Lewis Hamilton TT, worth the money or not?

[MatskiMonk]

So now there's a poll I've voted 'no'... but I don't regret buying it.

For me, it's £6.95 for the one-off opportunity to earn 5,000,000 credits in an hour or two, by time trialling a fixed combination of car/circuits (that I wouldn't usually choose). I'm already at just under 200,000,000 Cr. earned in the game so far, and I've got most of the 10mil+ cars already... so to be honest the credits earned, for me, are not enough to justify the price.

I get why people would welcome something more challenging into the game, but again, I don't need to pay £6.95 to do that in a time-trial... it would appear that if I take the optimum lap from a 10 lap time trial session, then simply knock off 2-3 secs per minute as a target time, then it's pretty much the same thing, except I'd be able to pick a track/car combo I liked.

Like I said, I don't regret buying it, I'm happy to see it as a way of PD monetising the impressive post launch support for the game, and it may help to demonstrate the need for a wider array of difficulty settings within the core game.

 

[SmokeyMR2]

I love it, the challenge is real tough on some circuits but thats what I wanted, to be pushed and pushed. I do understand it might be frustrating to get the diamond time but surely we all play this game because we love racing/cars etc and yes its just time trialling but like @F4H Super GT its against a 6 time F1 champ and I never get tired of trying to hunt Hamilton down. I got diamond on Willow Springs last night after a quite a few efforts over a couple of days and the buzz was great when I finally did it. For me the DLC is worth it for the learning, improving of technique and buzz of chasing LH, the money is just an awesome bonus.

 

[flamingchariot]

Completely agree...

Depends whether you want to improve or not ha ha. I played the Senna one on GT5 or was it 6 and although it was more extreme (turbocharged JPS liveried Lotus) it was a challenge that enabled you to take your driving to the next level if you could get bronze silver gold. Admittedly Iwas running wheel and pedals on that which is superior to my DS4 but I managed bronzes on most tracks last night. Well worth the cash to drive like a pro. Now just a case of shaving the seconds off!

 

[watto79]

Just had an interesting insight into the difficulty level of this that seems to polarise opinion. On Dragon Trail Seaside I have 17 people on my friends list that have attempted this one. They are made up of a mix of B rated, A rated and A+ rated drivers. Of the 17, 5 people have managed Diamond, 11 have the Gold time and 1 has the Silver time. I actually thought that's a pretty good representation of how hard these challenges are, and that Gold is very achievable for most people with Diamond being a real challenge for even the faster drivers.

I also agree with what others have said, that these time trials help you get better. Because of that more than the in-game rewards make this worth the money for me. The credits are just a bonus. I'm fairly 'meh' about the cars you get.

 

[andrew1990]

For all the free content they've given (no complaints there), that content should have been in the game to start with. To pay £6.50 to have the chance for some credits and some time trials you could do yourself isn't good value.

Sure, they haven't done a Codemasters and removed content to re-sell it, but it isn't exactly ground breaking. I agree with Scaff that if anyone else had done it then there'd be an uproar. A free pass for adding content that should have been there to start with isn't justified to me in this case.

 

[KilzoneStrife]

I don't want to buy it, I don't want them charging us for Quality of life changes like the money cap, or else the next GT becomes near free to play where you pay for every segment, feature.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Just had an interesting insight into the difficulty level of this that seems to polarise opinion. On Dragon Trail Seaside I have 17 people on my friends list that have attempted this one. They are made up of a mix of B rated, A rated and A+ rated drivers. Of the 17, 5 people have managed Diamond, 11 have the Gold time and 1 has the Silver time. I actually thought that's a pretty good representation of how hard these challenges are, and that Gold is very achievable for most people with Diamond being a real challenge for even the faster drivers.

Don't forget that DR B or higher accounts for only about 12% of players. Based on your friends list, only 29% of those can get diamond.. so that's 3-4 people out of every 100 players that can get the diamond times. Relative to what you'd expect against a top level pro-driver, that might be about right, but I don't think we should underplay the fact that the potential of this update is only there for a small fraction of the playerbase.

 

[kilesa4568]

I don't want to buy it, I don't want them charging us for Quality of life changes like the money cap, or else the next GT becomes near free to play where you pay for every segment, feature.

The increased credit cap is hardly a 'quality of life change' when the current cap equals the price of the most expensive cars.

The current F1 champ has set some strong times to beat and while they're out of reach for most of us, they're not as impossible as what the best drivers in the game can do. The gold times are attainable (with a bit of effort) for a lot more people and 30 million credits (plus an increased credit cap) you get for them is a very nice reward.

I think the DLC is worth the money but that's a personal perspective. If you're regularly well outside the top qualifying times, save your £6.49 and commiserate with a couple of pints instead.

 

[Stencedaddy]

The obviously shouldn’t change the times. But maybe offer a larger credit reward for Gold times. That’s a level most decent drivers can achieve. Diamond is verging on Alien territory on some tracks. Particularly without a wheel.

The times were set by a 6 time f1 champion. He is an alien.

For getting gold you get 200k+300k+500k = 1million. Is that really not enough? I mean you get 1 million for beating Lewis for Diamond so id say thats pretty damn good for gold. Easily the highest payout in the game. Not to mention the bonus 20 million for all golds. Like yeah 100 mill seems extreme for all diamond but its hard to do so its deserved. Not saying you but it seems like some people want 100 million handed to them for average times. The first day people were crying about it. Like just practice. Its not supposed to be a dlc everybody can just crush day 1. Startin to get ranty so i will stop.

I still dont get it.

 

[Granadier]

They could've released this for free and people would still be asking if it's worth it or not. Smh

 

[watto79]

Don't forget that DR B or higher accounts for only about 12% of players. Based on your friends list, only 29% of those can get diamond.. so that's 3-4 people out of every 100 players that can get the diamond times. Relative to what you'd expect against a top level pro-driver, that might be about right, but I don't think we should underplay the fact that the potential of this update is only there for a small fraction of the playerbase.

We seem to agree on the same point but have different views on what that actually means. The time trials are hard and they should be hard. That's the point. The way I see it, the potential of this DLC is to improve as a racer. That's the value to me. The in-game rewards are incidental, but I suppose for others what you win is what the DLC represents, and the fact that they can't get ALL of it means it's bad value for money.

As @Stencedaddy points out, the rewards for all Gold are significant and should be attainable for a very large portion of the player base.

I think PD got the rewards pretty much right. (Apart from the credit-cap increase, that should have been a free update and I get why some players are upset about that).

 

[MatskiMonk]

As @Stencedaddy points out, the rewards for all Gold are significant and should be attainable for a very large portion of the player base.

I think then we just have different definitions of "very large portion" then. 72% of the player base is DR D, 15% is DR C. I don't think many DR C/D players are going to get all gold, personally.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be difficult, but I very much disagree with the notion that although it's really hard, most people can achieve good rewards from it.

 

[KilzoneStrife]

The increased credit cap is hardly a 'quality of life change' when the current cap equals the price of the most expensive cars.

The current F1 champ has set some strong times to beat and while they're out of reach for most of us, they're not as impossible as what the best drivers in the game can do. The gold times are attainable (with a bit of effort) for a lot more people and 30 million credits (plus an increased credit cap) you get for them is a very nice reward.

I think the DLC is worth the money but that's a personal perspective. If you're regularly well outside the top qualifying times, save your £6.49 and commiserate with a couple of pints instead.

If GT7 says you get 50 spaces to store livery, 50 garage spaces for cars, 50 decals and vinyl storage for car designs, and then you pay $5 a pop to expand all the above, it *may" be because I drank pints with my money, and you bought this DLC.

We set the precedent, it will affect us tomorrow.

 

[kilesa4568]

If GT7 says you get 50 spaces to store livery, 50 garage spaces for cars, 50 decals and vinyl storage for car designs, and then you pay $5 a pop to expand all the above, it *may" be because I drank pints with my money, and you bought this DLC.

We set the precedent, it will affect us tomorrow.

If you want to use it as a future predicting tool, good luck with that. I'm more interested in the here and now.

What I like about it is that for years, we've had time trials and chase the rabbit seasonal's that a competent player can usually beat in one attempt. This DLC caters to the people who are a little better at the game and want a tougher challenge and the credit incentive might motivate the lesser skilled players into trying to improve. Which no doubt they will with all the extra practise they'll get but it's no skin off my nose if they don't want to apply themselves to it. Their loss.

 

[Granadier]

If GT7 says you get 50 spaces to store livery, 50 garage spaces for cars, 50 decals and vinyl storage for car designs, and then you pay $5 a pop to expand all the above, it *may" be because I drank pints with my money, and you bought this DLC.

We set the precedent, it will affect us tomorrow.

Jesus dude, calm down. This DLC was entirely about time trials and beating the lap times set by a 6 time F1 world champion. The credit cap increase is just a by product.

There’s literally nothing in the game that requires more than 20m credits. You are not being “screwed over” by not purchasing this DLC.

Keep that “sets a precedent” crap for the EA forums.

 

[DesertPenguin]

So I see each Gold gets you 500,000 Cr. and with 10 tests that's 5 Million. All gold raises the credit cap too 100M, and all diamond gives you 100M. Is there a bonus for getting all gold as well?

 

[sdi_03]

Heh, how many times someone has posted that payout is too poor, too much grinding etc?
Not to mention, that its too easy to gold circuit experience.

Do you think that Mr Hamilton has done this for free? Just to set times for you to catch?

Pay or not to pay its your call, I havent yet desided if I will. If I do, I'll be proud of my self if I gold these challenges

 

[Stencedaddy]

So I see each Gold gets you 500,000 Cr. and with 10 tests that's 5 Million. All gold raises the credit cap too 100M, and all diamond gives you 100M. Is there a bonus for getting all gold as well?

if you count the all the medals when you get gold you actually get 10 million because bronze+silver+gold =1 million. then the 20 million bonus for getting 10 golds.

 

[Riptide]

The price of the DLC is the same as 5 beers that last me 1 hour, same as 3 golf balls that last me 2 hours at Fancourt Country Club, same as 1 movie at 3D Cinema and same as 1 packet of condoms that last me 5 hours on a good night . So with the DLC to keep me trying for about 3 months to Diamond them all, I say yeah, it's a good buy.

 

[Jubby]

I bought it and would do it again. No, I haven't beaten it. I have a few silvers and a bronze at BH. I'm about .5-1s shy of Gold on the 3 silvers so far and spend about 1 hour at a time on a track. (Sometimes more/less depending on progress and frustration)

If you think you have to beat it straight away to be worth it, then don't get it if you aren't really good (A rank, as stated) and/or have a wheel.

I am a B level with a controller, so I see how the A+ guys with wheels are cruising. Steering angle and pedal pressure is king in many places and I can feel and see, with the tracker, where I'm losing.

To give an example, at Dragon Trail, I lose some on the in to mid of T2 and T3. I setup for .1s gain on exit. My angle on T4 needs a lot of precision to get a great run to T5 or I hit too much curb on the left or slide out on T4 exit. If I get those right, I get some back on exit of T5 (as much as .25s down that short stretch). Good section sees me down .3s. Bad section sees me down .7s. If I optimize every turn and string it together, maybe I'm at .05-.1s down in that section alone.

It makes me want to grab my AC wheel, hooked up to my PC, and plop it in front of my TV in the living room, despite me being an exclusive GT controller user for 20+ years. I tested it a bit a year ago and was total trash, since it's a different animal. Maybe, just maybe this is my motivation to do better with it.

Any controller users having good luck? Any tips there? (Feel free to point me to a thread where this specific info is discussed)

 

[DesertPenguin]

if you count the all the medals when you get gold you actually get 10 million because bronze+silver+gold =1 million. then the 20 million bonus for getting 10 golds.

So a total of $30 Million for all golds. That's enough for me to get one 20M car and keep the rest for if new cars come out. I assuming you can't grind and earn the prize money more than once right?

 

[kilesa4568]

I assuming you can't grind and earn the prize money more than once right?

Once only unfortunately.

 

[DesertPenguin]

That's fine. $30M should be plenty as I have all of the cars I want already. No one uses the high price cars in leagues anyway so it doesn't really matter

 

[M4GIC JU4N]

It took me 3 and a half hours the first time to get all diamonds. 1 hour 45 minutes the second time whilst streaming.

I really enjoyed this DLC to be honest. It's only time trialling which you could just do in the single player mode anyway but doing it directly against a 6x F1 champion was a nice touch.

For those who are put off by the difficulty. To me, that's the exact reason you should buy it. I learned a lot about how to improve my technique and time trialling ability from this DLC. It's about time we had some harder challenges - too many games these days hand you everything on a plate.

I loved it and would 100% buy it again if I had to.

Oh hello Super GT!

Yeah I definitely think it will teach me a lot, but I do wonder how close I’ll get as a “DR B for life” sort of standard driver.

I often pull down the ghosts of the daily race top 10 to try to polish my game a bit but basically watch them just edge out the tenths on every corner

still another post suggests B’s being good for trying to get the gold so maybe I’ll start there...

I do think the dlc looks like fair value though and I’m sure I’ll give it a crack. If for nothing else just to hear Hamilton’s sparkling personality...

 

[Highlandor]

It took me 3 and a half hours the first time to get all diamonds. 1 hour 45 minutes the second time whilst streaming.

I really enjoyed this DLC to be honest. It's only time trialling which you could just do in the single player mode anyway but doing it directly against a 6x F1 champion was a nice touch.

For those who are put off by the difficulty. To me, that's the exact reason you should buy it. I learned a lot about how to improve my technique and time trialling ability from this DLC. It's about time we had some harder challenges - too many games these days hand you everything on a plate.

I loved it and would 100% buy it again if I had to.

GT5, GT6 and GT sport didn't....

Would you feel the same if you spent the last 10+ years grinding out 3 successive games?

 

[mk1xr2]

Worth the money imo 2 golds so far but I'm already quicker then I was before. Spent about 30 minutes for gold on both and silvered the rest in 1 or 2 goes. You are racing a world champion so it's going to take practice. I just wish it wasn't 1 lap at a time so I can get a rhythm going

 

[MatskiMonk]

If for nothing else just to hear Hamilton’s sparkling personality..

 

[kjeldsen]

The positives:
Race against a World Champion that did these laps with a limited time budget, unlike the Aliens of our own that spend literally hundred of hours in these cars on these tracks. There is something more approachable about it.
Credits even if you aren't an alien, always nice to get more credits for doing stuff like this.
Long lasting content that i can return to on and off over the next 10 years or until GT-Sport 2.0 is out.
Supporting a Game that i play every day...

Negative:
I would have liked more options in these trials.
30 minute/25 lap version.
Difficulty settings in regards to the allowed aids on the trials.
More unlockable liveries.
And if they had included some Mercedes unicorns in the update that were possible to win with this DLC it would have been perfect..

 

[F4H Super GT]

GT5, GT6 and GT sport didn't....

Would you feel the same if you spent the last 10+ years grinding out 3 successive games?

This was a general statement about video games in general, not specifically Gran Turismo.

 

[AlanH49]

Then let's say that the next FIA official series starts with a race at Grand Valley, but most people don't have it...

This is what "splitting the user base" means - it creates two (or more) populations, where one (the largest) has none of the DLC and can no longer take part, and one (the smallest) has all of it and is the only one that can continue to take part.

The FIA races would become a ghost town, where you'd literally have to pay the $40 to be able to continue to take part in FIA, and these events become pay-to-attend. They'd end up with D-ranked drivers qualifying simply through being one of the three people in their country that's bought the DLC, and the live events become a joke as the four morons who qualified by buying the track pack plough through everyone in turn one, and the decent guys wonder what the point even is any more.

This is why you won't see paid car/track packs.

If Sony/PD want to monetise Gran Turismo without splitting the userbase. They need to double down on the mileages store. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the original plan. But they where obliged to concentrate on new, free, car/track additions.

I’d pay for extra wheels, wings, splitters, steering wheels, roll cage etc. Could also add different helmets, suits, windscreen banners etc. Purely cosmetic stuff.