Thoughts on missing "on the box" features?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JetJaguar2000
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Leaderboards and online XP and credits are the big issues at present. If these things were addressed soon I would be content to wait for a while on anything else.
 
I wish they put Boring on the back of the box. That's kind of what this game is starting to feel like. I don't have that urge to play it, I just think about it and say "meh". I'm only level 13 aspec and level 5 bspec.
 
Franjo
I wish they put Boring on the back of the box. That's kind of what this game is starting to feel like. I don't have that urge to play it, I just think about it and say "meh". I'm only level 13 aspec and level 5 bspec.
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No, because that would be yet another missing feature as this game is not boring.
 
I'm just amazed that something that can be solved by:

A) Looking at the box
B) Looking at the features in the game

Has led to 8 pages of inane bickering.
 
tyl0r_r
I'm just amazed that something that can be solved by:

A) Looking at the box
B) Looking at the features in the game

Has led to 8 pages of inane bickering.
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I think the issue at hand over the last few pages, was that does it concern you that said features are missing? Not that they either there or are not there.
 
maybe this has been said, but what if they wernt able to give us the game intended, and that they solely ran out of funding?
to where they had to start selling coppies or scrap it all, the worlds ecconomy is in the ******* right ?.
now that theyve had some sales, ..this might be the biggest patched game in history, mmo's excluded.

i would pay for a half finished game out of PD, over missing it entirely.
all and all i was paying for the physics, and i feel i got my moneys worth.
 
For what it's worth, PD does not seem to have any direct contact information (they just redirect to Sony corporate), nor could I find any Sony address relevant to this issue, so I was forced to submit my question through the generic Sony customer support form:

This question concerns Gran Turismo 5 by Polyphony Digital:

I recently purchased the Collector's Edition of Gran Turismo 5 in North America. The feature list printed on the back of the packaging claims that the game includes "Leaderboards/Matchmaking," but I am unable to find these features in the game. In addition, in the game manual under the description of the "Course Maker" feature, it claims courses created with this feature can be used in the "My Lounge" game mode (online), but in fact they cannot.

To my knowledge, there has been no information published by Sony and/or Polyphony Digital addressing this discrepancy, and whether they intend to do anything about it.

These are important features to me, and were a major influence on my decision to purchase the game (and in particular spend the extra money on the Collector's Edition). I would like to understand why features printed on the box and in the manual are not actually in the game, as I feel it is inappropriate and unethical to intentionally mislead customers in this way.

Is there an explanation? Do Sony and/or Polyphony Digital intend to address this isssue? Is there a refund available? Is there a more appropriate contact address to which I should send this inquiry?

Thank you for your time.
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I received the following back a couple of days later:

I apologize for any inconvenience you are experiencing with your concerns for Gran Turismo 5 by Polyphony Digital. Online features and game features do sometimes have to be unlocked or earned. This does appear to be an in game support issue and not a misleading issue. I value your input and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Please rest assured that we will convey your feedback to Sony Computer Entertainment America's ("SCEA") appropriate management.
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Unsurprisingly, Sony support has no idea what I'm talking about. I will try to escalate my request in the next few days.
 
bodger
Yep.

Which came first the chicken or the egg?

Box art finalised before the software. It happens. Life moves on.
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As if the why changes the fact that it is so?

False advertising lawsuits have no teeth anymore! Stores simply must say "we printed the ad before we decided on the price! It happens, Life moves on!"

Hmmm it's almost as if a certain level of responsbility should be put upon the product creators and they should know and respect this responsbility...
 
just an idea. If the servers of Prologue go down, what are they going to do with them? Maybe use them to setup leaderboards in GT5?
 
belgam
just an idea. If the servers of Prologue go down, what are they going to do with them? Maybe use them to setup leaderboards in GT5?
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I doubt it works like that... first off if PD actually has GT5P servers in a rack somewhere they are probably pretty old, EOL and not covered by support anymore... not to mention just chunky old tech.

They are much more likely to be simply retired than realocated.

But more likely is that they rent servers from a farm somewhere that has a constnantly updated building of servers which are shared amongst customers. In this case closing down GT5P servers just means a bill that no longers has to get paid.

If they want to create more servers for GT5 it would just be a bill that starts to come up elsewhere.
 
I think in Gt4 the manual said you could do 2 player b-spec and that never made it in.

It's clear that pd has done this before Gt5.
 
There's probably a case for returning the game to the shop for a refund, since it's not the product that was advertised. It's similar to it being defective. I once considered returning a poor PS2 port of Unreal because the frame rate was so bad I couldn't play it. I never got round to it as it was only a couple of quid, but it would've been interesting to argue the case with the retailer.

At the moment, I'm enjoying the driving too much to worry about these issues, but if the features never arrive, I'd consider trying for a refund.
 
Would those missing advertised features render the game unfit for the purpose for which it was sold under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act? Hmmmm :D
 
Of all the problems with GT5, the false advertising bothers me the most. I complained to Playstation support about it a couple months ago and even after escalating the ticket, nothing came of it but canned answers in the form of "I'm sorry you are having trouble with our product, we'll pass your complaint on." Unlike a lot of other areas of the world, here in the US we generally cannot return software to a retail location, so we're stuck with it.

All I really want from Sony is a "We screwed up. Your complaint is valid and we're sorry." That will happen about the same day pigs fly. Really it comes down to me not only failing to enjoy GT5, but the product making me angry.
 
It was mentioned in another thread about this that I just made (oooops) that the UK version doesn't list those features. I've seen several instances of how companies act to the European customers (who actually have consumer protection) and North America (who really don't). Companies get it right in Europe because there are actual penalties for getting it wrong.

I lived in England for 30 years and I'm now in Canada and the lack of consumer protection here is a joke, but at least there are no chavs, so the trade off is worth it.
 
Earth
Kaz needs to get his crew's act together

I dont doubt for a moment they're working hard, but I think they're not being directed properly.

Why do pit crews not fix visible damage??? Even after the update they still dont.

Its like they totally forgot about some key features.

Its like every day Kaz's crew showed up everyday , worked on something, then went home without ever being instructed to work on something specific. Its the "always adding to never finished" mentality that hurt the game

2 months to launch Kaz says who designed leaderboards? Who designed crews to fix damage?? Nobody raises hand.

It falls on Kaz's shoulders.

He needs to patch this game crazy for the next few months. unfortunately GT5 comes off sloppy at times
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I think PD was too busy making horns and museum card stuff rather than putting in silly leader boards, better AI, more racing events and such.:rolleyes:
 
I have missed leaderboards from day one as I was absolutely sure they would be there. One of the main reasons I bought it. Seasonal time trials doesn't do it any justice because GT5 Prologue gave me other expectations. And now they have announced that the European GT Academy isn't European but only for select countries in Western Europe. The time trial demo included my country for GT Academy so I'm quite disappointed that GT5 doesn't. I paid full price for a game which have been surpassed by demos in some important aspects. It's a disgrace but it's nothing that makes me enjoy the rest of the game any less.
 
Any product release has multiple facets that are taking place simultaneously.

One of them is the design, printing, and production of the packaging. I assure you, packaging isn't cheap.

It's extremely likely that the packaging was created based on the expected features. Let's see, heavy card stock box, full color printing, inserts, etc., what, maybe 5 dollars per box? Let's see, 5.5 million copies....$27,500,000 for packaging at 5 dollars per box.

So, once it's already printed, what do you propose they do?

False advertising is what happens when a company intentionally misleads the buying public. Do you think it was never their intent to include those features, that they were just baiting people into buying the product with those not-included features, or do you think that the product got rushed to market, and they chose not to eat a several million dollar loss in packaging?
 
ElSecundo
Any product release has multiple facets that are taking place simultaneously.

One of them is the design, printing, and production of the packaging. I assure you, packaging isn't cheap.

It's extremely likely that the packaging was created based on the expected features. Let's see, heavy card stock box, full color printing, inserts, etc., what, maybe 5 dollars per box? Let's see, 5.5 million copies....$27,500,000 for packaging at 5 dollars per box.

So, once it's already printed, what do you propose they do?

False advertising is what happens when a company intentionally misleads the buying public. Do you think it was never their intent to include those features, that they were just baiting people into buying the product with those not-included features, or do you think that the product got rushed to market, and they chose not to eat a several million dollar loss in packaging?
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We recently had to eat the price of packaging due to a mistake. It happens, it sucks, but it's better than selling something that doesn't exist.

I don't think they were malicious in not including the advertised features, but they didn't include the features. End of story. After going through Forza's career I'd say I spent around 90% of my time doing solo time trials. I bought GT5 with the same expectation. 👎
 
ElSecundo
Any product release has multiple facets that are taking place simultaneously.

One of them is the design, printing, and production of the packaging. I assure you, packaging isn't cheap.

It's extremely likely that the packaging was created based on the expected features. Let's see, heavy card stock box, full color printing, inserts, etc., what, maybe 5 dollars per box? Let's see, 5.5 million copies....$27,500,000 for packaging at 5 dollars per box.

So, once it's already printed, what do you propose they do?

False advertising is what happens when a company intentionally misleads the buying public. Do you think it was never their intent to include those features, that they were just baiting people into buying the product with those not-included features, or do you think that the product got rushed to market, and they chose not to eat a several million dollar loss in packaging?
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First of all, $5 per box? Where are they getting these made? Switzerland? If you are ordering millions I would expect prices of $.05 per unit or less.

Secondly, that's called business.

What do you do? You get it right or you pay the price.

That's how it's supposed to work... not you get it wrong, oh well the customer eats it because it would cut into our profits.

I don't get why everyoen thinks businesses are just entitled to make money... "Oh they are a businesses, whatever it takes for them to profit, that's ok!"

How about buysinesses that do a good job should make profit, those who do a bad job should have to deal with it just like everyone else in the world.

It's amazing how beaten down and brainwashed your average consumer has become... as if WE owe THEM for the opportunity to give them our money... you go back 15-20 years even and people would laugh at the crap rationlizations out there...
 
Devedander
First of all, $5 per box? Where are they getting these made? Switzerland? If you are ordering millions I would expect prices of $.05 per unit or less.
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Not a chance. 5 cents per box? We just redesigned our packaging, which is much more simple than GTs, and it's well over 5 cents.
 
I think it's pretty stupid of them to do this, I'm in the U.K and my box doesn't say anything about leaderboards but it does say I can challenge my friends to races, as far as I know I can't :lol:.

Tbh though I don't lose any sleep over it and I wouldn't even think about taking them to court over false advertising.
 
birksy82
Tbh though I don't lose any sleep over it and I wouldn't even think about taking them to court over false advertising.
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I'm of a different opinion and believe Sony needs punishment for this. I don't need any money really, but I do want them to hurt a little.

I'd really even settle for an apology. I contacted their customer service line looking for one. You can imagine how far that got me.
 

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