The International Motor Sports Association kicked off the weekend by announcing a new “strategic alliance” with Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport franchise.
According to IMSA’s announcement, the new partnership will focus on the series’ cars, tracks, and partners. Plenty of these already exist in Forza Motorsport 7; over 100 cars from IMSA’s history are in-game. In addition, nine of the twelve tracks the current WeatherTech SportsCar Championship visits are available to FM7 players.
IMSA president Scott Atherton had this to say on the new deal:
“This alliance between IMSA and the Forza franchise further solidifies the long-standing relationship between these two outstanding brands. IMSA cars and tracks have enjoyed a significant presence in the game for many years, and we are proud to have our series featured to the millions who play the game every day.”
With Forza 7 releasing earlier this week (read the GTPlanet review here), it’s an ideal time for IMSA to partner with the series. Just before launch, Turn 10 announced the franchise had five million players each month. That’s a lot of eyeballs for America’s premier racing sanctioning body to get in front of.
Naturally, with this weekend’s Petit Le Mans taking place at Road Atlanta, Forza 7 will have a presence at the Vendor Village.
Curiously, in the official statement, IMSA lists Lexus amongst the participating manufacturers. However, the luxury division is absent from FM7, likely for the same reason Toyota road cars are.
It could mean nothing: the deal may have been done months ago, before the Toyota/Lexus issue. It may also mean Lexus race cars — like the RCF GT3, currently campaigned by 3GT Racing — are en route. We’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, the 1992 AAR Toyota Eagle Mk III is one of the new-to-FM7 cars: it dominated the GTP class that year with nine wins. If Turn 10 and IMSA are taking requests, we’d really like to see the Celica GTO from the same Gurney-led team, please…
Thanks to Northstar for the tip! Featured image courtesy of sebmugi.
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