Toyota Doesn't Want Its Cars in Games With 'Illegal Street Racing'

[HarVee]

'pfft nerds'

I'm still laughing over that. As a 'nerd' of Porsche myself, I find it humorous how EA seems to have said that.

 

[matrix_gt1]

I think the full statement is important. “You can find our cars in GT Sport, which doesn’t promote illegal street racing.”

I know it might sound odd but I don’t think he is saying Toyota won’t appear in games that contain illegal street racing. IMO, I think it’s one of two things. Either they have a under the table partnership with gran turismo. Or they perhaps are just really fussy to who they give out the licence to and maybe do not like ea or the nfs franchise, specifically the running from cops element

 

[FRF sazanami]

Toyota just wants to give preferential treatment to Japanese company.
racist

 

[guywithanAE86]

Eh Ferrari and Honda did it too, Toyota'll get over it too.

 

[girabyt3]

I feel this photo is aproppiated for this lol

Technically, we STILL have a Toyota in NFS, is just rebagged ;D

 

[WiseGuyTM]

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

But... nobody thinks that way. Toyota being “associated” with illegal street racing means nothing when every other major automaker also features in the game. I've heard many more people criticize Toyota pulling out of games such as NFS than applauding them for it (in fact I've heard nobody applaud it). It’s just corporate paranoia that will eventually backfire (no pun intended) like it always does.

 

[05XR8]

No wonder I couldn't find the Avensis BTCC in Fora 7. Then again, can't remember if I knew that when I bought the game.

 

[WanganDream]

As a gamer living in Japan, I hope that this flame will burn more.
Japanese gamers are also angry about their foolish judgment, but unfortunately few people have protested Toyota directly against the issue.
And the Toyota headquarters doesn't understand how much gamers have been angered by this turmoil.

Toyota UK and Toyota USA are incapable of taking action on this issue, and the enemy for gamers is the Toyota headquarters in Japan.
If foolish remarks of Toyota UK become more talked about overseas and become featured in overseas mass media, this anger may reach them.
And to all the overseas gamers who are angry about this issue. Protest directly to Toyota headquarters in Japan, not Toyota UK or Toyota USA. They don't know this uproar. And only they have the right to decide the license.
If you want to change things, take action against Toyota headquarters.

These are Toyota's SNS accounts and contacts in Japan. (Note that twitter user "@toyota" is a Toyota USA account)
https://twitter.com/TOYOTA_PR
https://www.facebook.com/ToyotaMotorCorporation/
https://www.instagram.com/toyota_jp/
https://www.toyota.co.jp/faq/inquiry/

*Note 1: Many Japanese gamers are Playstation users. Therefore, this series of licensing issues was only of Forza and seemed unrelated to them. Yes, before NFS Payback was released.

*Note 2: Toyota contact form requires you to enter your real name and address. Japanese don't like this kind of personal information write. This is one reason why there were few protests from Japanese gamers.

 

[LittleSpike]

Man, Toyota. You used to be cool.

 

[WiseGuyTM]

Nobody that I have seen has mentioned this but... the new Supra has been spotted being filmed for Fast 9. This is the most mega boomer hypocrisy I’ve ever seen. Like, no illegal stuff in video games... but YES for F&F!!!

 

[mustafur]

Also remember Project Cars 2 is published and distributed by Bandai Namco

 

[DriftShock]

Someone needs to go to the Toyota Twitter and tell them, in no uncertain terms:
Exclusive licenses with companies from your home country CAN and WILL be classified as Borderline Racism. Basically, by trying to keep their image afloat by not allowing European/American publishers to hold the license, they’re actually destroying it.

 

[GTV0819]

Nobody that I have seen has mentioned this but... the new Supra has been spotted being filmed for Fast 9. This is the most mega boomer hypocrisy I’ve ever seen. Like, no illegal stuff in video games... but YES for F&F!!!

They probably have given a permit for the car's role in the upcoming movie.

 

[GBalao888]

Amusing when the Supra is famous for illegal street racing.

Hey don't forget the Celica, GT86, AE86 and MR2.

They were also within the NFS series, and popular in the real world for being involved in illegal street racing, with almost virtually unlimited performance enhancement, plus the fact that they are blank canvases for customization.

 

[WiseGuyTM]

They probably have given a permit for the car's role in the upcoming movie.

That’s my point. They allowed a much more violent movie franchise to use their cars but refuse to let the cars be in a videogame because it “promotes illegal street racing” I love F&F as much as the next guy and am happy to see the new Supra in it, but Toyota’s hypocrisy is blatantly obvious.

 

[WanganDream]

http://www.speedhunters.com/2018/06/86-akira-need-for-speed-inspired-build/

A great relationship between video games and reality.
Toyota fools need to read these stories.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Nobody that I have seen has mentioned this but... the new Supra has been spotted being filmed for Fast 9.

I mean, it's literally in the article this thread is the comment section for...

 

[WiseGuyTM]

I mean, it's literally in the article this thread is the comment section for...

I didn’t actually read through all of the comments so that was my way of covering my 🤬 in case someone had already mentioned it
Edit: I am an actual moron as I did not realize what you were saying lol. I guess my skimming skills need improvement

 

[Andyc709292]

I'll just leave this here... (fun starts around 2mins)

 

[Ryan81]

Maybe they simply don't want to be associated with a once great series that's completely gone down the drain...?

 

[KiroKai]

Seems then, that Toyota UK is guessing as much as anyone. Thanks for covering this! @SlipZtrEm, could you contact Toyota Japan directly too?

In 2019 alone it's already sold 1.2 million units in the US and that's down 6% from last year.

See, they're down! Obviously. Better get their cars back into games, quick.

 

[TheNuvolari]

Told you that the next Need For Speed should have been a new Pro Street.

 

[DriftShock]

Told you that the next Need For Speed should have been a new Pro Street.

Nah, they probably would’ve come up with another far-fetched excuse as to why they don’t want their cars in Non-Japanese Racing Games when in fact they’re a bunch of racist *****

 

[GTV0819]

That’s my point. They allowed a much more violent movie franchise to use their cars but refuse to let the cars be in a videogame because it “promotes illegal street racing” I love F&F as much as the next guy and am happy to see the new Supra in it, but Toyota’s hypocrisy is blatantly obvious.

What would happen if ever this pushes through? I can see a lot of gamers would be really disappointed.

 

[WiseGuyTM]

What would happen if ever this pushes through? I can see a lot of gamers would be really disappointed.

I’m not exactly sure what your referring too, but Toyota is confirmed to not be in Need For Speed Heat, at least at launch. They also weren’t in FM7 or FH4, and while many people speculate on some type of Japanese bias Toyota has with licensing, I think it’s more likely that Polyphony just have an exclusivity deal with Toyota for games sold to the global market. Either way it sucks for people like me who just want a Widebody GR Supra

 

[Spacewolf1]

Wangan Mid Night and Initial D are different case. They are manga licensing, they don't need Toyota licensing for having car that appeared in manga / manga / movie.

 

[Normalaatsra]

@mustafur
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

You might be on to something there.

The North America release of Maximum Tune 5 had to delete 2 Toyotas from the car list due to branding issues with Lexus, as two vehicles (Celsior and Aristo) in the game were sold under a different marque in North America with different names. Bandai Namco had this issue before during Maximum Tune 3, but got away by putting a disclaimer that the car highlighted uses a model name when it was sold in Japan.. yet the game has put in localised cars from other brands such as the Roadster/MX-5 name change. They even designed LHD interior models for the ND RF.

The rumour is Lexus doesn't find the appeal of having outdated models of their cars in the game, and opted the developers of MT5 to instead feature the all new LS 500h and GS F in their place. That cannot be done as the game is technically an old release at that time, it is impossible to develop all these changes to get a heavily requested game North America very soon. Plus the Celsior has relevancy in the Wangan Midnight source material. So unfortunately it was dropped, and in doing so the Celsior that appears in the story mode was changed to the Japan-only Toyota Crown Athlete.

They can let players drive vehicles never sold in their region but can't drive vehicles that were sold where they live yet under a different badging.

EDIT: So to conclude, overseas Toyota would be the nosy one after a mishap with a Japanese game using the Japanese Toyota license, releasing overseas in copyright protected territory.

 

[SestoScudo]

Car manufacturers seen to be the biggest hypocrites regarding videogames and movies.

Movies where their cars get blown up to pieces or people getting killed well to them its a pass because movie makers give more money to put that particular car in the movie. So to them who cares.

While in videogames we dont want our cars engaging in illegal stuff or them getting awfully damaged because it hurts our brand.

Why the double standards??

 

[Nexus]

Toyota: "We don't want to promote illegal street racing."

Also Toyota:

 

[Famine]

Thanks for covering this! @SlipZtrEm, could you contact Toyota Japan directly too?

Broadly, other than collaring someone at a GTWT event, no.

When the exclusivity thing was rearing its head, we both contacted our local Toyota offices. It went up the chain and came back down as "that's a decision for Toyota Head Office".