Marco Massarutto Responds to Free Porsche Content Criticism

[Paul Jeffrey]

Marco Massarutto, Kunos Simulazioni Licencing Manager and somewhat outspoken unofficial Kunos spokesperson, has responded via his Facebook account to the rather strong criticism from some members of the community following the free Porsche content announcement several days ago.

With feelings running high amongst the community, and many people voicing negative feelings regarding the inclusion of SUV's from the prominent German manufacturer, Massarutto has taken to his personal Facebook profile to respond directly to those vocal critics. As is the usual Massarutto style, no punches have been pulled in the latest statement!

The full Marco Massarutto Facebook statement can be read below:

"Imagine you get into a mall to buy a pair of Lee jeans, and when you go for the check out, the guy at desk tells you "I'm glad to tell you that, since you have purchased this product, you will get this t-shirt for free, offered by Lee".

What do you will answer? Some options:

- I didn't ask for it, just give me my jeans...
- I don't like this t-shirt, I'm not going to wear it
- What are you trying to do? To fill my closet with useless stuff?!
- I've a t-shirt already, I don't need this so-called gift
- Let's do this: give me the jeans for free and keep the t-shirt for you
- If I was interested to a t-shirt, I would have purchased it
- What a waste of time and money, tell Lee to give me a 100$ jacket for free instead
- I'm here for the jeans and you give me a free t-shirt? Shame on you
- So, now Lee gives stuff for free to let me have a taste of it? Shame on them

Sounds weird? Not to some simracers. Sad, but true.

So, about Porsche: few people complain because Assetto Corsa will release - for free, and even if you just own the game but you don't purchase any Porsche DLC - the new Panamera, Cayenne and Macan. Saying the things you can read above. As part of our agreement with Porsche, the Brand asked us to reproduce, for THEIR simulators, ALSO the models included in their current production. For THEIR purposes. Once we worked for months to reproduce those models with the maximum accuracy for Porsche simulators, we believed it would have been a shame do not allow the AC community to enjoy those cars as well. Without charging them. And that's it. Also because we take in consideration that the AC community is so wide today that different people like different cars, something that some blind gamers still don't understand, or accept. On the other side, this kind of agreement allows us to reproduce and make available for Assetto Corsa cars like the one you see in the picture.

So, today lot of people tell me that they want so badly in Assetto Corsa the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde . If to get it in the game we would be asked to include also the next Stelvio SUV as free bonus content, would you complain for it? If yes, probably you would need to turn off your PC or console, open the door, leave the house, close your eyes and take a breath; and relax. Because it looks to me that you are not able anymore to enjoy what is supposed to be your passion. BTW, driving the new PanameraTurbo at the Nordschleife in 7'.39" is a blast, and it is not for everyone. Stay tuned. And take it easy, enjoy your life, you live once"​

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What do you think of Massarutto's comments? Let us know below!

 

[Feliciano da Silva]

For me it is not the free cars, but for those who bought the game
and not bought the DLC's all, and Kunos know better than anyone, and even
for those who come to buy, have in your Assetto Corsa two Cayenne's and one
Panamera and if you want the famous racing Porsches have to buy apart.
Would not be more logical to divide these three by DLC's and put other major
copies as free content.
And how Marco Massarutto addresses to your community it is no longer correct.
You have to respect all opinions, and a little of humility is always good.
*** The base game must always be a priority ***

 

[playwithwind]

I actually feel I buy jeans in the store and get a $100 jacket for free. Thank you Kunos!

 

[Radu Oros]

For me it is not the free cars, but for those who bought the game
and not bought the DLC's all, and Kunos know better than anyone, and even
for those who come to buy, have in your Assetto Corsa two Cayenne's and one
Panamera and if you want the famous racing Porsches have to buy apart.
Would not be more logical to divide these three by DLC's and put other major
copies as free content.
And how Marco Massarutto addresses to your community it is no longer correct.
You have to respect all opinions, and a little of humility is always good.
*** The base game must always be a priority ***

You have to respect all opinions.. but here you are telling him to not say his opinion, to not say his side in this matter. After all he played one of the roles in the Porsche dealing and partnership. He is saying his side of things after being there in first person.

So which other free cars you wanted instead of the cayenne, macan, and panamera? Say 3 models you think should have been given for free.

 

[ZethGAF]

I'm happy the game is still getting free updates so long after release - not something that happens much anymore.

I can't wait for the Panamera. That thing is a monster. Hell I'd probably pay for the SUVs knowing they've been painstakingly recreated for Porsche's own simulators, it'd be a shame to leave them out. But I think the people complaining want something for nothing.

 

[Deleted member 241736]

I'm not against free add-ons, just so long as the product doesn't become an advertising platform via content.

.... BTW AC turns into ...

 

[P*Funk]

This is a bit disingenuous. Reiza did have a crowd funding campaign last year where they raised ~120k. And without that, surely you wouldnt have gotten much of what has been released in the past year, let alone a whole new game (AMS). They are also charging for dlc moving forward...

No its not disingenuous because that free content I listed specifically was not a part of the crowdfunding goals. A lot of the newer content is the result of the crowdfunding but also note they gave AMS free to all owners of the old title regardless of whether they contributed to the crowdfunding. Even so well before the crowdfunding Reiza was releasing free content additions.

Im sure if Kunos or Sector3, or ISI raised that much money from a small amount of people, they too could give away a lot of 'free' stuff.

Leaving aside the fact that they already were releasing free updates before crowdfunding more development, whats the difference between a crowdfunding campaign and the steady influx of title and DLC sales? Kunos gives free content, Reiza gives free content, they both earn revenue to maintain development costs and give some of that gratis to people who've already paid for the base game (though Reiza has been giving everything gratis to every owner with the new Brit Pack DLC being the first exception). I just like what Reiza has given for free more often than what Kunos does. Their business model though is in contrast because they're not chasing the big shiny I love branded contant peeps who are pawns to corporate automotive advertizing campaigns. They're much more of a cottage industry kind of dev selling to passionate niche within a niche people.

I get the sentiment about advertising though. It really is a part of racing.

Right, which is why you need to be circumspect about its role but at the same time its still fair to reserve the right to be critical selectively about its role. I only think its a bit unfortunate that the SUVs are obviously going to represent lost manpower to create a car that could instead have been a more exciting specimen. These days its not exactly entitlement to also expect the value of your games to increase over time without needing to keep buying DLC. We've already been gifting the developers ample financial support ahead of Version 1.0 releases seeing ongoing development. Kunos has been pretty good but they shot themselves in the foot I think by making it back to back pointless SUVs while having all the most recent exciting stuff in contrast behind the paywall.

If we're gonna talk about the role of marketing in the modern world then optics is part of it.

 

[cr4wl3r0]

Thank You Kunos !!!!!!!!
IMHO any high quality new free content is welcome !

Pleeeaseee bring us more laser scanned tracks !!!

 

[randMracer]

Wow, that was an awesome waste of 10 minutes. Reading posts that amount to nothing. I can't believe this is an actual debate!

Here's a free tissue for everyone crying over free stuff.

I had to double check to make sure I wasn't in the iRacing forums. That place is a cesspool of entitlement. Please let it stay there.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Wow, that was an awesome waste of 10 minutes. Reading posts that amount to nothing. I can't believe this is an actual debate!

Here's a free tissue for everyone crying over free stuff.

Agreed, 4 pages of it. Ye gods what have we become

 

[Visocane]

It's for FREE. Yaay. If it's for Free there has no Money been invested and no Time and now Work. That's what you Igorant's not see. Everyone who own's the Game payd for this Content. Everyone who say's something diffrent shoud stay behind the Moon in his Pink little World where he belive's everything sayd. Wht do you think Kuno's does theese Car's in they're free time for free? So they can get the License for the other Car's. How naive! We all payd that content in some way. That's my 2 Cent's. All those Pinkglasses wearing Guy's can slip down my Back. No Respect no Love no Tollerance for not having some for other oppinion's to.


Iv'e bought the Lee Jean's for 100$ with hope they will bring in more nice Jean's. But then they're Marketing found out they coud make good Money on T-shirt's so they Started to Produce T-Shirt's with some of the Money i spent and colored it freaking Pink wich i woud never Wear.

Iv'e read about the Lego movie. Spaceship, Spaceship, Spaceship. I imagin Marco in his Bureau: " Marketing, Marketing, Marketing."

In the End we payed for our wishe's and we pay for Porsche's and Maserati's wishe's to. They just shuffel off they cost's to us Customer's to finance they're own Simulator to sell more Car's.

 

[Ben Lee]

There was quite a well reasoned post mentioned in the AC forum:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It doesn't really matter to me since I will be buying all the Porsche DLC anyway, but I can see two reasons people could be at least a bit annoyed by the free cars we are getting.

1. We've gotten very desirable cars as free content in the past such as the GT-R Nismo, C7, GT86, Miura, and the Audi Quattro. The Panamera, Macan, and Cayenne are not as desirable to most people.

2. All of the mods that saw a beta release ended up becoming free content. The Audi Quattro never saw a mod release, but we saw lots of previews and it likely would have been a mod release if the car hadn't been licensed by Kunos. The same could be said about two of the cars from the Porsche pack. The 917/30 and 962C were both by modders and were very far along by what we could see from their progress threads. However, they ended up being in the paid section of the Porsche packs.

 

[F_B]

Here's a free tissue for everyone crying over free stuff.

It better be a good tissue, otherwise some people will still moan about...

This discussion is totally ridiulous and shows what's wrong with the world today.

 

[Stereo]

I don't understand how they post a clarification of why the content exists and people are still claiming completely different decision processes happened.

The choice isn't "make a Panamera, or make a Carrera GT3" it's "make a Panamera and leave it private, or make a Panamera and include it in the public game"

 

[JuggernAlz]

You got Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Maserati and so on.

This achievement is because of Massarutto's skill to advertise (not only us, but even at Porsche they were advertised since Kunos made a simulator for them).

So, tell me what is wrong with marketing? Do they have to give us only a Fiat 500 because that is the only car they can get without advertising?

20 darn Porsche! More than the Lotus cars we have yet in the game! 20 Porsche... and than you get even a pair of them for free...

<<Noooo please, do not advertise me, I want you to be pure and poor so I can give you my simpathy while I buy my Forza game for the shiny brands!>>

Oh please!

 

[Grand Tourist]

I hate to break it to you but all of racing is pretty much this and has been for a very long time.

People have come to expect this and even demand it, but they seem to get a little bent out of shape when they get stuck with the full measure of it. Yes racing is about advertizing for famous marques. Guess what, they're advertizing their whole car lineup too. People have only themselves to blame for this when they started showing to devs through their buying habits that they would throw more money at the devs who licensed cars from corporate entities rather than produce imitations or ones that don't require a license or aren't as marquee ie. those that aren't as fussed about advertizing their shopping and driving kids to soccer options.

I don't much myself like this stuff either. I don't like advertizing in general and I'm pretty cynical about it. I dislike it not because its free but because Kunos is giving us stuff for free that's basically throwaway content to us. Its disappointing because previously we'd received lots of great free cars that have personality and a place in the sim. The free content added to the experience and since we're all most of us paying for DLC the sense of entitlement is a big exaggerated as a criticism because I've already thrown near $100 at Kunos.

This is also why I'm a big Reiza fan. They barely charged me a dime since 2013 and gave me endless swaths of free content. I got a 1995 F1 car for free. I got an open wheel trainer for free. I got a V8 Super car for free. I got lots of great tracks for free. Etc etc. So to me I'm disappointed with the free Kunos content but I'm also quite aware of how people are always always always critical of Reiza for not making more mainstream stuff, stuff that Kunos makes, the stuff that requires paying for licensing, the stuff that would probably come with strings like putting an SUV into the game.

So this is the new normal people. This is what you get when you demand licensed content. You get crappy SUVs. You get advertizing because you're a whore for advertizing, because you go nuts for badges and famous cars and you dismiss things like the goofy unknown Brazilian stuff that Reiza lovingly crafts and then gives you for free.

It's like I am in a constant love-hate relationship with Kunos. Their work is so wonderful yet so incomplete, it's like watching Lost ....endless stretching and milking of a wonderful product never being able to embrace it as a warm complete experience. Sometimes a blast sometimes lost....as long as Kunos won't set a goal or true purpose besides the ultra quality driving experience, they are doomed with this endless debacle.
It's like how my mother and father lived, whenever my mother got angry because my father wouldn't LISTEN (as in the true meaning of it) he would reply with a gift out of nowhere to cool her down and all that did was setting her off even more. That's how I best can describe this. It seems they don't get it and it seems to them some of us don't get it. But I do get it, I bought a wheel and now it all makes sense, even the Audi S1 is fun now though being severely criticised by car reviewers. I am so lost in this mess, I want like different kinds of more from Kunos than they offer me now but still I can enjoy every bit of content they have been working on. Some of us need our fix and the 2 SUV's and super sedan just won't deliver for those fans. I close with this, having a fan club is not always a good thing. FANatics are the worst people. Try to be a fan, as in FANtastic, despite Kunos' shortcomings (yes there are). I understand, I really do.
Seigh....
Should I thank Kunos for the succesful skill of livery designing or should I thank myself for spending a year schooling myself in GIMP? I think I should thank the creator of GIMP first for offering me this wonderful program for free, I think I should thank myself for putting hundreds of hours acquiring designing skills but also I need to thank Kunos for allowing me to paint their lovely cars....let's just be grateful and say thanks to whatever comes our race way. I think I finally reached common sense and inner peace now, yes. Let's just be and leave each other be and enjoy the good times.
Have a nice drive.

 

[Alex72]

Mmmmmm that Moby Dick!

Many of us are happy. There isnt a lot of games where content that cost a lot (these are not the first we get for free) and takes a lot work work is given away freely so thank you Kunos.

 

[Nox]

It is truly sad that out of all the online communities I am a part of, the sim racing community is the one that has the most self entitled, rude and aggressive members. I've directly been victim to such attitudes when running leagues here at RD. It really is shameful. For those of you doing it right, thank you.

 

[Grand Tourist]

It is truly sad that out of all the online communities I am a part of, the sim racing community is the one that has the most self entitled, rude and aggressive members. I've directly been victim to such attitudes when running leagues here at RD. It really is shameful. For those of you doing it right, thank you.

Edit : nevermind.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

It's for FREE. Yaay. If it's for Free there has no Money been invested and no Time and now Work. That's what you Igorant's not see. Everyone who own's the Game payd for this Content.

Actually, no: Porsche paid for this content.

Specifically, Porsche has it's own official Porsche Simulator which is also made by Kunos. These models, the Panamera, the Cayenne, etc. were made for that simulator.

Kunos ported the models over to AC, which I imagine is simply a copy-paste job.

 

[budlix]

in my country we have byword it could suit this "case":
Go on him with bread, he will go on you with stone. or.. Every effort deserves proper punishment.

I'm not getting why the free stuff is a problem for someone..?
It seems if you are avid developer/ceo/anything, and hear the voice of community, lot of them then start thinking you have to serve them. Do only what THEY want. Weird.

Kunos please follow your steps, you are doing great job! Please note those few always unsatisfied ones are most loud, satisfied majority is quiet, playing AC.