McLaren, I've learned over the years, doesn't do anything half-hearted. n fact, they are very selective in who they work with and who they choose to lend their name to. One looks no further than the myriad games, toys and swag bereft of their name to see that truism.
What they do well and without reproach is build fantastic cars and a new online sim racing system may just give you the opportunity to experience that brilliance in the coming weeks.
Ignite Game Technologies, the online gaming company focused on building a new form of auto racing game - Simraceway has reached a deal with the McLaren Group to create high-detail virtual models of every car the legendary automotive company has ever created.
This partnership represents the first time McLaren has licensed its entire catalogue of F1, Can-Am, sports and road cars for use in a game. It also signals the gaming debuts of some of the brand's greatest cars including the MP4/4 F1 car that was driven into the history books by the legendary Ayrton Senna and his teammate Alain Prost.
The deal also gives Simraceway users access to every other F1 car McLaren has produced, including the 1974 and 1976 cars made famous by Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt respectively and of course the 2011 car, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-26, currently being driven by Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. All 36 F1 cars, with the exception of the MP4-26, will be exclusive to Simraceway.
"We're equal parts proud and humbled that McLaren has chosen Simraceway to become the largest licensor of its vehicles and a virtual custodian of its rich racing heritage," said Ignite CEO Jonathan Haswell. "Creating a playable library of McLaren's complete line of celebrated race and road cars is a major step forward in our aim of pushing the racing game beyond the limits that have previously defined the genre."
"In Simraceway we're creating a living, constantly evolving, racing world that gives gamers access to authentic virtual models of the most powerful, beautiful and iconic machines on the planet. To achieve this we're developing a lot of new and highly-innovative technologies, including simulation-grade vehicle physics and a proprietary skill quantification engine, so it feels appropriate to be associated with McLaren, a brand synonymous with innovation in motorsport."
"Choosing Simraceway as our licensor for all 60 McLarens makes perfect sense," said Jonathan Neale, Managing Director of McLaren Racing. "We're highly impressed with their gaming products, innovative technology and the drive of their people. We are very optimistic that this will represent the start of a successful co-operation between the two companies, and we look forward to seeing our rich and beloved heritage brought to life in the virtual world."
You may also be interested to know that Dario Franchitti is among the company's physics development team and the program benefitted tremendously with the insight and help from the late Dan Wheldon.
So what is Simraceway and?
Simraceway will offer live, person-to-person racing, utilizing highly-accurate, simulation-grade driving physics and proprietary middleware for player skill quantification in order to match racers by skill level. It will leverage a client-server model similar to those on popular online games such as World of Warcraft™ and will feature current and historic licensed content from a variety of auto and racing brands including Bentley™, Bugatti™, Mitsubishi™ and Saleen™. Its continually-evolving racing environment will contain street, fantasy and real-world tracks, many of which will be laser scanned for millimetre accuracy.
The Cars!
Simraceway Licensed Vehicles List: McLaren
I.Specified Vehicles ("Named Vehicles")
1.McLaren Automotive cars:
1.1.McLaren F1 (1992).
1.1.1.McLaren LM.
1.1.2.McLaren GT.
1.1.3.McLaren GTR.
1.1.3.1.McLaren GTR Long Tail.
1.2.McLaren SLR (P7 Project) (2003).
1.2.1.SLR 722 Edition.
1.2.2.SLR Roadster.
1.2.3.SLR 722 GT.
1.2.4.SLR Roadster 722 S.
1.2.5.SLR Stirling Moss (excluding use of the name "Stirling Moss" in the SLR vehicle of that name, the rights of which shall be obtained by the Company's cost or use of the name deleted).
1.2.6.SLR McLaren Edition.
1.3.McLaren MP4-12C (P11) (2011).
1.3.1.MP4-12C GT3
1.4.McLaren (P12) (2011/2012).
1.5.McLaren (P13) (2012).
2.Mclaren F1 cars:
2.1.M2B (1966).
2.2.M4B (1967).
2.3.M5A/1 (1967).
2.4.M7A/B/C/D (1968).
2.5.M14A/D (1970).
2.6.M19A/C (1972).
2.7.M23 (1974).
2.8.M26 (1976).
2.9.M28 (1979).
2.10.M29 (1979).
2.11.MP4/1 (1981).
2.12.MP4/2 (Variants MP4/2B,C) (1984).
2.13.MP4/3 (1987).
2.14.MP4/4 (1988).
2.15.MP4/5 (Variant MP4/5B) (1989).
2.16.MP4/6 (Variant MP4/6B) (1991).
2.17.MP4/7A (1992).
2.18.MP4/8 (1993).
2.19.MP4/9 (1994).
2.20.MP4/10 (1995).
2.21.MP4/11 (1996).
2.22.MP4/12 (1997).
2.23.MP4/13 (1998).
2.24.MP4/98T (1998 - Tandem vehicle)
2.25.MP4/14 (1999).
2.26.MP4/15 (2000).
2.27.MP4-16 (2001).
2.28.MP4-17 (2002).
2.29.MP4-19 (Variant MP4-19B) (2004).
2.30.MP4-20 (2005).
2.31.MP4-21 (2006).
2.32.MP4-22 (2007).
2.33.MP4-23 (2008).
2.34.MP4-24 (2009).
2.35.MP4-25 (2010).
2.36.MP4-26 (2011)
2.37.MP4-27 (2012)
2.38.MP4-28 (2013)
2.39.MP4-29 (2014)
2.40.MP4-30 (2015)
3.McLaren Can-Am cars:
3.1.M1A (Variants M1B,C) (1964).
3.2.M6A (Variant M6B) (1967).
3.3.M6 GT Coupe (1969).
3.4.M8A (Variants M8B,C,D,E,F) (1968).
3.5.M12 (1969).
3.6.M20 (1972).