2/ Paid DLC, be they car packs, tracks, or something like the Hamilton Time Trial, to have a post sale revenue stream.
This has been the main issue for a long time. PoDi has been stuck between rocks and a hard place since GT6; they've put themselves into a unique scenario with how they release new content. I have been preaching about paid DLC for GT7 since forever, and while some would have an issue with paying for additional content, I would have no problem with it.
TL;DR - Players have grown accustomed to free content updates since 2013, this way everyone can access the content without paying an upright cost, even if it requires griding to accomplish, but by doing this, PlayStation and thus PoDi are relying on game software sales and microtransactions for post-release revenue, which may have quite a bit to do with how much new content the game is getting on a regular basis.
...Nonetheless, if you're interested in what I have to say, here's my piece on this:
When GT6 released, it came out when the eighth generation of game consoles had just hit the market, and with that came Forza Motorsport 5 on the Xbox One. GT6 had long been in-development after the release of GT5, so by the time they had finished tidying up the game for its launch day, I would assume they needed a post-release strategy for maintaining relevance and interest, so all future content updates were free, no commercial/paid DLC (outside of the still very-terrible implementation of microtransactions). That being said, none of the new cars ever ventured outside of affordable territory, and eventually PoDi showered the players with tons of Credits from the Sierra Time Trial, to the Ayrton Senna Tribute and all the Seasonal Events they put out.
During the timespan of both GT6's development and life cycle, no doubt that PoDi were one of the first to receive PS4 devkits for working on their next project, so on top of balancing workloads between what would become
GT7 Prologue GT Sport, and also supporting GT6 with new content, updates and regular server/services maintenance, they had a lot on their plate. Releasing content for free, what little that GT6 updates did have, was the only reasonable solution for players to maintain interest. It was bad enough that the game released unfinished; the advertised Course Maker feature was printed on the back of the game case since Day One, but the feature itself didn't actually make it into the game until almost
two years later...
Fast forward to GT Sport and they took another approach to content updates and post-release revenue. After
stating that the game wouldn't feature any microtransactions, PoDi adds them in; any single car that cost two million Credits or above is available for purchase, with the exchange rate being $1 for every one million Credits. This can mean cars could be as cheap as $2 or $3, but then you have the classic cars that followed the same pricing model as the previous two games (despite not having any reason to do so for the type of game
GT7 Prologue GT Sport was), so you could have paid up to $20
just for a single car. This doesn't grant you a pass to get the car for free or a reduced price from Brand Central at any time; it was a microtransaction, for every purchase of a car, it would deliver it to the player's garage, and if they wanted another one, they would buy it with Credits or buy another microtransaction again.
Not like GT7 is any better, that horse has been beaten to death already. The entire game's economy has been steered towards microtransactions, from FOMO-induced mechanics like Invitations and the Legend Cars dealership to the exorbant prices of restoring cars bodies and engines; for every chance it gets it would like you to "top up" at the PlayStation Store, with absolutely ridiculous pricing for Credits. How many players do you think are paying these prices?
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So that was the Yin, but now for the Yang (or the reverse, depending on how you look at it):
The common argument I see is that all of the new content being added into GT7 is free-of-charge, no upright cost required to get the rights to access it at all, but you still need to be able to afford it with the game's economy; either you have Credits you've earned through gameplay, or you go "top up" at the PlayStation Store should your balance be insufficient. The economy situation has changed a bit for the better, with a lot more opportunities to earn good amounts of Credits; Circuit Experience all-clear rewards, Weekly Challenges, Sport Mode time trials (which also encourage players to get better times and hone their skills), and additional Menu Books that usually give out high-rating tickets, it's an improvement compared to what the game was on Launch Month and a few months beyond that.
So while the content updates are "free", their frequency and volume (what the update
actually contains) as of late has been few and far between. Perhaps post-release revenue has something to do with this? How many new software sales of GT7? Has there been a lot of microtransaction sales? Just how much are they earning from keeping their new content "free"? What other streams of revenue do they have outside of handouts from PlayStation?
GT5 in 2011 was the first GT game to have commercial/paid DLC content, and when it launched, the majority of players didn't have an issue with it; in fact, most players were beyond excited with the future of the game when it came to new content, and that's on top of what their Spec 2.0 updated
also included for free. Players went wild with speculation on what was going to come out next. By having paid DLC content that's priced at a reasonable cost, you have a guaranteed post-release revenue stream, which can allow for the production of more content.
Not everyone was on-board with it though. There was a vocal set of players who were upset about having to pay an upfront cost for the new content; feel free to correct me if I'm wrong but I think a few GT5 Seasonal Events featured or required DLC content, and I'm not sure if they allowed players who haven't purchased that content to even participate in those events, thus losing out on rewards or even just a new gameplay experience. I think that's where the basis of those complaints originated from.
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Still, there could be ways that PoDi can implement paid DLC but allow players to still access the new content on a use-case basis. For example, if a Sport Mode event (online race or even a time trial) required the use of DLC (either a car or a track), they could allow players to still participate in those events; if it's a DLC car, then just loan out the car to the player as a Rental Car for that event only; if it's a DLC track, then they can still drive on the track, but only for that event. If they want unlimited personalized access to that content (buying that new car for customization, or driving on that new track whenever they wanted and across different game modes), then they would have to purchase it. Simple-as. It's the implementation I would suggest.
Maybe there could be other reasons as to why there isn't paid DLC. Maybe there's royalty fees for the manufacturers for new cars if they sell them as paid DLC? Same can be said for real-life locations when it comes to race tracks? Something else I'm not accounting for? Who's to say...
