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 / £1.99
- 250,000 credits – $4.99 / £3.99
- 750,000 credits – $9.99 / £7.99
- 2,000,000 credits – $19.99 / £15.99
Okay, so what? Well, here’s what some of the prices of higher-performing cars reportedly look like:
- Aston Martin Vulcan ’16 ($4.99 in GT Sport) – 3,300,000 credits in GT 7
- McLaren P1 GTR ’16 ($4.99 in GT Sport) – 3,600,000 credits in GT 7
- Audi R18 TDI ’11 ($2.99 in GT Sport) – 3,000,000 credits in GT 7
That seems like a lot of money for a single car. The disparity from Gran Turismo 7’s predecessor, GT Sport, is also pretty crazy, not to mention the structure of the credit packages, which might result in players spending more money than they’d have to if they’re not careful.
Eurogamer has even shared a screenshot that shows a 1929 Mercedes-Benz S Barker Tourer with a price tag of 20 million credits, which equates to nearly $200.
On the flip side, loyal Gran Turismo fans are arguing that the microtransactions are a non-issue, as players can still earn credits to purchase cars per the usual method of grinding through the game’s races and challenges, something that makes paying cash for vehicles purely optional. But that hasn’t stopped a lot of critics from calling Sony and Polyphony greedy.
Gran Turismo 7’s new microtransactions are pretty grim (Eurogamer)
- The microtransactions in Gran Turismo Sport – released in a post-launch update – had players buying individual cars at a set price, with only those of a value up to 2 million in-game credits available for purchase.
- Gran Turismo 7, however, does away with that restriction and simply offers in-game currency for sale, starting at £1.99 for 100,000 credits all the way to £15.99 for 2,000,000 credits.
- Unlike past Gran Turismo games it’s impossible to sell off cars in your own collection, and a new Legend Cars area on the World Map plays host to a rotating selection of the game’s most expensive cars.