Why we have Race Mod cars. (theory)

[paskowitz]

I do not know about you but I always wondered why PD included Race Mod (RM) cars. Why include a ZR1 RM when you could just have the real GT2 Corvette?

Then it hit me, licensing. I am not speaking from expert knowledge but I believe developers can include whatever cars they want in their game, but, in order to "name" (Ie call the car the Corvette ZR1 GT2) the car, they must buy the license from the automotive manufacturer. Otherwise they would have to call it something else. If I am correct you license the right to use the name/title of the car (see C.A.R.S. development).

By calling it the ZR1RM PD essentially gets two cars for the price of one (theory). In my opinion this a great move. PD save money on licensing, and lets be honest, the difference between RM cars and their real life counterparts is pretty small (biggest difference is the crutty sounds... but that is another topic). NFS Shift 1 did a similar thing with its body kits. You could make a car look like the race car, while still calling it the normal car's name. Essentially RM's are body kits. This also takes some pressure off of PD to be 100% PD accurate. They have a little creative freedom.

To me, this opens the door to further RM's of cars. I do not think there is much preventing PD from creating a DB9RM or a 458RM... besides their love for Skylines . I would love to see GT6 or whatever they are working on embrace this even more. I do not care that the Aston Martin race car I am driving is exactly like the DBR9 and is called the DBR9, it just has to be close.

So I ask you, does this sound sensible or a bit off the wall? What is your opinion.

 

[GTP_ken_b]

I personally appreciate different cars to experience, whether it would be a RM or a legitimate race car...the more the merrier...I'd love to be able to RM all Premium cars, now that would be sweet!

 

[paskowitz]

I do not think that it is needed on every car, but cars that have race car counter parts or at least famous race car counter parts should be considered for an RM package.

I wonder what people's reactions would be if 60% of the race cars in GT6 where RMs. If it means we get more, then I am for it.

 

[Wardez]

Hah, great theory and all. What's funny about all this is that in GT2, every single car could be "race modified."

Yes... I too have recently been seeing what all these people liked so much about GT2. I only played it at a friend's house a couple times way back when it was out so I really didn't get a good run through it. GT3 was my first true GT and I loved that but over the years I've realized just how awesome GT2 was.

Anyway, yes, I'd love for them to treat us to a whole suite of GT1-4 style cars.

Also, multiple RM variants on the same car would be awesome.

 

[friedi]

well some other games used this "option" a car looks like a bmw and is named with a fantasy name

dont rembember names of such games but they exist maybe the old NFS series on first playstation?

 

[RocZX]

Yes that can be possible. But then why did why not make more cars with RM especially the ones with race car history?

 

[xNEVER-ONEx]

Thats nice and all, but the real question is hwy only 17RM when there are so many more cars that could have used it. Just another example of a feature that is in the game, but somewhat poorly deployed.

 

[Snaeper]

To me, this opens the door to further RM's of cars. I do not think there is much preventing PD from creating a DB9RM or a 458RM... besides their love for Skylines . I would love to see GT6 or whatever they are working on embrace this even more. I do not care that the Aston Martin race car I am driving is exactly like the DBR9 and is called that DBR9, it just has to be close.

I imagine that they still require permission from the auto manufacturer to manipulate their car's image. So it's not like PD can just Race Mod whichever car they please, whenever they please. Regardless, I imagine that obtaining that approval is far easier and cheaper than licensing actual Racing cars. However, companies that are heavily involved in racing and developing racing versions of their road-going cars are a lot less likely to give the "okay" when they know that they and their teams can make licensing money off of real cars they worked hard to create. It all depends on the fine print.

Hah, great theory and all. What's funny about all this is that in GT2, every single car could be "race modified."

Not every single car, but certainly a great deal of them could be race modified, yes.

Yes... I too have recently been seeing what all these people liked so much about GT2. I only played it at a friend's house a couple times way back when it was out so I really didn't get a good run through it. GT3 was my first true GT and I loved that but over the years I've realized just how awesome GT2 was.

GT2 was my first GT and it was my last up until Prologue, since I was the kid that got the Xbox while everyone else got a PS2. ("Wahhhhhh, life isn't fair yadda yadda"). GT2 was amazing though with the sheer amount of cars and tracks and everything you could do. There are still some amazing cars in that game that never made it out alive (All of the Mugen Honda's, Tom's and TRD Toyotas, even the Tommy Kaira cars and the RWD R34 Skyline GT's. Not mention the amazing Renault Espace F1, Lotus Elise GT1, Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe and many others.

Also, multiple RM variants on the same car would be awesome.

Hell yeah! Imagine being able to choose between a more plebeian-bodied R32 Touring car (stock body, special wheels, side exhaust and livery is all I need to call it a race car. Well a stripped out interior helps sell the deal too. This would be an easy and awesome way to make a lot of cool RM's.

This makes me wonder about the Corvettes. I would've loved to have seen one that had the stock body, but with the Center-locking wheels they have currently. Then throw in the hood from the Z06 Concept by GT that was in GT5P and put in a stripped interior, racing livery and a big wing and you have yourself a completely different race car worth buying.

 

[ItsHim]

You would need the livery too, no? And Shift 2 pretty much covers all the FIA licensed ground already so this could be (have been) a deal breaker.

Besides GT was always concentrating on road cars and JDM tuners, with some rallye and LMPs thrown in for good measure.

I have to say the PD made prototypes work rather well as they are.

But yes, more RMs or even FIA GT would be marvellous. Bring it on I'd say. A man can dream, can't he?

 

[E28]

Hell yeah! Imagine being able to choose between a more plebeian-bodied R32 Touring car (stock body, special wheels, side exhaust and livery is all I need to call it a race car. Well a stripped out interior helps sell the deal too. This would be an easy and awesome way to make a lot of cool RM's.

I like your thinking. You could have a stripped out Mini Cooper S, Miata, even a Suzuki Swift!

 

[paskowitz]

I imagine that they still require permission from the auto manufacturer to manipulate their car's image. So it's not like PD can just Race Mod whichever car they please, whenever they please. Regardless, I imagine that obtaining that approval is far easier and cheaper than licensing actual RM's. However, companies that are heavily involved in racing and developing racing versions of their road-going cars are a lot less likely to give the "okay" when they know that they and their teams can make licensing money off of real cars they worked hard to create. It all depends on the fine print.

Ya see thats the thing. Look at C.A.R.S. All their cars have made up fictional names (due to reported licensing "issues" or contracts that have not been resolved), but they are super realistic recreations of the real life car.

I am not privy to how these licensing contracts work, so I very well could be wrong.

 

[Alex p.]

Hm, to me the RM cars represent incompetence of PD, which started after GT4. (Hey let's do GT for boys, TT, GT4HD, GTPSP AND GT5 at the same time, hur durr...)

They spent much more money AND time then they would be ever able to admit and now they want to milk us. 7 Euros (10 Dollars!) for this LOUSY car pack with not even ONE really new car. Just an updated X2010 and RM'd cars, which could have been there from the start.

I did not buy it and certainly never will, same WOULD go for the track pack, if it wouldn't be for SPA, I just couldn't let this slip past, this track is NR.2 behind Nordschleife hands down.

So yeah I think they just tryin' to make some money with an easy appeal.

 

[Dave A]

I imagine that they still require permission from the auto manufacturer to manipulate their car's image. So it's not like PD can just Race Mod whichever car they please, whenever they please. Regardless, I imagine that obtaining that approval is far easier and cheaper than licensing actual RM's. However, companies that are heavily involved in racing and developing racing versions of their road-going cars are a lot less likely to give the "okay" when they know that they and their teams can make licensing money off of real cars they worked hard to create. It all depends on the fine print.

They do, the shape of a car is a licensing issue, the cars in C.A.R.S are not super realistic, they are out of proportion which does two things, one prevents any image based licensing infringments and two means they don't have to spend money on licensing.

If you look at any game with fictional cars, even those that are clearly based on a real life counterpart, there are always noticable proportional differences because if they were too much alike, they would get sued for copyright infringment.

 

[AudioSpark]

Makes sense, but then they'd have to get the permission from each manufacturer to create an RM version for each model. Which is my theory on why there isn't much in the way of RM cars at the moment.

 

[Dave A]

Makes sense, but then they'd have to get the permission from each manufacturer to create an RM version for each model. Which is my theory on why there isn't much in the way of RM cars at the moment.

That doesn't have to be too difficult really once you already have the license to use that model in the first place. It's all in the wording, you could get them to agree to every car being visually customisable all with a single signature. I think it comes down to the time it takes to model the cars more than anything. I think PD simply reached too high with GT5 and just didn't have enough time.

 

[Rods]

That doesn't have to be too difficult really once you already have the license to use that model in the first place. It's all in the wording, you could get them to agree to every car being visually customisable all with a single signature. I think it comes down to the time it takes to model the cars more than anything. I think PD simply reached too high with GT5 and just didn't have enough time.

It's actually not that simple. For companies, to allow another company to add body kits and have creative freedom with your car is a big deal. After all, PDs design will be ever related to the original brand and may differ from their original intentions with the car - It has a lot to do with marketing ideas of protecting your brand to an abysmal extent and with intellectual and industrial property and who actually owns the mods and how far can they go.

Nissan, for an example, has a very strict policy with the new GT-R and third party mods, and I bet many companies share that same approach.

While thinking about this, try to notice how most RMs are cars in their outdated models, e.g. NSX, Elise, Silvia, Golf, Evo and Impreza...The only of them on sale right now are probably the Camaro and the Vette...

 

[GlockPants]

While thinking about this, try to notice how most RMs are cars in their outdated models, e.g. NSX, Elise, Silvia, Golf, Evo and Impreza...The only of them on sale right now are probably the Camaro and the Vette...

Don't forget about some of the new DLC cars that were released. There are a few more now which are based on current models.

But having more RM cars would be cool, but only if they made sense. Like it would make sense to have a RM version of the old and new mustangs since since now, both the old and new camaros and challengers can be RM'd.

Or some other types of cars that are often used in Grand-AM like mazda, ferrari, mini etc. would be pretty cool too and make sense to have RM options. We don't need any VW samba buss, kubelwagen or schwimmwagen RMs, though that would be pretty funny

 

[CSLACR]

Hah, great theory and all. What's funny about all this is that in GT2, every single car could be "race modified."

Yes... I too have recently been seeing what all these people liked so much about GT2. I only played it at a friend's house a couple times way back when it was out so I really didn't get a good run through it. GT3 was my first true GT and I loved that but over the years I've realized just how awesome GT2 was.

Anyway, yes, I'd love for them to treat us to a whole suite of GT1-4 style cars.

Also, multiple RM variants on the same car would be awesome.

No sir, GT1 was the best.
GT1 is legendary.

So, licensing theory or not, everyone likes a good RM, we always have, why did they ever disappear in the first place, and why we only have 17 is the better question.

BTW Wardez, not every car in GT2 could be race modded IIRC, but almost every car in GT1 could.