Gran Turismo 7 just launched and earned mostly positive reviews from critics who praised its graphics and the sheer amount of content that it has to offer. However, there was one area of Gran Turismo 7 that reviewers were unable to properly test prior to the game's launch: its microtransactions. Now that Gran Turismo 7 has launched, its microtransactions are visible and facing significant backlash by players who aren't impressed with how they've been set up.
Gran Turismo 7 microtransactions allow players to spend real world money to buy credits, which are extremely important in the game. Gran Turismo 7 credits are used to purchase everything from cars to car parts, and they are necessary for players to stay competitive as they progress through the single-player experience. However, some might accuse Gran Turismo 7's microtransactions of being predatory because if players attempt to buy something, and they don't have enough credits, a pop-up appears that tells them they can top-off by visiting the PlayStation Store.
Previous Gran Turismo games have used microtransactions to sell cars directly to players, but that's done away with in Gran Turismo 7 to focus solely on selling credits. And the problem is that the credits can be expensive. Players have four options when it comes to buying Gran Turismo 7 credits. They can get 100,000 credits for $2.49, 250,000 credits for $4.99, 750,000 credits for $9.99, or 2 million credits for $19.99. The issue is that there are plenty of cars that fall in the range between 750,000 and 2 million credits, not to mention cars that cost over 2 million credits, which means players may have to pay even more than they were planning to get certain cars in the game.
Gran Turismo 7 car upgrades are necessary for players to have a fighting chance in the races as the game goes on, so between that and the new cars that pop up for sale, fans will be spending credits constantly. This makes it somewhat difficult to amass a healthy number of credits without going out of the way to grind for them, which could be seen as the game trying to push players to spending real-world money on microtransactions.
The PS5 version of Gran Turismo 7 costs $70 at launch, which makes its microtransactions even more egregious. The silver lining to all this, though, is that Gran Turismo 7 is still a great game even with the microtransactions weighing it down. As previously mentioned, reviewers were not able to see its microtransaction pricing while they tested the game, and it still managed to earn high marks across the board. So fans can likely ignore the microtransactions completely if they want and still have a good time; it's just a shame that the microtransactions and their pricing have gotten out of control.
Gran Turismo 7 is out now for PS4 and PS5.
