GT Sport New GT Sport Update and Mercedes-AMG F1 W08 Released

[Paul Jeffrey]

Update 1.23 for GT Sport is here, and with it comes a new track, a bunch of cars, a Formula One Mercedes and... microtransactions...

Obviously the main talking on point of the latest build update has to be the 2017 Mercedes-AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+ of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, the first official contemporary Formula One car in a Gran Turismo game since the 2010 Ferrari F10 from GT5, however several aspects of the latest build release deployed earlier today also warrant a mention, not least of which is the potentially controversial inclusion of microtransactions to the PlayStation 4 exclusive simulation...

Microtransaction I hear you say? Pray tell.. well basically Polyphony Digital have taken the decision to allow players the ability to use real world money to unlock cars in the title that would ordinarily only be available through the purchase of in game credits, effectively allowing those who wish to skip to content they want to play the ability to avoid having to grind through the normal game modes and buy access to content hidden behind achievement barriers. Hmmm, that one might cause a few raised eyebrows..

Basically you can purchase cars that cost less than 2,000,000 in-game directly through the PS Store, in addition to your standard in-game purchase. Coming to the title as a soft launch, the new functionality will be region dependent, with the first batch release details below:

• Asia Region and Americas Region: July 30
  
• EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Region and Oceania region: August 2

Other notable mentions from the latest build include a much need new circuit, the fantasy Circuit de Sainte-Croix making its debut in the game and coming in no less than three different layouts and totalling 10km in its longest layout.

Check out the full update details below:

New Cars:

• Daihatsu Copen Active Top ’02 (N100)
  
• Ferrari 250 GTO CN.3729GT ’62 (Gr.X)
  
• Ford GT LM Spec II Test Car (Gr.3)
  
• Honda Beat ’91 (N100)
  
• Honda S660 ’15 (N100)
  
• Mazda 787B ’91 (Gr.1)
  
• Mercedes-AMG F1 W08 EQ Power+ ’17 (Gr.X)

New Track:

• Circuit de Sainte-Croix (A/B/C)

New GT League Events:

• Light Weight K Cup (Beginner League)
• Nostalgic Car Festival (Amateur League)
• Mercedes AMG Grand Prix (Professional League)

New Livery Editor Features

• Players will now be able to apply decals to race suites and helmets

New Scapes Features & Scenes:

• Scapes mode will now allow players to place their driver avatar in scenes
  
• Additional scenes have been added to the Tokyo Outer Ring Road, Chiba Scapes location

New Circuit Experience:

• Circuit de la Sarthe

GT Sport is available exclusively for Sony PlayStation 4.

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Have you tried the new GT Sport update yet? What do you think of the latest build? Impressed with the 2017 Mercedes F1 car? Let us know in the comments section below!​

 

[Ayem22]

very nice !

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

Everyone up in arms all over the web over optional micro transactions that don't affect the game one bit but no one talking about the most important bit of this update: the improved tire model.

 

[motoliser]

Hey Codemasters this is how an F1 car is expected to look like in game now a days!!

Even GT5 Ferrari looked better than your 2018 cars.

Shame on you

 

[delpinsky]

What real life driver could possibly hold the steering wheel like in GT Sport?
A Sunday tourist, perhaps?

 

[ke5ke1en50]

GT sport is a trivial casual race game compared to PC Assetto Corsa,
rF2, iRacing, Automobilista, etc

 

[headder]

GT sport is a trivial casual race game compared to PC Assetto Corsa rF2 iRacing

Did you ever played it on wheel? The game is so much similiar to I(ce)Racing in terms of handling that you would be surprised

 

[JayOTT]

Looks like the numbers finally caught up to Polyphony. Even a conservative estimate places sales above 4 million, but the majority were sold below full AAA price. I could see PD receiving a small cut from PS Plus subscriptions too, but their main income source has been slowly drying up.

Micro-transactions would irritate me, except the economy in Sport is very player friendly and they haven't touched any aspect of it in this update. As such, I don't see nearly as big a problem with this 'solution' as many of the business tactics we've seen in the past decade, including PD's own mistakes with GT6.

People are right to criticise the fact that Kazunori said the game wouldn't have micro-transactions, only to give in to the temptation post-launch. But I worry that people are going to grandstand, insist that micro-transactions have corrupted the game and made it the spawn of Satan... when this is actually one of the most benign uses of it I have ever seen.

 

[Spinelli]

GT Sports' physics may not have the fidelity of pc sims but at least it has natural oversteer control unlike some sims which have had broken oversteer, inertia, and throttle/torque physics for over a decade now with still no fix.

Some of the pc sims that pc simracers swear by have some huge holes in the driving experience. They're partly brilliant, put a smile on your face and make you addicted with the rawness and fidelity of their physics...other times, they make you laugh in frustration at how big of a broken joke the physics are.

 

[ATSSHD]

The sound is awful.

 

[headder]

The sound is awful.

It is because of GT Sport generic gearbox whine .. In audio settings there is a slider for gearbox sound, I always have it set to -5.

 

[Metalogic]

Dear me.. It's a game on a Playstation man...

It's a tonne of fun to play... It doesn't need to be compared to anything else.. It's just awesome on it's own!

^^^ This. Doesn't mean the same people can't enjoy more serious sims as well.

I certainly prefer it to Forza 7, if we're talking about console sims (or ones that were originally designed for console)

 

[JayOTT]

I've read a lot of positive things about the new tyre model. They say the general grip levels feel more realistic and more like... tyres. I can't really judge it myself because I don't do the real life driving necessary to know, but one thing I can say is that the patch notes confirmed that tyre temperature either was, or is now, being simulated properly (when tyre wear is on).

 

[JJ72]

Did you ever played it on wheel? The game is so much similiar to I(ce)Racing in terms of handling that you would be surprised

It actually feels like Iracing played on a wheel with early 2000 force feedback.

 

[JJ72]

Looks like the numbers finally caught up to Polyphony. Even a conservative estimate places sales above 4 million, but the majority were sold below full AAA price. I could see PD receiving a small cut from PS Plus subscriptions too, but their main income source has been slowly drying up.

Micro-transactions would irritate me, except the economy in Sport is very player friendly and they haven't touched any aspect of it in this update. As such, I don't see nearly as big a problem with this 'solution' as many of the business tactics we've seen in the past decade, including PD's own mistakes with GT6.

People are right to criticise the fact that Kazunori said the game wouldn't have micro-transactions, only to give in to the temptation post-launch. But I worry that people are going to grandstand, insist that micro-transactions have corrupted the game and made it the spawn of Satan... when this is actually one of the most benign uses of it I have ever seen.

The game is given away for free when you buy a PSVR, that's already one million there. And besides that, save for the launch week, it is always heavily discounted, you can pick one up for about 12 dollars here.

 

[aka2k]

Still can't force myself to grab a PS4 for this game. It's neither that compelling nor I have cash for that right now anyway. xD

 

[apex11]

I've read a lot of positive things about the new tyre model. They say the general grip levels feel more realistic and more like... tyres. I can't really judge it myself because I don't do the real life driving necessary to know, but one thing I can say is that the patch notes confirmed that tyre temperature either was, or is now, being simulated properly (when tyre wear is on).

Yep finally sim racing is catching up with what every person that ever drove a kart or race car already knew.... tyres grip....and add in massive aero, creates grip and road holding...its kinda the point.... real life is actually arcade........who knew.

 

[Patrik Marek]

I'm not a Mercedes fan, but I wanted to take this car out for a spin, in one of the free bonus cars, I saw it and my car almost landed on it, but in the end I got the one next to it

not sure I want to spend 2mil credit on it , although I suppose I can always sell it later on, you get like 40% back ?

 

[Mr Latte]

 

[Ayem22]

when i see rF2 it looks like playstation 2.
and the physics from rF2 is not better than pcars 2.
We are lucky to have GT sport on ps4 pro !