Gran Turismo 7 was heavily criticized by its player base at the end of the year due to the game’s direct service economy. The latest simulated racer from Polyphony Digital is quite well-reviewed – Game informant give it 8.75 out of 10 – but since launch the game’s credit system has been thoroughly tested, with players citing that it was built on incentivizing microtransactions.
Things took a turn for the worse for Gran Turismo 7 after last week’s scheduled two-hour scheduled maintenance lasted more than 24 hours, renders the game largely unplayable due to its always-online nature. On top of that, that maintenance update reduced the amount of credits earned after races that players used to boost credits due to high car prices in Gran Turismo 7.
Now, Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi has posted a Posts on PlayStation Blog sorry fans, with the promise of some big changes to the in-game economy next month.
“Thank you for your continued support and feedback on Gran Turismo 7, your voice has not been lost,” Yamauchi wrote. “I would like to apologize for the frustration and confusion caused last week with our patching updates, which resulted in not only server crashes but also adjustments to the economy in game without clear explanation to our community.
We know this is not the Gran Turismo experience you expect and we will make a gesture of goodwill in the form of an unpaid credit package of 1 million Cr. available to players who may have been affected. You will soon see this hit your account. Make sure you log into the game by April 25th to get the credits.
A patch update was rolled out earlier to fix an issue with inconsistent reward payouts during part of the Round the World Event. However, in order to re-establish a given equilibrium and provide a more accurate reward based on time investment and completion, it is necessary to recalculate the entire reward system.”
Yamauchi said Polyphony Digital will roll out a “significant” patch in early April and in it, the number of events will be increased and a new reward system with larger balances will be re-established.
Here is a summary of the updates that will be available online starting in April:
- About 100% increase in rewards on average during events in the second half of the World Circuit.
- Adds a high bonus for gaining Circuit Experience in all Gold/All Bronze results.
- Increased rewards in Online Races.
- Includes a total of eight new one-hour Endurance Race events for Quests. These will also have higher reward settings.
- Increase the upper limit of unpaid credits in the player’s wallet from 20 million Cr. to 100 million Cr.
- Increase the number of used and legendary vehicles offered at any given time.
Between now and April, Yamauchi says a few “additional patches” will add new cars and course layouts to the game along with several other fixes. Yamauchi is also listed some short term updates the team is working onalthough the studio isn’t ready to share specifics on when players can expect these:
- Increase the payout value of rewards for a limited time as we grow as a live service.
- More World Circuit events.
- Added endurance races to missions including 24-hour races.
- Added an Online Time Trial and awarded rewards according to the player’s disparity with the highest ranked time.
- Make it marketable for cars.
What do you think of Gran Turismo 7’s current economy? Let us know in the comments below!
