Players can buy credit pack microtransactions to reduce the time spent grinding for race rewards, something that Gran Turismo 7’s microtransactions were being criticized for already. While this allows for better cars and upgrades to be purchased more quickly to players who are happy to spend money on the in-game currency, the developer’s insistence on promoting this controversial feature is leaving fans frustrated and disappointed.
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Polyphony Digital offers players the chance to gain a large amount of credits for first place victories in races, but rewards offered have been substantially reduced thanks to the recent update. One Reddit user, u/MatiBlaster, has calculated the differences presumably to promote microtransactions towards players. The findings prove grim reading, especially for US players who suffer from Gran Turismo 7’s unbalanced and expensive microtransaction rate when compared to other countries.
This appears to be another effort by game developers to direct the players towards microtransactions, and fans are lamenting the new “pay to win” decisions. A contextual example of this would be the ‘66 Ford GT40, which would cost a player $46 through purchasing credit packs. Since Gran Turismo 7 offers expensive cars with a credits value of many millions, this has been seen deeply unfair for players who have already spent full price buying the game and don’t wish to spend more.
Worse still, the scheduled server maintenance is still ongoing for many gamers despite statements saying it would be finished at the time of writing. Since a lot of Gran Turismo 7 is accessed via an online connection, some players have zero access to about 99% of the game, leaving them with only a handful of racetracks and a random selection of cars. Therefore, many are left wondering why the developers have been altering the game to be more unfair while also ignoring other glaring gameplay problems in Gran Turismo 7.
Previous Gran Turismo releases have managed to do without microtransactions and are still praised by nostalgic players, so Polyphony Digital putting a financial squeeze on players is certainly a divisive decision. Unless the pushback from frustrated fans prompts the developers to retract this decision, players will have to continue looking for ways to grind Gran Turismo 7 for easy credits instead.
Gran Turismo 7 is available now on PS4 and PS5.
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