Gran Turismo 7’s developers apologize for the grind, promise fixes and a million free credits

Screenshot: Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

Polyphony Digital apologized for the changes recently introduced to the game and promised improvements along with a million free credits. The changes come after the game had a massive outage last week, which was the result of an update that also made changes to how players could earn credits by actually playing the game rather than through microtransactions.

Polyphony president Kazunori Yamauchi apologized for the confusion and frustration caused by the patch updates which resulted in a server outage and adjustments to the in-game economy.

The post says that users should see the credits in their accounts, and that they will only be given to people who owned the game before the post was published. Polyphony says the offer is good until April 25th, but I don't know if I have gotten mine yet.

The changes to the in-game economy were made to give more accurate rewards based on time investment and completion, according to the post. Friday's post seems to be that explanation, as he said he couldn't explain any upcoming changes in detail.

The post describes a patch that will be released in the beginning of April that will reestablish the reward system with greater balance for all players.

• Approximately doubled rewards for “the events in the latter half of the world circuit”
• “High rewards” for getting all gold and all bronze in the circuit experience
• Increased rewards for online races
• Eight new one-hour endurance race events in missions, which will have “higher reward settings
• A higher cap on how many non-paid credits users could have, up to 100 million from 20 million
• More used and legend cars being sold at a time

The post outlines that there will be changes coming in the near-term, though it doesn't specify a date or more details. There are changes.

• Increased payout value of limited-time rewards
• More additions to world circuit events
• Endurance races are being added to missions, including 24-hour races
• Online time trials are being added, with rewards being given “according to the player’s difference with the top ranked time”
• Players will be able to sell their cars (consider your days numbered, 1965 Mini Cooper)

Users seem to be happy with the changes, especially the fact that you can sell your cars, though there are some questions about whether you'll be able to sell gifted cars. The game's reliance on internet connection is a big bugbear. The game was put into offline mode for a day because of server maintenance.

It doesn't seem like we should hold our breath for any changes that would make the game more offline focused since Friday's post refers to GT7 as a live service. The updates that we know we will be getting are exciting, both in terms of making the game more enjoyable and in adding new experiences to it.