Gran Turismo 6 Will Introduce Microtransactions

Sony has revealed in their European Playstation blog that Gran Turismo 6 will have microtransactions.

The game is already available for preorder on the PSN Store, including the Standard Edition and the Special Edition. The Special Edition includes 20 cars, custom PSN avatars, paint chips, race suits and helmets, and other customization options, basically anything you would ever need to get your car looking the way you like, from the onset. Whichever version you get, preordering the game will get you all the Precision Pack cars for free.

Furthermore, you can now purchase in-game credits to buy more cars and customization options. In-game credits run in denominations of 500,000, 1 million, 2.5 million and 7 million. To give fans an idea of what these credits can buy, they shared this picture showing how many cars a million credits can get.

It does seem like players will still be able to acquire any of the cars and options that they want by earning in-game credits the old fashioned way; by racing your way up the ranks. However, bringing microtransactions in levels the playing field another way. Players who are not good enough to earn these cars and credits now have a shortcut to get all the options they want. Unfortunately, I would say this ultimately tips the odds over to people who purchase.

Good cars cannot hide the deficiencies of bad drivers, but good drivers who got good cars first will have an edge over players who did not pay to win. I hope Polyphony Digital thought about this in the microtransaction design. We’ll find out soon enough as Gran Turismo 6 releases on December 6.