Toyota Coming Back to Racing Games? [GT Sport]

Miscellaneous Xbox & Games Industry
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I was browsing some information about Gran Turismo Sport recently, and came across the update (Patch 1.11) for the game, which includes one new track, six new layouts to an existing track (I think? I don’t have the game, sorry), more racing opportunities, and 10 new cars…including three Toyotas - the '97 Supra RZ, the '67 2000GT, and the '14 FT-1.

Could this be a sign of things to come for more franchises, or will it end here?

I would hope that we see Toyota models across all racing franchises again.

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I wonder if Polyphony has some kind of exclusive deal worked out with Toyota then. If that’s the case, then we may see an expansion in the vein of the good ol’ Porsche one for FM7, or even future games. I hope it doesn’t come to that though.

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How are they gonna manage with Horizon 4 coming out later this year and situated in Japan. It would be kinda odd to not have Toyota in the game then. My other issue is that the Porsche deal was well known. Why the secrecy with GT and Toyota. It’s kind of underhanded if you ask me.

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Just to clarify, while Japan is a likely choice for the location of Horizon 4, nothing official has been confirmed that it will be set in Japan.

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I’m more impressed that tracks get more layouts. I would hope FM7 gets more tracks/layouts soon as well.

As for Toyota, perhaps whatever issues they had prior were resolved? licensing? I don’t believe PD has some exclusivity, because Turn 10 has some exclusivity with Ferrari I believe (could be outdated information by now) and they never blocked any other games from having Ferraris.

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I always assumed Forza blocked need for speed from having Ferraris because for many games, they didn’t, despite having some high end cars like Lamborghini gallardos.

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Gran Turismo might have exclusivity with Toyota for now or Turn 10 decided to include Toyota in future DLC or an expansion.

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I think it’s more due to the fact that you can’t modify cars visually in GT Sport. It has been said several times that supposedly, Toyota doesn’t want their cars modified and it makes even more sense when you’ve got a few production Toyotas in games that don’t allow a high level of customization, while games like NFS and Forza get left out.

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That information came from an article years old though, didn’t it?

It would make me curious though what the powers that be at Toyota would class as modifying cars. In GT Sport you can at least change the wheels and paint/livery, I’d personally class that as modifying the car.

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I’m assuming they mean it more from a modification standpoint as opposed to change wheels or paint, as those can sometimes be changed from the factory. Yes, I realize there are aftermarket wheels available as well, but most manufacturers don’t void the warranty for changing the rims.

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…any hope for Toyota production cars to come back to Forza?

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GT Sport also has the widebody Gr. 4/ Gr. 3 fictional race car variants. I’m not sure whether that would count as modification to legal teams, but it does to me.

But I thought we didn’t have any kind of confirmation as to why Toyota wasn’t in games anymore. If there’s some kind of article that points towards visual mods please link it. I thought we were completely in the dark about their absence.

Microsoft did hold the Ferrari rights for a while, but they shared them with anyone who asked, except EA for most Need for Speed games (except that one? Shift 2 was it?). I think at the time it was rumored that Ferrari didn’t want visual modifications on its cars, but maybe that’s some other story I’m getting mixed up with.

If Toyota really is pulling out because they don’t want body kits… that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

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Ferrari also came as a DLC pack for the first NFS Shift game if I’m not mistaken.

I do remember hearing something about Ferrari not wanting their cars modified in games, which was why there wasn’t any customisation options outside of a few official Ferrari parts in NFS 2015.

Hell, they don’t even like people doing it in real life do they? They threatened DeadMaus with legal action over his customised 458, unless I’m misremembering that.

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This has exclusivity deal plastered all over it… And yes, it’s underhanded.

It hurts ALL games with timely releases (such as NFS), not just Forza. And I’d say the Supra is more important to NFS these days than to Forza.

Worth mentioning that Microsoft used to have an exclusivity deal with Ferrari and they’re still on good terms with Ferrari. When Forza 3 came out, Forza had an exclusivity deal for the 458 Italia on the Xbox 360, which is why TDU2 didn’t feature this car in the 360 port. However, Microsoft would happily sublicense Ferrari content to other studios, provided they paid for it. As we all know, EA does not like to spend money they feel they shouldn’t need to, so Ferrari disappeared from Need for Speed altogether.

Currently, Microsoft has a deal with Porsche that grants them some “benefits” which we don’t know about. This deal has been made official by Phil Spencer during the E3 conference. One of its terms is obviously the exclusivity to the use of the 2018 911 GT2 RS in gaming, at least in a 2017 release, much like how EA has the exclusive rights to the new M5 F90 in NFS Payback (funnily enough, it’s not even the cover car, but that’s talk for another topic). I also believe the McLaren 720S will not be featured in Forza 7, nor in any other game released in 2017 or earlier, at least for now, due to SMS having secured the exclusive license to the car for Project CARS 2 (ah, the wonders of crowdfunding!).

Forget about Toyota DLC in Forza. Turn 10 has made it very clear in their press release statement that Toyota’s road cars will NOT feature in Forza 7 whatsoever, much like Volkswagen’s cars weren’t in Horizon 3 from the start nor added to the game as DLC.

In fact, notice how none of Toyota’s cars in Forza 7 have ANY resemblance to their passenger cars. SUVs and trucks are not passenger cars.

I personally prefer having the Volkswagens, as most of Toyota’s lineup is grossly overrated, but hey, to each their own!

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Well thanks, I guess.

There is hope that Toyota has seen the light, realizing that video games are a nearly endless source of advertising, I think they might have someone rallying for them to return to gaming.

The fact that these 100% official cars, are appearing in a high profile game, without any sort of obvious workaround, should be a good enough sign, that Toyota is loosening up the reigns a bit.

Obviously the developer for GT is a big fan of Toyota, and likely he had dinner with someone from Toyota, and they came to some sort of Gentlemans agreement. the fact that they live in the same country makes this seem possible. I mean everyone needs to eat, and why eat alone.

In a breath of fairness, we do already have Toyota in FM7, and while it might not be the cars that we expected, they are still great vehicles, both in reality, and in the game.

Would people like to see Toyota return to FM7, in all of its glory, showcasing the LC500 (Black Panther drives one in the new movie) from its Lexus Branch… Well that should be obvious, Yes we want to drive it.

That mental bookmark we make in our minds, every time we drive a car in a video game, eventually will impact the vehicle purchase we make in the future. I would even venture to say, that games like Forza and GT, are the reason for success that specific cars have.

I would never have considered a Hyundai as a vehicle purchase, if their cars had not been in Forza. I would not be trying to find a Honda S800 if I had never drove it in a video game. I likely would never have cared about the Toyota supra, if I hadn’t driven it in Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed.

The inclusion of all the Toyota vehicles as traffic cars in Forza Horizon, I thought was pretty awesome. I was even thinking that we might get more Toyotas because of it. Fast forward a few years, and Toyota is a no entry.

So unless they plan on changing their name, and are doing everyone a favor as far as licensing is concerned, I think that it makes Zero sense, to hold back your best work… as an artist, it’s like Van Gogh, or DaVinci, telling the world, they want all of their paintings back.

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See Lexus | Forza Wiki | Fandom it states that lexus RCF GT3 of IMSA GT was been leaked, it’s exclusion was the leak reason as it was listed to be included in the game and it is silhouette racing car like nascar and SGT car. rest toyota road and production vehicles were not included due to licensing issues. however If this game has subaru then you’ll be able to drive subaru BRZ as it already have spindle lexus grill front bumper too. Infact forza have ability to customize and paint vehicles like nissan gtr-sgt and toyota t100 sr5 and honda ridgeline race truck. i tried this thing in forza motorsport 4 and have no forza game available personally. so you can paint nascars too. gtsport has custom decal editor too. asphalt airborne had premade liveries and have no body modifications. toyota absent from racing games in second half 2017 and 2018 fiscal year from non-japanese games. only japanese games have toyota cars. even project cars 2 is a japanese game.