Kazunori Yamauchi Responds to Gran Turismo 7 Fan Outrage

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So I contacted PlayStation to ask for a refund, pointing out three examples of false advertising...

  • “With the reintroduction of the legendary GT Simulation Mode, buy, tune, race AND SELL your way through a rewarding solo campaign…” - (No, we can't sell our cars)
  • “With over 420 cars available at Brand Central and the Used Car Dealership from day one…” - (No there were not "over 420 cars" available. Today, of the total 424 cars, 5 are "sold out" and many are just not in the stores to buy)
  • “Online play optional” - No, Online Play is a requirement to have access to owned cars, their tunes and liveries, racing suits and helmet ownership and liveries, replays, Scapes photos and Race photos, time trial lap time records and so on. NONE OF THE DATA SAVED ON MY PS4 IS ACCESSIBLE WHEN OFFLINE, SO IT’S NOT “OPTIONAL”.
... and the changes made to the economy in the latest 1.08 patch.

The chat did not finish up well.

  • Erick E.:Thank you so much for the details I understand you would like to get a refund for the content however let me shared with you that, In this case, payment was taken more than 14 days ago. I'm sorry, due to the restrictions outlined in the PlayStation Store Cancellation Policy; a refund cannot be made for this transaction.
  • Erick E.:I cannot thank you enough for your understanding. Please remember you contacted us today to get a refund the reason as to why cannot be done has been shared, at this time we are unable to provide the solution expected. Before we say goodbye please tell me, is there any other question or anything else I can try to assist you with today?
About 2 seconds later, he typed this...
  • Erick E.:Thanks for contacting PlayStation please enjoy the rest of your day
... and immediately disconnected me from the chat!

It's true, I did pre-pay. I paid for GT7 on February 14th, which more than 14 days ahead of March 4th. So I was screwed the day I paid.

So no more pre-ordering from the Playstation Store for me.

/endrant
I just tried to refund and was cut off too. They are not friendly at all. I used similar arguments like you did and was denied.

So I decided since you ain't givin a **** about unhappy customers, I'll oblige by never buying a game brand new, I'll buy them on ebay 3-6 months later. So for a 100 CAD refund they lost a few thousand dollars from me.

Gonna jail break my PS4 now and enjoy that too. Thanks Sony, your behavior saved me a lot of money today.
 
So, the forum shows you posted this around 9pm, my time. It's currently 2:21pm; the number has jumped from 4,109 to 4,862 (in fact, it's jumped 20 after a refresh).

This is merely an observation, but I will admit I'm surprised it's still taking a beating.
Hmmm, looks like not everybody is happy with current economy...
 
I dont care about the decisions, that have been made at polyphony. I understand Kaz. It’s his vision.

I was mad first but I realized, that I have already 110 cars :embarrassed: and most of them hasn't beed used and experienced so far.

I used to grind a lot on fischermans ranch and now as I recall myself during that time I think that I was pathetic. It’s a relief, no more grinding, I play for fun.

We need more events to use cars that we own. That's the only problem. Hopefully it'll change soon.
Kaz's vision must be holier than even the Holy Grail, I can't explain that free pass he gets no matter what!
 
I just tried to refund and was cut off too. They are not friendly at all. I used similar arguments like you did and was denied.

So I decided since you ain't givin a **** about unhappy customers, I'll oblige by never buying a game brand new, I'll buy them on ebay 3-6 months later. So for a 100 CAD refund they lost a few thousand dollars from me.

Gonna jail break my PS4 now and enjoy that too. Thanks Sony, your behavior saved me a lot of money today.
I've looked at their Purchasing License agreement and everything is under California law. I've down a little bit of research but I'm still at work so haven't gone full bore. This week I think I'll try to find some contracts cases in California and see if I can draft up a letter to send them.
 
So I contacted PlayStation to ask for a refund, pointing out three examples of false advertising...

  • “With the reintroduction of the legendary GT Simulation Mode, buy, tune, race AND SELL your way through a rewarding solo campaign…” - (No, we can't sell our cars)
  • “With over 420 cars available at Brand Central and the Used Car Dealership from day one…” - (No there were not "over 420 cars" available. Today, of the total 424 cars, 5 are "sold out" and many are just not in the stores to buy)
  • “Online play optional” - No, Online Play is a requirement to have access to owned cars, their tunes and liveries, racing suits and helmet ownership and liveries, replays, Scapes photos and Race photos, time trial lap time records and so on. NONE OF THE DATA SAVED ON MY PS4 IS ACCESSIBLE WHEN OFFLINE, SO IT’S NOT “OPTIONAL”.
... and the changes made to the economy in the latest 1.08 patch.
What does this have to do with the customer support agent? You're just throwing a bunch of crap at him that's not his job to deal with.

That's a complaint you can direct towards PD, or report to the FTC.
The chat did not finish up well.

  • Erick E.:Thank you so much for the details I understand you would like to get a refund for the content however let me shared with you that, In this case, payment was taken more than 14 days ago. I'm sorry, due to the restrictions outlined in the PlayStation Store Cancellation Policy; a refund cannot be made for this transaction.
  • Erick E.:I cannot thank you enough for your understanding. Please remember you contacted us today to get a refund the reason as to why cannot be done has been shared, at this time we are unable to provide the solution expected. Before we say goodbye please tell me, is there any other question or anything else I can try to assist you with today?
About 2 seconds later, he typed this...
  • Erick E.:Thanks for contacting PlayStation please enjoy the rest of your day
... and immediately disconnected me from the chat!

It's true, I did pre-pay. I paid for GT7 on February 14th, which more than 14 days ahead of March 4th. So I was screwed the day I paid.

So no more pre-ordering from the Playstation Store for me.

/endrant
Your first issue was resolved and you didn't say there were any other issues. I don't know what to tell you.

Maybe he cut it too short and you did have some other issue unrelated to the refund and you couldn't tell him in time: that's his bad, but it doesn't seem like it at all. Not sure what was actually lost...

Pre-ordering is lame anyway. The bonuses you get usually aren't worth it. Though, if you know you're in it for the long haul already, I don't see the harm in it.
 
GT Sport at the end of life had:

40 license tests
32 missions
4 leagues
47 championships total in all leagues
300 events total in all championships
25 of those events where 1hr endurance events
circuit driving experience
custom races
Lewis Hamilton Challenge (paid DLC)

usually all Gran Turismo games used to carry most of events from previous games.
I don't understand how it is possible all those events have not been carried over (even more with new tracks) to GT7, based on basically the same number of cars, which allows to have the same number of championships.
That should have been the start point of events and grow from there, not the meager amount of events we have now.
 
Still waiting to do endurance races and Gr.1 championships. Or even Red Bull and/or Formula championships. How many more days do we have to wait?

Hopefully all of which have prize cars and good payouts.
 
GT Sport at the end of life had:

40 license tests
32 missions
4 leagues
47 championships total in all leagues
300 events total in all championships
25 of those events where 1hr endurance events
circuit driving experience
custom races
Lewis Hamilton Challenge (paid DLC)

usually all Gran Turismo games used to carry most of events from previous games.
I don't understand how it is possible all those events have not been carried over (even more with new tracks) to GT7, based on basically the same number of cars, which allows to have the same number of championships.
That should have been the start point of events and grow from there, not the meager amount of events we have now.
What has the PD team been doing since GT Sport? Actually what have they been doing since GT6? I get it, they worked on GT S. But really there should have been a team dedicated to GT7. We we got was graphics from ps4 era, cars from 6-7 years ago, 400 cars, still no crash damage, the crap goes on and on.
 
Don't sport and racing games universally have "last-gen" graphics? I feel like I see this comment made about every game in those two genres.
 
Just bare in mind that you can complete all the events in the game without spending any real world money. Wait a while and you may get said cars as prizes or see events that give out bigger payouts to obtain them easier. Right now there is no requirement to spend money on microtransactions to progress through the game. If this was the case I'd be very pissed and say with absolute certainty that yes, Sony are pushing microtransactions. But I am not convinced of this. Of course, Kaz' message very much sounds like a "**** you" at this time but if we actually think long term, which you should, it makes sense. This is me being optimistic because I want to make the most out of my purchase, instead of discarding it after 3 weeks.
 
Just bare in mind that you can complete all the events in the game without spending any real world money. Wait a while and you may get said cars as prizes or see events that give out bigger payouts to obtain them easier. Right now there is no requirement to spend money on microtransactions to progress through the game. If this was the case I'd be very pissed and say with absolute certainty that yes, Sony are pushing microtransactions. But I am not convinced of this. Of course, Kaz' message very much sounds like a "**** you" at this time but if we actually think long term, which you should, it makes sense. This is me being optimistic because I want to make the most out of my purchase, instead of discarding it after 3 weeks.
I think that's a pretty good viewpoint to have. I just wish they would come out and say what their plan for future events is instead of just saying to trust them. There's no reason for there to be mystery about what future events are going to be added.
 
Just bare in mind that you can complete all the events in the game without spending any real world money. Wait a while and you may get said cars as prizes or see events that give out bigger payouts to obtain them easier. Right now there is no requirement to spend money on microtransactions to progress through the game. If this was the case I'd be very pissed and say with absolute certainty that yes, Sony are pushing microtransactions. But I am not convinced of this. Of course, Kaz' message very much sounds like a "**** you" at this time but if we actually think long term, which you should, it makes sense. This is me being optimistic because I want to make the most out of my purchase, instead of discarding it after 3 weeks.
I think you are puffing hard on the hopium pipe tbh. Everything they have done and said so far points in the other direction.

You are right, we know there is more to come and I have no doubt that more content will be delivered. But the most important aspect of building anything is the foundation. At the moment we have what looks like a foundation of **** which doesn’t bode well for what’s to come. They can and hopefully will change the trajectory, but until we see it we can only assume that they will follow the obvious path that they started with.

I’m not throwing the game out either all that being said, I’m just not as confident that they will fix it.
 
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I think you are puffing hard on the hopium pipe tbh. Everything they have done and said so far points in the other direction.

You are right, we know there is more to come and I have no doubt that more content will be delivered. But the most important aspect of building anything is the foundation. At the moment we have what looks like a foundation of **** which doesn’t bode well for what’s to come. They can and hopefully will change the trajectory, but until we see it we can only assume that they will follow the obvious path that they started with.

I’m not throwing the game out either all that being said, I’m just not as confident that they will fix it.
The only reason why I'm hopeful is due to the amount of content they added to GT Sport. I don't want to write off GT7 just yet.
 
I think that's a pretty good viewpoint to have. I just wish they would come out and say what their plan for future events is instead of just saying to trust them. There's no reason for there to be mystery about what future events are going to be added.
that's actually a really garbage viewpoint to have because i'm sure you can't name one game that isn't on mobile that requires microtransactions to progress through the game. saying wait for a random gamble mechanic you can do once a day is also quite laughable. very copium post you quoted
 
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The only reason why I'm hopeful is due to the amount of content they added to GT Sport. I don't want to write off GT7 just yet.
The mtx setup in sport was much different though. The cars were cheap enough and most of what was offered to buy with real money was grindable in an hour or so. The unicorns couldn’t be bought with real cash, so it was an honest kind of model that fits with what Kaz’s vision is advertised to be. GT7 is the exact opposite. IMO the intention is clear, and unless they change it the majority of us will suffer for it.
 
The mtx setup in sport was much different though. The cars were cheap enough and most of what was offered to buy with real money was grindable in an hour or so. The unicorns couldn’t be bought with real cash, so it was an honest kind of model that fits with what Kaz’s vision is advertised to be.
Not really, given that two months before GT Sports release he stated quite clearly that GT Sport would not have Microtransactions.


GT7 is the exact opposite. IMO the intention is clear, and unless they change it the majority of us will suffer for it.
Neither title should have had them, and it's arguable that when the presence of them was accepted, and people bought them in GT Sport (because people most certainly did) the groundwork was laid for the more predatory approach we are seeing today. I will be honest, I am surprised at just how damn aggressive they are and how much Sony/PD/Kaz seems to have doubled down on them.
 
Not really, given that two months before GT Sports release he stated quite clearly that GT Sport would not have Microtransactions.



Neither title should have had them, and it's arguable that when the presence of them was accepted, and people bought them in GT Sport (because people most certainly did) the groundwork was laid for the more predatory approach we are seeing today. I will be honest, I am surprised at just how damn aggressive they are and how much Sony/PD/Kaz seems to have doubled down on them.
I just wonder who's responsible for all this.
 
Credits yes perhaps, but GT Sport gave you a car per day just for driving. You could enjoy the game, enjoy driving doing whatever you want, and here's a car for your time. It might be not a car you care about, or maybe it's a duplicate, but it's a car. Sometimes a quite expensive one. And so our rosters filled up with a nice array of cars over time and we could save our credits for the cars we really wanted. And if you z the super rare $$$ cars you still had to put in the effort. It was a great system. Alas, PD threw it in the trash.

Yeah but I litteraly had 12 Gr b genisis coups and over 20 renault clio Rs's . I have gotten better cars from teh current system and would much rather 5,000 credits than a dupe of a econocar . I kept all my unsellable giftcars expecting PD might one day allow me to sell them , so i can go back and count how much duplicate garbage i got. Well over 100 cars
 
I just wonder who's responsible for all this.
In my view it's a combination of both Sony and PD, Jim Ryan at Sony has been quite clear in his drive for games as a service, which is pretty much shorthand for MTXs. however, Kaz has a high enough profile and tenure within both PD and Sony to have been able to push back on this, combined with a game design that is so clearly and intrinsically linked to promoting MTX's, and the open letter (I'm reluctant to call it an apology) doubling down on the nerf's to the game economy, and I don't see how Kaz (and by extension PD) couldn't have also been complicit.

Ironically Jim Ryan once argued in an interview that microtransactions were no worse than charging $70 for a game that might not be that great! Guess he finally decided he would go for both options, an unfinished game, and microtransactions. I think they may have paid a little too much attention to the last question as well, and chosen to add them after the reviews are all out.

GC: …is microtransactions and free-to-play gaming, which you had a little section on in your media briefing. I worry greatly that these games are created and balanced, not for gameplay but for monetisation. What is Sony’s policy on all this, especially in terms of using them with full-price games?

JR:
Well, it’s a very subjective value judgement that you’re making there. Is monetising a game through a series of microtransactions less abusive than asking somebody to pay €70 all-in-one go for what might not necessarily be a great gaming experience?

GC: It’s absolutely more abusive. Because they can read up on and know exactly what a retail game is and what it contains, and they can make a very accurate estimate of what its future sell-on value will be. They can rent or borrow it, or simply wait until it’s cheaper. And they can know that its gameplay and difficulty has not been artificially altered in order to encourage them to pay out microtransactions every few hours.

JR:
Hmm…

 
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Not really, given that two months before GT Sports release he stated quite clearly that GT Sport would not have Microtransactions.
I think that this is an example of lost in translation, and have always done so.

I've always understood the term to mean any payment of real-world money to acquire an in-game currency, however it seems that there's a general evolution of it to mean any real-world payment for a digitally delivered item.

This, incidentally, would make all paid DLC a "microtransaction" and in fact any game download too - so technically if you bought GT Sport digitally, it's a microtransaction.

That's why I don't like it as a term, and I prefer to stick to its meaning of cash-for-credits - though I recognise I'm not exactly on the mainstream side of this.

Thus when Yamauchi said "no microtransactions in GT Sport", he could have meant "no cash-for-credits like GT6 in GT Sport", but it would have been more widely understood as "nothing you can buy in-game for money in GT Sport".

On this one I'm entirely willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Though I am still highly pissed at GT7's economy and what I'd definitely class as microtransactions.
 
What has the PD team been doing since GT Sport? Actually what have they been doing since GT6? I get it, they worked on GT S. But really there should have been a team dedicated to GT7. We we got was graphics from ps4 era, cars from 6-7 years ago, 400 cars, still no crash damage, the crap goes on and on.
GT cafe is an interesting idea, but pretty bad implemented. Just one car for a 2 laps race and even you only have to place 3rd? Come on. Every entry should have been a championship with 3-5 events, and give me a car if a place first in all, like in old GT4. Car can be used for next championship and so on.
You can just fly through those menus and most all championship are ridiculous, same course but in reverse, just two races?
I want championships and I want to have the same feeling that I have in GT4 to get a car when all races are gold or you get the first in the championship, that was the real Gran Turismo.
Now the only way to get new cars after all cafe menus are gone is with credits or those awful and crappy tickets. Yesterday finally I got a Nissan 370Z after 10 days of consecutive worst prices in 1,2 and 3 start tickets.
Give me championship where I can get a car, even the same car, so it can be sold! ok, I forgot, I can not sale cars!
 
What has the PD team been doing since GT Sport? Actually what have they been doing since GT6? I get it, they worked on GT S. But really there should have been a team dedicated to GT7. We we got was graphics from ps4 era, cars from 6-7 years ago, 400 cars, still no crash damage, the crap goes on and on.
Travelling the world producing expensive home movies for the narcissist to stuff the "ending" full of what is effectively this:

 
So, the forum shows you posted this around 9pm, my time. It's currently 2:21pm; the number has jumped from 4,109 to 4,862 (in fact, it's jumped 20 after a refresh).

This is merely an observation, but I will admit I'm surprised it's still taking a beating.
At this rate, maybe it'll end up becoming the worst game ever on metacritic. Surely it has to carry the record for the fastest dropping score.

It is already on the 2nd last page of rankings.

Will be amusing to see it drop below 1.
 

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What i find most interesting in this whole mess is Kaz talking about similarities with reality, in real life, few collectors will have deposits with more than 400 cars, usually there will be few, which he liked the most, but to reach this collection, he tested, bought and sold several cars, until he reached the ones he liked the most, or bought and sold cars just as a way to climb a ladder and reach the desired, but that's not what we see here.
 
GT cafe is an interesting idea, but pretty bad implemented. Just one car for a 2 laps race and even you only have to place 3rd? Come on. Every entry should have been a championship with 3-5 events, and give me a car if a place first in all, like in old GT4. Car can be used for next championship and so on.
You can just fly through those menus and most all championship are ridiculous, same course but in reverse, just two races?
I want championships and I want to have the same feeling that I have in GT4 to get a car when all races are gold or you get the first in the championship, that was the real Gran Turismo.
Now the only way to get new cars after all cafe menus are gone is with credits or those awful and crappy tickets. Yesterday finally I got a Nissan 370Z after 10 days of consecutive worst prices in 1,2 and 3 start tickets.
Give me championship where I can get a car, even the same car, so it can be sold! ok, I forgot, I can not sale cars!
I was watching a streamer with a 6-star ticket win a newer mini cooper. After that I was like wtf, this guy is super unlucky. He had a bunch of 3-4 star tickets like 10 of them, the most he got was 10k, not sure how many stars that ticket was tho. He wasn't into the GT games but he was taking the small rewards in stride. I would be livid. And he bought the anniversary edition too.
 
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