I get the desire to do that. I would have to think that PD's motivations behind making them difficult to acquire is they want you to associate some value and sense of achievement to getting them rather than them just being throw away accessible.
But grinding, cheating, exploiting etc.. to get them is still self inflicted.
The problem is that the scale of giving something value is a tricky and broad one.
Give it all for free instantly and of course you are right, there is no implied value in it's ownership.
The there is going too far the other way which is what PD has done.
They have essnetially put such a high price on these items that it does not justify the demand. Thus people find other ways o acquire it since they do not agree with the way PD has setup.
Same as real world value - if you say a chair is free, there is no value in owning one. If you set a price that is reasonable, you will get buyers who will value the chair. But if you set the price too high, no one will buy your chair, and it's overpicedness will actually hurt it's value as people will just find other ways to get it.
The problem is PD has gone too far... the cars either need to cost less at the high end or there needs to be better ways to earn them.
I would personally prefer the latter... the low end cars are already accessible, but the difficulty to acquire curve is too exponentially steep to the point that the journey stops being and enjoyable one and turns into a frustrating one. At this point many abandon the journey and look for another way to reach their goal.
Well that's a point we will have to agree to disagree on. I will never grow tired of taking the the Nurburgring, or blasting round Suzuka in an F10. I wasn't bored of driving back when I got GT3, or GT4 and won't be with GT5 as I play it at my leisure.
And that makes you the minority. And that is why I say it's fine that that works for you but that's also why it's inappropriate to phrase that as somehow the solution for others or reason others shouldn't do what they are doing.
And the food analogy is flawed. It's not like one meal stretched over a year, it's more like the same meal as many times as you want it for a year.
Well the analogy only works so far as expressing value for time the product lasts. The point I was making is that while you may say my $50 went a long time, what im saying is that that metric doens't work the same for most and for most it gets a different result.
Imagine if you took some other game (let's say Mario) and you calculated the hours you got out of playing through Mario, then you changed mario so you had to repeat every level in mario 100 times to beat it.
That would make Mario's return on investment 100X more... but only for those who happened to like playing the same level 100 times over...
I assume you wouldn't be one of thsoe people, so how would you feel if someone told you that using the warp whistle to avoid playing the same level 100 times again is wrong and you aren't REALLY playing?
And that's the key, you only have to play the game as much as you want to, I really don't understand people complaining about a grind, it's a recreational toy not a job you have no choice but to do because you didn't try harder in school.
Only as much as you want to on a schedule basis sure, but you will ultimately have to play thousands of hours of the same handful of races to reach your goal.
That's the thing, you are confusing being forced to do it regularly with being forced to do it to reach the end.
No one has to cram the whole game into 1 month... but I personally see 1000 hours of grinding Indy ahead and I don't care if it's broken down over a 3 year period or I have to do it in one waking sitting... I do not want to take that journey in any way.
I have this game because I love cars and driving. There are aspects which can be unlocked through doing that but it's my own fault if I turn it into a chore.
Let me ask you, is there something that you see people enjoy doing but you personally find too tedious to enjoy? Perhaps knitting an entire bedspread? Hand stiching a blanket? Putting togehter a lifelike model train city?
Is it your fault for doing it wrong that you don't enjoy those things?
No... and that's the thing, you are taking your poiint of view and saying that becuase others do not enjoy to the extent you do, that they are doing it wrong.
The fact is the you are the minority. And while THAT doesn't make your enjoyment wrong, it certain lends credence to the majority not enjoying it as also not being wrong.
Let's say someone loves chicken... they eat only chicken 3 times a day every day forever. They LOVE chicken.
You complain the price of beef is too high. They say you are doing it wrong, just eat chicken every day. Some days add a touch more pepper, others a tad more salt. Maybe on holidays a pinch of taragon or oregano even! The options are endless to enjoy chicken! They love chicken every day so the fact you don't means you are doing it wrong.
See how that doesn't work?
Just becuse YOU have found a way to make it work for you doesn't mean others are wrong because it doesn't work for them.
Especially when the franchise has set a history of a method that DOES work for them and the rest of the industry also has a history of making products that DO work for them.
The problem is not in those who bought liking the way GT has been done for over a decade and the way most games today are done... it's the company who made GT5 significiantly differnet from that with no warning to the consumer until after the package was opened and paid for.