I don't know if this is the best place to express my displeasure at the state of Gran Turismo, but Forza has really exposed some of the shortcomings of the franchise and I have to say something.
GT7 is a great game in a lot of ways. It has the best physics, the best graphics, the best sounds and the best customisation to date, however it will not go down in history as a classic like GT4. You want to know why? Excuses. Lame excuses to justify some of the truly baffling design decisions that only serve to infuriate the community for no reason at all. Why push the ultra-expensive cars into a seperate dealer? Why have menu books? Why have a "world map"? Why have such a poorly laid out career mode? Why can't we buy the vehicles eligible for a championship without having to quit out of the race menu, go into Brand Central, go into the dealer, get the car, choose the colour and return to the event menu with another half a dozen button presses? Not even GT4 was this complicated. Fact is, PD have done a lot of things right in the past, but nowadays they aren't. Why no arcade mode? Why can't we just pick a car, pick a track and go? Is that really soo hard? Why do we have to earn money to simply drive a car on our own terms? Yes, I do like a good career mode (not saying GT7's is) where I earn my way up through the rankings, but some days I just want to get in and go. Why not give people that choice? It's soo stupid and pointless. PD and Sony have intentionally pulled the rug out from underneath us to push microtransactions, which is pretty ****** if you ask me. The strategy they have adopted is divisive, stupid and idiotic, preventing GT from ever expanding beyond it's already small niche. Give the people choice, just like you did all those years ago. Why regress? Why put the ultra-expensive cars behind a paywall? Why force people to grind for hours and hours just to drive one car for a few minutes? It's a total waste when you can drive anything you want without any grinding in Forza Motorsport. Don't give us "free" updates when certain cars require a stupid amount of grinding to obtain. Time is not something that everybody has on their side, so please, for the love of God, just let people do what they like! If they want to play career mode, that's fine. If they just want to get their hands on their favourite car for a few minutes, that's also fine. I may like being put into a box (because I'm part cat) but others don't so open the gates! Let people live out their driving fantasies without having to lose precious time that could otherwise be spent touching grass and seeing family! Games are supposed to be fun, and for most, GT7 simply isn't. Things have to change if this series is to survive the next decade, because at this rate, it won't.