Why doesnt rockstar get sponsored by car companies?

[Smoblikat]

I have always wondered why rockstar cant put actual cars in GTA, they put real music in the games so why not cars? It seems like a win-win-win for the consumer, the dev (rockstar), and the auto companies because we get awesome realistic cars, rockstar gets most of their concepts for car designs already done and gets a little money, and the auto makers get some amazing advertising. Why dont they do this?

 

[Gordon Freemen]

That's a good point it would be nice if they did and put Forza Motorsport 4 like driving Physics in that game as well but I suppose it was either not profitable for Rockstar or they thought the end users would not care about it I think it would be super great though if they did.

 

[KaOTiK]

Probably the car makers that are saying no. Considering the amount of illegal activity you do in a GTA game while in a car probably makes the car makers not want their automobiles to be put in such a light. I remember awhile back some didn't want damage or minimal damage only on their cars in some racing game.

 

[Plimogz]

I really can't see major automobile makers wanting to associate themselves with a prostitute laden, carjack-happy, vehicular manslaughter simulator.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

I really can't see major automobile makers wanting to associate themselves with a prostitute laden, carjack-happy, vehicular manslaughter simulator.

I think the "Hummer" brand would beg to differ LOL.

 

[Smoblikat]

I think the "Hummer" brand would beg to differ LOL.

Holy shit......that was good.

Good points guys, I never thought that anyone even cared about the illegal activities

Though what about movies that use card for illegal acts?

 

[KaOTiK]

Holy shit......that was good.

Good points guys, I never thought that anyone even cared about the illegal activities

Though what about movies that use card for illegal acts?

Films are seen as advertisement for the car makers most the time, plus all the use of the vehicle is known and approved of ahead of time. Most big films that use cars, you see the companies logo plastered all over the previews and posters normally in the way of the car being there and usually some silly close up or way to bring your attention to who makes it.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Holy shit......that was good.

Good points guys, I never thought that anyone even cared about the illegal activities

Though what about movies that use card for illegal acts?

I think if there is money to be made the Car manufacturers will jump all over it like Rosie O'donnell on a Crispy Cream Donut. Plus GM has not choise but to make money right now when they are in the hole Billions of Dollars.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Films are seen as advertisement for the car makers most the time, plus all the use of the vehicle is known and approved of ahead of time. Most big films that use cars, you see the companies logo plastered all over the previews and posters normally in the way of the car being there and usually some silly close up or way to bring your attention to who makes it.

I am sure a prostitute has done some this of "Questionable" nature in say a GM branded car in many movies.

 

[greenhawk]

Another issue is that the car manufactures will not be interested in paying to be in the game (advertising) as the target audience is not one that can be seen to be buying a car (or affording theirs) in the next 12 months. No point spending money where there is no gain for the car maker.

So if any money goes anywhere, it is from the software developer to the car maker.

Then the small issue of how the car behaves. One car maker gets "x" performance, but will not be happy if their compeditor is given "x+1" performance. Making a car appear worse than it's compeditors I suspect will kill any money going to the software company. It would be a law suit of some kind more likly.

Association as mentioned before is also a big one for brand names. A few bad mental links in the consumers mind and there goes months of positive advertising.

As to the customers being better off, not really. If it did happen in this day, it would be via DLC and so more money from the customer's pocket. If there was advertising from the car manufacture, it would just go on the software developer's profit list, not onto cheaper products for consumers.

 

[KaOTiK]

I am sure a prostitute has done some this of "Questionable" nature in say a GM branded car in many movies.

Of course, but being a movie, it is a totally different thing as far as the car maker is concerned as well.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Of course, but being a movie, it is a totally different thing as far as the car maker is concerned as well.

I would not say that at all when not actually seeing a sucking or pumping prostitute at work in a cartoon world is alot less rude and crude than in video depicted real time life. Rockstar proble did not want to pay for any brand licensing is more realistically the issue here.

 

[KaOTiK]

Believe me, the car makers see a big difference and that's the reason why it is ok in film and not in a game.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Believe me, the car makers see a big difference and that's the reason why it is ok in film and not in a game.

Links please ..

 

[KaOTiK]

Go find your own info. You are the one saying there isn't difference. I said they see films as advertisement and view it differently then they do for games, proof? Which one has the real cars in it and the other has the knock off ones.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Go find your own info. You are the one saying there isn't difference. I said they see films as advertisement and view it differently then they do for games, proof? Which one has the real cars in it and the other has the knock off ones.

So you can't back up your OPINION with links and expect me to back up YOUR OPINION with my own links LOL you FAIL.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Believe me, the car makers see a big difference and that's the reason why it is ok in film and not in a game.

Any time someone starts a conversation with words like "Believe me" sorry but I tend to also require some facts to back up the opinion of why I should believe you at that point unless you're name is say Bill Gates and you are talking about Microsoft Windows at which point I would start taking some notes without further ado.

 

[Barfo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xysAVr6cv0Q

 

[KaOTiK]

Any time someone starts a conversation with words like "Believe me" sorry but I tend to also require some facts to back up the opinion of why I should believe you at that point unless you're name is say Bill Gates and you are talking about Microsoft Windows at which point I would start taking some notes without further ado.

The facts are in the movies and games already. I've seen it from my experience watching/playing them, so yes, believe me.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

The facts are in the movies and games already. I've seen it from my experience watching/playing them, so yes, believe me.

You state and I am quoting you "Believe me, the car makers see a big difference and that's the reason why it is ok in film and not in a game."
PROVE IT because it is your opinion not mine.

 

[KaOTiK]

Forget it, simply fucking forget it.

 

[Gordon Freemen]

Forget it, simply fucking forget it.

Sorry mate not wanting to start a flame war here at all but IMHO which is fairly substantiated in that money talks and if the developers could some how show and prove to the auto companies the money they would bend over backwards to get officially licensed automobiles into GTA games and profit well well into the hundreds of millions over time.

 

[BD231]

Doesn't it cost a ridiculous amount of money to get car manufactures let you remake their cars in games because the likeness is almost never accurate and cars get smashed up so quickly it detracts from their appeal?? I remember that being a big reason there was no damage to cars in Grand Turismo series.

 

[Glitchny]

Probably has something to do with the fact that in movies the actual car is being driven and doing the stunts etc. It's not a simulation of a car, and in GTA a pretty poor simulation unless their cars drive like 3 wheeled Yugos.

They probably don't want a game that has notoriously wonky car controls representing their cars as the handling etc will not be representative of the actual vehicle. This is a non-issue for movies as they use the real car, and less of an issue in Simulation style games like Forza and the GT series as they try to replicate how a car drives.

It takes a lot of work to get the details right, and car manufactures are probably pretty demanding on how their brand is represented. Forza and GT have entire teams that are dedicated to flying out and seeing the cars in person gathering all the data they can, test drives, exhaust sounds, suspension etc. That all costs a ton of money to do and they can afford it as it is the core aspect of the game. In GTA it probably isn't worth the money to spend the manpower and resources to gather all the car data. Not to mention the GTA engine may not be able to accurately use the data to the car manufacturers satisfaction. Which would require an engine redesign or update just to have accurate cars, which is probably not worth the ROI in sales for the game.

With Licensed Music you just license the master track, or a rendidition of a song, plug it in to the engine as the music while in the car and you're good to go. Don't have to record it all live or make sure all the instruments are accurately represented. Just license the song, get a hi-def MP3/ogg/whatever file of it and hit play. I'm willing to bet the ROI on songs is astronomically higher than the ROI on accurately modeling dozens of cars that please the licencors.

 

[sandorski]

The cars in GTA IV are close enough to their originals that I can almost name them all.