Kazunori Yamauchi Responds to Gran Turismo 7 Fan Outrage

[Samus]

Nah. PD looked at their balance report and saw black numbers and that spoke much louder than the internet did.

The numbers didn't tell them what the biggest concerns were though, did they? You don't just see numbers are down and randomly guess at what is causing it, you find out what is.

A lot of these things in the game day one were just numbers, things that could have been decided and changed in seconds. Yet they went with what they went with day 1. That was their vision, they were happy with them.

They chose a 20m credit limit. They chose 5 cars at a time in LCD. They chose the credits payouts. None of these things were due to a game being rushed, these weren't things missing because they ran out of time. These were values they chose, and now after clear feedback, they're changing these values.

 

[Fourteen]

My advice was not to do things you intend to do for fun if they're not fun; minor but important distinction.

I will not discredit the reviewbomb entirely for the action here, while I still find the whole affair deeply regrettable, I think that's a sentiment shared even by those who felt it absolutely necessary.

However I think we shouldn't give too much credit to the footstomping, being as the score was still sliding down after Kaz's letter which I took as enough assurance that better things were coming; and here we are with a much firmer picture of just that.

We can all be happier now, and I suppose I can be happy to think at least some good came of this despite it being a horrendous look for the community - the level of discourse in here was horribly low on multiple sides.

I'm smug yes but I'm southern English - it's my natural state of being. I'll still never engage in or endorse a metacritic review bomb.

Productive discourse loses it lustre when you're addressing people that refuse to engage in a logical fashion.

The reason companies like PD believe they can get away with this sort of rubbish is because too many people pin their flags to an imaginary mast (Kaz/PD/Sony). When you're emotionally invested to that degree, it removes your ability to be objective.

If you don't believe that, ask yourself how many people on this forum, with whom you have taken issue with, wish to see the game fail? I'd wager none, they all want it to improve, and now it will.

You have been arguing for the opposite.

 

[o000o]

It's a shame it came to that and PD didn't release the game in a better, more balanced state.

Because they never learned. They're on their own bubbles as usual and this negativity better be kept on tbh if it can affect them to work here (if the update isn't an April Fools). They never learned before from GTS release.

 

[MrSulu]

Also, from the letter:



Indicating that they did have a plan back then, and now we get more of the details of that plan.

I completely agree that some of it was part of the plan all along.
That plan will also have been altered significantly since the 1.07/08 blog thanks to the community "feedback"

 

[o000o]

If people haven't even bought the game and are still experiencing this much emotional distress about the state of the game, I think that money is better spent on therapy.

It's not the state of the game but also the state of the franchise. People here would've played the older GTs.

 

[Trone_Colby]

Man this is a bunch of bunk. They should give us a free legend car for our troubles.

 

[MaxAttack]

Productive discourse loses it lustre when you're addressing people that refuse to engage in a logical fashion.

The reason companies like PD believe they can get away with this sort of rubbish is because too many people pin their flags to an imaginary mast (Kaz/PD/Sony). When you're emotionally invested to that degree, it removes your ability to be objective.

If you don't believe that, ask yourself how many people on this forum, with whom you have taken issue with, wish to see the game fail? I'd wager none, they all want it to improve, and now it will.

You have been arguing for the opposite.

Mmmno, I haven't, don't put words in my mouth, go back and read everything. I never invalidated anyone's complaints beyond pointing out that some people were joining the hate train for unreasonable reasons (see the multi quote fiasco).

I do think there are a small minority of GT haters who would have leapt on the review bomb to exercise their decade old gripe with PD, but they're not really relevant to the discussion and I've never mentioned such a group.

All I'm saying is don't give yourself all the credit - plenty of heftily review bombed games were never fixed, your FIFAs, WWEs and the like - PD fixed it because it was broken. As I've said above, I can't say reviewbombing played 0 role in this, but it's still low and regrettable imo, and impossible to say how much impact it had on the incoming fix. Definitely not none, but definitely not 100%.

 

[kungtotte_]

As for the changes, you admitted it yourself then did a u-trin

I mean, disagreeing about stuff is all well and good, but now you're literally making things up that I've never said.

EDIT also, gamers are always complaining about everything all of the time. That's why developers and publishers don't really care about it until they see a lack of sales and/or refunds happening, because only then has it gone far enough that it actually impacts them.

As long as people keep buying the game, they have no incentive to fix it.

 

[Dave A]

I mean, disagreeing about stuff is all well and good, but now you're literally making things up that I've never said.

Nope, your words in the post I quoted firstly accept you don't think they planned to make these exact changes and the later in the same post you state that you don't think these changes were at all caused by the complaining. Which is it?

 

[MrSulu]

All I'm saying is don't give yourself all the credit - plenty of heftily review bombed games were never fixed, your FIFAs, WWEs and the like - PD fixed it because it was broken. As I've said above, I can't say reviewbombing played 0 role in this, but it's still low and regrettable imo, and impossible to say how much impact it had on the incoming fix. Definitely not none, but definitely not 100%.

Well I know how much credit you deserve, since your grand plan was for everyone to do absolutely nothing about it.

None.
Nothing.
0%
You're welcome.

 

[Johnnn]

Its great news to me, going to make the game a bit easier to collect cars, forza horizon 5 was too easy, but a bit to difficult in gt7, horizon games is great racing games but they just don’t do it for me, prefer gran turismo, its going to be intresting to see how next forza motorsport is, right now there is just worries for me, i won’t buy am Xbox series x until i know that game will be special, right now zero excitement for me,

Easy? How easy? Do you have all cars? How many hours did it take? It's not easy but it's possible. I have all cars first-owner (no AH) and it wasn't easy at all. Currently I have about 350 hours in the game. Normal people stops much earlier because "it's boring".

Right, but this is a new game. If they wanted to stick with 100M, they should've done that from release.

But 20 millions limit creates much better fun. You can buy just one legendary car and then you need to open your wallet. It's a good strategy (and a lot of fun for sure). Sad it earns 1.5 MC score and they have to change it.

 

[kungtotte_]

So the complaints had an effect yes or no?

On whether or not they were going to make any changes: no.

On the details on a particular change: maybe.

Feel free to adress any of the other points raised as well.

I believe I did address the other points? About whether or not refunds or negative comments were more important.

 

[Scaff]

My advice was not to do things you intend to do for fun if they're not fun; minor but important distinction.

Sorry but no, your advice, based on what you would do was...

For me personally, if I really felt that stung? Suck it up and be more careful with my money next time, we all buy something we regret at some point I'm sure.

...to suck it up and not spend with them again.

I will not discredit the reviewbomb entirely for the action here, while I still find the whole affair deeply regrettable, I think that's a sentiment shared even by those who felt it absolutely necessary.

It's certainly regrettable, that PD launched the product they did, and then doubled down on it.

However I think we shouldn't give too much credit to the footstomping, being as the score was still sliding down after Kaz's letter which I took as enough assurance that better things were coming; and here we are with a much firmer picture of just that.

We can all be happier now, and I suppose I can be happy to think at least some good came of this despite it being a horrendous look for the community - the level of discourse in here was horribly low on multiple sides.

Because Kaz's letter was tone deaf, doubled down on the broken economy and addressed nothing specifically. It wasn't a horrendous look for the community, it was a horrendous look for Sony and PD.

I'm smug yes but I'm southern English - it's my natural state of being. I'll still never engage in or endorse a metacritic review bomb.

So am I, fortunately for many we don't all share that trait.

 

[Dave A]

On whether or not they were going to make any changes: no.

On the details on a particular change: maybe.

I believe I did address the other points? About whether or not refunds or negative comments were more important.

So the complaining had an effect regardless. I'm not arguing the extent of the impact, I firmly believe it had a larger impact than you, but that's not the point being made here.

As for responding to my points, apologies if you did and it's been deleted, but I can't see you addressing those points from my post, I can only see the original post you made which obvioisely isn't a response to mine.

 

[BossBattle]

Now we’re arguing about whether the letter was a direct response to the outrage or not? 😂

As someone who was VERY dissatisfied with the state of the game, I am happy with this communication. We need to cheer the little victories we get in life. I believe the backlash really made a difference! Excellent work everyone.

I don’t know what to say to anyone who acts like this letter had nothing to do with the backlash from fans… but I’m also not going to sit here and waste time arguing common sense.

Did Polyphony address every single “demand”? No, but I think this is undoubtedly a massive step in the right direction. Polyphony/Kaz understand that they have to rebuild trust with their fanbase. This is how you do it.

Now let’s wait and see what the numbers look like! 😁

 

[o000o]

Did Polyphony address every single “demand”? No, but I think this is undoubtedly a massive step in the right direction. Polyphony/Kaz understand that they have to rebuild trust with their fanbase. This is how you do it.

They'd be oblivious and delusional again for the other problems. Like they addressed the sounds in GTS and still neglect other franchise's longstanding problems. Not even the shifting sound too.

 

[Johnnn]

I am still missing TTs and custom races. I don't care about any mission or 300 hour long race. I just want to race my way and earn all cars. It's not in the letter.

 

[NLxAROSA]

In Kaz we trust. Shame a lot of people here don't.

You can trust in Kaz because of those people, don't ever forget that. You should be grateful instead of spiteful.

 

[MaxAttack]

Sorry but no, your advice, based on what you would do was...

Well, neither of us initially quoted what I actually said, and I'd trust the offhand remark of the person who said it over the person who read it in any case.

It's certainly regrettable, that PD launched the product they did, and then doubled down on it.

Doubled down on it? Is that what we are taking away from the 2 pieces of communication we've had? This seems a long way from reality now.

So am I, fortunately for many we don't all share that trait.

Ahh, it'd make me laugh if you were Kentish... But such regional banter is best saved for a lighter hearted topic.

 

[Ande3200]

Easy? How easy? Do you have all cars? How many hours did it take? It's not easy but it's possible. I have all cars first-owner (no AH) and it wasn't easy at all. Currently I have about 350 hours in the game. Normal people stops much earlier because "it's boring".

But 20 millions limit creates much better fun. You can buy just one legendary car and then you need to open your wallet. It's a good strategy (and a lot of fun for sure). Sad it earns 1.5 MC score and they have to change it.

Yes i have most of cars already in fh5, before even a month of playing, i think they throw you to much hyper and supercars, it kills the progression for me, i gets bored already in couble of weeks, i prefer gran turismo ways of doing it where you have to work for the cars, maybe not as gt7 is now, but in general,

 

[greenlightning]

Regardless .....for me it is unexcusuable to have a company this large not even partially understand their customers wants/desires/needs.

They act like they are the Holly Grail of car games and that their are none other.

On a side note - why not in the last few months (say 6 months) of GTS reduced vehicles prices by say 70 %. So that people can get the remainder of the enjoyment out of the game. Except for as a business manager their would be the aspect of x amount of people not rushing out to by the new release.

Speaking of overall game model. Why in the world should players be forced/encoutaged to do the same/similar licenses test, special events/track events when the vast majority of the people have ran dozens upon dozens of laps on these tracks before. Granted I do think some of these are better then the off line events. Speaking of which why not have optiom to turn on track limits, tire and fuel limits in the offline events. So so many many ways to make the offline events more fun and different even with the piss poor A.I..

 

[Johnnn]

Yes i have most of cars already in fh5, before even a month of playing, i think they throw you to much hyper and supercars, it kills the progression for me, i gets bored already in couble of weeks, i prefer gran turismo ways of doing it where you have to work for the cars, maybe not as gt7 is now, but in general,

Oh, I get it. I always have fun with racing. And cars offer variety to me. Most people I know stopped playing for less than a month. Games are not for years.

I don't like GT7 because it's boring to use one car and same races. It's so anti-racing. I would like to try other cars but it's too expensive and I don't have money. It's broken to me.

 

[Bush_Killa-73]

Genuinely surprised to see so many guys here defend all the crap they've delivered with GT7 so far. Fair enough if you're enjoying it and believe it was worth the money etc but got to say I agree with the views of this guy completely on the state of play. I know the racing is most important and it's decent but I was also underwhelmed with the in game graphics running on a PS5. Sony and Polyphony have acted like they had a masterpiece on their hands and everybody would just put up with their grubby massive transactions and server downtime etc. Not nearly good enough for a AAA game with such pedigree. I agree a lot of it feels stuck in a bygone era where we were easier impressed in general. IMHO I think a lot of reviewers have looked at GT7 through extremely rose tinted specs.

 

[AlexWilmot]

Oh, I get it. I always have fun with racing. And cars offer variety to me. Most people I know stopped playing for less than a month. Games are not for years.

I don't like GT7 because it's boring to use one car and same races. It's so anti-racing. I would like to try other cars but it's too expensive and I don't have money. It's broken to me.

What was the life cycle of GT Sport? oh it more than a year I'm sure...

I mean you could have 91 cars for free of various different types to do all sorts of different racing without spending a penny... link to list of said cars

 

[Fourteen]

Mmmno, I haven't, don't put words in my mouth, go back and read everything. I never invalidated anyone's complaints beyond pointing out that some people were joining the hate train for unreasonable reasons (see the multi quote fiasco).

I do think there are a small minority of GT haters who would have leapt on the review bomb to exercise their decade old gripe with PD, but they're not really relevant to the discussion and I've never mentioned such a group.

All I'm saying is don't give yourself all the credit - plenty of heftily review bombed games were never fixed, your FIFAs, WWEs and the like - PD fixed it because it was broken. As I've said above, I can't say reviewbombing played 0 role in this, but it's still low and regrettable imo, and impossible to say how much impact it had on the incoming fix. Definitely not none, but definitely not 100%.

Your point of view is painfully obvious. You're skewed towards the emotional response with your talk of 'GT haters' and 'hate train' and 'decades old gripe'. No one has displayed any of those traits on here and yet you choose to try and discredit or argue with them on that straw man fallacy alone.

The reason why it is illogical is that you are actively harming the chances of these types of issues getting fixed.

Saying nothing is bad enough, but doing what you're doing? Voicing your apathy to the problems? Nothing worse you could do in my opinion. That's why I say you are arguing against improvements.

I can tell you now, nothing gets changed if you say nothing, absolutely nothing...and if you're an apologist or defend it? Expect those companies to treat you with the disdain you deserve.

These changes are '100%' down to the reaction of people who think differently to you.

 

[Johnnn]

What was the life cycle of GT Sport? oh it more than a year I'm sure...

I mean you could have 91 cars for free of various different types to do all sorts of different racing without spending a penny... link to list of said cars

Who cares? I want a game to play like old GTs. It's wasn't called live service before. Horizon is live service because of Gamepass and it was massive after release.

I spent money already so I want cars. I don't care too much about any "challenges". If I want challenge, I can open another company in real life. Should be somehow user friendly.

 

[AlexWilmot]

Who cares? I want a game to play like old GTs. It's wasn't called live service before. Horizon is live service because of Gamepass and it was massive after release.

I spent money already so I want cars. I don't care too much about any "challenges". If I want challenge, I can open another company in real life. Should be somehow user friendly.

Wait do you want a game like old GT's where use the progression system of driving slow cars and building up cash and occasionally redoing races to save money for races cars ?

or do you want everything now because you paid for the game?

I'm confused on your stance here with your messages, I gave you an option of accessing cars without spending money so you can use that money on cars outside of that list

 

[Johnnn]

Wait do you want a game like old GT's where use the progression system of driving slow cars and building up cash and occasionally redoing races to save money for races cars ?

or do you want everything now because you paid for the game?

I'm confused on your stance here with your messages, I gave you an option of accessing cars without spending money so you can use that money on cars outside of that list

Old model looked OK to me.

Yes, some car renting would be normal.

I paid money for the game so I want to play it. It's like ACC last DLC, I paid for it and played it. Easy. There is no reason to block it because I used real life money for the game.

 

[Scaff]

Well, neither of us initially quoted what I actually said, and I'd trust the offhand remark of the person who said it over the person who read it in any case.

That I didn't initially quote it makes no difference at all, your advice was to suck it up and not buy from them in the future.

Doubled down on it? Is that what we are taking away from the 2 pieces of communication we've had? This seems a long way from reality now.

I'm specifically referring to the first communication, the one that didn't address peoples complaints, that was put out with an update that made the game economy the worst of any GT title ever. That people continued to review-bomb after that wasn't surprising at all.

 

[Ande3200]

Oh, I get it. I always have fun with racing. And cars offer variety to me. Most people I know stopped playing for less than a month. Games are not for years.

I don't like GT7 because it's boring to use one car and same races. It's so anti-racing. I would like to try other cars but it's too expensive and I don't have money. It's broken to me.

For me games should be more than a month, racing games can be played for months in my opinion as long as it get supported, i am in there becouse my love for cars, more so than the racing itself, story based game might only be played for a couble of weeks, but considering how long it takes for games to come out this days a month of playing is just not going to be enough in my opinion, gran turismo games can be played for years with supported content, but it also depends of what kind of player you are too, of you just race and do career stuff the game will end quickly, i do all my testing with cars and tune them along with the other stuff so i can easily play gran turismo 7 for months to come and even years, but i am going to take break here and then, to jump into dying light 2