Watch: We Are Worried About Microtransactions in Racing Games!


What used to be unthinkable in the days of the internet not being common yet is now the norm in almost any game - and racing titles are no exception to microtransactions. It is one of the more questionable elements in modern gaming, which is why OverTake's Marvin Miller takes a deep dive into the topic and shares his worries.

Image credit: OverTake

In-game currency, car liveries, clothing items for your virtual racing driver... There are numerous possibilities to spend you hard-earned real-life cash on digital goods in your favorite games. In fact, the focus in games of a particular company seems to have shifted almost exclusively on these in recent years - and it has reached the world of racing games and simulators as well.


Looking Back at the Early Days​

Marvin takes a look at the history of microtransactions in gaming, going back as far as 2006. and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The explosion of the practice since has lead to interesting new content being made available on one hand, but also to outrageous prices for miniscule items on the other - not to mention the pay-to-win mechanic some titles started to implement. This gets worse when it is specifically aimed towards kids, as certain examples Marvin focuses on show.

What does this mean for future racing titles in particular? Are we facing normalization of these practices even in racing simulations? This may very well be the case, as Marvin thinks - but only time will tell for sure.

Your Thoughts​

What is your take on microtransactions - both in gaming in general and in (sim) racing games? Do you agree with Marvin? Let us know in the comments below!
About author
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

Comments

I got AMS1, RBR, AC, GPL, PnG3. Go ahead and do your worst, modern gaming :laugh:
don't worry. Microsoft will release win 15 to make all games you listed above incompatible, and force you to play "modern" games.
Grand Prix 3 lost so many players due to incompatibility with Win 10 (even Win 7 for some graphic cards)
 
Charging and asking for donations are completely different things.

If someone wants to charge whatever amount for a mod, and someone is willing to pay whatever amount. There’s no extortion is there? I think you misunderstand the term “extortion”
If someone comes to your house and charges you $5000 for a $500 job and you happily pay for it that's still the person ripping you of or "extorting" you. Just because mr x y and z person isn't screaming that they got ripped of, does not mean that they were not ripped of. like i said its a massive issue with simps.

infact i would argue the simping is more of a cultural thing. its always been around but with the mess the world is in now its accelerated it ten fold.
 
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Sorry I was referring to

The problem is like everyone wanna squeeze the orange to make money with bad content, stolen content or ridiculos content. Thats all i can add. Thats my opinion. You or others can have of course another.
He never said all content is bad or stolen?
I just reiterating the vast difference between modders back when and now.
The fact they buy tools is up to them, their choice, does that mean they should be compensated.

What would you think ? Your Mum opens a great coffee stall, does everything above board, pays all her dues, etc.
Then someone opens a stall next to her and sells coffee $1 cheaper because they don't pay Taxes or GST's or Certificates of Compliance or anything else they don't want to.

Yeah, I think you would moan . ;)
 
But a modder that creates a mod for an existing game is adding something to a game that already exist. If he sells his mod, then he should also be willing to pay a fee to the studio, because he is profitting from somebody else's work.
What about mods that become so popular, they bring in more users? Wouldn’t the studio profit from somebody else’s work?

AC is still very much near the top of steam charts due to mods.
 
don't worry. Microsoft will release win 15 to make all games you listed above incompatible, and force you to play "modern" games.
Grand Prix 3 lost so many players due to incompatibility with Win 10 (even Win 7 for some graphic cards)
You got it especially rough cause GP3 is a glide-era game right? I've heard some of them are a nightmare to run. Hopefully we get a DOSBox-type emulator to sort those out one day.
 
You got it especially rough cause GP3 is a glide-era game right? I've heard some of them are a nightmare to run. Hopefully we get a DOSBox-type emulator to sort those out one day.
You're right. my new graphic card is not compatible with GP3, so I have to use a program called "dgVoodoo" but it's heavy on CPU. my PC can run AC with no problem, 60+ fps, but for a 20+ year GP3 it still lags on some tracks and "lag" in gp3 means less than 25fps
 
If someone comes to your house and charges you $5000 for a $500 job and you happily pay for it that's still the person ripping you of or "extorting" you. Just because mr x y and z person isn't screaming that they got ripped of, does not mean that they were not ripped of. like i said its a massive issue with simps.

infact i would argue the simping is more of a cultural thing. its always been around but with the mess the world is in now its accelerated it ten fold.
This is a completely separate argument. Paying more for something you can’t do yourself isn’t necessarily being ripped off… paying extraordinary amounts for simple things, that’s just lack of common sense or dealing with unethical businesses.

Don’t use the term “extortion”, that’s irrelevant to what we are talking about.
 
Sorry I was referring to


He never said all content is bad or stolen?
I just reiterating the vast difference between modders back when and now.
The fact they buy tools is up to them, their choice, does that mean they should be compensated.

What would you think ? Your Mum opens a great coffee stall, does everything above board, pays all her dues, etc.
Then someone opens a stall next to her and sells coffee $1 cheaper because they don't pay Taxes or GST's or Certificates of Compliance or anything else they don't want to.

Yeah, I think you would moan . ;)
How do you know they don’t?
 
Premium
The fact they buy tools is up to them, their choice, does that mean they should be compensated.
Because without those tools these mods wouldnt exist. This website likely wouldnt be this big. Games like AC wouldnt be as big.
 
You got it especially rough cause GP3 is a glide-era game right? I've heard some of them are a nightmare to run. Hopefully we get a DOSBox-type emulator to sort those out one day.
I wouldn't call it a nightmare - using a Glide to D3D translator (e.g nGlide) is easier and more efficient than emulating an entire machine.
 
Premium
As long as I can pay for a game and it's content and use it on an even playing field with other people then I don't care if someone else paid more to have some other item that has no bearing on the racing other than a look or something.

Perhaps some titles will let you buy a nitro boost that won you the race, who cares either if you buy in to that style of arcade game I don't play them anyhow. I am similarly not going to pay for a gold plated rifle in counter strike but I have no problem with someone else doing it - it makes no difference to the gameplay.

Lots of comparisons to iracing, the truth is like all other games they have dlc and you pay for that - i.e. tracks and cars. Is there another modern racing sim you dont pay for extra cars and tracks any longer?

iRacing is actually the one I trust to not bring in any microtransactions that will force you in to buying something for a competitive edge. They may have a pricing model that some hate but it pays them to put up a service that anyone can participate on evenly.

Iracing chose their pricing model so that they dont need to deal with these issues, you can take it or leave it but you are not going to have to worry that some guy has more power in his car because of a 50 cent transaction before the race.
 
Premium
Is there any sim that has a pay to win model? I think that's a bit of a redundant point at this stage.

That aside, The DLC model used by iRacing should never be compared to the DLC model used by others, One is pay to access based on ongoing payments and is fundamentally different to buying extra content.
 
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Is there any sim that has a pay to win model? I think that's a bit of a redundant point at this stage.

That aside, The DLC model used by iRacing should never be compared to the DLC model used by others, One is pay to access based on ongoing payments and is fundamentally different to buying extra content.
pay to win is coming. Pay $2 to unlock "Hamilton's justice" of always punishing your opponent in a crash. Pay $5 to unlock "Benetton B194's secret" which adds a blank line in your steering wheel display which activates launch control.
 
Premium
So what makes this *pay to access* model a scam?
Selling you something you don't get to own or keep possession of certainly fits within the definition of a scam as I understand it.

Its using the initial purchase as leverage to extort ongoing payments without end.

So, there's that.You are of course free to view it in any way that make sense to you, But I'm happy with scam.
 
What about mods that become so popular, they bring in more users? Wouldn’t the studio profit from somebody else’s work?

AC is still very much near the top of steam charts due to mods.
I doubt people will buy a title for the mods. I certainly never do. If there are such cases, I'm sure they are a tiny minority.

I think what the mods do for AC is that they keep the title alive for a longer time than expected. But the people who download the mods now already have the game. (And if they buy it now, they don't generate a lot of income for Kunos, as the game is now dirt cheap.)
 
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Premium
Is there any sim that has a pay to win model? I think that's a bit of a redundant point at this stage.

That aside, The DLC model used by iRacing should never be compared to the DLC model used by others, One is pay to access based on ongoing payments and is fundamentally different to buying extra content.
If there was I wouldn't play it so I am not really fussed if there was.

I am sure it would attract a playerbase though and they would be happy with theirs and I would be happy with mine. I wouldn't see what there is to be upset about.

I have the same view on iracing, I just don't get upset with how other people spend their $.

I also wouldn't understand getting upset because some guy wanted to spend money on a feature that didn't help him and didn't hurt me.
 
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How did you take that from that?

People put hard work towards things they enjoy because they wanna make it to the best of their abilities. Also for most, it went from fun to work because they enjoyed it that much. Sites like this would be dead without groups like RSS, VRC and URD on the AC side.

Also, why should a modder have to pay the studio? It would be the opposite way around. Games like AC would be dead without mods.

P.S. Calm down on the gendered language modders female and male make mods.
A modder didn't do the hard work: program the game engine, the user interface, etc. In other words, the base of the game. Without the game itself, there are no mods.

As for the hard work: yes, I'm sure modders work hard but no one forcing them to do it. They do it because they like it. But it is still a hobby. Unless, you launch your own studio or you use your modding work to get hired by a studio, in which case you will get a salary for your work.

P.S. I don't know how it is in English, but in French (my first language) it is widely assumed that the masculine can be used in a generic (i.e. masculine and feminine) way.
 
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Premium
If there was I wouldn't play it so I am not really fussed if there was.

I am sure it would attract a playerbase though and they would be happy with theirs and I would be happy with mine. I wouldn't see what there is to be upset about.

I have the same view on iracing, I just don't get upset with how other people spend their $.

I also wouldn't understand getting upset because some guy wanted to spend money on a feature that didn't help him and didn't hurt me.
Honestly, we are more in agreement then disagreement, I'm not overly fussed by the existence of the iracing model or micro-transitions , the point was more that the community has endorsed it by participation so it's a bit mis-conceived to be pointing out the doings of other factions of the game development industry.

And further to that, I like the idea of DLC as a means to extend the life span of a game and as a way to support the developer, But for me to purchase it, it needs to be of interest, hold some value, Not built into the game already as an unlockable, and I need to retain ownership (or unlimited access which amounts to the same thing) of what I have purchased.
 
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