earn per hour so while the rebalancing I agree the payouts are still low.

 

I also agree with Yamauchi about not  playing the same race over and over to farm credits.  The problem comes that after the cafe books the amount of credits you can earn does reduce.  So with the FOMO with the limited offers, or having a £20mill car so early in the games life, it is going to push people towards micro transactions.

 

On the balance though, the games has been out 2 weeks so I find moaning they can’t buy all the most expensive cars already ridiculous.  There should be an element of earning credits and having to think about what cars you buy, especially the exotic and legendary ones.

 

This is on top of that the numbered GT series have always been about the grind.  Buying some second hand shitbox, racing it until you can modify it to do some more races and afford a slightly less shitbox.  Rinse and repeat until you can eventually buy a shiny new car.

 

Forza Horizon is a perfect example of going to far the other way.  You get given so many free cars and money that you can get gifted the best cars almost instantly.  GT sport also fell in to this somewhat with the gift car for the daily marathon.

 

There’s also the element that people seem to focus on the game is complete when they finish the cafe books.  Ignoring all the additional races the are available at the tracks.

 

So in summary, the payouts are a little low and there isn’t as many races as I thought there would be.  But I think they’re a knock off a point or 2 off the rating rather than the bombing it’s had and overall I’d still recommend the game to anyone that’s a fan of the series.

[techno 3,476]

Ah mtx debate, I'll say it again while ever people buy into this the companies will take the piss. If they sell nothing surely it will stop 🤷 or prices will come down drastically. 

 

 

 

[IRaMPaGe 3,115]

1 hour ago, techno said:

Ah mtx debate, I'll say it again while ever people buy into this the companies will take the piss. If they sell nothing surely it will stop 🤷 or prices will come down drastically. 

 

 

 

 

This ^^

 

Also some people have disposable income to burn it seems. Or they just really want certain cosmetics. 

I on the other hand can't afford MTX, so I just avoid them. 

[phil bottle 9,584]

Capitalism is shit ruins everything, so what's new🙃

[IRaMPaGe 3,115]

It's mainly all the YouTube people who make it worse, they just buy everything and show it off etc for more views and content. 

 

I totally get it's their income. I just refuse because we are literally paying like £60 for a game. 

Some people must spend a small fortune on extra cosmetics. The gaming companies take advantage of this tho. 

[J4MES OX4D 9,793]

25 minutes ago, IRaMPaGe said:

It's mainly all the YouTube people who make it worse, they just buy everything and show it off etc for more views and content. 

 

I totally get it's their income. I just refuse because we are literally paying like £60 for a game. 

Some people must spend a small fortune on extra cosmetics. The gaming companies take advantage of this tho. 

I'm just waiting for the 'I BORT EVERY CAR IN THE GAEM AND NOW I WINE EVERY RACE' videos. Doesn't seem like GT has much of a corksocking shill culture though unlike the likes of Call of Duty but Polyphony Digital may have to look at getting some recognised content creators onside. If they really wanted to attach a further monetisation model on their $70 live service then they could've done it very differently. It's made worse by the fact the model they've chosen stinks of EA, 2K and Square Penix. They could've easily released car packs as DLC with new tracks for starters or simply exclusive standalone cards for between £1 and £5. Monetising credit just doesn't sit well with me and this is not what you'd expect from a Playstation exclusive.

[phil bottle 9,584]

There's a some decent racing YouTube content creators worth watching.

 

I watch Tidgney, Jimmy Broadbent, Rory (Eeries), Super GT and TheKie25, Racing Ollie and James EV.