Gran Turismo 7 has come in for a lot of strong criticism over the last week, with version 1.07 releasing last week with the double whammy of server issues that made the game unplayable for 30 hours, and a reduction in the in-game monetary payouts from certain game events. It’s led to the game being review bombed on Metacritic, making it the lowest rated PlayStation exclusive game by users. Now players have found another way to fight back against the grind, using PC Remote Play and a bit of scripted automation.
The method – created by PSN Profiles user Septomor – uses PC Remote Play and scripting to send a defined set of controller inputs to run through a simplistic race event. In this case it uses the race Pan American Championship, specifically and the triangular Blue Moon Bay Speedway. There’s minimal turns to navigate, a short lap, and so it’s ripe for automation.
Spiritually, this automation method is actually not far removed from a feature found in Gran Turismo 5. Alongside the regular sequence of races in A Spec where you would be behind the controller or gamepad, there was also B Spec, which allowed you to send AI drivers into races for you. You’d keep tabs on their progress and be able to issue commands, but this was something that you could happily leave running on a long race and then come back later to see how they did and the credits they earned for you. B Spec was a feature that didn’t survive to Gran Turismo 6 or beyond.
So why are Gran Turismo 7 players pushing back and seeking ways to grind the game? Simply put, it’s because the in-game economy has been stretched further than in previous games in the series. Every game in the series has players looking for tracks, races and routes to earn as much cash as possible in order to afford the most expensive cars, but Gran Turismo 7’s fastest rate of earning was already lower that GT6 and GT Sport, and then Polyphony cut the specific rewards to more than halve the rate from a maximum $1.75 million per hour to $0.85 million per hour – per GT Planet. The immediate feeling is that this is intended to push players toward the games microtransactions.
GT7 also introduces an added degree of digital scarcity. Alongside the Used Car Dealership you now have cars that can only be bought when you receive an invitation, and a Legendary Cars dealer that also has a rotating set of rare cars.
Following a day of silence from Polyphony, series creator Kazunori Yamauchi expalined:
In GT7 I would like to have users enjoy lots of cars and races even without microtransactions.
At the same time the pricing of cars is an important element that conveys their value and rarity, so I do think it’s important for it to be linked with the real world prices.
I want to make GT7 a game in which you can enjoy a variety of cars lots of different ways, and if possible would like to try to avoid a situation where a player must mechanically keep replaying certain events over and over again.
The problem is that he offered no real solutions in the statement, vaguely promising that more content is coming and saying that “It pains me that I can’t explain the details regarding this at this moment.”
That absence of meaningful details has done nothing to appease players who have been angered by the reduced earning rate. If anything it’s annoyed people even more, as modern gamers have come to expect much greater levels of communication from developers of live games, detailed road maps and explanations of upcoming events.
It’s pretty wild that Gran Turismo has ended up in this spot. GT Sport is a great example of how Polyphony can and will continually expand and add to their game, but last week was a flashpoint that has seemingly thrown away a lot of good will built up over the years. That’s not even the only thing that’s wrong with the game, because there’s a baffling fundamental flaw with the multiplayer lobbies system not letting you edit after their creation – something that’s been possible ever since GT5.
Hopefully Polyphony Digital is able to address these things quickly, because when you actually get stuck in and play it, Gran Turismo 7 is great. In our review, I wrote:
“Gran Turismo 7 takes everything that was excellent about GT Sport’s fantastic multiplayer, high fidelity cars and circuits and innovative Scapes mode, and builds up a more traditional GT experience around it. It’s got its own quirky new ideas which will likely be passing diversions to most, but at its core, this is the Gran Turismo you know and love. Broad and accessible, but with depth, nuance and competitive racing for those keen to find it.”
Source: Gran Turismo
More Gran Turismo 7 Guides from TheSixthAxis
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- Gran Turismo 7 – What are Meeting Places and how to find them in the menus
- What GT7 tracks support night racing and 24h day-night cycle?
- What Gran Turismo 7 tracks have wet weather racing?
- How does Music Rally feature in Gran Turismo 7?
- Gran Turismo 7 – PS5 vs. PS4 performance comparison, and what about the ray tracing?
2ofclubs
From a gameplay perspective I’m absolutely enamored with this game but the latest update and downtime has really muddied the water. The whole ‘always online’ has been enforced with such thin rationale it’s just not right. I get they want to prevent cheating but it feels far too heavy handed for the single player aspect of the game.
As for the reward, I’m fortunately still in the position of going through the menu books so rewards, including cars, are pretty steady. I’m only a few off completing so the grind will truly begin soon. The reduced rewards clearly indicate a push towards microtransactions and it stinks of greed. The daily mileage rewards are incredibly slim already so they don’t help. I get they want people to play for years to come but this isn’t the way to do it.
Anyway, rant over. Have a lovely day.
MrYd
So far, the game is clearly incredibly good in a lot of ways, but it’s almost as if the development was a struggle between the people doing the actual important work, the man in charge with a clear love of cars, and some money people.
Mostly it looks like the right people won whatever arguments they had. It gives you plenty of cars from the menu books when the money people were probably asking for even less rewards to encourage spending. And you have to sit through some “interesting car facts” once you complete some of them.
I’m on the final menu book now and so far I’ve spent a bit of money on some tuning and a few cars when necessary, which isn’t often. Once that’s done, there’s all the missions and the circuit experience things to do. So more money there and you don’t need to spend any because they’re all a fixed car selection. And hopefully future updates will add more menu books and missions, with more cars as rewards.
The daily rewards are shit though. Wasn’t it a car every time with GT Sport? Now it’s “Here’s what you could win! Wait while it spins longer than necessary and lands on 5000 credits every time”
So yes, rewards could be better, I’m sure the grind after you’ve done everything else could be better, but I think people are making more fuss about it than is deserved. Even with the money issue and the downtime, it’s clearly not a 1.6/10 game (that’s the current metacritic user score). I’d give it 8, with potential to increase over time. And if they’d hurry up and announce a VR mode along with when we can get our hands on PSVR2, I’m sure it’d go up to about 14/10.