BMW Makes Need for Speed’s Iconic M3 GTR to Celebrate Series’ 30th Anniversary

[MIE1992]

She was in GT4, GT5, & GT6 (her road going sister alongside her in the last 2). For whatever reason, PD suddenly stopped featuring her after that. Similarly, the car was also consistently in Forza up until FM5 where it disappeared.

Interesting enough, after those 2 games (2011 & 2013), NFS seems to be the only franchise that's been able to feature the M3 GTR ever since, except for GRID Legends who were able to showcase it a couple years back. Which might make one wonder if EA decided that the most famous car in the franchise should stay exclusively with them. I'm not sure on the timelines, but this might have also been the era where EA was pushing hard for exclusive licensing in their NFS games across multiple brands (I think Porsche primarily?).

T10/PG were able to bring back the road going variant in FH4, though, & has remained back through FH5 & FM2023 thankfully. That would also be a good car for PD to bring back.

I'd be perfectly content just having the ALMS-spec race car alongside the M3 E46 we have already, as I think the M3 GTR road car would be just a bit redundant. If I may be frank, there are numerous other BMWs I'd rather see added to GT7 sooner, namely the following:

M Hybrid V8 (Gr.1)
V12 LMR (Gr.1)
M4 DTM (Gr.2)
M4 GT3 Evo (Gr.3)
320i Turbo Group 5 (Gr.3)
507
2002 Turbo
M5 (E60)
850CSi (E31)
M8 Competition (G15)
Z4 (E89)
i8
M1

Otherwise, I'd love to see the M3 GTR Race Car before any of these.

 

[McLaren]

I'd be perfectly content just having the ALMS-spec race car alongside the M3 E46 we have already, as I think the M3 GTR road car would be just a bit redundant. If I may be frank, there are numerous other BMWs I'd rather see added to GT7 sooner, namely the following:

M Hybrid V8 (Gr.1)
V12 LMR (Gr.1)
M4 DTM (Gr.2)
M4 GT3 Evo (Gr.3)
320i Turbo Group 5 (Gr.3)
507
2002 Turbo
M5 (E60)
850CSi (E31)
M8 Competition (G15)
Z4 (E89)
i8
M1

Otherwise, I'd love to see the M3 GTR Race Car before any of these.

I was speaking more in terms that if EA has indeed locked up the M3 GTR race car, the road going variant in other games at least provides those players some linkage to enjoying it since you still get that 4 liter V8 & racing body kit, esp. if those games are clever enough to provide additional mods that can mimic the race car.

That's a strong list of BMW cars, though that deserve a roster spot.

 

[MIE1992]

I was speaking more in terms that if EA has indeed locked up the M3 GTR race car, the road going variant in other games at least provides those players some linkage to enjoying it since you still get that 4 liter V8 & racing body kit, esp. if those games are clever enough to provide additional mods that can mimic the race car.

That's a strong list of BMW cars, though that deserve a roster spot.

Ah, I see. If it means anything, I think the M3 E46 in GT7 gets a V8 swap from the Z4 GT3.

 

[Sonic939]

Even if not in this current livery, I do recall this racecar being in GT4. I hope it comes back in similar form, as I think it'd fit into Gr.3 quite nicely.

Well, it could be like a kind of collaboration, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Need For Speed, as a Crossover, but both versions would be nice to see in the game

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

She was in GT4, GT5, & GT6 (her road going sister alongside her in the last 2). For whatever reason, PD suddenly stopped featuring her after that. Similarly, the car was also consistently in Forza up until FM5 where it disappeared.

Interesting enough, after those 2 games (2011 & 2013), NFS seems to be the only franchise that's been able to feature the M3 GTR ever since, except for GRID Legends who were able to showcase it a couple years back. Which might make one wonder if EA decided that the most famous car in the franchise should stay exclusively with them. I'm not sure on the timelines, but this might have also been the era where EA was pushing hard for exclusive licensing in their NFS games across multiple brands (I think Porsche primarily?).

I think it’s simply down to the timing of both of those series going to new hardware; it was a standard car in GT5 and 6 which meant it was always gonna get left behind in the jump to PS4, and T10 were upscaling a lot of cars for the Xbone era (particularly slowly, hence FM5’s low car count), so they were probably weighing up their options of what cars to bring over first and it may not have been on their priority list for whatever reason, even to this day.

Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if EA were holding the rights to it just to be petty, though that’s also hilarious given the car is 20+ years old at this point.

 

[PJTierney]

I think it's more that outside of a few niche titles, there's not a whole not of player demand for early 2000s GT race cars.

The focus tends to be on modern GT3s and GT4s.

I'm not aware of any exclusivity to NFS, but then again I've never asked.