This isn’t an appreciation thread nor is it a wishlist, it is just a simple discussion about this make of car that as far as I can tell, has only ever been in really old rally games. Why has Skoda, never been in Forza at least? I mean don’t get me wrong, the lineup of cars is not all that amazing…but that doesn’t stop the addition of KIA or Volvo in Forza games, not to mention Peugeot…but with Skoda, what’s the deal? Not a single car, ever, across all 7 of the current Forza games?
Unless Forza 6 suddenly starts adding them…I don’t quite understand why this manufacturer has never been added. Is it a license thing? Do they not want any of the cars they make in any more games (why would they do that) or is it just been overlooked for other, unintentional reasons? Will it make it’s first ever showing in FM6? I for one, hope so, even if it was only the RS line because some of them are great little cars.
I think its ALWAYS a licence thing. Or maybe they are just… well… not special enough. There’s no Opel/Vauxhal 1.7 diesel in the game either and I’m not sad about it
Unlike the rest of the VW Group brands Skoda isn’t marketed globally. You have to go back to the 60s through to the 90s when Skoda produced their own cars and were successful at Group 2 rallying. In recent times the brand offers nothing not found in the comparable VW.
Heh, not fair to give a bad Vauxhall example ;). I was actually meaning more things like Kadette D and the Manta 400 and Vectra had that awesome 2.0L I4 too so…yeah.
Back on topic, Octavia vRS and Fabia vRS are great little run arounds, easily placeable in the D/C rank as contenders, next to even things like the Volvos and other french hatches etc. I think the issue could be lack of decent cars lol, I mean, the newest vRS models are actually pretty decent, as are some of the older varients and are I say even the yeti…but that could be enough, 3 or 4 cars. I mean them only have 2 or 3 TVR’s to me is still a tragedy…I mean, where is the Griffith 500 and Chimaera?!
I dunno, sure they don’t have amazing cars but niether does Volvo (yes I’ll keep using that as an example), KIA, Saab and Citroen but they have featured many times.
Either way it’s not a huge a deal…i just always wondered if it was T10 or Skoda themselves that decided.
@ Above I suppose you are correct with that, even still, you could argue the existence of the above are not favourably comparable either yet they still feature. Either way, it would nice to see the latest vRs Fabia and Octavia, but perhaps we never will.
It’s more or less just a licensing thing. T10 has to want the cars in the car first off and then get the licensing agreement from Skoda if they wanted to. I’m sure T10 has a team of marketing reps that are always working on licensing all the time and wanting to license more and more cars. It’s just a matter of getting cooperation between the companies. Who knows. Maybe we’ll see Skoda in FM6. The list has a ways to go before being filled.
I’d assume it’s partially down to the VW Group, owners of Skoda, who would probably rather Turn 10 focus on their more globally recognizable brands like Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini etc…
Did I hear a Porsche in there? Their licensing doesn’t go through VAG but through EA…
You mean VAG wants Turn10 to focus on Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, SEAT, Bugatti… you know the ones that make money.
I would love to see some Skodas in the game, one might say it would be my Favorit. Let’s see the Czech cars represent…
Maybe Skoda is happy enough as it is with them always (for two decades; it has even earned ŠKODA a GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for ‘the longest-lasting main sponsorship in the history of sports world championships’) being the official main sponsor of the IIHF ice hockey world championships.
Skoda is also an official partner of many cycling events, one being the Tour de France.
Perhaps video games is something they have no interest in being part of.
I think licensing has nothing to do with it. Sure, licensing is a part of the process of getting a new marque into the game, but there’s nothing to indicate that Skoda would be any more difficult than any other manufacturer, barring Porsche.
I think T10 just doesn’t want to put them in the game. Prior to FM5’s release, The Smoking Tire asked Dan if “obscure” cars ( the BMW Nazca C12 was mentioned by name) would ever be in Forza. Dan responded that cars that were “a flash in the pan” didn’t have any place in Forza. That comment has never sat well with me, for a lot of reasons- it seems to claim that if a car isn’t featured in Forza, its existence was meaningless; it also indicates that T10’s car picks are motivated solely by marketability. While Skoda is certainly not a “flash in the pan”, it’s something that is no doubt excluded by that toxic mindset.
That comment does not mean cars not in the game are meaningless, it means the cars in the game are meaningful.
They can not put every car in the game so for a car to get in the game there must be a good reason. There will be many worthy cars that miss out simply because they can not or choose not to put 2,000 cars in the game.
It all gets back to personal opinion about what cars are worthy.
100% agree with you. I have nothing against Skoda, there decent cars and I quite like the Octavia VRS however there are more desirable and more fan requested manufactured than Skoda. They can’t have every manufacturer in the game so they pick the ones they think will benefit their game the most. For Holden never made it into Forza Horizon 2, but I’m sure 95% of the community, myself included,.would prefer to see Holden rather than Skoda. Skoda isn’t really even that requested amongst the community and there’s no point bringing in cars that most people didn’t want and won’t drive.
Add to the list: Turn 10 is interested but given limited development resources chose other car models as higher priorities.
This list applies to every “Why isn’t [car] in the game?” question.
Without direct evidence of negotiations, there’s also nothing to indicate that Skoda is easy.
I’d have to relisten to be sure I’m referring to the right podcast, but if I recall correctly in the Petersen Museum’s Car Stories podcast (linked in last week’s WIR) Dan also addresses concept cars and talks about how if they don’t seem to have lasting relevance then they’re not included. His description of the evaluation leads me to think it’s not toxic at all, it’s simply a curated process. Certainly if it takes months to develop a game asset and they’re only releasing five to ten per month, we’re not going to get every car that everyone wants, so some curated decisionmaking is expected.
But there’s also nothing to indicate that it’s any more difficult, meaning that my point still stands.
The interview I’m referring to occurred in the early stages of FM5’s marketing. It was with Matt Farah, I’m pretty sure.
“Curated decisionmaking”… what kind of doublespeak is that? At the end of the day, the dev team greenlights the things that go into their games.
And how are you supposed to determine what concept cars have “lasting relevance” when most of them are never made? At least machines like the Nazca C12 are functioning prototypes and are real cars. Now, I’m using the Nazca C12 as an example here because it’s the car Matt Farah himself called out by name in that interview. I’m not trying to demand that Forza adds a bunch of concept cars (interestingly, the only real concept car I can think of being in Forza is the Saleen Raptor, which had completely fictional stats, and now Saleen has gone belly-up. So much for “relevance”.) But I am pointing out that T10 doesn’t like obscure marques or cars as much as some rival developers, and in the games by some of those rival developers, the obscure marques are highly appreciated and regarded as defining aspects of the game.
But, at the end of the day, all I’m arguing for is seeing more of what I want (weird stuff), which really makes my point no more valid than the people who complain that every DLC doesn’t feature the Hellcats.
Let’s see the Czech cars represent…