Gran Turismo 7: Polyphony Digital Promises Big Economy Changes In April Update

Gran Turismo 7 has been heavily criticized by its player base as of late due to the game’s live-service economy. The latest simulation racer from Polyphony Digital reviewed quite well – Game Informer gave it an 8.75 out of 10 – but since its launch, the game’s credit system has been heavily scrutinized, with players citing that it’s built around encouraging microtransactions.

Gran Turismo 7’s problems got worse after the scheduled maintenance that was supposed to take place over 24 hours last week ended up taking longer than two hours. This made Gran Turismo 7 largely inaccessible due to its online nature. Aside from the fact that the maintenance resulted in a decrease of credit earned by players who used races to farm credits, Gran Turismo 7’s high car prices made it difficult for them to play the game. 

Kazunori Yamauchi, president of Polyphony Digital, has written a blog post in which he apologizes to fans and promises big changes to the game’s economy next month. 

“Thank you for your continued support and feedback on Gran Turismo 7, your voices have not gone unheard,” Yamauchi writes. “I would like to apologize for the frustration and confusion caused last week with our patch updates which resulted in, not only a server outage but also adjustments to the in-game economy which were made without a clear explanation to our community. 

Gran Turismo does not offer the Gran Turismo experience that you are expecting. A non-paid credit card pack of 1M Cr will be offered as a token of our goodwill. All players affected by the event are eligible for a non-paid credit pack of 1 million Cr.. Soon, you will receive this in your accounts. You will be able to see the credits immediately if you log in before April 25.

This patch was originally deployed to fix an issue that resulted in inconsistent rewards payouts for a portion of World Circuit Events. But, to re-establish the intended equilibrium and provide more accurate rewards based on time investment and completion, it was necessary to recalculate the rewards system as a whole.”

Yamauchi says Polyphony Digital will be rolling out a “considerable” patch in the beginning of April and in it, the number of events will be increased and a new reward system with greater balance will be re-established. 

Here’s a rundown of the updates which will go live starting in April: 

• On average, rewards for events at the second half of World Circuits are increased by about 100%
• Additional high-rewards for clearing Circuit Experience results in All Gold/All Bronze
• Online Races offer more rewards
• Add eight additional one-hour Endurance Race events as Missions. You will receive higher reward levels for these events.
• To increase the maximum amount of player credits that are not paid from 20M Cr. Increase the maximum limit of non-paid credits in player wallets from 20M Cr. to 100M Cr.
• Increase the number of Legend and Used cars available at all times.

Between now and April, Yamauchi says a few “additional patches” will add new cars and course layouts to the game alongside some other fixes. Yamauchi added another item to the list. Below are some short-term updates that the team is currently working on, although the studio isn’t ready to share specifics on when players can expect these: 

• We develop live services that increase the payout value of restricted time rewards.
• More World Circuit events are planned.
• Additional Endurance Races for Missions, including 24-hour races.
• Addition of Online Time Trials and awarding of rewards according to the player’s difference with the top ranked time.
• It is possible to sell cars.

How do you feel about Gran Turismo 7’s economy today? Comment below to let us know your thoughts!