With developers frequently electing to fix and update their games post-launch these days, it was only natural for some games to come out of the gates, well, less-than-perfect.
This isn't the case with Gran Turismo 7 though. As per the critics, Gran Turismo 7 was almost perfect from the starting line in March, giving Polyphony Digital's long-running PlayStation-exclusive franchise a legitimate shot at the current king of racing sims, Xbox Game Studios' Forza games.
Unfortunately, by the time the public got their hungry hands on Gran Turismo 7, the game was anything but flawless. Although gamers agreed that the gameplay was top-notch, Gran Turismo 7 suffered from a reliance on microtransactions.
Thankfully, the fan backlash was enough to force Polyphony to change its ways, and now the first of several promised patches is live.
As part of version 1.11 of Gran Turismo 7, Polyphony is changing how long it takes for players to grind their way to getting more in-game currency and affording some of the game's most lucrative automobiles.
In addition, the campaign and online events now pay out more, so Gran Turismo 7 players are no longer as incentivized to use real money for microtransactions. In particular, the biggest races in Gran Turismo 7, like Le Mans, Tokyo Expressway, and Sardegna, all have had their payouts increased by a massive amount.
Not only that but Gran Turismo 7 has far more events for even more payouts as part of the latest update. For example, as soon as a player reaches Collect Level 23 in Gran Turismo 7, they can take part in 1-hour endurance events that come with much higher payouts. Finally, Polyphony lifted the in-game currency cap, so players can just keep on grinding and hoarding as much currency as possible.
Polyphony might have targeted the game's notorious microtransaction dilemma with Gran Turismo 7's latest patch, but the studio didn't forget about making minor gameplay tweaks. For example, version 1.11 paid the game's off-road physics some mind while Polyphony also addressed some graphical complaints about how the gorgeous game could look even more stunning.
It's a shame that Polyphony has had to spend the past month trying to fix fan perception of Gran Turismo 7. For the most part, the Sony first-party studio nailed the execution of Gran Turismo 7. It's just that Polyphony did not anticipate just how wrong it was to incentivize microtransactions in a game that already ruffled feathers with its premium pricing. It will take more than just patch 1.11 to fix Gran Turismo 7.
Hopefully, Polyphony commits to seeing things through for Gran Turismo 7 and changing things for the better.
