Gran Turismo 7 prides itself on its realism and high level of detail. These factors were major focuses during Sony’s State of Play event in February, where developers showed off the game’s realistic weather and track conditions.

Unfortunately, it seems that realism is not always a good thing for the players depending on how it's implemented. In Gran Turismo 7’s case, the pursuit of realism extends to increasing the prices of several cars.

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Developer Polyphony Digital released Gran Turismo 7’s update 1.15 last week. It introduced three new cars: the Toyota GR010 Hybrid 21, Suzuki Vision Gran Turismo, and Roadster Shop Rampage. It also introduces several new events, three new Car Café Menu Books, and various other changes. However, one of those changes included raising the price of several high-end cars to keep pace with their real-world values.

Gran Turismo 7 Suzuki Vision

Twenty-seven of Gran Turismo 7’s cars increased in price after the update, though two also went down in price. The average cost of Hagerty’s vehicles only went up by about 3.8%, according to the fan who compiled this data. However, the changes definitely hit some cars harder than others. The Ferrari F40 saw the most radical increase in value, doubling in price from 1.35 million credits to 2.6 million. Other notable examples include the Lamborghini Miura P400 Bertone Prototype, which increased from 2.5 million to 3.4 million​, and the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W194), which climbed from 11 million to 13 million. Other cars saw less substantial but still significant price increases.

It is worth reiterating that these price changes are not entirely arbitrary. When Sony released Gran Turismo 7 on March 4th, the publisher announced its partnership with car insurance company Hagerty. The company specializes in rare cars and helps determine in-game price changes based on real-world market values. However, given that rare, out of production, and otherwise collectible cars tend to increase in appraised value, the upward trend will likely continue. Considering that Gran Turismo 7 players still can’t sell cars yet, the price increase only benefits the developer’s ability to sell microtransactions. Unsurprisingly, this led to some fans grumbling on Twitter and the GTPlanet Forums.

This is not the first time Gran Turismo 7 courted controversy by changing its in-game economy. In March, Polyphony Digital reduced the number of Credits the game awards players for completing races. Fans generally interpreted that as an effort to push players towards Gran Turismo 7’s micropayment shop, which some observers accused of using predatory tactics. With that in mind, it is natural that some players might be suspicious of the developer’s reasons for this latest price hike.

Gran Turismo 7 is available now on PS4 and PS5.

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Source: GTPlanet (via VGC)