Gran Turismo 7 microtransactions have become a subject of controversy after it was revealed that, unlike Gran Turismo Sport, players aren’t able to purchase cars individually. They now have to rely entirely on in-game credits, which can either be earned by playing or can be purchased with real-world currency. One problem: in Gran Turismo Sport, cars ranged between $0.99 and $4.99 each whereas in Gran Turismo 7, you’re going to need to fork out quite a bit of money for credit bundles if you don’t want to grind, making cars way more expensive now. As an example, folks over at Video Games Chronicle have pointed out that Porsche 919 Hybrid 16 costs $2.99 in Gran Turismo Sport and 3,000,000 credits in Gran Turismo 7. If you want to purchase 3,000,000 credits outright, you’ll need to fork out a whopping $40.
Why Gran Turismo 7 microtransactions are concerning
The aforementioned price differences between the same cars in Gran Turismo Sport and Gran Turismo 7 aside, the newly-revealed microtransactions are even more concerning considering some of the game’s cars will be dynamically priced. As reported by GTPlanet, Polyphony Digital has teamed up with real life classic car insurance and valuation company Hagerty for valuation of in-game Legend Cars. This means that their prices will fluctuate in Gran Turismo 7 in lockstep with their real world rise and fall in value. Currently, cars in the game’s Hagerty collection range between 150,000 and 20,000,000 credits. The credit bundles can be purchased over on the PlayStation Store in the following denominations:
- 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
Opinion: Microtransactions should be available during review period
Zarmena writes… I’ve always found the practice of making microtransactions available post-launch a bit iffy since they can’t be taken into account in reviews. I understand that Polyphony Digital was going for realism with the whole Hagerty thing, but considering the prices of the credit bundles and the inability to purchase cars individually like we could in Gran Turismo Sport, the whole thing just comes across a bit ill-advised. Let’s see how Sony responds to players’ concerns.
In other news, Sony’s Game Pass rival seems to be getting closer to release, and Deus Ex creator is working on a new IP.
