Supercars Championship in video games
There have been numerous video games which have included the drivers, teams, cars and circuits from the Supercars Championship, the leading touring car category in Australia. Several of these games were officially licensed by Supercars. From 2011 to 2014, an online championship sanctioned by Supercars was contested on iRacing.[1]
History
Early computer games
Touring Car Champions, released by Torus Games and Virtual Sports Interactive for Windows in June 1997,[2] was the first game to be based on Australian touring car racing. It featured real-life video from the Mount Panorama Circuit with the virtual cars superimposed over the top. The game was endorsed by the Holden Racing Team,[3] and its drivers from the 1995 Bathurst 1000—Peter Brock, Tomas Mezera, Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy—were featured in the game, along with cut scenes from the race. The game included a Holden Commodore-based and a Ford Falcon-based car, with the Holden Racing Team's 1996 livery being used on one of the Commodore-based cars. Players took part in a series of races around the Mount Panorama Circuit, with prize money being used to upgrade the car or change the team manager and pit crew.[4]
This was followed by Dick Johnson V8 Challenge, released for Windows in December 1999.[2] It featured 25 drivers of what was then known as V8 Supercars as well as four tracks: Oran Park Raceway, Sandown Raceway, Queensland Raceway and Mount Panorama. The physics model of the game was created with input from Dick and Steven Johnson. The game featured multiple camera angles with which to race and supported the use of a force-feedback racing wheel.[5]
Console releases
The third instalment of Codemasters' TOCA Touring Car series, TOCA World Touring Cars, released in 2000, was available for the PlayStation. It featured cars loosely based on the Ford AU Falcon and Holden VT Commodore that were used in V8 Supercars at the time. In 2001, a Ford AU Falcon campaigned by Ford Tickford Racing in the 2000 Shell Championship Series appeared in Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, the first time an Australian car had been included in the series. The car has since appeared in each game of the Gran Turismo series up to and including Gran Turismo 6.
In 2002, TOCA Race Driver, the fourth game in Codemasters' series, was released in Australia as V8 Supercars: Race Driver for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was the first game to feature the name V8 Supercars in its title and was the first in a series of three games that would be released with such branding. The game featured 21 cars and seven tracks from the 2001 Shell Championship Series. This was followed by V8 Supercars 2 in 2004, which featured content from the 2003 season and was also released for Windows. The final game in the series was V8 Supercars 3, which was released in 2006 and featured all cars and tracks from the 2005 season. It included the greatest depth of V8 Supercars content of all of the games released.[6]
The game V8 Challenge was released by EA Sports, also in 2002. EA Sports also sponsored the Holden Young Lions entry through the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
Forza Motorsport
In recent years, the V8 Supercars license has featured in the Forza Motorsport series. The 2015 edition, Forza Motorsport 6, featured ten V8 Supercars including all five marques that competed in the 2015 season.[7] The series, a flagship series of Microsoft's Xbox series of consoles, has also featured as a sponsor on multiple real life V8 Supercars, including a wildcard entry from Triple Eight Race Engineering at the 2013 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and on DJR Team Penske cars in 2014 and 2015.
In 2016, 2 cars from the newly renamed Supercars Championship and 1 car from the 2015 V8 Supercars Championship appeared in Forza Horizon 3, their first appearance in the spin-off series to Forza Motorsport, as part of a wider focus on Australian content.[8] The two 2016 season cars came in the Forza Horizon 3 Motorsport All-Stars DLC. The other 2015 season car was attainable in game via a Forzathon Event.
Licensed games
Fully licensed games have accurate cars (including liveries), drivers and or tracks from the V8 Supercars series. Several of these games only feature a limited selection of V8 Supercars rather than the entire field of cars and tracks.
| Title | Release date | Platform(s) | Developer | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dick Johnson V8 Challenge | 1999 | Windows | Torus Games | Tru Blu Entertainment | |
| V8 Supercars: Race Driver | 2002 | PlayStation 2, Xbox | Codemasters | Codemasters | Also known as: TOCA Race Driver DTM Race Driver (Germany) Pro Race Driver (United States) |
| V8 Challenge | 2002 | Windows | Dice | EA Sports | |
| V8 Supercars 2 | 2004 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows, PSP | Codemasters | Codemasters | Also known as: TOCA Race Driver 2 DTM Race Driver 2 (Germany) |
| V8 Supercars 3 | 2006 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Windows, PSP, Mac OS X | Codemasters | Codemasters | Also known as: TOCA Race Driver 3 DTM Race Driver 3 (Germany) |
| Forza Motorsport 3 | 2009 | Xbox 360 | Turn 10 Studios | Microsoft Studios | |
| Forza Motorsport 4 | 2011 | Xbox 360 | Turn 10 Studios | Microsoft Studios | |
| Forza Motorsport 5 | 2013 | Xbox One | Turn 10 Studios | Microsoft Studios | |
| Forza Motorsport 6 | 2015 | Xbox One | Turn 10 Studios | Microsoft Studios | |
| Forza Horizon 3 | 2016 | Xbox One, Windows | Playground Games | Microsoft Studios |
Other appearances
Various games have also included a more limited selection of cars from the V8 Supercars series, without having a full series license. This does not include several games which have received fan-made modifications to add V8 Supercars content, including rFactor, NASCAR Racing 2003 Season and GTR 2. Other games, such as Project CARS and Gran Turismo 6, have featured the V8 Supercars' most famous circuit, Mount Panorama, without featuring full series content.[9]
| Title | Release date | Platform(s) | Developer | Publisher | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Touring Car Champions | 1997 | Windows | Torus Games | Virtual Sports Interactive | |
| TOCA World Touring Cars | 2000 | PlayStation, Game Boy Advance | Codemasters | Codemasters | Generic liveries on V8 Supercars-style chassis. Also known as: Jarrett & Labonte Stock Car Racing (United States) WTC: World Touring Car Championship (Japan) |
| Gran Turismo series | 2001–2013 | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 | Polyphony Digital | Sony Computer Entertainment | Only includes the 2000 Ford Tickford Racing Ford AU Falcon, which has appeared in all games in the series from Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (2001) to Gran Turismo 6 (2013). |
| iRacing | 2008 | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux | iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations | iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations | Includes the Ford FG Falcon & Holden VF Commodore with player-generated liveries.[10] |
| Game Stock Car Extreme | 2013 | Windows | Reiza Studios | Reiza Studios | Generic liveries on V8 Supercars-style chassis. |
| Grid 2 | 2013 | Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Codemasters | Codemasters | Includes a Ford Falcon ute with a V8 Supercar-style bodykit. |
| Real Racing 3 | 2013 | iOS, Android, Shield Portable, Blackberry 10 | Firemonkeys | EA Games | Added in update, September 2016 |
| Grid Autosport | 2014 | Linux, Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | Codemasters | Codemasters | Generic liveries on V8 Supercars-style chassis. |
| Project CARS | 2015 | Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Slightly Mad Studios | Bandai Namco Entertainment | Generic liveries on V8 Supercars-style chassis. Includes the Ford FG Falcon as a free DLC. |
| Automobilista | 2016 | Windows | Reiza Studios | Reiza Studios | Generic liveries on V8 Supercars-style chassis. |
See also
References
- ^ B, Kevin (1 August 2011). "V8 Supercars to Sanction iRacing.com Series". iRacing.com. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ a b "Torus Games" (PDF). Torus Games. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ^ "Touring Car Champions". Moby Games. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ^ "Touring Cars". Torus Games. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ^ "Dick Johnson V8 Challenge". Torus Games. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
- ^ Calvert, Justin (26 August 2005). "TOCA Race Driver 2006 Hands-On". GameSpot. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ Reilly, Luke (23 August 2015). "Forza 6 Gets All 5 V8 Supercars Australia Manufacturers". IGN. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ Patrick, Kyle (19 July 2016). "First 150 Cars Revealed For Forza Horizon 3: Ute Better Believe It". GT Planet. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
- ^ G, Jordan (2 October 2013). "Mount Panorama (Bathurst) Confirmed for Gran Turismo 6: New Video & Screenshots". GTPlanet. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
- ^ "Holden V8 Super Car". iRacing. Retrieved 16 August 2016.