DriveClub micro-transactions will let you quickly unlock cars

PlayStation 4 racer DriveClub will include micro-transactions so you can pay to unlock cars quicker, Sony has revealed.

But you won't be able to exchange real-world money for lumps of in-game currency, game director Paul Rustchynsky told IGN, so the amount people can spend is limited.

What DriveClub will offer is merely a "shortcut", he argued.

"In Driveclub you earn Fame, and as you earn Fame, you level up. Every time you level up, we give you another car. There's no double gating or anything along those lines, you're given the car straight away without having to do anything else. The only thing we do have is a couple of shortcuts.

"If you want to unlock a car immediately, you can pay to unlock that car straight away but it's not a consumable microtransaction," Rustchynsky continued. "We don't let people buy Fame, for example and spend lots and lots. The idea is if you want to shortcut things you can do - it's identical to what we did in Motorstorm RC. So if you played that, you know what we're doing here."

Sony has yet to reveal how much cars will cost to purchase separately.

DriveClub will include five countries to race through - India, Chile, Norway, the United Kingdom and Canada - with 11 tracks available in each.

The first of these regions will be available with the game's PlayStation Plus edition, free for those who subscribe to the service. You'll then be able to upgrade to the full version for a discount and - after a quick policy change - keep the game for good whether you remain a Plus subscriber or not.