Porsche, RUF and GT5 - trying to figure out the legal situation

RUF already responded, but didn't give me any vital information. I am currently waiting for their second response. I will add the responses to this thread when I receive them. Also, I will contact some more tuners with the rank of a manufacturer which also produce cars based on Porsche parts or Porsche cars or have a status similar to RUF.

Would it be possible for you to add an exact copy of the question/s you are asking in order to give the answers more context?
 
I think that we should tell PD to just put Porsche in DLC, and then we can just pay for the lawsuit that follows. :D
 
Here is the proof:
That explains a lot.

Didn't you need Gameshark or something to unlock this? Apparently this was a Porsche that was created but never intended to be used? Left over code/graphics I suppose?

BTW link doesn't work...
 
Didn't you need Gameshark or something to unlock this? Apparently this was a Porsche that was created but never intended to be used? Left over code/graphics I suppose?

BTW link doesn't work...

? that post doesn't really make sense. Without proper license, dude, they were not allowed to have anykind of Porsche product in their code for retail purpose anyway, to begin with!!!! We can even speculate if Porsche may disagree with PD that GT3 has a Porsche model unofficially in it.

link works now btw
 
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Thank you for finally putting a definitive Porsche/RUF thread together 👍. Hopefully there won't be a need for others to continue opening new threads and asking the same questions over and over again. This is very helpful.

I think it would be beneficial for this thread to be stickied.

This.
 
It is indeed foremost a legal issue, even when a new marketing strategy (encapsulating future licensing) under the ownership of Volkswagen will eventually, and hopefully (since most other Volkswagen brands are already present), change the exclusive deal with EA, the current agreement still stands (for as long as it's binding).
Or the sublicense to PD by EA could become, for whatever reason it now isn't, a reality when the current status quo continues.

In the meantime PD could make a Premium Ruf version, the most logical one would be the classic Yellowbird and/or BTR, as then they would have already modelled the classic aircooled 911 shape to be used, slightly altered, in the case a Porsche license/sublicense becomes a reality.
That shape could become the basis of endless 911 variants to maybe even dethrone the mightly Skyline...;)

The legal position Ruf (and Alpina) have got as manufacturer is extremely rare though and this is only possible I believe in Germany although I'm not sure.
It doesn't therefor extend to many more tuner firms as these cars are still legally Porsche's I guess.

Instead of only looking at tuner firms who modify current Porsche models I'd like to suggest the no doubt controversial option of replica's.
I'm not talking about the glassfibre/polyester shells on Beetle mechanics which are fairly common but about high-class 356 Speedster/550 Spyder/908/etc. replica's using genuine Porsche parts also manufactured by seperate manufacturers with their own brand names (don't know the brands by heart but there are a select few which make accurate and pricey replica's).

This most likely won't happen though but it would be another option to include classic Porsche road/racecars alongside the classic and current Ruf line-up which in itself is limited regarding a lot of Porsche's iconic cars not represented by Ruf.
Like I said it most likely won't happen as it could further alienate Porsche, although adding, when legally possible that is, more tuning firms may have the same effect (as the relationship between Ruf and Porsche is close).
 
It is indeed foremost a legal issue, even when a new marketing strategy (encapsulating future licensing) under the ownership of Volkswagen will eventually, and hopefully (since most other Volkswagen brands are already present), change the exclusive deal with EA, the current agreement still stands (for as long as it's binding).
Or the sublicense to PD by EA could become, for whatever reason it now isn't, a reality when the current status quo continues.

In the meantime PD could make a Premium Ruf version, the most logical one would be the classic Yellowbird and/or BTR, as then they would have already modelled the classic aircooled 911 shape to be used, slightly altered, in the case a Porsche license/sublicense becomes a reality.
That shape could become the basis of endless 911 variants to maybe even dethrone the mightly Skyline...;)

The legal position Ruf (and Alpina) have got as manufacturer is extremely rare though and this is only possible I believe in Germany although I'm not sure. It doesn't therefor extend to many more tuner firms as these cars are still legally Porsche's I guess.

Instead of only looking at tuner firms who modify current Porsche models I'd like to suggest the no doubt controversial option of replica's.
I'm not talking about the glassfibre/polyester shells on Beetle mechanics which are fairly common but about high-class 356 Speedster/550 Spyder/908/etc. replica's using genuine Porsche parts also manufactured by seperate manufacturers with their own brand names (don't know the brands by heart but there are a select few which make accurate and pricey replica's).

This most likely won't happen though but it would be another option to include classic Porsche road/racecars alongside the classic and current Ruf line-up which in itself is limited regarding a lot of Porsche's iconic cars not represented by Ruf.
Like I said it most likely won't happen as it could further alienate Porsche, although adding, when legally possible that is, more tuning firms may have the same effect (as the relationship between Ruf and Porsche is close).

Saleen in the US also fits this category. However, with Steve Saleen selling the company and starting SMS, I'm not sure if that has changed.
 
I am a huge Porsche fan, yet I find myself content with the RUF cars in GT. My complaints for GT5 were:
1. RUF didn't stop making cars in 2000. You have the RT-12 (2004-Present), CTR-3 (2007-Present), RGT-8 (2010-Present), Roadster (2010-Present), and those are just current production models.
2. No premium RUF. You would have figured at least the YellowBird would have been premium.
3. GT2 had twice as many older RUF's as GT5!
 
I just sent e-mails to Gemballa, Edo Competition, Techart and Mansory. I have received no other responses as of yet.

If there are more manufacturers you deem worth of contacting, please let me know via PM or in this thread. Thank you!

Is this restricted to German manufacturers or is open to any country's tuners/manufacturers?
 
Interesting.

But for the Schuppan 962CR. I know you can't contact them as they went defunct, but I've "found" (not much of a search) information which claims Schuppan did all the chassis and body work from scratch with only very similar design to the Porsche 962C. Only Porsche-made part was the engine (which isn't a problem for licencing). Source: http://www.supercars.net/cars/1732.html

The biggest problem behind the inclusion of the 962CR is the availability of the car. How PD could get to model it?
 
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Didn't you need Gameshark or something to unlock this? Apparently this was a Porsche that was created but never intended to be used? Left over code/graphics I suppose?

BTW link doesn't work...

Sigh, I miss having 9,999,999,999,999cr. :cheers:
 
I've been wondering if PD is having some sort of contempt for Ruf as of late.
Back in the GT2 and GT3 days, PD went out of their way to talk up how much of a dedicated manufacturer that Ruf was. Ever since GT4, though, it seems as though PD has downgraded Ruf to being "mere" tuners.

Didn't you need Gameshark or something to unlock this? Apparently this was a Porsche that was created but never intended to be used? Left over code/graphics I suppose?
Kaz owned a 911 GT3 at the time, so they probably just put the car in to test things (like the rendering engine and the like). The car isn't actually complete, because it uses a lot of parts that are identical to those of the Ruf RGT (even when the parts shouldn't be the same, like the engine specs).
 
Interesting.

But for the Schuppan 962CR. I know you can't contact them as they went defunct, but I've "found" (not much of a search) information which claims Schuppan did all the chassis and body work from scratch with only very similar design to the Porsche 962C. Only Porsche-made part was the engine (which isn't a problem for licencing). Source: http://www.supercars.net/cars/1732.html

The biggest problem behind the inclusion of the 962CR is the availability of the car. How PD could get to model it?

If the car exists and the owner is willing to make it available, then PD could probably do the modeling if they wanted to. The Muira in GT5 is a one-off prototype, and PD had to go to the owner's home and do the their work in the garage. The owner wouldn't transport the car for them or anything.
 
Edo Competition & Mansory will not give you any solid answers.

The Mansory who tunes Porsche is located in Switzerland & is a recognized tuner. All the cars they modify will already have a manufacturer VIN on them.
Edo Competition is the same, as evident by the numerous manufacturer badges & model names kept on their vehicles when they receive them, pre-tuned.
 
To the OP have you considerd trying to contact Zender the German tuning company that also created the magnificent looking Zender Fact 4 and a few other concepts besides
 
People here seem to forget that Porsche is more than just their favourite car manufacturer. They do a lot of consulting work for other major manufacturers and patents and intellectual property royalties form a huge part of their profits. It's no surprise that they could be a hard customer when trying to get rights for their cars.

No reason to bother people fail mentally to understand how licensing works. 2 min google search can help you find the answers you need.

"The Gran Turismo series is known as being the most realistic racing sim on the market. Its also known for featuring the largest variety of licensed automobiles from top names such as Corvette and Mercedes-Benz. Gran Turismo 5 is taking those two series staples to the next level by featuring over 950 vehicles that look ever-so-close to their real-life counterparts.

Even with so many vehicles to choose from, there will be one car company excluded from the upcoming title…

…and that company is Porsche.

Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed at a CES interview that Porsche was excluded due to “licensing issues”. While this may bother some, considering that the game boasts that many vehicles with the ability to import even more vehicles from the PSP version of Gran Turismo, is it really that big of a deal? Will you really miss Porsche?"

"Porsche. One of the few car manufacturers remaining who have not succumbed to the leveraging power the all-mighty Gran Turismo franchise has to offer. Even with Gran Turismo 5 boasting over 1,000 cars, die-hard fans have cited the lack of the prestigious high-end luxury car manufacturer. When, earlier this year, it was confirmed Porsche would not be coming to Gran Turismo 5, car enthusiasts were wondering if Porsche was ever to come to any more video games, aside from Forza 3. According to a recent tweet by the official Criterion Games twitter feed, that will be a reality.

In a tweet posted earlier today, Criterion Games stated that Porsche will be exclusive to the Need for Speed franchise. This of course is talking specifically about the studio’s next game, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, but future NFS games may be included, although that wasn’t specified. Full tweet below:

Porsche exclusive to Need for Speed…"

From ps3 news site. and 10 others have the same.


Every company works differently. Some will do it for money, others will do it for free publicity. Depends on the company. It seems EA made this deal very sweet or Porsche was very stupid and with 6.6 mil gt5 sold, porsche is biting their hands, no way to find out.

Don't bother emailing anyone, no one will reveal any information to you, if larger news sites could not get their hand on this juicy piece of info, you never will. No one is going to lose their job revealing companies policy to a gaming forum. But if you really want to, email EA they got the answers because they hold exclusive right to Porsche.

If you spend more time searching you will find that EA buy licensing to many things like NFL and so on and hold them in iron grip never letting go, because they can make money from exclusive titles and from selling these licenses to other companies for fortune.

Oh and to whoever I insulted, you got me wrong I did not mean to do that. I simply pointed out your ignorance. But hey this is online forum no such a thing as right.
 
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I would like to have RUF RK Coupe(440 bhp cayman :) )I am actually planning to buy a car in two years and Cayman S is one alternative.
 
Have another look at the vid, both the Diablo and the Sratos are named while there is NO name shown with the Porsche/Ruf.

Yes there is a GT3 name, both on the car and in the menu. Also the RUF has got a different aero bodykit then the Porsche GT3 shown in the video. It is indeed a real Porsche design.
 
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My biggest concern with PD is they don't appear to have a European team with the in-depth knowledge to seek out niche manufacturers and tuners.

They still don't include cars like the RS500, E30 M3, F40 LM, F1 GTR, Quattro S1 etc. which they have the licence for.
 
No reason to bother people fail mentally to understand how licensing works. 2 min google search can help you find the answers you need.

"The Gran Turismo series is known as being the most realistic racing sim on the market. Its also known for featuring the largest variety of licensed automobiles from top names such as Corvette and Mercedes-Benz. Gran Turismo 5 is taking those two series staples to the next level by featuring over 950 vehicles that look ever-so-close to their real-life counterparts.

Even with so many vehicles to choose from, there will be one car company excluded from the upcoming title…

…and that company is Porsche.

Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed at a CES interview that Porsche was excluded due to “licensing issues”. While this may bother some, considering that the game boasts that many vehicles with the ability to import even more vehicles from the PSP version of Gran Turismo, is it really that big of a deal? Will you really miss Porsche?"

"Porsche. One of the few car manufacturers remaining who have not succumbed to the leveraging power the all-mighty Gran Turismo franchise has to offer. Even with Gran Turismo 5 boasting over 1,000 cars, die-hard fans have cited the lack of the prestigious high-end luxury car manufacturer. When, earlier this year, it was confirmed Porsche would not be coming to Gran Turismo 5, car enthusiasts were wondering if Porsche was ever to come to any more video games, aside from Forza 3. According to a recent tweet by the official Criterion Games twitter feed, that will be a reality.

In a tweet posted earlier today, Criterion Games stated that Porsche will be exclusive to the Need for Speed franchise. This of course is talking specifically about the studio’s next game, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, but future NFS games may be included, although that wasn’t specified. Full tweet below:

Porsche exclusive to Need for Speed…"

From ps3 news site. and 10 others have the same.


Every company works differently. Some will do it for money, others will do it for free publicity. Depends on the company. It seems EA made this deal very sweet or Porsche was very stupid and with 6.6 mil gt5 sold, porsche is biting their hands, no way to find out.

Don't bother emailing anyone, no one will reveal any information to you, if larger news sites could not get their hand on this juicy piece of info, you never will. No one is going to lose their job revealing companies policy to a gaming forum. But if you really want to, email EA they got the answers because they hold exclusive right to Porsche.

If you spend more time searching you will find that EA buy licensing to many things like NFL and so on and hold them in iron grip never letting go, because they can make money from exclusive titles and from selling these licenses to other companies for fortune.

Oh and to whoever I insulted, you got me wrong I did not mean to do that. I simply pointed out your ignorance. But hey this is online forum no such a thing as right.
As it has been mentioned many times, PD is not at fault here, blame EA for holding their hands so tightly to its dear Porsche that you need to pay an arm and a leg (and a head, a right toe, and a ribcage) just to even negotiate any type of deal. Look what happened with Ferrari. They didn't renew their deal (or they went behind EA's backs) and they are included in GT5 but are curiously now absent from NFS. Porsche itself may rethink its deal with EA, but it would only do so if the money with PD can offset EA possibly dropping them as well.
 
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