GTPNewsWire
Contributing Writer
- 21,833
- GTPHQ
This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:
This article was published by Kyle Patrick (@SlipZtrEm) on August 20th, 2019 in the Automotive News category.
Toyota Doesn't Want Its Cars in Games With 'Illegal Street Racing'
- Thread starter GTPNewsWire
- 130 comments
- 21,093 views
tweet back about how disgusting their policy is and how harmful it is to the brand as a whole. Man...i hope this is a sign of a u-turn as i had so much to say in response to that tweet, mega annoying!
- 4,129
- United States
Don't worry, I'll just go to YouTube and watch all the Supra street racing videos on there.
- 13,282
- GTPlanet
- Street-King-07
- Quattro Saltire
Not wanting to have cars in games with illegal street racing when your company's most iconic models built a legacy in car culture involving street racing (Initial D, Fast & Furious etc) is a high order of irony.
Toyota really shot themselves in the foot there.
Toyota really shot themselves in the foot there.
- 813
- United Kingdom
- 1,682
- Japan
They had a firm reason and the standards were strict.
The only game they did not license is the street racing game with traffic. They were otherwise licensed to use their car for racing games.
And it was clear why they made these decisions. Honda was suspected of having a relationship with Osaka's notorious street racers, and their affiliated company, Mugen, was subject to police investigation. They didn't want to repeat this incident.
Toyota is different. Their criteria are vague and they are the only ones who know which games can get their license.
- 1,136
- Far North.
- Bloodytears1666
Another long 20 years without one more brand...
- 10,956
- Canada
Don't remove this news. Let everybody see how ridiculous this tweet is, even if it has been deleted. Everybody should see just how illogical that response was, heck, even the NFS devs agree. If that guy loses his job, that's on him. There's no other reason why Toyota can't be featured in NFS other than GTS, it's becoming tiresome lately. Even Mitsubishi is getting some love after that last attempt in FH4.
No more excuses Toyota. If you really love your fans, you will bring all your cars back to racing games you've abandoned, even include your new cars. People just want to drive your cars again, most of which they've became fans of thanks to racing games.
Who am I kidding, they won't care anyways...
No more excuses Toyota. If you really love your fans, you will bring all your cars back to racing games you've abandoned, even include your new cars. People just want to drive your cars again, most of which they've became fans of thanks to racing games.
Who am I kidding, they won't care anyways...
- 1,100
- United States
If you want to get technical, is the street racing in Forza Horizon even really illegal? There aren't cops, every radio station knows what's going on, the actual races involve road closures and barriers being put up, and the Festivals seem endorsed by the host cities, which means there's endless permits and contracts.
- 5,551
- Controls set for heart of sun
- GTP_RogerTheHors
If Toyota don't want their cars associated with illegal street racing I think that's entirely fair. If I was running PR at a major car manufacturer I would have similar reservations.
Of course, I'm probably thinking overly ethically there, while Toyota are only going to be concerned with money; and my guess is that Toyota have decided it's most profitable for them to only have their cars in GTS and a limited number of other titles such as official games for racing series their cars race in with some level of factory endorsement.
Is this because Sony is paying them for that quasi-exclusivity? Is it because Gran Turismo is viewed as having a level of prestige other series lack? I have no way of knowing, it may well be a combination of various factors.
If the tweet has been deleted it's possible that whoever posted it was posting an internal company line (we don't want our cars associated with street racing) only to be told that Toyota don't want their actual reason for not having their cars in some games publically stated.
Personally I think excluding their cars from series like Forza Motorsport is a mistake, but I think there's a stronger business case for not wanting one's cars in titles like Need For Speed; especially if they can't get their car positioned as some sort of "hero car".
Personally I think the use of real vehicles in games is one with benefits and drawbacks. Games like Burnout or GTA may lack real world models but compensate in other manners, and the potential of trading in the recognisable nature of licensed brands for the benefits not including them may provide (more realistic damage, depicting cars in situations which may be viewed as controversial or unflattering to brands, less expenditure on licensing costs allowing for more to be spent on development etc.) are actually worth exploring
Of course, I'm probably thinking overly ethically there, while Toyota are only going to be concerned with money; and my guess is that Toyota have decided it's most profitable for them to only have their cars in GTS and a limited number of other titles such as official games for racing series their cars race in with some level of factory endorsement.
Is this because Sony is paying them for that quasi-exclusivity? Is it because Gran Turismo is viewed as having a level of prestige other series lack? I have no way of knowing, it may well be a combination of various factors.
If the tweet has been deleted it's possible that whoever posted it was posting an internal company line (we don't want our cars associated with street racing) only to be told that Toyota don't want their actual reason for not having their cars in some games publically stated.
Personally I think excluding their cars from series like Forza Motorsport is a mistake, but I think there's a stronger business case for not wanting one's cars in titles like Need For Speed; especially if they can't get their car positioned as some sort of "hero car".
Personally I think the use of real vehicles in games is one with benefits and drawbacks. Games like Burnout or GTA may lack real world models but compensate in other manners, and the potential of trading in the recognisable nature of licensed brands for the benefits not including them may provide (more realistic damage, depicting cars in situations which may be viewed as controversial or unflattering to brands, less expenditure on licensing costs allowing for more to be spent on development etc.) are actually worth exploring
- 9,401
- Western Sydney
- mustafur
Yet their cars are on the Latest Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune arcade game, that is literally 100% Illegal street racing on Japanese highways.
The reason presented is BS.
- 80
- Australia
- Coolsy101
That’s probably the most likely reason. I have a drift racing game on my phone (Japanese game by Bandai Namco) and there are a TON of officially branded Toyota cars, including cars you can customise AND collaboration cars too. Plus, this game is about drift racing through mountain passes and on highway roads/city streets. It most definitely seems like they have a bias towards Japanese developers and don’t want anyone else touching their precious brand
Silver Arrows
(Banned)
- 4,715
- Brandon, MB
- Silver-Arrows21
Yes, and also no. I have a feeling that nationalism plays into it - the fact that Polyphony and Sony are Japanese companies, alongside other developers (and most notably, Slightly Mad via Bandai Namco) but considering the fact that GT is the only franchise getting Toyotas in droves...it's very much a case of column A, column B.
It's still incredibly bad though, and it really just underlines what I've been saying for a while now WRT to the Toyota/GT relationship, that some elements on this forum seem A-OK with Polyphony doing things which **** over players, not only of GT Sport, but other games as well (micro-transactions, this quasi-exclusive deal with Toyota) yet if it was being done by anyone else, there'd be a riot.
But hypocrisy is a beautiful thing sometimes.
- 5,551
- Controls set for heart of sun
- GTP_RogerTheHors
@mustafur I don't really understand how your statement is a response to mine?
As I say I would assume that the person running Toyota UK's twitter account doesn't know the actual reason the cars aren't in the game but knows that they have a "don't promote illegal street racing" PR policy and that NFS is an illegal street racing themed game.
My guess would be that given the fact that Toyotas seem to primarily only be appearing in Japanese games that it's a communication thing. Perhaps someone in Japan signed a contract where something got lost in translation and now Toyota management are wary of signing contracts with foreign publishers and developers
As I say I would assume that the person running Toyota UK's twitter account doesn't know the actual reason the cars aren't in the game but knows that they have a "don't promote illegal street racing" PR policy and that NFS is an illegal street racing themed game.
My guess would be that given the fact that Toyotas seem to primarily only be appearing in Japanese games that it's a communication thing. Perhaps someone in Japan signed a contract where something got lost in translation and now Toyota management are wary of signing contracts with foreign publishers and developers
Downhill Dino
Premium
- 11,753
- Maryland
- DownhillDinosaur
Yeah I'm getting tired of reading this everytime. Have anything to back it up? I've seen mostly negative reactions to it. There are less posts around the forum (seemingly at least) than there used to be so I can see why you would think this but it's far from the truth.
- 40,802
I don't think it's mustafur's fault if you don't know what your own post said.
- 9,923
- Denmark
I wouldn't be surprised if this policy has something to do with the new Supra. They want people to consider it classy and high-end without that attached aura of tuner culture. Probably a mistake, but the side-effects for Toyota are probably marginal.
I doubt the car companies bother diving into finer details like that. All they see is fast cars swerving traffic and causing mayhem on public roads.
I doubt the car companies bother diving into finer details like that. All they see is fast cars swerving traffic and causing mayhem on public roads.
