Gran Turismo 7 is still being review bombed in the wake of the PS5 racer's latest swathe of controversial changes. Over on the game's Metacritic page, its user score has fallen even further to an "overwhelming dislike" score of just 1.8. That makes Gran Turismo 7 Sony's lowest user-rated first-party game of all time.
As reported by Gamespot, the latest updates to Gran Turismo 7 have left fans feeling deeply frustrated. Players of the PS5 racer were already irked by the inclusion of microtransactions in a $70 / £70 game, but grew even more upset when a recent update significantly cut the Credit (GT7's in-game currency) rewards on a good number of World Circuit races.
Throw in a recent extended maintenance period that lasted almost two days, rendering the game completely unplayable, and much of that fan outrage becomes wholly understandable.
Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi released a statement attempting to explain the controversial updates, particularly the slashed Credit rewards, saying:
"I would like to have users enjoy lots of cars and races even without microtransactions. At the same time the pricing of cars is an important element that conveys their value and rarity, so I do think it’s important for it to be linked with the real world prices."
Analysis: Is Gran Turismo 7 in trouble?
While Gran Turismo 7 has performed impressive among critics (we gave the game a wholehearted 5 stars), Metacritic user review scores can often give a better idea of consumer's feelings towards any given game. And in the case of GT7, the anger is largely understandable.
For a start, microtransactions are never a good look in a game you've already had to pay full price for. And while the nerfed Credit rewards have made some shorter races more difficult to farm, it does create the impression that it could push some players to purchasing Credits with real money.
Throw in the fact that once you've finished GT7's single player Menu Book content, there's not a whole lot of ways to earn a good amount of Credits fast, with Credit rewards in the online Sport mode being bizarrely low. Right now, GT7 is almost the polar opposite to Forza Horizon 5, which regularly showers players with new cars and in-game cash rewards.
Then there's the lengthy maintenance periods that render GT7 completely unplayable. That's not a good look for people who may have just bought the game, only to be greeted by a splash screen notifying them that they're unable to play the game they just dropped their hard-earned cash on.
While Gran Turismo 7 is in itself an excellent game, it's currently doing a decent job of turning away its most devout players, and that's never a good look for a legacy series like Gran Turismo.
Here's hoping that Polyphony Digital and Sony respond amicably to the backlash, perhaps by universally bumping up Credits rewards or keeping maintenance times down to an absolute minimum.
