UK Gran Turismo Sport Ad Pulled Due to 'Misleading' Nature

[KingFrog]

Haven't found it yet.



I don't think it's unreasonable to expect an ad accurately relay information to you, though.

The part that I'm curious about is what is deemed an acceptable percentage. GT Sport is massively cut down if you have no internet connection, sure — but where is the line drawn? From as far as I can tell, about 10% of FM7's car lineup is also unavailable without online. Well, unavailable for players to own: they can be driven in Free Play.

Also, look at GT1–4. A huge chunk of cars in those games were walled off behind skill-based objectives. Is that better or worse (or different entirely) from having content only available to those that connect to Sony servers? What about the days of memory cards — a game's content was unavailable unless you bought one, technically.

We're definitely going to be looking at this as a jumping off point for a variety of conversations about where gaming is going. 👍



Ah, I was wondering how long it'd be until someone picked up on that.

Not having online access is, in essence, akin to not having a memory card. When I bought my ps2 I forgot to save up for a memory card. It would be idiotic to think I could play the game for 20 + hours at one time so I only had about 25-40% of the game available to me, and I had to start all over again. And before anyone tries saying the PS4 has a built-in save ability, pseudo saves existed back then in the form of a password style code. Essentially we were forced to pony up the cash for a memory card.

 

[SiriusR]

Essentially we were forced to pony up the cash for a memory card.

On the other hand, I don't remember memory cards requiring $10 per month (or any monthly payment at all) to be usable. You bought it, you keep it till it breaks or fries, which are very uncommon things to happen to memory cards.

 

[Islaygaz]

Not having online access is, in essence, akin to not having a memory card. When I bought my ps2 I forgot to save up for a memory card. It would be idiotic to think I could play the game for 20 + hours at one time so I only had about 25-40% of the game available to me, and I had to start all over again. And before anyone tries saying the PS4 has a built-in save ability, pseudo saves existed back then in the form of a password style code. Essentially we were forced to pony up the cash for a memory card.

On the other hand, I don't remember memory cards requiring $10 per month (or any monthly payment at all) to be usable. You bought it, you keep it till it breaks or fries, which are very uncommon things to happen to memory cards.

Both valid points. However, I think what @KingFrog is basically saying (correct me if i'm wrong) is that to get full functionality of a game back then, there was an additional purchase to be made and as far as I can remember no ads mentioned the requirement for a memory card!!

Also, when I had my PS2 I had the 8mb memory card so automatically when I was purchasing a game I'd check the save size to see how much space it would take up so I'd buy another memory card if needed. I still do this with PS4 games to see if i need to delete anything from my HD (I have a 500GB at the moment). Surely people are doing this and realised it was online save only!!

 

[JakeMR2]

PS4 games to see if i need to delete anything from my HD (I have a 500GB at the moment). Surely people are doing this and realised it was online save only!!

And, that's the main problem with it. You can't backup all your data because it's stored in the cloud at all times, not to mention if you don't have good internet then the game is just a shell, and not a full fledged product like it is intended to be. That's the main problem with Online-Only products too.

 

[JacksHerer]

This is almost unbelievable

Who made this advert? a team from the Apprentice? All it needed was some small text that you can only read on a 60" TV, saying something like the small print on all the xbox adverts.

I hope PD got their money back from the ad agency

 

[moparmanmike]

I would be more concered about the fact that its advertised as a PSVR game, and was even bundled with the PSVR as a package, and yet theres virtually no VR mode to speak of. Sure, you get to take a couple cars around like 1 or 2 tracks with one other car to race. You cant set or adjust anything, its boring and a total waste. I was bored with it within like 10 minutes, and it was the 1st thing i tried when i bought my vr, and one of the main reasons why i bought it.

Sure driveclub is, ok, dirt rally is pretty good, and RE7 is pretty terrifying. Though for like 200 more i coulda just got an occulos for my pc, considering there are a TON more pc vr games, and they look and run better.

 

[Tornado]

The only games I remember owning that were as functionally crippled without a memory card as your typical online-embedded game is (especially the high profile disaster ones like Sim City 5) without an Internet connection are (amusingly) GT4 and Shining Force CD.

It's not a particularly like for like comparison.

 

[Scaff]

This is almost unbelievable

Who made this advert? a team from the Apprentice? All it needed was some small text that you can only read on a 60" TV, saying something like the small print on all the xbox adverts.

I hope PD got their money back from the ad agency

I've worked with ad agencies, someone at Sony will have signed it off for broadcast.

Sony own this one, not the ad agency.

 

[VBR]

Serves them bloody right! They've made a lot more misleading claims & gotten away with them, so I'm glad that they got nailed for this one.

 

[JacksHerer]

I would be more concered about the fact that its advertised as a PSVR game... Sure, you get to take a couple cars around like 1 or 2 tracks with one other car to race...

I have PSVR and I can take all the cars in the game around all the tracks in the game ?(except for a handful of cars that don't have an interior).

@Scaff I hear what you are saying, Sony signed it off so it IS their own fault. However, if I contracted an Ad agency to produce an advert suitable for a TV advert in region X, I would expect that advert to be acceptable in the region and that I only need to sign off on the advert being acceptable to my desire for the way it portrays what I want advertised.

 

[KiroKai]

Misleading statements and trailers are a key feature of this franchise!

Frankly, they can't. Why? Hackers. Hackers are the reason for the online saves. They ruined GT6 by trying to cheat in online races and thankfully, PD took it seriously.

Wrong. GT6 never had popular hybrids because in a reaction to 5 they protected saves effectively, without any of the online DRM bull:censored: you're excusing.

 

[Baron Blitz Red]

Maybe for games like GT Sport that require an online save and ONLY an online save, it was a mistake to release physical copies of the game.

Think of it this way, if you could only get the game by downloading it, then there would no chance of thinking it wouldn't need an online subscription, either to the platform itself and/or to a service provider. Then there's no chance of any mis-perceptions. That would require a shift in thinking of the gaming industry AND the consumer however.

Just a thought...

Cheers

 

[Scaff]

@Scaff I hear what you are saying, Sony signed it off so it IS their own fault. However, if I contracted an Ad agency to produce an advert suitable for a TV advert in region X, I would expect that advert to be acceptable in the region and that I only need to sign off on the advert being acceptable to my desire for the way it portrays what I want advertised.

And how do the ad agency know what is suitable in that regard?

They know what the advertising regulations are (as should the Marketing team at Sony for the region), but without psychic abilities they will not have a clue if the product will fall foul of any of them in specific areas.

The brief Sony provided would need to cover these specifics, and Sony would then also need to ensure that it was signed off as meeting that brief. The agency can't know that GTS requires it to be connected to the net to save progress unless Sony tell them.

 

[HarVee]

Both valid points. However, I think what @KingFrog is basically saying (correct me if i'm wrong) is that to get full functionality of a game back then, there was an additional purchase to be made and as far as I can remember no ads mentioned the requirement for a memory card!!

You both have interesting points. But I cannot fully agree with the sentiment. And here is why;

Despite not being able to save without a memory card, back then all of a games advertised features and content were available to the user. If they saw a car in the advert, it could likely be found in the data on the disc even if the player had to slog through +20 hours to acquire it. When game content and features are deliberately restricted from being used and/or are unable to be used because you can't gain access to them without paying money for an external subscription service then there is a problem.

And this is the general grey area that causes complications (not unlike what happened this advert) with the practices of the industry nowadays. Video games are being treated as subscription based entertainment service platforms instead of fully realized independent entertainment software as they once were. They [Video games] are essentially becoming dependent on external services to function as advertised which is unlike how they were in the 5th and 6th gen eras.

In case it causes confusion, the main difference with a memory card and PS Plus/Xbox Live/Steam is that a memory card is a hardware peripheral, much like that of a game controller, not an actual external service.

 

[simsimsheree]

You have to only see the huge list of disclaimers and spoken warnings in prescription medicine advertisements (at least here in the US, not sure about EU) to realize that warnings are only as good as the laws make them. Drug ads have skyrocketed in warnings due to the industry being sued to hell and back for not disclosing ALL possible negative outcomes from using a product.

And video games will remain the sandbox of charlatan advertisers until class action lawsuits and fear of litigation forces them to clean up their act.

 

[SiriusR]

 

[JacksHerer]

I really don't see anything misleading in that ad, people just assumed something that wasn't advertised.

It's like a Car ad getting pulled because it doesn't explicitly say that Petrol is required or a driving license is required etc etc

Sony isn't the first company to have a TV ad pulled and it won't be the last.


Edit : ^ I don't see any reason for the xbox ad to get pulled for complaints either, people need to grow up

 

[MatskiMonk]

If you don't have an internet connection, you bought a physical copy of the game... If you bought a physical copy of the game, and don't have internet, you didn't read the box. Yup, Sony's fault.

 

[Scaff]

I've g

If you don't have an internet connection, you bought a physical copy of the game... If you bought a physical copy of the game, and don't have internet, you didn't read the box. Yup, Sony's fault.

I've got a physical copy, the warning is neither clear (saves are not mentioned at all), not is it prominently shown. It's on the back of the box and a quarter of the size of the info about the limitations of VR functionality.

Not that it makes a difference in regard to an advert.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I've g

I've got a physical copy, the warning is neither clear (saves are not mentioned at all), not is it prominently shown. It's on the back of the box and a quarter of the size of the info about the limitations of VR functionality.

View attachment 724114

Not that it makes a difference in regard to an advert.

Me too ..

.. Is it specific about every limitation? No. If I didn't have an internet connection, would I continue to buy the game without further research? No.

I know that it's not directly the question at hand when it comes to the advert, but to be honest I'm in a bad mood... legislation and rules should protect those that don't have the opportunity to protect themselves... it shouldn't be there to protect the lazy, including those that are willfully ignorant.

Caveat Emptor might be too much, but hows about just researching a purchase a little bit before buying? How's about just flipping the box over and have a 5 second skim over the information? Is it really that hard? Why should it be down do advertisers?

 

[Scaff]

Me too ..

View attachment 724115

.. Is it specific about every limitation? No. If I didn't have an internet connection, would I continue to buy the game without further research? No.

I know that it's not directly the question at hand when it comes to the advert, but to be honest I'm in a bad mood... legislation and rules should protect those that don't have the opportunity to protect themselves... it shouldn't be there to protect the lazy, including those that are willfully ignorant.

Caveat Emptor might be too much, but hows about just researching a purchase a little bit before buying? How's about just flipping the box over and have a 5 second skim over the information? Is it really that hard? Why should it be down do advertisers?

Its still very non-specific, simply stating "Internet connection required to save game" would be far more informative and useful to a potential buyer, it also doesn't change the fact that its a quarter of the size of the VR info. VR is also splashed across the front of the packaging, despite not being required to play the game (just as funnily enough Sony used to do with titles that required an internet connection on the PS3).

Yes an element of caveat emptor does exist, but Sony could also have been far, far clearer in this.

 

[Tornado]

If you don't have an internet connection, you bought a physical copy of the game... If you bought a physical copy of the game, and don't have internet, you didn't read the box. Yup, Sony's fault.

So whose fault was it if someone bought GT5 because the box said the game had matchmaking?

 

[TomBrady]

Misleading statements and trailers are a key feature of this franchise!



Wrong. GT6 never had popular hybrids because in a reaction to 5 they protected saves effectively, without any of the online DRM bull:censored: you're excusing.

That's complete and absolute nonsense. You really think a game marketed heavily on e sports and it's partnership with the FIA, even offering a real world racing license based on it's competition is going to risk something like hybrid cars that would completely delegitimize the entire competition? Surely not.

And stop with the drm nonsense too. GT sport isn't always online and it doesn't have drm.

 

[simsimsheree]

This whole thread boils down to 'caveat emptor'.

Advice that has been around since the Romans (what have they ever done for us? LOL) and before (don't know the ancient Egyptian for it!).

If you believe ANYTHING you hear or see without researching it first, you deserve all you get. All legislation can do is blunt the sword a little bit, but it is still going to get swung as long as there are lazy people and profit-hungry businesses.

Or can I interest you in some land in South Florida?

 

[redhed17]

It's like a Car ad getting pulled because it doesn't explicitly say that Petrol is required or a driving license is required etc etc

No it is not. Every car needs Diesel, Petrol or Electricity, or a combination there of to function, and always have done. There is no need to inform users of the need for fuel in a car that runs of fuel.

Not every game needs to be connected to the internet to be able to save where you are up to, so there is no expectation that that should should be the case unless you are informed that that is different from what has gone before. Which was the problem with the advert.

Not every game needs to be connected to the internet to be able to access large parts of the game, or even worse, to actually play parts of the game you may have already achieved. Spent many hours getting to a certain point, accumulating features, well without an internet connection all that is not usable. Adverts should be telling potential users about this very clearly and prominently.

If you don't have an internet connection, you bought a physical copy of the game... If you bought a physical copy of the game, and don't have internet, you didn't read the box. Yup, Sony's fault.

Do you read the box of every game you buy? Even the small print!

It should have said that, in the advert on and the box, x amount of percentage of this is only usable with and internet connection, and that it also needs an internet to save progress. And it should say that very prominently imho. People may think differently and let the producer say/do whatever they want, and they are entitled to their opinion. Thankfully there are rules and they are enforced.

Can someone please tell me what the problem is in making the producers, of in this case a game, give clear information about their product? What are the negatives, to the user having all the information to make an informed choice that I am missing?

I understand the benefits to the producers of not giving the full information because they will sell more games by not doing it. What is the benefit to disappointing and misleading users do the users get?

 

[MatskiMonk]

Do you read the box of every game you buy? Even the small print!

I'll usually have a quick skim over the back, yes. I don't read the small print, but in any case the warning that "INTERNET REQUIRED FOR MOST FUNCTIONALITY" isn't in the small print - and I happen to think that saying INTERNET REQUIRED FOR MOST FUNCTIONALITY is a reasonably good indicator that an internet connection will be required for most functionality.

 

[redhed17]

I'll usually have a quick skim over the back, yes. I don't read the small print, but in any case the warning that "INTERNET REQUIRED FOR MOST FUNCTIONALITY" isn't in the small print - and I happen to think that saying INTERNET REQUIRED FOR MOST FUNCTIONALITY is a reasonably good indicator that an internet connection will be required for most functionality.

Mmm, I bought Gran Turismo Sport online from Game with a PS4, as you can see they show all the information about how the internet access affects the gameplay and saving. Oh, hold on, it doesn't. But it is alright because they have a picture of the case, so I can see the info on there, but hold on again, they only show the front cover, which doesn't mention anything.

But maybe if I bought it on Amazon UK they will tell me how the internet affects the game and the saving only online. Woops, no again. Someone mentions it in the comments, but how long has that been there! And again, shouldn't it be mentioned in the description!

Well maybe the US Amazon will give more info seeing as it is a very litigious country. But again no mention of how the internet affects the game in any way. Again, someone mentions it in the comments, but shouldn't it be mentioned in the description of the game, seeing as it is so fundamental to how this game works!

Well maybe I can get all the information on the Official Gran Turismo Sport site will go into detail as to the internet access and how it affects the game. I mean, that is the place to get all the information about the game isn't it. Surprisingly no mention apart from "Number of Players: 1 – 2 (Online: 1 – 24)".

So what if you buy online, and where you buy don't mention anything about the internet and the game, and there isn't a comments section which mentions anything about how the internet affects the game, how are you supposed to know?

So if the actual company who are selling the game make no mention of how the internet affects the game apart from a small box on the back of the case, how are you supposed to know?

So to put it in a way you may understand, on the Gran Turismo site, from the makers of the game, it doesn't say "INTERNET REQUIRED FOR MOST FUNCTIONALITY" it is a little box on the back of the game which you may see once you have bought the game. Although if you missed the little box on the back, you could maybe get more information in the manual in the case. Hold on, not having a manual in the box is one of the ways they have saved money.

 

[JacksHerer]

What I've learnt about advertising since seeing this thread, is that it takes as few as 100 people to complain about an advert for it to get pulled, whether it meets guidelines or not.

 

[Tornado]

I'll usually have a quick skim over the back, yes. I don't read the small print, but in any case the warning that "INTERNET REQUIRED FOR MOST FUNCTIONALITY" isn't in the small print - and I happen to think that saying INTERNET REQUIRED FOR MOST FUNCTIONALITY is a reasonably good indicator that an internet connection will be required for most functionality.

So if I bought GT5 hoping for, say, matchmaking...

 

[JacksHerer]

So if I bought GT5 hoping for, say, matchmaking...

Or bought grinder expecting a credit slog