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All of this is fine and dandy. Polyphony Digital is, obviously, free to mix things up however they like when it comes to game design. What’s a little more jarring, however, is the amount of in-game advertising I encountered.

Racing games are, arguably, host to more in-game product placement than any other genre. The cars – often hyper authentic digital recreations of real world vehicles – basically serve as virtual test drives, letting players get a feel for cars that they could, hypothetically, head out to a lot to buy. What’s more, both the cars and walls surrounding circuits are often plastered not just with familiar automotive company logos, but also consumer brands that want to target the people who play these games – such as energy drink makers.

I understand including video ads and links to external websites in a free-to-play game, but it seems a bit much in one for which people are already paying $80.

This has been going on for so long that most players are by now more or less inured to the barrage of ads they encounter in these games. I know I am. Which is why I was surprised to find myself a bit shocked by the new ways in which Polyphony Digital has come up with to promote its partners’ products.

It all has to do with a new menu called Brand Central, and that name is a strong indicator of what lies within. This is ostensibly where players go to spend their hard won credits on new rides, but they’ll also find links that will open the PlayStation 4’s web browser and take them straight to company websites. And that’s not all. There are also live action videos associated with each brand. Selecting them will play what is essentially an advertisement – in some cases clearly TV spots – either for the company or its products.