Realistic sponsorship = bloody loads of sponsorship. Larsen’s Biscuits, anyone?
Realism is very important when you’re designing and building a racing game – unless of course, you’re making Mario Kart, Twisted Metal or some other such weapon-infused Dick Dastardly-esque lunacy – but for the most part, driving simulators are a very serious business.
New IP Project CARS has been a massive success in 2015, and following its numerous and well-documented release delays has already been confirmed for a sequel just a few short months after release, which is impressive.
Well-established franchise and Xbox One exclusive Forza Motorsport 6 – slated for release on September 15, 2015 – looks to have every chance of doing just as well. They’re certainly taking the realism very seriously, as evidenced by the visuals from today’s press release:
The Forza Motorsport 6 team is showing their supreme dedication to making the game look as close as possible to the presentation of real-life racing events, by plastering their vehicles from head to toe in sponsorship decals.
These aren’t any ‘Larsen’s Biscuits’ or ‘Penistone Oils’ either; Forza Motorsport 6 is using real sponsors.
It makes you wonder if sponsorship within games is an additional avenue for making money? Are Microsoft getting reimbursed for the extra exposure they’re giving motor-racing affiliated sponsors in Forza Motorsport 6?
You’d never get away with just whacking any old logo into an unrelated game and hoping the players somehow pick up a subliminal desire to buy their product (7UP’s Cool Spot, anyone?) but in a sport or racing game where heavy sponsorship is the norm, it would be easy to sneak them in as just part of the game’s “realistic aesthetic”.
How do I get sponsorship on on Forza 6? I have seen the sponsors on there but not like on certain cars on it.