Keo

This is not so much a rant as it is a wish... but man oh man would it be cool if the 996 Turbo would make its way in the mainstream car games like Gran Turismo and Forza. I mean... is it just me or are we limited to like early 2000s Need For Speed games if we want to drive our cars virtually?

There will be a new wave of interest in the 996 generation simply because it has been such a good deal in the past years and now social media icons such as Magnus Walker are taking ownership. He just purchased a 996.2 GT3. Having our cars featured in AAA game titles could be awesome for us as well.

I know that Porsche has been featured sparsely in video because they tend to do exclusivity deals with game developers... I mean this must be the most detrimental approach possible.

So enough with my rant and on with my wish...... I wish... I wish... I wish I could race/modify/crash my car in an up-to-date racing game. Any influential game designers on the board that could put pressure on the head honchos? hahaha

T10Chris

I used to work at Turn 10 Studios (maker of the Forza series) as a designer on the car team (I did car physics design/development) before moving on to pursue greener pastures.

EA has an exclusive license with Porsche ever since the NFS: Porsche Unleashed game. There are some things that they won't give up their rights to... For some reason our car seems to be one; the absense of the car is not due to not wanting the car in the game, it is simply a licensing issue. Same with the 996 GT2 and a horde of other cars. Not only is it a problem with EA and licensing, but Porsche is also very difficult to work with as far as how they want the cars portrayed in game.

The exclusive license contract with EA expires at the end of this year if I remember correctly and Porsche reps I've been in contact with indicate they want out of that deal. We will see what happens. In the end, it is going to boil down to where Porsche thinks they can make the most money and get the best exposure for their product.

Keo

That's exactly what is wrong with Porsche's thought process when it comes to their cars in video games. It shouldn't be about making them money, but about spreading the experience and stimulating dreams... in the long run, this brings more potential customers if you ask me.

Atrox

MoeMonney

Wow, graphics have come a long way since then

Atrox

Yeah but the interior on the game is same quality in real life

Atrox

https://www.igcd.net/vehicles.php?ma...odel=911+Turbo

gophaster

Lol, true

Turbodan

I have gran turismo (I think 4 or 5) and I bought a 996 ruf car a few years ago, it was only offered for a short time. I will look at it in the next few days and report back.

T10Chris

I wish I could show/tell you guys about the cars we have in the dev version of Forza that we have built and can play with internally but cannot release for various reasons.. It would make yall sick.

T10Chris

I am in complete agreement with you, and some manufacturers do work that way and approach games like that. Mazda (don't quote me on this, been a while and it may have been a different maker) for example was so happy that their cars were wanted that they didn't charge a licensing fee, and actually paid for certain cars to be included. Then you have other manufacturers that are very stuck up *cough*Ferrari*cough* and essentially act like they don't even want the cars included..

With the exclusive contract thing, EA is a 3rd party producer so they can release the games on multiple formats which opens the market for more players and in turn, more eyes and more people playing with the cars. Manufacturers see the games as a form of advertising and want the exposure. EA is huge, and the Need for Speed franchise is massive and worldwide even if it is complete **** as far as realism goes. The masses eat up these arcade-y games, hence the Forza Horizon series. FM6 sales are a way down compared to other FM titles (mainly because FM5 was ****, we knew it was ****, but we ran out of time and money-- FM6 is what FM5 was supposed to be).

Forza is a 1st party for Microsoft, for a long time we only produced for XBox, but finally released a PC game a few months ago, and moving forward all games will be XBox and PC. The PC thing is going to help give more exposure so maybe that will open the door; this still leaves out the PlayStation audience though which is not a small portion of the gaming and enthusiast community. EA taps all 3 of the audiences.

Add to this that the costs for licensing and production of some cars from some manufacturers cost more than buying the actual car in real life, Im not sure if Turn 10 has the budget to buy an exclusive Porsche license if that is how Porsche wants to do it. The directors I spoke with about it are hoping Porsche goes like most other manufacturers and just does things on a per car basis.

Any way, if anyone wants more info or discussion I'm open to questions.

T10Chris

Yep, Ruf is considered an independent auto-maker not a tuning house so Ruf is open for licensing whether Porsche wants it or not. There was a 996 Ruf in GT6, although I think it was a naturally aspirated variant.

Keo

I have a close friend of mine who works in the gaming industry in Montreal (he worked for Eidos, SquareEnix and now Warner Bros. I've heard stories that just amaze me how triple A title companies still have high risk business models. Like you mention, Turn 10 is one of the top racing game developers and still the budget would be tight to purchase exclusivity licenses. Just goes to show that there are so many middle men making money off the games.

At least it's never too late for our car to make a showing in future games. I will go crazy when it happens. I was feeling the same thing back when I owned my 1985 Carrera 3.2... wish it would have been playable in a game.

T10Chris

Yeah, there is so much that goes into making these games that no one really knows unless they've been there. To say budgets are tight is putting it very lightly.... Turn 10, as far as the game sales go, operates at a loss. Microsoft keeps giving money and funding the studio to make more games because it makes up the difference in console sales and then once someone has a console they are likely to buy more titles. There are a lot of players who buy XBox for Forza titles based on the metrics that are examined. If the numbers don't hit the targets, then less money is invested for the next; results in a lower quality game/less new content which in turn hurts the sales of that title, then that is how some studios and franchises die. Hopefully Forza doesn't go that route, but FM6 did not do as well as expected.

F1CrazyDriver

Phew you made me check which FM i had. I have FM6, thankfully. I also purchased the "porsche pack" that was offered a few months back.

Any chance you can share the "optimal" settings for some of these cars ? Tips / Tricks or how to's that most everyone over looks or not ware of ? I have approx 25 million points / dollars on FM6 however only about 100 tokens, and for the life of me, i have not gotten anymore in a LONG time, why is that ?