Kazunori Yamauchi Responds to Gran Turismo 7 Fan Outrage

[Cerebral303]

Thanks to the suggestion here I now have Forza 7 installing.

GT7 has been such a spectacular failure I not only didn't buy it, a game I have been waiting years for, I actually went and bought a totally different one, their rival, instead!

 

[Phaceless_Ph]

I'm just glad Sucker Punch, Guerrilla Studios and Valkyrie Entertainment aren't run by a total LIAR so there's other Sony IPs around that can actually make use of my PS5.

He can try use language designed to deflect blame towards Sony as much as he wants, but this is all on Kazunori Yamauchi, anyone one else in this type of situation of their own making would have resigned by now.

Sometimes being a CEO is about being able to read the room, and he clearly is unable to do this.

 

[slotcarrod]

This all just boils down to one thing, greed!

 

[GranTourNismo]

Most of the noise currently seems to be about the races not paying enough, the need to grind for long periods of time and people being pushed towards microtransactions, which some people take as whining, need for instant gratification etc. What's sort of half-ignored in this conversation is the gaping hole of missing content, which of course is closely related to this issue.

For me, not getting cars fast enough is not the issue. In fact, my initial impression was that the game hands out cars like candy - you get a new car every two to three laps, basically. For the amount of time I've spent on the game - basically the time it takes to go through the menu books - I wouldn't be too upset if I had half the cars I currently have. The obvious problem is once you've collected the roughly one-fifth of the game's car catalogue, you run out of content.

Tripling the prizes from every race wouldn't solve the problem. It doesn't matter if I have to grind the same races for four days or twelve days to get what I want, it'd be the same mindless slog regardless. And for what? To take pictures? The last thing I want PD to take from this backlash is that if they just increase the rewards, everything will be good.

I don't need all the cars. I honestly wouldn't mind if it took me a year to get even close to having all the cars, as long as I had the content to keep me interested. Right now, the game is another GT Sport with nothing left to do but to grind daily races. I understand the simracer types have different preferences but Gran Turismo doesn't need to directly compete with Assetto Corsa or iRacing. GT has, or should have, all this other stuff to make it more of a game as opposed to these more hardcore sims. I feel like all this should go without saying to anyone who's ever played GT outside of GT7 and GT Sport.

 

[sejtur]

Most of the noise currently seems to be about the races not paying enough, the need to grind for long periods of time and people being pushed towards microtransactions, which some people take as whining, need for instant gratification etc. What's sort of half-ignored in this conversation is the gaping hole of missing content, which of course is closely related to this issue.

For me, not getting cars fast enough is not the issue. In fact, my initial impression was that the game hands out cars like candy - you get a new car every two to three laps, basically. For the amount of time I've spent on the game - basically the time it takes to go through the menu books - I wouldn't be too upset if I had half the cars I currently have. The obvious problem is once you've collected the roughly one-fifth of the game's car catalogue, you run out of content.

Tripling the prizes from every race wouldn't solve the problem. It doesn't matter if I have to grind the same races for four days or twelve days to get what I want, it'd be the same mindless slog regardless. And for what? To take pictures? The last thing I want PD to take from this backlash is that if they just increase the rewards, everything will be good.

I don't need all the cars. I honestly wouldn't mind if it took me a year to get even close to having all the cars, as long as I had the content to keep me interested. Right now, the game is another GT Sport with nothing left to do but to grind daily races. I understand the simracer types have different preferences but Gran Turismo doesn't need to directly compete with Assetto Corsa or iRacing. GT has, or should have, all this other stuff to make it more of a game as opposed to these more hardcore sims. I feel like all this should go without saying to anyone who's ever played GT outside of GT7 and GT Sport.

I really think it would. Tripling the prices before the pricing nerf, that is.

 

[DodgySyrup]

Well I bought it on cdkeys for £14.99 and have just played through the very engaging intro. Quick look through the cars shows incredible diversity. Any idea what bit is turned off?

No, sorry.

I thought they had stopped supporting the servers etc...

Or, perhaps, it was simply removed from Game Pass.

 

[GranTourNismo]

I really think it would. Tripling the prices before the pricing nerf, that is.

It wouldn't solve the lack of a game around your car collection. I recognize that having a virtual garage to gawk at is part of the game, but if that's all there is to it, I just don't see the point.

 

[austindeckerGT5]

This isn't the place for it but 5 was the largest racing game, by far, to launch with a new console.

You can argue if they really needed to make it a launch title but it is still one of the best racing games launched alongside a new console.

missed the Forza part of that? FM5 had 320 cars and maybe 20 tracks lol FM7 has 834 cars with 31 locations with a total of 122 layouts....

 

[danjama]

This is the truest statement that would ease a lot of the issue - some of the prices are cloud cuckoo land. 100k credits for an S2000, 78k was it for a Trans Am. That's mental, especially as they're well used examples with over 30,000 miles on the clock.

400k+ for an R34 ffs. One of the reasons we fell in love with Japanese cars was their affordability. Suddenly GT is just a reality simulator. I already can't afford an R34 so, thanks PD.

 

[Supaboost]

People are ******* impatient! 🙄
Simple is that. 😜
They want millions in days.
Platinum trophy in weeks.
You have to deserve it, and fight for it my friends... a LOT!!! 👍 🙂
This game is not for months, this is for YEARS!
It's meant to be a loooong adventure.
So stop complaining, and enjoy the ride, or simple play anything else, if you want quick progression.
Someone in the community is already 2 trophies away from platinum, after two weeks from the game release, for christ sake! 🙏
So I'm totally understand polyphony's decision to make the credit progress a lot harder.
I've already finished the Cafe Books, and have a lot of cars in my collection, because of that i don't have anything to complain about.
I really don't mind if i earn the platinum trophy, and all of the cars; in 2023 Christmas... 🎄😉😜
If you are an "instant get" type of person, not a problem: there is microtransactions for you... 🤣

You apologists are hilariously way out of touch, and all your aruments are always a load of pure BS.

Patience for what exactly ? when theres nothing left to play for till they update and add new events yet rare cars keep dissapearing and who know when they will ever be back for sale.

Nobody mention platnum till you did lol, thats how void of merit your cries are.

 

[PSN:And-War]

I still don't call that an opology

 

[kp1993wroc]

I think GT7 should go back to car setting bonus like it was in GT Sport. That way if you had a clean race with a weak car you would get a bigger payout.

 

[Pizzicato1985]

Fortnite changed the way Sony think...they dont want to base a games success on units sold..its all about the extra money spent online.... if they dont make their target for on line extra payments...the prize money will go down again....profit over product....And i dont think Kaz has a say in this.

I don't buy that Sony is responsible for the MTX/economy for a second. God of War, Bloodborne, Horizon 1+2, Spiderman, Spiderman Miles Morales, Days Gone, Shadow of the Colossus remake are all huge first-party games in Sony's stable just like GT, and those games have zero micro-transactions. Just checked PSN on the ones I haven't played and the only thing for sale is DLC and digital comics. Horizon FW and Spiderman Morales are very recent games too so it's not just a trend in their old first-party titles.

As much as I hate defending Sony, it appears they actively discourage MTX's as they don't even have the suite of cosmetics almost every other game has for sale.

Same thing is true of the always-online single-player titles; I don't see this in any of the other first-party Sony games I own...

This is 100% Kaz and PD and people need to direct their ire at the actual source of the problem and stop covering for them. By claiming Sony is forcing this upon them it shifts both blame and ire away from PD, and they are the one's that deserve both if we ever want to see these practices rolled back. If anyone can show me some actual proof to the contrary I'll eat my words, but I've yet to see anything other than conjecture that this is the fault of Sony.

 

[danjama]

Thanks to the suggestion here I now have Forza 7 installing.

GT7 has been such a spectacular failure I not only didn't buy it, a game I have been waiting years for, I actually went and bought a totally different one, their rival, instead!

In contrast to gt7, I installed fm7 today and have been flooded with gift cars 😆

 

[pokemonfan58]

So, I point out your bull **** No true Scotsman fallacy, and I'm a 'PD defender'?

You don't get to define what a 'real fan' is.

I need to come back to this post because there’s something I need to clarify.

When I said PD Defender, I wasn’t trying to directly call you a PD Defender and I was making a joke about the people defending the decisions Kaz made with this game by making some made up quote a defender would say and I thought you were joking around with me when you said “Get Over Yourself”. What I didn’t expect was that you genuinely meant it. All because of what I defined what a real fan is.

That is just toxic.

 

[regnar]

Of course GT7 will be around for several years and yes, there is no rush... but...

The price of the most expensive cars in the game, coupled with the low rate of income of Cr. earned from gameplay, the absurd cost of credits via 'microtransactions' and the frankly cynical limit on free credits one can acquire (20 million) makes it nigh on impossible to collect some of these cars without paying an obscene amount of real money for them.

Based on ca. 2 hours of daily gameplay, I can expect to earn ca. 1 million Cr. a week, and half of that is likely to go on regular cars, parts and customisation (otherwise known as 'playing Gran Turismo'...). But even committing 50% of my earning to save up for high end cars will mean a maximum of around 26 million Cr. a year, but crucially we are not allowed to hold this much earned Cr..

In order to buy some of the big ticket cars, one would have to stop spending earned Cr. completely, and play the game for 2 hours a day for 280 days in order to buy just one 20 million Cr. car. That, or top up one's Cr. with real money purchases from the PS Store. But at £16/$21 for just 2 million Cr., that is not a fair option IMO. Of course, this would come at the expense of purchasing any other cars in the game, stopping all upgrades and customisation, and effectively killing much of the game.

So, no. It is not about patience, it's about the in-game economy fundamentally changing the way the game will be experienced by millions of users.

Thanks for this post, it need to be nailed to the board for all to see, this gives a realty check where we are currently with this game

 

[ElieTheStig]

Kaz your game is unfinished on release date if you need to add additional content later to complete the career and have access to most of the cars. This looks like a make the career wait step by step so impatient people buy cars with real money / micro transactions. unless is for welcoming Sophy the AI to the rest of the career events : ) ... still an unfinished game.

 

[Gt79]

In contrast to gt7, I installed fm7 today and have been flooded with gift cars 😆

LOL ferrari fxx k fm7 1,5 mil gt7 3.6 mil oh and you gonna need an invitation from his majesty the king rng

 

[Famine]

That is just toxic.

Heh.

Let's suppose someone disagreed with you, and decided that a "real fan" of Gran Turismo is someone who supports it no matter what, and that you are not a real fan and "deserve to be criticized" for not doing so (and let's be clear, you said the people "deserve to be criticized", not the points they're making).

Now you have two groups of people who each think they are the "real fan" and the other group should be criticized.

How do you think that discussion would play out, with each group thinking they have the moral high ground and can insult and abuse the other group?

I can tell you, it'll just be two walls of idiots hurling abuse at each other, and a very busy moderation staff trying to clear it up - including bans for people who don't think they're doing anything wrong. That **** is poisonous, and kills communities.


Now I invite you to muse on the precise meaning of "toxic"...

Does it really apply to someone who is pointing out you're pulling a "no true Scotsman" fallacy? Or is it more appropriate to someone who is starting the situation I describe above by drawing out the line on what a "real fan" is or isn't?

 

[FCE_TR64]

Polyphony Digital, Kazunori, I hope you read this:

-Dirt Champions - Fishermans Ranch payout back to 65k or if PD really loves us even more
-Adjust the Always-Online mode to only for the Sport mode and other online modes
-Adjust the Price pool of the Sport mode to that of GT7.
-Remove the ridiculous „invitations“ to buy a car this also good for your profits so the wealthy ones can buy MTX and you don‘t need the middle/lower class folks for that.
-Wealthy MTX players will also spend money for new Cars from Updates so no need for the not-so-wealthy players to impeded from money farming.

And I am 99% sure with that, most of players will delete their negative Metacritic ratings, players like me will reinstall and actively play this game. Learn from Rockstar Games. They do it all the right way except the 2nd re-release and their tireless efforts to overpunish money glitchers

 

[mrPetros]

Well I bought it on cdkeys for £14.99 and have just played through the very engaging intro. Quick look through the cars shows incredible diversity. Any idea what bit is turned off?

they just took it out of their marketplace to sell.
EVERYTHING is 100% functional.

Hell, even motorsport 6 and motorsport 5 are fully functional.
Even forza motorsport 4 and forza horizon 1 from the xbox 360 are still fully functional

 

[br1x]

Of course GT7 will be around for several years and yes, there is no rush... but...

The price of the most expensive cars in the game, coupled with the low rate of income of Cr. earned from gameplay, the absurd cost of credits via 'microtransactions' and the frankly cynical limit on free credits one can acquire (20 million) makes it nigh on impossible to collect some of these cars without paying an obscene amount of real money for them.

Based on ca. 2 hours of daily gameplay, I can expect to earn ca. 1 million Cr. a week, and half of that is likely to go on regular cars, parts and customisation (otherwise known as 'playing Gran Turismo'...). But even committing 50% of my earning to save up for high end cars will mean a maximum of around 26 million Cr. a year, but crucially we are not allowed to hold this much earned Cr..

In order to buy some of the big ticket cars, one would have to stop spending earned Cr. completely, and play the game for 2 hours a day for 280 days in order to buy just one 20 million Cr. car. That, or top up one's Cr. with real money purchases from the PS Store. But at £16/$21 for just 2 million Cr., that is not a fair option IMO. Of course, this would come at the expense of purchasing any other cars in the game, stopping all upgrades and customisation, and effectively killing much of the game.

So, no. It is not about patience, it's about the in-game economy fundamentally changing the way the game will be experienced by millions of users.

And you are not even mentioning a critical point here.

There are quite a few time-exclusive mechanics in the game, that try to urge you to spend your money because you don't know when, if ever, you will see a car again:
The brand invitations and the Hagerty collection.
I really wanted the Porsche 911 GT1 as it is one of my favorite cars in the game, so I had to go and grind from about 1.000.000 up to 3.000.000 up to be able to buy it or use MTX, or I might not get the chance to ever get it again or at the very least for a very long time.

 

[Gt79]

they just took it out of their marketplace to sell.
EVERYTHING is 100% functional.

Hell, even motorsport 6 and motorsport 5 are fully functional.
Even forza motorsport 4 and forza horizon 1 from the xbox 360 are still fully functional

Can confirm due to licensing it's not in official store, fm6 and 7 still work fine although I didn't play much online recently

 

[ruggermole]

The thing about micro transactions that puts me off is what do I do when I dish out the money for it. Okay I've dished out $80 to drive my dream car in a simulator-ish setting, I can see if that's how you want to spend your money you could justify it to yourself. But you don't even know what settings you'll be able to drive that car. The online lobbies in the game have been stripped down, there hasn't been an outline of what the future of career mode is going to be so IDK if I can use my dream car there, and sport has traditionally not featured the super cars.

It's asking people to put their money in the faith that their will be a product later.

 

[FCE_TR64]

And you are not even mentioning a critical point here.

There are quite a few time-exclusive mechanics in the game, that try to urge you to spend your money because you don't know when, if ever, you will see it again:
The brand invitations and the Hagerty collection.
I really wanted the Porsche 911 GT1 as it is one of my favorite cars in the game, so I had to go and grind from about 1.000.000 up to 3.000.000 up to be able to buy it or use, or I might not get the chance to ever get it again or at the very least for a very long time.

I hated that in Gran Turismo PSP and I hate it now.

 

[Samus]

And you are not even mentioning a critical point here.

There are quite a few time-exclusive mechanics in the game, that try to urge you to spend your money because you don't know when, if ever, you will see it again:
The brand invitations and the Hagerty collection.
I really wanted the Porsche 911 GT1 as it is one of my favorite cars in the game, so I had to go and grind from about 1.000.000 up to 3.000.000 up to be able to buy it or use, or I might not get the chance to ever get it again or at the very least for a very long time.

Roughly two months. That's how long it'll take for a car to come back around in Hagerty based on the current estimated number of legendary cars and the fact they rotate at just under 1 new one per day.

Such fun. This is supposed to be fun, a game, not a real life hellhole simulator.

 

[avilab]

Man, we got Gran Shafting. Kaz, not cool, not cool.

 

[ianF-69]

I don't buy that Sony is responsible for the MTX/economy for a second. God of War, Bloodborne, Horizon 1+2, Spiderman, Spiderman Miles Morales, Days Gone, Shadow of the Colossus remake are all huge first-party games in Sony's stable just like GT, and those games have zero micro-transactions. Just checked PSN on the ones I haven't played and the only thing for sale is DLC and digital comics. Horizon FW and Spiderman Morales are very recent games too so it's not just a trend in their old first-party titles.

As much as I hate defending Sony, it appears they actively discourage MTX's as they don't even have the suite of cosmetics almost every other game has for sale.

Same thing is true of the always-online single-player titles; I don't see this in any of the other first-party Sony games I own...

This is 100% Kaz and PD and people need to direct their ire at the actual source of the problem and stop covering for them. By claiming Sony is forcing this upon them it shifts both blame and ire away from PD, and they are the one's that deserve both if we ever want to see these practices rolled back. If anyone can show me some actual proof to the contrary I'll eat my words, but I've yet to see anything other than conjecture that this is the fault of Sony.

I get your points....but..why is this game not available on pc...and x box.? Its because Sony bankroll the devolpment and they hence dictate how it should bring the biggest profit from their investment....low credits for race involment means more income from add on purchases...Sony reviewed the race payments and decided they were too high..Kaz and co were then forced to react to employers that were not happy with the current situation of users grinding large credits from continual play of certain races..no pay ...no play senario.

 

[br1x]

Roughly two months. That's how long it'll take for a car to come back around in Hagerty based on the current estimated number of legendary cars and the fact they rotate at just under 1 new one per day.

Such fun. This is supposed to be fun, a game, not a real life hellhole simulator.

Well that is an estimation for a fixed cycle, it might just be random as well though.

Good to know either way.

 

[Phaceless_Ph]

I hated that in Gran Turismo PSP and I hate it now.

Gran Turismo PSP had a relatively easy grind = you could just abuse the drift mode.