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Gran Turismo Sport Update Adds Microtransactions (Video)

One of the biggest differences between Gran Turismo games and Forza Motorsport games is that for the most part Gran Turismo games shied away from microtransactions while Forza Games embraced them.

Gran Turismo 6 was the first game in the franchise to include them and even then they handled it much differently than Forza did.

While Forza games charged players for cars via DLC car packs, new cars in Gran Turismo 6 were always “free” but they gave players the option to buy virtual currency with real money so they could get new cars much faster rather than grinding for them.

While that was a much soft-handed way to handle things, some fans still found that practice annoying.

So, when Gran Turismo godfather Kazunori “Kaz” Yamauchi announced that microtransactions would not be in Gran Turismo Sport, fans were happy.

Well, fast forward about a year to present day and the GT Sport July 2018 update has changed all of that.

The July update which should already be live for the Asia and Americas regions adds the ability to buy nearly any car in the game with real money via the PlayStation Store.

There is a caveat though. Only cars that cost less than 2 million in-game credits can be purchased for real money.

That means no one can just go buy up all the unicorn cars without putting in the work. Also, as far as I can tell, you can’t buy in-game currency with real money either, just cars.

Some fans will see that as a fair compromise since no cars will be locked behind a purchase and the most rare cars still have to be earned the hard way.

However, we live in an internet rage culture and I’m sure there will be more than a few fans who will be extremely upset at this move just based on principal.

There’s already a Change.org petition to have the microtransactions removed. Though at the time of this writing it only has 62 signatures.

It will be interesting to see how this continues to shake out. My guess is that people will be upset for a little while then quickly get over it. But I’ve been wrong before.

Okay, beyond the controversial microtransactions. What else is included in the July 2018 update? Quite a lot actually…

First, there will be seven new cars including: the legendary 1991 Mazda 787B, Ford GT LM Spec II Test car, 1962 Ferrari GTO CN.3729GT, 2015 Honda S660, 1991 Honda Beat, 2002 Daihatsu Copen Active Top, and finally Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 championship winning Mercedes AMG W08 EQ Power+ F1 car.

Secondly a new fictional race track “Circuit de-Sainte-Croix” was added. It should also be noted that this new track as “six geometrical layouts”.

Also the ability to add decals to helmets and racing suits have been added as well as the ability to add your driving avatar to photos you take in “Scapes” mode.

Three new events have been added as well.

In the end the update has a lot of good stuff and one controversial item. With Kazunori’s reputation as a perfectionist I’m sure he’ll be watching closely to see how fans respond to these updates.

I’m definitely curious about that as well.

In the meantime, kick things off by letting me know what you think.

Do you think adding microtransactions to Gran Turismo Sport is a mistake? Or are you glad that you have a way to get the cars you want without having to grind for them?

Or, are you like me and totally indifferent about it? Sound off in the comments below or tweet to us at @MotorworldHype.

For more about the GT Sport July 2018 update check out the trailer below or hit the source link to go straight to the Gran Turismo blog post all about it.

Gran Turismo Sport July 2018 update trailer:

 

[Source: Gran Turismo blog and GTPlanet.net]

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