Hey all, you may notice that my Carmageddon Max Damage footage looks a bit different. This is because I am using STShotgun's Overhaul mod, which changes / improves a lot of aspects of the game. I highly recommend the mod, and you can download it here: www.cwaboard.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=14433
I think a large (albeit subconscious) reason why people generally prefer racing games with licensed cars is because each car is its own "character" in a way. You can think of cars in a game like you could fighters in a fighting game, and like with Smash Bros for example, a large roster of recognizable faces attracts people. People love seeing their favorite characters appear in other games, and racing games take huge advantage of that effect because many games share a lot of vehicles. And just like fighting game characters, each car comes with its own quirks, stats, charm and flair that usually translates into other games as well. A Miata will always be the lightweight, grippy nugget in almost every game it appears in, and some people find comfort in that.
This is exactly it I prefer licensed cars in games because I just enjoy cars. Fictional cars are fine though I’ve never seen anyone that wasn’t a child hate on fictional cars in games
I think it's because licensed cars are the people commonly see in real life, so it's a pleasure for most of us to afford them on a video game when we hardly could in reality. I mean, how many people can afford a supercar in the real world!
I've always loved fictional cars so they can have their own identity from the real counterpart. The most iconic vehicle in Burnout being the Custom Coupe from Burnout 2. Appearing in 5 games overall seeing people customize Honda Civics and Acura RSXs to resemble it. Of course, my favorite fictional car of all time is the Montgomery Hawker for the slick design and livery, cool name, nice engine sound and great controls in-game.
Ridge Racer imo still has the best fictional car designs of all time, especially every game between RR 5 and Vita. I especially love them because they could easily work as real life desings/as if these models have been designed by actual car designers.
Unironically this is an amazing video. Fictional cars are amazing. It even applies outside of games. Look no further than stuff that Hot Wheels makes. I could list so many that are amazing: Power Rage, Celero GT, Torque Twister, 24/Seven, Paradigm Shift, GT Scorcher, MS-T Suzuka to name just a few.
I love fictional vehicles since every game that has them feels so much more fresh and exciting. Like a whole new roster of cars I've never seen before waiting to be discovered instead of the same old licensed ones.
I'd say that Beamng fits perfectly in what you said about damage models. Each car they made is amazing (atleast to me), even having little pieces of lore in some of them.
i gotta give big respects for games that made the fictional cars in their game has their own logo and typography, to further immerse in the world. specifically ridge racer with the car brands like AGE, Kamata and Danver
i know it technically started in rage racer but r4 giving all of the cars their own brands, then EXPANDING on those brands with their own histories and styles is one of the best things that game did for the series
Rage Racer I would like to believe marked when the series was starting to build its identity with the introduction of the racing manufacturers Assoluto, AGE, Lizard (would later become Danver), and Gnade. R4 and RRV would further develop the world of Ridge Racer with additional manufacturers/racing team lore, a multi-branch story (R4 only) and an expanded world that would also be continued by RR6/7 Sadly, and crucially, during the PSP/PS3 eras, Bandai has acquired control of Namco and, being a company with a major focus in mainline entertainment, also ended up dissolving/reorganizing multiple teams of now-lost Namco IPs, Ridge Racer included. I would believe that was the reason why the latest entries (RR3D and beyond) have had almost no attention to past entries' source material/identity and felt rushed/incomplete.
@@dragostorm5947And so far, their only racing IP still active is Maximum Tune, which has licensed cars (a given because of its source manga). A fun series undoubtedly, but the car lineup has expanded past the late-90s since even the first Wangan Midnight games.
this is so real, i absolutely loved reading the little info text about the cars when i played ridge racer 2 psp! the gnade esperanza is by far one of my favorite fictional cars
This is a similar issue hotwheels is suffering right now, not just in games like hotwheels unleashed but in their diecast line up as well, people are so hellbent on erasing original/fictional vehicles Oh gran turismo as well with their vision gran turismo concept cars
Also I am already done with some of the manufacturers not respecting the game design for sake of their brand or any BS move they pull to these developers. Like when Toyota refrain from adding their car to NFS just because it's a street racing game while at the same time having their car in Forza Horizon 5, which is also a street racing game... 🤦♀️
@@sagitta98and let's not forget about games like Initial D & Wangan Midnight arcades & F&F Crossroads, those games blatantly have illicit themes behind them and yet Toyota seems all good with these and then you also get EA Sports WRC 23, which only has 1 single Toyota in the line-up (GR Yaris Hybrid) afaik, and that's it despite the game promotes screw all about street racing
@@sagitta98 It seems, with Toyota, to be Police Chases which are the main Point of Contention I note none of the Games listed by Adi contain Police Chases, except Crossroads, but Toyota's cannot be used in those missions. EA However, broke an *n word level* Japanese Cultural Taboo when they called them "nerds", as any Insult, even in Jest, is a Grave Offense in Japanese Society and Culture, because it is "impolite" , and again Impoliteness is an *n word level* offense in Japan, so I would not be surprised if Toyota have possibly Blacklisted EA as a Result...
@@adlibbed2138 Initial D and Wangan Midnight arcade games have been sterilized as far back as 2001, every race in them is now basically depicted as "legal road racing" in some way to appease Japanese authorities. There is a strong pressure on all domestically created content to not endorse street racing themes. This has been going on since Shuto Kousoku Trial's last film was banned in Japan.
@@PURENT Yup, the JNPA have called Enough, its why MF Ghost is all Legal Racing, it was the only way to get around the JNPA's Ban on Content that Promotes Street Racing. The JNPA also being a Main Reason why PGG's Ralph Fulton openly Declared Japan as a "Non Starter" in an Interview with Eurogamer before FH4 launched when the Interviewer asked about Japan.
Same goes for any licensed assets. In terms of vehicles - plane games are affected as much as racing games. In particular, Ace Combat series has some great games in it, but only the latest instance is available for purchase. At the first glance that's a platform isue - most of them are on PS1/PS2, but one of them was released on all platforms and have been on Steam for quite awhile, yet was delisted soon after Ace Combat 7 was released. And there's no other obvious reason for that other than game wasn't profitable enough to bother with licensing issues. For the same reasons remasters of the previous games are also unlikely - the development alone would take an effort that might not turn profit, not to mention the licensing. Using fictional aircraft could've solved the issue, but AC series, despite having totally fictional setting, wagered on the recognisable planes, which at the time wasn't a problem and helped a lot, but made a series hostage to the real brands in its turn. To be fair, they tried to step away from it in AC3 by shifting the setting to a not so distant future, allowing them to use inspired designs instead of a real ones together with a purely fictional models without changing the existing canon, but mistakes made during the late development and marketing stages left EU/US version heavily pared-down and unfinished, damaging global sales and reputation of otherwise great game, making devs to abandon any daring experiments for good. Thus ironic that Project Wingman, a game which have been heavily inspired by Ace Combat, will outlast AC7 despite being an indie game, because it uses inspired (yet recognisable) plane designs from the get go, so it can stay on the shelves indefinitely. In fact, this game cold be one of the best examples on how to combine real world references without touching upon any real world politics or brands - game is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth that went through a global natural disaster that changed its face and nearly wiped out the mankind, so even the chronology counts down from After the Calamity, and more than two centuries from now there are no countries, nations and even landmasses as we know them, civilization has barely restored and developed upon (among other things thanks to new volatile mineral appeared during the Calamity), so futuristic tech coexists with archaic, and most of the existing planes are canonically being derivatives of an ancient airframes, origins of which no one bothered to trace down (which also explains why different factions can have access to the same models). In the end this makes much more sense in terms of world building and allows more artistic freedom, just as you've told.
I know I'm a month late to the party, but I love fictional vehicles! It really allows the developers to go all out with their imagination. I LOVE the vehicles of Ridge Racer, in RR7 they even included some lore for each vehicle. And they even carry over fictional brands from each iteration. Like Kamata, Danver, Gnade and Assoluto. As an someone who's trying to make a game like Ridge Racer, I'm doing the same. Its so much fun to make vehicles unique, another fictional vehicle I absolutely love is the Quartz Regalia, square enix made some of the coolest vehicles like the Hardy Daytona and the Fenrir.
I love when video games combine both licensed and fictional cars. Good example is a lot of blackbox era NFS games. Most Wanted's police civic cruiser, as well as the AI traffic vehicles. Those who replace the civic cruiser in these fake-ass remaster concepts with a boring ol' Crown Victoria are fake-ass fans of Most Wanted.
kinda wish they replaced these civic cruisers with the one from Carbon, particularly when Neville took out one of these or when you getting Busted, since it's noticeably more detailed than the in game counterpart
i'm sure somebody else already mentioned this, but i honestly love the fictional cars that were a collaborations with *actual* vehicle designers. while i'm not that very familiar on the subject, but know an example or 2 of that, X2011 in gran turismo games, for instance. adrian newey, the biggest brain, right now behind redbull's domination in F1? he designed that. i find those to be hellava interesting interpretations of how "future" or "held back by no rules" concepts are.
In the era of "Realistis racing games" where the developers no longer include fictional cars, I think the middle line is what NFS has been doing for years. A fictional modification, whenever you see the Gundam inspired RX-7 bodykit you quickly know that it came from NFS Unbound.
I was thinking about playing PJC2 again and buying it on steam because I can't be bothered with my old PS4 only to find it delisted because the manufacturer licenses expired. I think it would be very interesting so see a new racing sim IP with original vehicles and tracks.
@@GamerAlexVideos One of my favorite ones off the top of my head would be Kinetic or specter simply due to how fun they were to drive and how fast they were. Outlaws fine too but too little weapon capacity.
For one, I feel like the main reason why people don't like licensed cars is when they are alongside licensed ones while also being completely out of place, like for example some of the vision gran tourismo vehicles. While a lot of these generally make sense and fit in, because they were designed by professional car designers, there are some outliers that can feel outright alien, like the dodge tomahawk in GT Sport that could kill the pilot due to the sheer amount of G force. For two, I personally believe that for fictional designs to work they must fit in the world and be consistent with everything else. For example, I personally wouldn't want a podracer in a WipEout title. And speaking of wipEout, it doesn't really make sense to bring those up when arguing about the advantages of fictional vehicles over licensed ones when there is no vehicle to license, as you yourself brought up.
Wether or not I like fictional cars in games depends heavily on how creative and unique said fictional car is. As an autistic car guy who never had a driver's license, I love the fsct you can drive real cars in games, I love recognizing them, discovering new and obscure ones, and seeing their details shine, depending on game. But obviously, I also like games like Motorhead: High Velocity Entertainment, a futuristic Need For Speed of sorts, which is nothing but fictional vehicles, or even Rollcage, which has cars able to ride on both sides due to how big their wheels are. Not to mention Flatout 1, where the cars are junkyard ones anyways. I do not like how cars trying to replicate real cars feel like knockoffs, bootlegs of said cars, despite the necessity of it. The coolest thing if course is when the, put a fictional vehicle or two in a game full of licensed vehicles: the first 4 Need For Speed games with the Warrior, Tombstone, Bomber, FZR2000, El Nino, La Nina, Phantom and Titan did it for me so much, I keep picking them to beat the licensed ones right up. Edit: I just remembered that a car RU-vidr named BladedAngel or something talked about kids confusing real vehicles with fictional ones in GTA online. That too I thought was important.
considering burnout paradise is my favorite racing game of all time, I agree, people who hate on games for not having licensed cars in them are tripping, fictional cars just open the door for so much more fun even for games like BeamNG Drive with it's super realistic damage model and high detail driving simulation
Yeah, fictional cars is cheat to have less license problems, but looking at how NFS Hot Pursuit getting new remasters till this day is tells me license is not a big problem... Just companies are scared to remaking some games because afraid to potential fail, thats why we are not getting remasters of classic street series of NFS, like Carbon, MW and of course Underground, EA just afraid to touch them... Maybe its fair enough
Two vehicles of Hot Pursuit had been lost in remaster version due to licensing issues: SLR McLaren (Mercedes and McLaren was, if not still fighting over ownership) and Carbon Motors E7 (the company went bankrupt). And not forget that Toyota refused to add or renew license towards game that has police chases. Hot Pursuit didn't have any Toyota vehicles and Underground series didn't have police chases so they are fine but Most Wanted and Carbon can't add them in their remastered counterpart.
@@govinlock8568 i don't really care about Toyota, like, i haven't been their fan, idk, but still yes, some cars may be replaced or removed, this don't makes game completely bad or something, unless some iconic car will have troubles and game can't exist without it, like the same Most Wanted without BMW M3 GTR Like, ok, remaster of HP have no some of cars, but the game itself is still plays well, it still have other great cars to play with 🤷♂️
@@saddemon3913 Both MW and Carbon featured Supra in story related contents, so it would need some replacement of those pre rendered cutscenes which is need more effort to edit than gameplay content.
@@govinlock8568 ah right, but if they dare to remaking them, they still should refresh cutscenes and all, so replacement can be done while remaking, but some players will be mad without these cars
I think both have places they fit. CarX drift racing is also proof u can go without and still do well. I wish car manufacturers would just get there heads out there ass and realize actual cars get destroyed and everyone sees it as normal. Idk why its sich a big deal.
First time I hear this is an issue. People really complain about everything. If I made a racing game I wouldn't touch licensed cars with a stick. Also the hovercraft style cars are just dope.
Now that you've brought up fictional vehicles I can't help but mention CDPR's Cyberpunk 2077. Fictional vehicles made Cyberpunk 2077 essentially timeless, in all aspects. And this fact is often overlooked. And I'm not even mentioning greatest series like GTA 5 or Mafia where fictional vehicles play a huge role essentially making these games timeless too.
2:41 Yet we have Driver: San Francisco, Dirt Showdown and 2 first Getaway games which are perfectly demonstrating pre-rendered damage model on many presented there cars, including Ford's one. There's too much grey area in those words, and considering, how hypocritic those people are... money is always the problem, that's it. Also, why is there no damage model presented on Ford's cars in new racing games, where's no sign of purposefull destruction?
I’ve never understood the dislike for fictional cars in racing games because generally speaking they offer up way more positives than negatives in terms of customization, damage models, licensing and even world building in some cases. As a car guy, I can still recognize what these cars are supposed to be based on while also appreciating the creative flair that the developers can add to that real world design. My favorite example of that is the Euro Circuit Racer from Burnout 3, which has the same basic design of a Porsche 917 but is stylized to look like a modern GT racer. You would never get a combination like that if the car was licensed.
I think people care about brands/memories and dream cars too much (also realistic rules, that or like with non fantasy people find things they understand not some whole lore/differences even though tv shows/movies even if set in real life have quirks to not be boring to watch or some people like seeing other people's business. People are just weird). To me cars are cool and I enjoy cars because of games not IRL but I am too much a gamer and care about using them for progression then getting attached to them. But I will never not like fake logos, fake cars, fake tracks. The possibilities are better, more flexible, we see the creativity from Devs as well. They can try in real tracks and cars hide Easter eggs or put their personality to it but their fictional own creations usually are more exciting and they can stretch their creativity more. That's my 2 cents of thinking I am only guessing. There is a reason the Sega GT on Dreamcast acr builder is so fun. Close enough shells, make a new car with whatever parts. Pure has an ATV builder with many parts for performance and cosmetics. Just pure fun. Or course builders depending on the tools they offer.
Seems to be more kids that want real cars in games.. Yeah I get it with games like GT and AC you can have licensed cars as they don’t show any visible damage. Can you imagine games like GTA, burnout, wreckfest, Driver, stuntman, split/second having real licensed cars? I’m sure the likes of Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini would love to see their cars getting smashed up and used for robbery’s.
I’m not against seeing cars from real brands in video games, but now it is just better to have fictional vehicles to save time and money from what I understand. BeamNG and Burnout Paradise are neat examples of fictional cars that take influence from real-life and make it unique.
@@Maddiedoggie not to mention BeamNG’s manufacturers take influence from multiple real-life brands at once. Ibishu based on Honda and Nissan, Gavril based on Chevrolet and Ford etc.
My favorite fictional vehicles? The WHOLE roster of Ridge Racer Type 4. And never listen to those that talk like fictional cars are cheap or lazy, most of those are hard sim-heads or only play stuff like Gran Turismo/Forza "last version" just because new=good in their heads.
The irony is that Gran Turismo always HAS had fictional cars. Mostly race cars based on road cars, like the Honda del sol LM. But the last decade also saw the Vision Gran Turismo project, with cars made exclusively for the digital world of the game by real manufacturers… And you’re still so absolutely right! The GT community doesn’t like the VGT’s for whatever reason. It’s actually quite comical how contrarian this fanbase has become.
BeamNG came to my mind when you talked about identity. While the cars are based off of real life cars, they're usually so distinct that it might take some people a few seconds to figure out what's based on what (tell me with full confidence what the Hirochi SBR4 is based on without looking it up, cause I don't know either lol). It helps the cars and the game stand out more, not to mention the BeamNG cars are so detailed that you'd be forgiven for thinking they were real life if you put them alongside real cars.
Many cars in BeamNG are blends of several different irl cars rather than a single car. Especially the SBR4 and Scintilla take inspiration from so many models that it's probably not possible to pinpoint one major irl inspiration for each. This is because the vehicles are not supposed to represent particular irl models but rather general archetypes of vehicles. Like the Scintilla is meant to represent a modern supercar so it takes design ideas from lots of irl modern supercars. Even when there is just one iconic irl example of the archetype, there are some ideas borrowed from other models, for example the Grand Marshal is a sturdy body-on-frame fullsize cop car, the obvious irl equivalent is the Crown Vic, but it also takes inspiration from the less iconic Chevrolet Caprice from the same era, and some civilian fullsize cars of similar age too. Also the cars in game reuse parts between each other, most notably the Gavril V8 engine available on D-Series, H-Series, Roamer and Grand Marshal, as a swap on the Ibishu Hopper and Ibishu BX series, and in the custom built SP Rockbasher. This not only allows for easier code maintenance but also helps build the custom lore and identity of the cars.
I was actually thinking of BeamNG.drive for the whole time while watching the video. Yes, those cars are basically a restyled mash-up of real-life cars, but they are still just themselves as the devs intended. And also the game doesn't have any music as well, so this makes BeamNG sort of "delisting-proof."
This video and most of the comments are already voiced my sentiments toward original car models. If i may add, one of the gripes of non-licensed vehicles is that most of the time, the game doesn't include the (made-up) lore for the models or brands that could've added depth to the in-game lore: tidbits about the development process of said vehicle, for example. I think Ridge Racer 6-7 she GTAV were the best examples of how to do fictional vehicle lore, as banal as those were.
I copletely agree with you there. One of my favourite things to do in RR7 was to read the little news ticker in the bottom of the menu screens, where I could get tidbits of information about the world and its car manufacturers.
I think what also helps is that more and more games with licensed cars are getting delisted due to licensing, which is making more people aware of why it’s done.
Having fictional cars also enhanced the experience because GTA is a parody of the world inside its own universe. Having licensed real-world stuff in it will make it feel odd and stand out.
The racing game community needs to WAKE UP and realize that not all racing games can have licensed cars crazy taxi, ridge racer, Daytona USA and and heck even burnout and the early midnight club games and early tokyo xtreme racer games prove this
Early TXR is more like debadging rather then fully fictional vehicle they literally still a real car just remove the car badge and using their machine code for the naming, almost like the same case with Carx Series but I get what you mean and I agree
This kind of unlicensed vehicle is also the reason why Racing games reaching the peak in the 2000's era because so many variation of many different kind of vehicle can make the developer serving a many possibilities of different kind of gameplay, they don't trying to be realistic, its just a fun of speed and going fast Ridge Racer series is a prime example for me how they build a universe of their fictional car especially the lore behind the car brand in the game, yes GTA (5 especially) has doing the same thing as well but i think R* need to explore their car brands background deeper like what Namco's do in RR Today almost all of racing games trying to be realistic by using many licensed vehicle even arcade racing games nowadays are trying hard to be semi realistic, and thats why racing games nowadays feels bland and stalling
Rockstar Games actually parodies real-life car brands using their fictional car brands. The names are puns (Enus, Annis, Dinka etc) and the logos feature Rockstar's typical adult humour (the Declasse logo looks like a PP, the Dewbauchee logo resembles the Aston Martin logo but it's actually multiple pairs of women's legs).
@@CyanRooper yes we know that but it will be better if Rockstar giving us more deep lore in their car brands because so far they just parodying the real life car brands without giving us more in deep background between the brands and tbh RR wins in this aspect
Fictional Vehicles are absolutely helpful for open world crime games such as Saints Row and GTA. Hell, the Attrazione and Infernus are cooler than the basic Lamborghinis even if they're fictional Lambos imo.
Why do games have a timeframe limit with car licensing? 😤 Movies don't have to deal with that. Imagine you no longer can watch older James Bond or Mission Impossible films just because the BMW license expired. Gamers just put up with the most braindead business practices that other consumers wouldn't have tolerated.
Its sucks but there are multiple different types of licencing deals and 99% of the time game companies will Opt for the lower cost fixed term licence because they have the view that no one will still be playing in 5 years time whilst films will pay for an unlimited licence because films have longer relevancy. This is the same for music
This, I'd also like to add Midnight Club II when that game had not a single licensed vehicle in sight, and yet it was taken off from Steam back in like 2018 likely due to the expired music licenses
@@Ccccc-mi3trit really is sucks when most recent example I can think off my head of a game get relisted is Alpha Protocol, when it was quite recently gets relisted to Steam (initially) & GOG with all the songs intact, with the latter came up with several fixes to make it run on modern OS
Movies and Games have different licensing practices. Especially with the amount of cars licensed. Movies tend maybe 5 to maybe 20 cars that need a licensing agreement. Wheras for example Grand Turismo 3 has 180. Forza Motorsport 4 has 500. If any of those licenses expire the game has to be removed or if they can’t renew it they have to remove it like with what happened with SLR sterling moss in need for speed 2010 remaster.
@rexthewolf3149 Unlimited licensing in games is only expensive because the gaming industry supported it, rather than every game company banding together to say "If you want your cars in our games, you have to lower the price". And car companies would've done that because cars in video games are a lucrative marketing tool that does increase their sales by a lot. But no. The gaming industry isn't nearly as well organized. If there was an attempt at something like that, all it would take for it to collapse would be just one publisher to get a head in life by paying the premium amount to undermine its competitors. I feel like this is something that EA would've done.
Tbh, I usually like fictional cars over the real ones. I used to like looking at concept cars so that could be why. I do also like hotwheels. Also I love this channel for showing gameplay of a racing game I've never seen in my life. Gives me more games to try.
@@Tribow no, there is a hate campaign going on by so called collectors against fantasy castings to the point that hatred is carried over to their games too
@@civicrider5556 Weird, never heard of that. Hotwheels Unleashed 2 had a big improvement on adding more fantasy castings too, so I guess the hate campaign is failing.
Indubitably based. Love them unlicensed cars and they deserve a lot of credit An extra point to be made is that this elitism against them comes from the impression that they'll always be lesser reproductions of the ones made real. That can straight up be the opposite of the truth, though. As theres no limits that come with reality, with some thought and work you can take things a step further than real cars feasibly could, and say, turn what was wasted potential in real life into the bread and butter of your game Remember the new NSX and how it never really lived up to the original? _What if it did?_ You just might be able to live that, and oh so many more things you wish could happen through fictional cars, and I think that hasn't really been explored enough
Absolutely, great point to make. I feel like that part is catched to some degree with mods for Assetto Corsa. Although the driving experience is different due to it being a simulation. I would love to see games go down a route where cars never needed to include safety standards or exhaust gas regulations. It's a fictional world, so it would not matter.
The new NSX case is interesting to me. Because I love Dinka Jester on GTA V. It's a parody version of the new NSX that Rockstar made even before the real version came out. But after the new NSX came out, I disliked the car having the name NSX because I felt it didn't deserve it. It's just not a worthy successor for such a legendary car.
I hope R* can make the racing games based on the vehicle brand universe from GTA they maybe can't revive Midnight Club anymore but I think they have potential to make another racing games based on GTA cars universe
The Gran Turismo franchise is no stranger to fictional vehicles. They created a lot of fictional cars like the Toyota Atenza Touring Car, the Mazda RX-8 Concept Race Car, the Nissan 350Z LM Race Car, the list is endless.
I think the dislike for fictional cars comes from a childish source within people. I remember thinking "fake" cars were dumb as a kid but now I appreciate them for what they allow developers to do. Both kinds are good imo.
Recently got into the Ridge Racer franchise,and I love how the devs wrote their own established lore around every single car in the game,it also helps that most of them have great designs that somehow predicted design cues used in modern day cars(i.e:The Kamata Fiera from Ridge Racer 6/7 had an almost identical set of taillights to the 2023 Nissan Z). Great video!
Basically similar reasons as to why i like Hot Wheels fantasy models (aka originals), especially the 90s-mid 2000s era, and now the 2019+ era when they release models like the Dimmachini Veloche, Drift n' Break (Fast Fish but wagon), Raijin Express, and Donut Drifter (not all the food mobiles hit the same, though)
Yeah, It's the same issue with unlicensed/fantasy cars toys on stuff like Hot Wheels. The generic public just has a lot of prejudice towards them. Like, even the Vision GT cars, original projects created of their real brands with their official designers, were hated just because they don't actually exist... I get it, real life vehicles always come with some personal real life connections, brand pedigree and history behind it but c'mon...! The liberty of design that some racing games can have while creating their roster of vehicles is such a big bonus...! Series like Burnout, Ridge Racer, Motorstorm, even NFS with their El Niño series of vehicles already proven that they can make some freaking amazing original or even better version of highly inspired real life vehicles! Honestly, the only time I don't like unlicensed stuff is when it's just the exactly same model, just de-badge, stuff like the CarX Drift Racing, which even there, I get it, the idea is to bring the exactly models, body kit brands and such without paying the extra for all those license.
I wish more Games would do what the old NFS Games Did and put the odd Purely Fictional Car in with the Real Ones, not a Fantasy Car from a Real Company like VGT, but a full Fantasy Car, such as the El Nino you mentioned... (shame they never made a Modern Version under the "Rossolini" brand from Burnout for HP2010, or maybe even a Graphically Remodelled version of the 1998 Original!..) , I know Forza Horizon does it Occasionally (4 having the Biggest Roster with the 2 Quartz Regalia's from Final Fantasy, the Quadra Turbo R-Vtech from CP2077 and the Civilian Sports Truck Version of Halo's "hog",...) but, I would like to see it a lot more Often TBH!
I LOVE Ridge Racer because of its fictional cars and the worldbuilding that's created around them. It can indeed be a very interesting stylistic choice as well as an economical one to not use licenses.
Me too for the same reason I wish Bandai Namco could bring back the franchise. Because it's needed right now in racing games since "cough cough" The Crew 1 shut down this year. It's important reminder why racing game franchises like Burnout, Midnight Club Daytona USA, and Ridge Racer needs to make come back in the racing game genre so that we won't have to deal with real life licenses for cars, body kits, aftermarket parts, and soundtracks just like The Crew 1.
@ArbitraryOutcome yeah me too that's why racing games like Ridge Racer, Burnout, Midnight Club, and SEGA Daytona USA are racing games we need in this generation to spice up the racing game genre without issues of licensing cars, music, and aftermarket parts from aftermarket manufacturers. So that more people not just in racing game community; but in the gaming community in general.
@@ArbitraryOutcome because Maximum Tune is arcade cabinet, and you need top up to get them online, means more money to BaNa. Drift Spirits also has fictional body design in licensed car like Hi Spec cars.
My favorite fictional car is the Kamata RC410 aka the Main Cover car from Ridge Racer 7. It was underrated and so obscure that Dove_7 put her in the D tier in the Racing Box Cover art tierlist (Yeah cuz the box cover in the tierlist maker is the Japanese box cover was chosen instead of the US version which is better than that). It deserves more love because it has lore cuz the demo replay (after the title cutscene ends) and the ending cutscene depicted the car as the canon winner of the Final Grand Prix. Namco really did dirty to the car cuz they didn't make an Cinematic Intro cutscene only the title screen where it's just not moving and just keep milking reiko to death.
I'll be honest, I used to either be indifferent towards or hate fictional cars in racing games. Just saw them as really being an afterthought or some cars that I simply just can't relate to because they don't exist. However, I have grown to like (or at least appreciate) them over the years. Either Cyberpunk 2077 has convinced me that they can look ridiculously cool or my tastes have matured. Either way, though I would still prefer racing games with licensed cars in them, I now understand why these fictional cars exist. Licensing (depending on the manufacturer) can be massive pain, after all. And with having your game centered around fictional cars by design, you don't have to deal with all the dud ahh manufacturer (again, depends) demands.
Split Second has my favourite unlicensed car designs out of the games listed, mostly because even though they are inspired by real cars, they still feel distinct enough to be their own thing, even though i wish it had proper customization.
Think my fictional cars in a game was Interstate 76. The cars were basically just badge removal, but the names were clever takes on the real things: Picard Piranha, Jefferson Sovereign, Dover Lightning, etc. GTA has kinda started doing this in recent years, but for a long time their vehicle names felt pretty random.
Now that I think of it, the only fictional car that I've seen in multiple games have been Octane from Rocket League, and this is a big stretch, The Warthog from Halo. Great video!
Another fringe benefit of non-licensed cars (albeit a tiny one) is no fanboy slap fights about balance. I'm talking "there's no way a Lotus Elise could keep up with a Dodge Viper" kind of stuff.
And another things like car sounds debating like "wHy p4G4n1 z0nd4 C1nqu3 s0unDs L1k3 f0rD mUsT4nG" something like that because the developer can create their own vibe around their car sounds management Yes there's still a complaint of car sounds in fictional vehicle sometimes especially in GTA community but the complaint is just a simple though like "Why this cars sounds like Supercar" and "This cars should giving more echo of their engine"
I mean, there WILL be balancing issues, but at least we wouldn't be bound to IRL performance metrics. Now, why MC2 didn't have a single European-inspired car faster than the Tokyo vehicles (if you exclude the SLF) seems more stylistic, but it DOES seem a smidge jarring.
I always dream to bring one of those fictional cars to real life and enjoy driving it irl. I dont really care wich one,but i have special love for burnout revenge ones and the Pfaa Naxas from SLRR
I loved the fictional vehicles in Dirt Showdown. It's just unfortunate that they had some liscenced cars for the Gymkhana modes that made it get delisted.
I still wish that game just focused on 100% fictional vehicles and wasn't under the DiRT name. It could have been an even better demo derby / banger racing styled game!
I loved following the lore and evolution of the Ridge Racer vehicles throughout the games. Manufactures would release new version for old cars and manufacturers would even purchase each other! It was always fun to follow
I like the idea that blowing your budget to satisfy people's brand loyalty is better than spending it on the game part of the game. I'm sure there's no aspect of licenced cars that intereferes with trying to balance your vehicle roster either.
I completely agree with what you were saying, but I couldn't help find it funny you were sharing the "clearly not a(n) XXXX" cars for your argument of cars you can't play anywhere else. Not saying the argument itself is flawed, but it doesn't downlplay the point a bit when you cars are just avoiding infringing on copyrights instead of "what would a Camaro, Challenger, Mustang and GTO look like mashed together?" (the starter car in Paradise), or something completely original like the most of the mid engined cars from Burnout Revenge. You know the stuff you literally cannot get anywhere else, not even the vibe, like original Hotwheels cars designs like Muscle Tone or Zotic which are definitely Muscle and exotic cars respectively, but there ain't anything like them IRL even remotely.
Yea, some models are more unique than others, and that's why I avoided simple debadges. While some of the cars that I showed are rather close to their real-life counterparts, they are still different enough in my eyes.
From sofas/lawn mowers as just strange to fake cars (using close to real shells and details/quirks) to just SciFi, or a tank car, the Nike 2002 or anything a lot of game modes, vehicle quirks and more can be done. Also arcade feel is just nice, simcade. Making the physical and handling feel different makes it feel charming with each vehicle type. Tracks terrain, road layouts/thick and thinness, their look and personality for their world's. Especially with Sega GT car creator, Pure ATV creator, Mario Kart 7+ parts and more..those are awesome possibilities. Ship designs, air brakes how they as hovering vehicles feel. How boats feel, planes and more. Interesting design, interesting gameplay, interesting tracks, stand out ideas. Yet realism........ Because people don't always have an imagination or are too into brands/memories sadness. Or REAL RULES. Not the depth needed for fictional ones and WHAT IFS even are TOO FAR. sure that's why many are presented in fiction and are great.
Only thing I enjoy the most about fictional vehicles is both racing and (mainly) destroying them. Damaging real vehicles feels wrong, but it’s not the worst thing to happen in racing games.
They also offer more leniency with stuff like visual mods or setting. Ferrari might not take kindly to aftermarket, but you could still make a fictional Ferrari-inspired make/models have sizeable customization options.
@@ArbitraryOutcome And when you damage fictional cars, the game designers/publishers don’t have to owe anyone any money because they’re not real; they’re meant to be raced and destroyed, no shit.
My only issue with fictional cars is when they are mixed with real-life vehicles, e.g. Forza Horizon's LEGO and Hot Wheels Packs. Other than that... I don't mind. It can even be funny to look at a car and think "it seems to be based on this real thing... or maybe it's something else".
Sometimes I don't get why car companies don't allow their car to take damage in-game. I mean their products also break IRL when it's caught in an accident and mostly it's all the driver's fault, not the car. At least let the developers put damage on the panels while making the chassis tough with the driver still safely intact inside. It will make a good impression that their car is safe to drive, even when caught in an accident.
You explained everything i thought about how having realistic fictional cars rather than licensed cars is better for games I became fully against licensed cars because of removal of driveclub dlc
Yeah, there seems to be some work around if you are licencing race spec models. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but if I had to guess, it's a not public available nature of the vehicle or the nature of having race cars, which means cars have to have a variety of bits braking. Though as a side note, the F1 games haven't gotten an overly complex damage model, and you're less likely to see massive terminal damage in codemasters games.
I've always appreciated fictional cars. So much in fact, that when I play FiveM I always pick fictional cars. Licensed cars and GTA don't mix well for me. 😅
I’m not a big fan of fictional vehicles, but I really enjoy them in BeamNG and Burnout Paradise, they actually have meaning behind them imo. It’s even more amazing to mix them with a few real cars.
Personally I prefer video games with real cars, but having fictional vehicles gives you way more options and freedom (damage, modifications, customization and whatnot). BeamNG does a pretty great job with fictional vehicles, including GTA and Saints Row. They might look different but almost completely resemble their real life counterparts.
here is a thing i played many racing games where these fictional cars in these games are very awesome to tell for example the gianluca from Crash time 2 the Zenden Cup from DiRT 5 and Others also nice vid btw
I understand your point, but yesterday I bought a *Lancia Delta S4* in a game and it made me *really happy* ;-) I think game companies (that can afford licenses) should just make better deals (I know there are industry wide standards, but still). I would never make a deal where it says I can't sell my game anymore after so and so many years... that's just *plain stupid* O__o but of course perfect for EA and a like to sell us a new game, which is exactly the same as the one before 😭
I almost did, but I was focusing more on just racing games in this video. That meant any open world games (GTA) or sandbox driving games (BeamNG.drive) weren't going to be included.
Because, vision GT cars are kinda licensed, since they are models from real life counter parts. For example, Mazda RX-9 (Or RX-Vision). It’s a concept model made by Gran Turismo. Yet, the model belongs to Mazda.
Can you make a arcade racer recommendation list because I see so many racers here that I have never seen before. You really have something with your channel and theme.
