Transform Races (Shark card sales in disguise)

[Squirrel 5,180]

I've just been working out what vehicles are needed for each race and how much money will need to be spent on custom versions and the figure needed is quite staggering. Firstly I'm going to list the new races and the additional vehicles for each race:

Gauntlet II		The Dragon
Motorcycles		Compacts
Molotok		Faggio Sport
Phantom Wedge		Molotok
Oppressor		Vagner
Get Wrecked		Vinewood Thrills
Supers		Motorcycles
Seashark		Swift
Shotaro		Marquis
Mallard		Seabreeze
Havok		Vagner
Home Run		Warped
Supers		Supers
Vortex		Molotok
Mallard		Rocket Voltic
Seashark		Ultralight
Havok		Parachutes
Junk Yard		Mixed Up
Motorcycles		Supers
Seashark		Besra
Mallard		Ramp Buggy
		Rocket Voltic
McKenzie		Neon Mountain
Motorcycles		Motorcycles
Besra		Besra
Blazer Aqua		Seashark
Zentorno
Trophy Truck
Motorcycles		Plummet III
		Sports
Slam Dunk		Besra
Motorcycles		Blazer Aqua
Ruiner 2000		Havok
Besra		Akuma
Blazer
Hauler		Separation
Whippet		Motorcycles
		Rocket Voltic
Split Personality		Mallard
BMX		Havoc
FMJ
Rocket Voltic		Slalom
Besra		Motorcycles
Oppressor		Mallard
Parachutes		XA-21

 

Once you remove the additional vehicles from that list which can't be upgraded you're left with the following vehicles. I've included the Hauler as the cost for the MOC, I'm not sure if this is available in Transform races or not at this time.  Prices are listed without any discount available.

Akuma		9,000.00
Blazer		8,000.00
Blazer Aqua		1,755,600.00
Faggio Sport		47,500.00
FMJ		1,750,000.00
Hauler		1,400,000.00
Havoc		2,300,900.00
Molotok		4,788,000.00
Oppressor		3,524,500.00
Phantom Wedge		2,553,600.00
Ramp Buggy		3,192,000.00
Rocket Voltic		3,830,400.00
Ruiner 2000		5,745,600.00
Seabreeze		850,000.00
Shotaro		2,225,000.00
Trophy Truck		55,000.00
Ultralight		665,000.00
Vagner		1,535,000.00
Vortex		356,000.00
XA-21		2,375,000.00
Zentorno		725,000.00

 

Once you add up those costs you have a staggering $39,691,100 to spend, that is before you add the cost of performance upgrades. At an average of $150k per vehicle for upgrading you will have a new total of $42 million.

The cost of enough Shark Cards to cover this in the UK is £200, price for EU, AU and US will vary but as far as I'm concerned this is a very disgusting move by Rockstar. 

 

[DavidCore89 7,404]

Would I need all of those?

What's a Faggio Sport gonna be used for?

[Squirrel 5,180]

1 minute ago, DavidCore89 said:

Would I need all of those?

What's a Faggio Sport gonna be used for?

Potentially yes, if you are racing someone at a similar pace who has a fast compact, Vagner and Molotok but they have a Faggio sport and you don't then chances are that they will win. The Faggio Sport isn't that bad, only 45k but when you're needing custom versions of Ruiner 2k and Oppressors it starts to add up.

[DavidCore89 7,404]

I'm absolutely lost.

No idea how this works.

[Con 5,719]

What a shitty scam. Maybe they do want to kill the game once and for all. Now I would not have any issues with this format but the vehicle pricing is just way too high to begin with.

[pete_95973 4,383]

Scam might be a bit of an exaggeration?  Nobody has to play them.  You can turn customs off, just like in normal races.  Most people in this crew have already bought 20, 30, or 40 custom vehicles or more for racing already.  I don't even like to race much and I have spent $82 million dollars on vehicles lol.  I am looking forward to playing these but if I don't like them or don't want to buy any vehicles I feel are necessary  to own to play them I simply won't play them.  And I won't feel scammed.

[LimeGreenLegend 4,275]

Yeah, I wouldn’t call this a scam, especially compared to what other publishers are doing.  Rockstar are practically angels.

Check out Jim Sterling on YouTube, he’s been on a run o calling out this bullshit lately, eg. putting the true ending of a game behind a paywall, flat out lying that there won’t be micro transactions when there were, taking stuff out of a game that was in previous instalments and putting that stuff in loot boxes.

I have nothing bad at all to say about Rockstar compared to these assholes.

[djw180 6,977]

Of the ones I've done you can usually turn customs off. But if the starting vehicle is something that doesn't have a custom version (cycle, boat) you may not be able to. I've not done enough to be totally sure. The option to turn customs off not being there could of course be a bug, Rockstar seem to like that sort of bug.

[The_Lady_A 1,280]

33 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

Yeah, I wouldn’t call this a scam, especially compared to what other publishers are doing.  Rockstar are practically angels.

Check out Jim Sterling on YouTube, he’s been on a run o calling out this bullshit lately, eg. putting the true ending of a game behind a paywall, flat out lying that there won’t be micro transactions when there were, taking stuff out of a game that was in previous instalments and putting that stuff in loot boxes.

I have nothing bad at all to say about Rockstar compared to these assholes.

Just because there are publishers out there doing worse things doesn't instantly redeem Rockstar imo. The cost of things has been getting steadily higher increasing the grinding required if you want to avoid the paywall. As someone who was late to the party - starting just after Gunrunning was released - it felt like a full time job trying to get to a point where it was remotely possible to race or compete evenly with other players. And most newer players don't have the advantage of an experienced, organised crew and the knowledge of how keep lobbies safe to work in. So this constant inflation pushes the game ever further towards being pay to win for all but the most established of players. 

Edited October 17, 2017 by The_Lady_A

[JuniorChubb 3,360]

Damn Squirrel, am I getting a real anti R* vibe from you these day's? 

None of the purchases are compulsory and many will have a lot of the vehicles already, not having a few will make it more fun with a group of friends as having to use a stock car on certain transforms will mix things up a bit.

Sure there is the argument that those who take these races seriously will feel the need to make sure they have a modded vehicle for each Transform, but those are the type of player who are prepared, grinding and won't mind the purchases. Racing with friends for fun is what we do and it is different to grinding these races for cash, we do not need to buy anything just change the settings to suit what we have.

Forget any negativity that comes with the R* created races and look forward to all the completely free creator options that could be heading our way...

Edited October 17, 2017 by JuniorChubb

[Lann 10,846]

Time to buy a Mallard, Sea shark and a Zentorno and i have 4 races all covered!

Thanks for a great list @Squirrel!!

Edited October 17, 2017 by Lann

[DavidCore89 7,404]

Not a scam, it's a choice.

I'm not gonna buy customs for any vehicle unless it's good for normal racing, wanted new cars as well.

Things naturally get more expensive in many games which are replaced every year, but GTAO has been out a lot longer, so therefore prices are much more inflated. In these yearly games, try to start playing online after about 6 months and you'll see that GTAO is actually quite easy on new players.

When I started, I had to unlock everything, couldn't just go and buy a carbine and a homing launcher, nope, I had a pistol and freemode was full of tanks. Nobody was giving away race wins, absolutely not, I had to win them the hard and dirty way.

There were no businesses to run solo in passive lobbies, so everything needed unlocking to be able to compete, or get my ass kicked.

I couldn't afford all the best stuff, the grind was huge, 4 years in fact. Yet people late to the game complain about things being expensive when they're making millions a day while sat in safe lobbies. You guys don't know how easy you have it 

Another thing that irks me is people complaining about the developer or publisher while playing the game for years and using forums dedicated to it. Just stop if it's that bad. I don't play any 2K games, and for that reason you won't find me on a forum dedicated to their games. People love to hate R*, but they're one of the very best, free updates for 4 years is just one example.

[DavidCore89 7,404]

19 minutes ago, Lann said:

Time to buy a Mallard, Sea shark and a Zentorno and i have 4 races all covered!

Thanks for a great list @Squirrel!!

Can you modify a Mallard and Seashark?

[pete_95973 4,383]

3 minutes ago, DavidCore89 said:

Not a scam, it's a choice.

I'm not gonna buy customs for any vehicle unless it's good for normal racing, wanted new cars as well.

Things naturally get more expensive in many games which are replaced every year, but GTAO has been out a lot longer, so therefore prices are much more inflated. In these yearly games, try to start playing online after about 6 months and you'll see that GTAO is actually quite easy on new players.

When I started, I had to unlock everything, couldn't just go and buy a carbine and a homing launcher, nope, I had a pistol and freemode was full of tanks. Nobody was giving away race wins, absolutely not, I had to win them the hard and dirty way.

There were no businesses to run solo in passive lobbies, so everything needed unlocking to be able to compete, or get my ass kicked.

I couldn't afford all the best stuff, the grind was huge, 4 years in fact. Yet people late to the game complain about things being expensive when they're making millions a day while sat in safe lobbies. You guys don't know how easy you have it 

Another thing that irks me is people complaining about the developer or publisher while playing the game for years and using forums dedicated to it. Just stop if it's that bad. I don't play any 2K games, and for that reason you won't find me on a forum dedicated to their games. People love to hate R*, but they're one of the very best, free updates for 4 years is just one example.

Well said

[Squirrel 5,180]

6 minutes ago, DavidCore89 said:

Can you modify a Mallard and Seashark?

No which is why I left them off the custom purchase list.

 

The post above isn't just a rant about rockstars policies. I'm personally not happy about it but the information is there so you can make informed choices about if you want to buy a vehicle or not. In @Lann's case he doesn't need to buy a Mallard or Seashark as you can't upgrade them. 

It could be worth people recording videos of each race and work out how much time each vehicle is used in a race. This will also help decide if it's worthwhile buying a specific vehicle for this game mode. 

[DavidCore89 7,404]

OK, so many vehicles can't be modified, then everyone gets stock?

If that's the case, it narrows the list down a bit.

[Potato 922]

I agree with dc. I remember when I had to grind the same contact mission for 3/4 days to be able to afford a zentorno on sale. Anyone who has been around since the start will know rooftop rumble was the only way to grind a decent amount of cash, and back then it was only about 20k, plus rockstar nerfed earnings from it and you had to be over level 75 to play it (which took a while to get to). So knowing that now I can afford any item in the game by grinding for the same amount of time, it isn’t that bad imo.

[Lann 10,846]

I dont know how many times i stolen that Felon GT from the lawyer, just to sell it for a nice 20k.

[JuniorChubb 3,360]

Coveted x16 on a playlist for me... it got me my Carbo and my Buzzard.

But the thread is not about how easy or difficult it is to grind these days. Squirrels gripe is that the new game game mode has been abused to encourage spending and therefore encourage SC sales, IMO that is a different argument to how easy it is to grind money these days.

Personally I do not agree with the Squizzmacher, I have a much more negative view on R* (well T2 really) since the Open IV, legit PC players money issues and the direction of recent DLC's but I don't see the 'greed' here, really looking forward to the Creator content and using Transform for what we want rather than what R* 'pushes'.

Edited October 17, 2017 by JuniorChubb

[Potato 922]

Yeah but it was even worse at the start of gtao. Hardly any ways to earn a decent amount of cash, and ridiculously overpriced vehicles. They’ve always been encouraging SC sales. Only thing different is that back then everyone was in the same boat.

God knows where I would’ve been if some beautiful man hadn’t given me 9mil in a hacked lobby back on ps3.

[Beez 5,091]

I ran a few with @djw180 and the races are just ok, IMHO. The tracks are a bit boring and the planes feel slow. The first few days will be amusing racing them with randoms listening to them struggle. I will not be buying anything just for these races. I generally buy what I like, not always what's best for racing anyway.

Remember, it's the Indian, not the arrow. We are all better than most randoms at racing, especially air and sea since most randos never join those in the past. Just put the hammer down and drive!

[JuniorChubb 3,360]

20 minutes ago, Potato said:

Yeah but it was even worse at the start of gtao. Hardly any ways to earn a decent amount of cash, and ridiculously overpriced vehicles. They’ve always been encouraging SC sales. Only thing different is that back then everyone was in the same boat.

God knows where I would’ve been if some beautiful man hadn’t given me 9mil in a hacked lobby back on ps3.

I swear everything was free in the Beach Bum update IIRC...

Anyway you are defo right, it has become easier to earn money, prices of new content has also risen with that. No argument with your point of view, I just don't think it is relevant here as I don't think this 'DLC' is loaded to encourage spending like others have been.

I am just itching for the content to be available in Creator which is a GTA$ free zone  

Edit to add: Just tried one... what a pile of tripe. Nice to see some new props though, not gonna bother with these until they are available in  Creator.

Edited October 17, 2017 by JuniorChubb

[Con 5,719]

Hahahahaa. I called it a scam and not a choice because I do feel that in order for me to be competitive in the custom versions of the races, I now need to go buy a Hangar to purchase the new planes. I just shut down my coke last week and was going to close the Bunker too, until I felt like grinding again. That was all.

I know they will be fun with the crew and we will play them with options off and on, and  I don't have to play them at all, I understand all that. I just didn't want to grind 20M----- i thought those days were over.  I'm actually just about to launch the races for the first time with randoms. Expect a review. 

Edited October 17, 2017 by Con

[zztop911 1,609]

1 hour ago, Con said:

Hahahahaa. I called it a scam and not a choice because I do feel that in order for me to be competitive in the custom versions of the races, I now need to go buy a Hangar to purchase the new planes. I just shut down my coke last week and was going to close the Bunker too, until I felt like grinding again. That was all.

I know they will be fun with the crew and we will play them with options off and on, and  I don't have to play them at all, I understand all that. I just didn't want to grind 20M----- i thought those days were over.  I'm actually just about to launch the races for the first time with randoms. Expect a review. 

Well, it's kinda a scam to buy sharks cards. Look at some of the check points.

 

 

They advertise friggin Shark Cards! LOL!

[Con 5,719]

Played about four different maps and enjoyed most of them. I think my inexperience with the Oppressor made the races I lost a bit frustrating but still fun. The races i won were mostly thanks to custom supercars as I pulled away easily. I didn't experience any custom vs my stock planes advantages I was afraid of but I really only jumped lobbies three times. 

I had fun. I didn't care too much when I lost. Flying in those tubes is a new experience for sure. Chuckled at the Shark ads. Hate the plane to car transformations as you drop and if you are still "flying" you will crash the car like a noob. Can't wait to play them with the crew.