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Gran Turismo Sport’s latest patch has added a wealth of new content – cars, tracks, and other features – with one standout extra: microtransactions allowing players to purchase in-game cars for real world cash.
The feature, detailed in GT Sport’s official patch notes, is currently limited to cars valued at or below 2,000,000 in-game credits, so players cannot purchase the fastest cars in the game using real money. While UK PlayStation Store purchases won’t be live until August 2, car prices are likely to top out at around £2-£3, going by what they’re currently selling for on the Japanese Store.
The process to own GT Sport’s brightest and best vehicles remains the same as ever – they have to be earned in-game, using old fashion grit, determination, and by cutting as many corners as you can without anybody noticing.
The move to add microtransaction is in stark contrast to Turn 10 Studios and Microsoft’s recently announced decision to not implement them – and remove associated loot boxes – from Forza Motorsport 7. “After careful consideration, we have decided to completely remove prize crates from Forza Motorsport 7,” a statement from the studio said, “Similarly, paid tokens – which were a part of previous Forza games – will not be coming to Forza Motorsport 7 or Forza Horizon 4"
It also stands in stark contrast to series creator Kazunori Yamauchi’s assertion that GT Sport would not feature microtransactions at all.
With regulators across the world making rulings and decisions on the classification and legality of loot boxes, developers, publishers, platform holders and anyone else involved in the sale of these random chance reward packages are being forced to make changes.
Gran Turismo Sport’s move to add microtransactions, though, is a strange one in the current landscape – even if they’re not specifically loot boxes. Time will tell how well received a move it is, but for the time being it’s Forza 7 winning the positive sentiment war.
