Racing games exclusive-deals war isn't over: Pikes Peak licensed for Gran Turismo only

[CLR-GTR]

Well this is disappointing. The racing game community rejoiced when the EA's exclusivity license with Porsche finally expired after 10 years, paving the way for the prestigious manufacturer to appear in racing games other than Need for Speed. Now it looks as if it's going to be a similar situation with the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and Gran Turismo.

 

Edit: The news has now been officially confirmed by Codemasters' Paul Coleman on the official community forum: “yes, we signed it for DiRT Rally before it went exclusive but we can’t use it anymore,” he said.

 

The news comes from a recent DiRT 4 preview by Eurogamer, which mentions that "Gran Turismo now has sole rights to Pike's Peak" when discussing DiRT 4's impressive procedural technology. While it's understandable that DiRT 4 won't have the authentic rally special stages from the official WRC license, the omission of Pikes Peak is disappointing, considering that the grueling 12.42-mile long course has been making appearances in recent rally games such as DiRT Rally and Sebastien Loeb Rally EVO.

 

For reference, the Pikes Peak Hillclimb hasn't been confirmed for Gran Turismo Sport yet, and it hasn't featured in the franchise since Gran Turismo 2 way back in 1999, despite claims that it would be included in Gran Turismo 5. Rumours that the Hillclimb circuit will be coming to the series have been rife since Gran Turismo became a 'Platinum Sponsor' of the event a few years ago.

 

Still, so far there hasn't been any official confirmation about the future of Pikes Peak's racing game appearances, so don't panic just yet.

 

Source: The Pikes Peak Hill Climb may now only appear in Gran Turismo games :: Team VVV

[superhyper]

I find this absolutely ridiculous in any case but this case is extra dumb because GT games come out every 50 years or so. Nobody's buying the game because it has a single track that they make sure nobody else will get. The EA/Porsche deal was a huge pain in every racing gamer's arse and I hope this isn't a sign of times to come :(

[Eudemon]

Haha, the Gran Turismo games are becoming ever more irrelevant to me as each new piece of info comes out about this PS4 GT. From the recent videos that have been shown, it still seems to be suffering from the same issues that players have wanted sorted since the first, and now they are trying to take the racing genre backwards by going with that 'we got X exclusively' crap. Such a farce and what a fall* that series has taken.

 

*Fall in quality and keeping up with its competitors because of course I know it still sells millions despite not being up to the standard of the others.

[superhyper]

Yep, I have lost all faith in Gran Turismo. The latest games were fun as car collecting games, not much else. GT Sport is supposedly more about the racing too so I'm happy to pass I'm afraid.

[Eudemon]

It is more about the racing but it appears to be missing out on some core aspects such as collisions and damage along with the complete omission of dynamic weather. Something, that can completely redefine a race. I now find myself looking at GT games in the same way I look at any future TDU-esque type: I'll keep expectations low until I see that the right areas are being taken care of.