The end of money in Gran Turismo

[magburner]

I am a loyal Gran Turismo fan, I have been from day one. The biggest flaw within the game of Gran Turismo right now is the credit economy, or rather the methods and means employed to circumvent, or exploit it. Whilst previously, Gran Turismo was a test of mettle, it has now become a playground for hackers and cheats. The only remedy that I can see is for the end of a credit economy in Gran Turismo, and the formation of a strict meritocracy.

If you are not aware of the term meritocracy, the dictionary definition states:

An elite group of people whose progress is based on ability and talent, rather than on class privilege, or wealth.

Meritocracies exist in other popular online games, Call of Duty has a meritocracy, in fact most online games have a meritocracy in one form or another. Previous versions of Gran Turismo, have had elements of a meritocracy, but their implementation, was neither rigid, nor effective.

For the next Gran Turismo, I propose a strict meritocracy as the sole means of acquisition of vehicles. You want the cars, you drive for them! Re-imagining the licence test structure of old, cars could become segregated behind differing grades within each licence. Each licence would have bronze, silver, gold and possibly platinum level cars, which increase in capability as the grades increase. So, if you have your eye on that gold grade, S licence super car, you would have to achieve at least gold in every licence test, of the S licence. It is that simple.

The seasonal events could be re-imagined too, as recurring evaluation tests, which must be completed so that you can continue to drive at the grade at which you have achieved thus far. If you failed the test, you would not lose the car that you have previously gained access to, only the ability to drive it competitively at that grade. Additionally, you would have the option of racing any car in a grade above, but not in a grade below.

The benefit of this system is that there is no grind involved, other than competing the licence tests. Gaining the highest grades might take some effort, but those with the talent and the skills would have no trouble unlocking the cars that they require. This would also bring confidence to the online grid. I would no longer have to wonder whether that gentleman next to me in the Veyron, has the skills to drive it, I would know, as the rigid licence test structure cannot be hacked, it has to be earned.

For this meritocracy to be effective, driving aids like ASM, TCS, and even automatic gears, should only allow you to progress so far through the game, perhaps no more than half-way. Everything within this future Gran Turismo should be geared towards progression, with the overarching emphasis placed on improving driver skill. All cars would immediately be available for use within arcade mode, through in career mode, cars would still have to be earned.

You may think that with the monetary value of cars removed, there would be no need for in game credits, but they could still provide a purpose. Gamers would earn credits in game, for completing races in much the same way as they have before, but the credits earned would only have value in servicing their cars, purchasing new parts, for race entry, and possibly in on-line car auctions.

What do you think about these proposals?

 

[bodger]

What do you think about these proposals?

I think the desire for Sony to make some much needed cash, and jack the share price up, gets in the way of them.

 

[peteg9699]

I think this thread and any new thread about the in game economy should be locked.

 

[Dan]

I'm just going to sit here and see how this unfolds. Some good ideas, some bad. It's an interesting concept.

 

[eSZee]

I think these proposals are call iRacing.
It will never happen on a console game as long as companies are in it to make money.

It seems to me you're upset about the money glitch(if you're not, sorry), but the thing is, the glitch itself gives no one any advantage and it certainly does not aid in progress of the game.

 

[BlazeTheCat05]

I think you should just let people play the game the way they see fit. There's no need to get angry over it. I glitch money, but only because i'm 100% against the concept of microtransactions. I know that Kaz didn't want microtransactions, but Sony did, which is why we have them in Gran Turismo 6. The glitching to me feels like a riot call to Sony, a message that we won't stand for paying real life money for in-game currency.

You bring up a valid point regarding that some glitch to get the ultra-expensive cars and X1s for the purpose of trolling with said X1. However, I will also add that some players out there have much higher priorities in their life. Some have recently gotten married, or are expecting a child in the future, thus they need to put their money towards things such as baby formula and other basic essentials for raising a newborn. Some have little-to-no cash coming in from work, and have very little to spend on things they want rather than the things they need. Therefore, my point is that some players glitch mainly because they need to keep their money for more important things such as being able to put food on the table for their family, or pay insurance. They simply do not have money lying around that they can use to purchase in-game currency. Paying $50 USD for 7,500,000cr is a ripoff of the maximum degree. You're better off spending $50 on gassing up your real-life vehicle, or purchase food at the grocery store.

With all that aside, I will continue to glitch money in the future, because that's personally how I play the game. I don't glitch for negative purposes such as deteriorating from other's experience by constantly ramming them with an X1 or Veyron, I glitch to purchase the cars I want, to take photos of them, etc.

 

[XPOWER180]

It would go down like a lead balloon. Not everyone has the patience or time to keep grinding away at such a system to earn a car they want, what about young kids for example who might want to participate in career mode but wont have the skill or patience to earn such prizes? What about the adults who paid the same money as you but might get half an hour a week to play their hard earnt game but fancy a spin in a 787B down the Mulsanne Straight for example? Saying do it in arcade is not a valid answer, everyone deserves a chance to use every last part of the game as they paid for it just like you and I did. This stinks of elitism and to some degree jealousy of those who may have more cars than you due to your moral stance.

 

[Interpol]

I think your proposal is too complicated.

Simply give gamers the option to grind for cars or not. Problem solved.

Microtransactions suck. Now, if Sony also gave people the option to exchange their credits for real money, then I'd go for it.

 

[sid_chiclana]

Amen!

 

[Jubby]

Let's wait for the folks who are already ticked off about the lack of credits impacting purchasing cars. Now someone wants a different barrier?

For the record COD has DLC that costs, and you will want to keep in mind that video gaming is a business. This means they'll want to make money- don't you? When you're working, you want to make as much as you can and you can be ruthless to get it- most people are. Videogaming is really a benevolent dictatorship. They ship it to us and we buy it. Some developers listen to their fans, others don't.

For this meritocracy to be effective, driving aids like ASM, TCS, and even automatic gears, should only allow you to progress so far through the game, perhaps no more than half-way. Everything within this future Gran Turismo should be geared towards progression, with the overarching emphasis placed on improving driver skill. All cars would immediately be available for use within arcade mode, through in career mode, cars would still have to be earned.

No. I get the ASM and SRF options, but it's ridiculous to say that you have to use manual shifting and no TCS when some of the cars we'll be driving HAVE those options you're looking to penalize for. Are you going to ban or restrict users with a DS3, too? Sorry, you're overreaching.

 

[Vagabond]

What do you think about these proposals?

So your saying, in essence, that people of lesser skill should not be allowed to enjoy all the features of a game they paid just as much for as people of greater skill. Or do they get a discount on the game since they're not allowed to use a percentage of the cars?

Sorry if that sounds facetious but although you mean well by it, given the state of the GT 'economy', its not really a fair or considered proposal.

 

[194GVan]

As already mentioned, Not a great idea for those of us with limited time to play games.

I couldnt care less about credit glitches, but I'm ready and willing to shell out for dlc content.

 

[Johnnypenso]

I paid $70 or whatever it was for this game and I will happily pay for any DLC that appeals to me, but if they somehow figure out how to lock everything away behind a boring offline career mode, bye bye GT series for me and I'm guessing many others. I'm not 16 years old living in my Mom's basement with hours to play every night to unlock a car and $75K in credits.

As I've said many times, I have no trouble with you (the proverbial you) playing that way and the game should have options for Online Career Modes, Sandbox, Offline Career etc. But options. I was counting on a money glitch similar to this because to be honest I was fed up after about 10 hours of play time offline.

The enjoyment for me is driving the cars and tuning which I thought was the whole purpose of the game. Why prevent me from doing this as I see fit behind a meritocracy? No offense but your idea is about 15 years out of date.

 

[Exorcet]

What do you think about these proposals?

Some of the worst thinking that could be proposed for a video game, no offense.

It's a game. You went prctically off topic at the mention of privilege. Everything should be completely open to everyone and they make their own fun. That's it.

You also way overblew past games which had basically zero challenge and certainly no challenge from credits. Such a thing has never existed in GT.

The glitch also is not cheating at all so there is no need to take action against it.

 

[Andy89]

To me, a system that could work and make happy a large portion of the playerbase, would be a Career mode that gives us reasonable prizes until we finish the regular events and, when we're done, it unlocks a "fast method" to achieve all that beautiful cars waiting for us in the dealership.
Maybe repeatable special events with rather high prizes (at least 200.000-300.000 Cr per race) or, even better, an Event Creator where you can create your customized event and where the game calculates prizes based on the PP of your car, the PP of your opponent's cars and race distance, all of this coupled with higher prizes for online races. In this way PD makes happy :

- People that loves progression through Career Mode;
- People that doesn't have too much time but wants to enjoy the majority of cars
- People that only play online
- People that prefer to race offline with their personal setting (even if I can barely imagine that there's someone that enjoy racing the AI, but still)

This method has just one limit : microtransactions. Sadly, I'm afraid that 300,000 Cr on repeatable events may not arrive to us in GT6, neither in the form of Seasonal Events, due to the presence of microtransactions.

 

[Vagabond]

I can't help but wonder how many more people went out and bought GT6 because they heard about the credit glitch?

 

[Harry6784]

How many threads are we going to start....

If you don't like the money glitch, DON'T DO IT.

 

[fm_1013]

How many threads are we going to start....

If you don't like the money glitch, DON'T DO IT.

Everyone should feel a moral obligation to use the glitch at least once, and everyone who paid real money for credits should be demanding a refund. And even then, we would not be even. But I know they are not going to do that.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

IMO the notion that one would have to drive without the ability to use assists in order to complete the game is absurd and would turn off the majority of players.

It would also be unrealistic as ABS is on most cars now TCS is on a large number of them and some have several assists that aren't even in the game.

I also like the need for in game credits and purchasing the cars along the way.

 

[sailworksman]

Interesting ideas, but regardless of hacks, cheats, glitches and goblins, gt6 is same for all of us. Grind, earn the same prize credits, cars. Buy credits (optional), cars, parts and tune. Repeat if necessary. There is no advantage in the game to have more cars or credits than others. Its car choice, tuning and your ability to drive, especially online.

 

[Vivi22]

What do you think about these proposals?

I think as soon as someone talks about implementing a strict meritocracy in a game like Gran Turismo we've come across one of the worst ideas ever suggested for the series. Unless you want to see the series sales plummet and it become a mere shadow of its former self with barely any cars and even fewer players.

There's room in the market for niche titles that are extremely unforgiving of mistakes and hard to master. Games like Dark Souls prove this. Gran Turismo is not that kind of series. And locking less skilled players out of driving whatever cars they want serves absolutely no purpose except to stroke the egoes of the few who think beating dumb as bricks AI without driving aids and doing well on license tests should give them bragging rights over the folks who just want to drive some damn cars.

You want a situation where your skill matters and can be tested? Set up an online lobby with whatever restrictions you fancy. But I see no reason to ruin other people's experience just because you may be looking for a different game.

 

[SyzygyDarklock]

Even if I had 2,000,000,000.00++ credits in the game and every car, I would still in all likelihood be racing the same cars that I've always liked or new ones that catch my fancy... Having 2000 cars or 50 probably would not make a difference to me either way...

 

[watermelon punch]

Whilst previously, Gran Turismo was a test of mettle, it has now become a playground for hackers and cheats.

Hackers & cheats are a new thing to Gran Turismo?

A quick internet search found me a plethora of hacks & cheats for various earlier GT versions.

 

[MLRSparco]

Just did the money glitch last night and got up early this morning to continue my career mode.Will I stop playing the career mode because I have 20mill credits now? No,but I like the fact that I don't have to worry about money every time I need a new car or mods.

 

[MrGrado]

Didn't read all that text but online is where ability and talent trumps 20 000 000 creds.

 

[Jubby]

This method has just one limit : microtransactions. Sadly, I'm afraid that 300,000 Cr on repeatable events may not arrive to us in GT6, neither in the form of Seasonal Events, due to the presence of microtransactions.

Let's wait 6-12 months before assuming this. Everyone that is jumping to this conclusion (low payouts is PD's way of getting people to pay for credits) is just living in the moment and not looking at all of the content they plan on adding. Maybe the payouts will get better over time, just like GT5. No one complained about credits after a few months.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

Let's wait 6-12 months before assuming this. Everyone that is jumping to this conclusion (low payouts is PD's way of getting people to pay for credits) is just living in the moment and not looking at all of the content they plan on adding. Maybe the payouts will get better over time, just like GT5. No one complained about credits after a few months.

Yep, If the existing seasonals are any indication the first ones pay what about $12k total for b+s+g then the next one pays $100k plus a car that cost $120k. That is almost 20x what the first ones paid out. Of course these can only be done once but it was the same in GT5. the repeatable ones did not come around for a good while after release. I already had managed to get all the cars before the first repeatable seasonal came online.

 

[HuskyGT]

I love to see how people complicate themselves. It's just like PD. I've said it before in another thread: There has been four Gran Turismo titles that were perfectly fine, and I see no reason why they couldn't copy that economy and also their prize system in GT5 and in GT6.

What I've always loved about Gran Turismo (from 1 to 4 at least) is that you can earn money to buy cars. But to this point, if PD is going to keep with this impossible grind fest, low payouts and "Barret Jackson auctions style car prices", it would be better if they just get rid of credits as a whole.

They could use an unlocking system. Have a PP range at the beginning already unlocked, let's say... 0PP to 350PP, and unlock higher PP ranges as you progress through career mode and complete license tests. It sounds easier and they could even add much more races into career mode.

 

[magburner]

There are plenty of posts to get through here. I have just got in, and I have to sort out tea for my two little girls. I will return though, and pass comment, on the comments.

The ideas I have thought for the next Gran Turismo do not just include the end of the credit economy, there are other aspects of the game which can be improved also, one of which I will discuss quickly now.

How about a dynamic system for prize car allocation? I do not know about you, but I find the prize car system in Gran Turismo to be very poor. Often you get cars you do not want, or require. What if the game surveilled your actions within Gran Turismo, and provided gift cars dynamically?

You like driving FF cars, your next prize car could well be that FF car you were looking at in the Dealership. You like MR cars, there is a chance that the MR car you need for that mid-engined championship, turns up as a prize. The grades that I have noted within the licence system, could determine the quality of the car that you receive. Competence at higher grades, delivers better prize cars. Simple as that.

Alternatively, if you do not fancy a car, you could opt for a gift-voucher, commensurate to the value of the prize car offered, and spend it on car parts etc.

What do you think?

 

[KrisVlad]

I don't think it's a flaw at all... quite the contrary actually.

I am a loyal Gran Turismo fan, I have been from day one. The biggest flaw within the game of Gran Turismo right now is the credit economy, or rather the methods and means employed to circumvent, or exploit it.

I don't think it's a flaw at all... quite the contrary actually. I like the fact that I can get the sweet cars I want without having to grind madly or complete riducously hard or tedious challenges like 100 lap races or 24hr races.

Credits are dirt cheap IMO. I've spent much more on other games such as COD, Skyrim, or Fallout. This is how Polyphony makes its profits, creates Seasonal events, and continues supporting and improving the game.