Gran Turismo 7 Was The Second-Best Selling Game in March 2022

[kjeldsen]

It's deserved though.

PD and GT has always earned too much credit, they never deserve as much prop as they received all this time. Not just GT7 but any of the older GT, of which what's wrong with PD there got swept away by nostalgia.

The vast majority of the reviews tells more about the review bomber than the game.

 

[Boxster]

It's deserved though.

PD and GT has always earned too much credit, they never deserve as much prop as they received all this time. Not just GT7 but any of the older GT, of which what's wrong with PD there got swept away by nostalgia.

So let me try to get this straight.
Your contention is that PD deserves hatred because.
My contention is get over yourself. You may like or not like the game. You may think the franchise is overrated. But in my view if you think PD deserves all the hatred because of that, you have a serious lack of perspective that deserves some sober reflection on balance in the realities of life.

 

[RedRockValley]

It's deserved though.

PD and GT has always earned too much credit, they never deserve as much prop as they received all this time. Not just GT7 but any of the older GT, of which what's wrong with PD there got swept away by nostalgia.

Oh yeah, the hundreds of thousands of people who still continue to enjoy these games, make patches and modifications for them are definitely swept away by nostalgia mate…

I get some of the distaste towards GT7, but hating on GT1-GT4, some of the most iconic racing games of all time is just bizarre.

 

[Streeto]

I'm sure GT8 won't be a best seller. I hope everybody has a long memory and will remember not to buy blindly next time.

We're 24 years into the series now, I wouldn't get your hopes up for that.

 

[Benny44]

So let me try to get this straight.
Your contention is that PD deserves hatred because.
My contention is get over yourself. You may like or not like the game. You may think the franchise is overrated. But in my view if you think PD deserves all the hatred because of that, you have a serious lack of perspective that deserves some sober reflection on balance in the realities of life.

I think you put into words how I feel about the dislike for the game. It's just that a lot of posts have this almost seething hatred towards GT7 (and other games). It's like pent up anger almost to the point of not being able to use words. It's one thing to dislike a game and have issues with it. But it's another to seemingly let it affect your life, which I think some have

 

[Lambob]

I'm sure GT8 won't be a best seller. I hope everybody has a long memory and will remember not to buy blindly next time.

see you all here in the Gran Turismo 8 subforum everyone!

 

[RedRockValley]

I think you put into words how I feel about the dislike for the game. It's just that a lot of posts have this almost seething hatred towards GT7 (and other games). It's like pent up anger almost to the point of not being able to use words. It's one thing to dislike a game and have issues with it. But it's another to seemingly let it affect your life, which I think some have

The strangest posts to me are the ones that attempt to do armchair psychology on Kaz, he's a mega-evil money grubbing mastermind and also the world's dumbest game director, both at the same time...

To me, Kaz is just an eccentric guy who is maybe given a little too much free reign over the series. I don't have any hate for the guy at all, I just think him stepping aside a bit and letting some young blood direct things would be healthy for the franchise.

He shouldn't step away from the series entirely though, it is his baby after all and I respect that.

 

[Nathan88]

Marketing hype and false expectations could sell 3 truckloads of saltwater to a shipyard on the first day. But how are sales going on day 2? Probably not so good, especially when everyone realizes you are mostly just re-using old seawater.

We can only guess, but I'm figuring 200k units in March and eventually 8+ million units overall; well over $300m, possibly $400m. How much was dev? GT5 was ~60m; for GTS I've seen estimates for 80m (seems high to me tho). Even if they spent $120m, they will make 200-300m before the game hits the $5 mark, and thats not counting the ripof-- i mean microtransactions.

It's impossible to give a definitive sales figure. More so than ever with the increasing importance of digital sales. That said, it is possible to make a reasonable guestimate, based on published worldwide chart details. Plus PR for major new titles and old PR releases. IE Horizon Zero Dawn which we have lots of data for and can compare to Horizon Forbbiden West.

To cut to the point. My estimation for GT7's first month is 3m-3.5m. Looking at the strong April sales I suspect they have now passed the 4m mark. What's encouraging is the title continues to place in the PS5 top 1-5 in most major markets. GT7 is consistently outperforming Horizon Forbbiden West and we haven't yet had any sales promotions. As new PS5 stock comes in titles like GT7 are also getting significant sales boosts.

This is the start of what promises to be a long PS5 generation. GT's have always traditionally had strong legs and are popular to bundle for retailers. It's also pretty clear successful Sony 1st Party releases no longer drop down to bargain basement prices. 18 months into the generation and titles like Miles Morales still pop up into the top 10 at full retail price.

At this point I'm increasingly confident GT7 will prove to be the best selling Gran Turismo to date. That's before we consider future possibilities with Sony's new PS+ service.

 

[Imari]

The strangest posts to me are the ones that attempt to do armchair psychology on Kaz, he's a mega-evil money grubbing mastermind and also the world's dumbest game director, both at the same time...

To me, Kaz is just an eccentric guy who is maybe given a little too much free reign over the series. I don't have any hate for the guy at all, I just think him stepping aside a bit and letting some young blood direct things would be healthy for the franchise.

He shouldn't step away from the series entirely though, it is his baby after all and I respect that.

Do you not think what you just did is the same thing? You're assigning him traits that are less mean, for want of a better description, but you're still trying to understand why he makes games the way he does.

Personally, I don't think this is a bad thing. This is entirely normal for any creative project, particularly ones that are primarily authored by a single person. It's natural to try and understand why they chose to make the decisions that they did. We judge people from what they say, which may or may not be true, and from their actions.

Also, once we put the hyperbole aside, it's entirely possible for Kaz to be an eccentric with too much free reign who is attempting to over-monetise his poorly directed game. None of those things are mutually exclusive, and there's a fair amount of real evidence to support all of them.

At this point I'm increasingly confident GT7 will prove to be the best selling Gran Turismo to date.

Probably, but that should realistically be the expectation for every new iteration of the series. The size of the gaming market is substantially bigger than it was in 2005 and is only growing. Marketing budgets get bigger and bigger. If a new game is consistently not outselling it's previous versions, then that's a bit of a red flag for the franchise.

It's unfortunate that it took 21 years to get to a game that's maybe capable of competing with GT3 for sales, but it's good that we finally got there.

 

[ICEYOU3]

Someone needs to tell the writer that gt7 was not "off to a roaring start". Tge game launched with a buttload of issues

The fans roared tho

 

[o000o]

So let me try to get this straight.
Your contention is that PD deserves hatred because.
My contention is get over yourself. You may like or not like the game. You may think the franchise is overrated. But in my view if you think PD deserves all the hatred because of that, you have a serious lack of perspective that deserves some sober reflection on balance in the realities of life.

Oh yeah, the hundreds of thousands of people who still continue to enjoy these games, make patches and modifications for them are definitely swept away by nostalgia mate…

I get some of the distaste towards GT7, but hating on GT1-GT4, some of the most iconic racing games of all time is just bizarre.

I've written before about for example GT4. In reality it's a game that has:

• UI/UX even more terrible than GT7 (other than next License but that's also a downgrade from before, of course silly PD thinks it's good idea).
• The tedious, frustrating, and way too much License tests.
• Duplicate, unnecessary, out of date, cars. GT has always fooled the players into thinking that they have huge car lists.
• Covering their incompetence of game design with rubberbanding in AI
• Worse, they neglect it to focus on useless Photo Mode (what inept move)
• Locking the players of the cars with not for sale cars, prize exclusive cars, or used cars.
• Even if the events are many, those consist of repetitive events with only difference in cars and laps, or championship format/not.
• Frustrating mission design with players being forced to wait or unfair penalty.
• Terrible car sound.
• Other unexposed issues.

But those are swept under the rug. While GT7 may have even worse issues, the complaint about GT7 may as well expose what's in GT previously. For example if people are complaining about for example the UI about GT7 having no shortcut to other menu or License, GT3 may be the one that has to take the blame because it's the first game that removed shortcut menus from GT1/GT2 and there are no License shortcuts too.

 

[Ande3200]

I am sure gt7 will be amazing once they have add enough content for it, i think its going to take a year or 2 to get where it needs to be, i am still enjoying it, well worth the price, and sucess in sales is not difficult to understand of you have played it, the career leaves more desires, but the overall gameplay, sound, detail and customization its the best its ever been

 

[Benny44]

I've written before about for example GT4. In reality it's a game that has:

• UI/UX even more terrible than GT7 (other than next License but that's also a downgrade from before, of course silly PD thinks it's good idea).
• The tedious, frustrating, and way too much License tests.
• Duplicate, unnecessary, out of date, cars. GT has always fooled the players into thinking that they have huge car lists.
• Covering their incompetence of game design with rubberbanding in AI
• Worse, they neglect it to focus on useless Photo Mode (what inept move)
• Locking the players of the cars with not for sale cars, prize exclusive cars, or used cars.
• Even if the events are many, those consist of repetitive events with only difference in cars and laps, or championship format/not.
• Frustrating mission design with players being forced to wait or unfair penalty.
• Terrible car sound.
• Other unexposed issues.

But those are swept under the rug. While GT7 may have even worse issues, the complaint about GT7 may as well expose what's in GT previously. For example if people are complaining about for example the UI about GT7 having no shortcut to other menu or License, GT3 may be the one that has to take the blame because it's the first game that removed shortcut menus from GT1/GT2 and there are no License shortcuts too.

Well, that was a long list of mostly all personal opinions

 

[m76]

We're 24 years into the series now, I wouldn't get your hopes up for that.

So what? Is there a cut off point at 25 years? No time to die released 59 years into the franchise.

 

[Nathan88]

Probably, but that should realistically be the expectation for every new iteration of the series. The size of the gaming market is substantially bigger than it was in 2005 and is only growing. Marketing budgets get bigger and bigger. If a new game is consistently not outselling it's previous versions, then that's a bit of a red flag for the franchise.

It's unfortunate that it took 21 years to get to a game that's maybe capable of competing with GT3 for sales, but it's good that we finally got there.

Many major franchise decline and, often, we don’t see sequels. One recent example is Halo Infinite. Even with a F2P multiplayer component it failed to set the sales or player charts alight.

There was plenty of talk about the sim market in general being in decline. How Gran Turismo couldn’t get back to the days of being a top tier PlayStation franchise in an era with TLOU, Spider-Man, Uncharted, GoW, GoT etc.

GT6 & GTS also had unfortunate launches for multiple reasons. Which set a negative tone for the franchise. Ironically, economy ‘issues’ in GT7 was probably the single biggest negative feedback the series has had. But it never really permeated into the mainstream gaming public so didn’t effect sales to any noticeable degree.

A site like GTPlanet is somewhat of an echo chamber where every issue is analysed. But GT7 is the first Gran Turismo since the PS2 era where I’ve seen mainstream games journalists & wider industry people talk about GT being a great ‘game’. Rather than sidelining it as something only for car enthusiasts.

 

[watto79]

Well, that was a long list of mostly all personal opinions

My favourite was:

Other unexposed issues

 

[CarreraGT]

Someone needs to tell the writer that gt7 was not "off to a roaring start". Tge game launched with a buttload of issues

Like what? GT7 is everything you could ever hope for from a GT game. Some people will never be satisfied

 

[Samus]

GT7 is everything you could ever hope for from a GT game.

As long as you don't hope for a proper career mode with races to suit all cars, I guess. Or cars from the last three years.

 

[CarreraGT]

As long as you don't hope for a proper career mode with races to suit all cars, I guess. Or cars from the last three years.

You mean cars like the F8, GT Black Series, Supra, Nissan Z, R8 LMS Evo, G70, Taycan,l and 86/BRZ? Granted I would love love a few more recent cara, but a lot of work goes into creatinf each car for GT7 and I would prefer that PD do it properly

 

[Samus]

You mean cars like the F8, GT Black Series, Supra, Nissan Z, R8 LMS Evo, G70, Taycan,l and 86/BRZ? Granted I would love love a few more recent cara, but a lot of work goes into creatinf each car for GT7 and I would prefer that PD do it properly

Yes well done, you listed pretty much all of them. Now we wait for the rest. Now what about the career mode? Should we not have hoped for that either?

 

[Imari]

I've written before about for example GT4. In reality it's a game that has:

• UI/UX even more terrible than GT7 (other than next License but that's also a downgrade from before, of course silly PD thinks it's good idea).
• The tedious, frustrating, and way too much License tests.
• Duplicate, unnecessary, out of date, cars. GT has always fooled the players into thinking that they have huge car lists.
• Covering their incompetence of game design with rubberbanding in AI
• Worse, they neglect it to focus on useless Photo Mode (what inept move)
• Locking the players of the cars with not for sale cars, prize exclusive cars, or used cars.
• Even if the events are many, those consist of repetitive events with only difference in cars and laps, or championship format/not.
• Frustrating mission design with players being forced to wait or unfair penalty.
• Terrible car sound.
• Other unexposed issues.

But those are swept under the rug.

No, it's just accepted that the standard for games in 2005 wasn't as high as it is in 2022. The same way that we can appreciate old cars that are objectively garbage by modern standards but were beyond anything else that was available at the time.

I still think GT4 is surprisingly fun to play now, but it's "surprisingly" fun because my expectations for a 17 year old game are not high. GT4 did a lot well, for it's time.

There are very few games that are actually evergreen, and GT4 isn't one of them. None of the Gran Turismo games are really. GT4 isn't going to be something that is played forever like Starcraft Brood War or Street Fighter 2 Turbo. It's just a game that was good at the time, a time when the bar for a decent racing game was surprisingly low.

This is why trying to copy GT4 outright is a mistake - but Polyphony should still be using the parts that worked and modernising the parts that didn't or that have aged poorly.

Like what? GT7 is everything you could ever hope for from a GT game. Some people will never be satisfied

It's really not. It might be everything you could ever hope for from a GT game, but it doesn't take much imagination to think of things that could be added to improve it. Being dissatisfied with a game that doesn't bother to include races for International or Super licences isn't unreasonable if you bought the game for the single player mode, for example.

It's okay to be happy with what the game provides while still recognising that for some people it's going to be below some totally reasonable expectations.

 

[StarRacer]

"The Real Driving Simulator"
Well, I have been to a lot of race tracks.....races.....track days.....etc. I have NEVER experienced any "mission events" at any of them. NEVER. You practice. You qualify. You race!
Also, I have never experienced a single track or event promoter stop the race and encourage everyone to take pics of their cars in different settings. Just saying.

 

[Yard_Sale]

"The Real Driving Simulator"
Well, I have been to a lot of race tracks.....races.....track days.....etc. I have NEVER experienced any "mission events" at any of them. NEVER. You practice. You qualify. You race!
Also, I have never experienced a single track or event promoter stop the race and encourage everyone to take pics of their cars in different settings. Just saying.

Cool story 👍🏼

 

[Imari]

"The Real Driving Simulator"
Well, I have been to a lot of race tracks.....races.....track days.....etc. I have NEVER experienced any "mission events" at any of them. NEVER. You practice. You qualify. You race!
Also, I have never experienced a single track or event promoter stop the race and encourage everyone to take pics of their cars in different settings. Just saying.

Maybe you should diversify your motoring experience then. Try some autocross or gymkhana, it's fun and easy!

 

[tankuroded]

PD and GT has always earned too much credit, they never deserve as much prop as they received all this time. Not just GT7 but any of the older GT, of which what's wrong with PD there got swept away by nostalgia.

So you're basically flat-out saying that "GT was never good" in vein of what certain parts of Sonic fans have said about their series - something I've thought might belong here.

 

[StarRacer]

So you're basically flat-out saying that "GT was never good" in vein of what certain parts of Sonic fans have said about their series - something I've thought might belong here.

That's not what I said at all. I said those things aren't reality at tracks across America. I LOVE the racing (single player). I LOVE experiencing different cars. I LOVE the upgrading and the tuning. I LOVE being able to customize a car in the livery editor. It's a personal opinion honestly but I just feel ALL of those things could be enhanced even more if some of the other stuff like the missions and photoshoots were left out. People talk about both of those on here like it's something you "have to do" or you're not experiencing the game properly. The game started as a racing game and is still marketed as a racing game. And I would be 100% cool if it was JUST a racing game!

 

[tankuroded]

That's not what I said at all. I said those things aren't reality at tracks across America. I LOVE the racing (single player). I LOVE experiencing different cars. I LOVE the upgrading and the tuning. I LOVE being able to customize a car in the livery editor. It's a personal opinion honestly but I just feel ALL of those things could be enhanced even more if some of the other stuff like the missions and photoshoots were left out. People talk about both of those on here like it's something you "have to do" or you're not experiencing the game properly. The game started as a racing game and is still marketed as a racing game. And I would be 100% cool if it was JUST a racing game!

Who are you quoting?

 

[Abyss1]

Holy molly, the hatred is still going strong from the review bombers.

I think it was clear they were talking about the user score.

Yes every time i read a recent user review im almost convinced people are buying it and hating most everything about it. Aside from the forums ive not seen anything positive about this game.

If fact all the drama made me pull out my ps2 and started playing gt2 and gt3 (which have recent metacritc user feesback too)

 

[SomeGamer2021]

All I want and am looking forward to are the IB/IA/S events. Hopefully they won't be added little by little, each 1 or 2 month like with 1.13.

 

[CarreraGT]

Yes well done, you listed pretty much all of them. Now we wait for the rest. Now what about the career mode? Should we not have hoped for that either?

To be fair you said no new cars and I just named 8