Why a Supercars video game was cancelled

The Supercars touring car championship in Australia has live TV coverage, mainstream sponsors, large crowds and… no official video game.

While the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang Gen3 cars are available for PC simulation iRacing, not all of the real-world tracks are available, nor is there a beginner-to-legend career mode to play through.

It’s also cost-prohibitive for many and not on popular PlayStation or Xbox console devices.

Back in 2006, Codemasters’ TOCA Race Driver 3 was on all major platforms and among its expansive roster of real-world motorsport series was the (then entitled) V8 Supercars championship.

In Australia, this same game was released with the moniker V8 Supercars 3, following similar 2002 and 2004 predecessors.

While it’s aged about as well as an unrefrigerated milk carton, at the time, it brought a whole new audience to the boisterous tin-top series.

Watch our full video on the cancelled Supercars game, plus other racing content that never made it, above.

Since then, some titles have included a smattering of official Supercars content, such as Forza Motorsport 7, but a new dedicated game is noticeable only by its absence.

That interminable wait looks set to continue, too, as recent plans for an official game created by Motorsport Games were shelved.

“Well, I’m probably speaking out of school here, but at my previous employer, Motorsport Network, it was happening at one point,” explained Andrew van Leeuwen, Editorial Director at motorsport media outlet Speedcafe, on its KTM Summer Grill show last year.

“I don’t think it’s happening anymore, I think it would have happened by now if it was going to happen, but it was certainly a thing that was in the works.”

Motorsport Games was originally formed as a spin-off division of Motorsport Network, although now listed on the Nasdaq and under different ownership. 

The Miami-headquartered operation was once set for world domination, with a series of agreements to make games for NASCAR and IndyCar alongside the 24 Hours of Le Mans and WEC.

It also announced a dedicated British Touring Car game, much to the excitement of those who grew up in the 1990s. A stand-alone BTCC title could be a difficult sell in this era, with its popularity diminished compared to its Super Touring zenith. No matter, Motorsport Games had a cunning plan.

The idea was akin to the aforementioned Codemasters localisation for TOCA Race Driver releases, but updated for the modern age of downloadable content.

It was to create a BTCC game, but aware it could be a difficult sell globally, augment it with DTM or Supercars DLC.

But those DLC packs could work on their own. So, you could buy a Supercars game and then buy optional DTM or BTCC content. Or, buy a DTM game and then add BTCC or Supercars.

Essentially, a series of glorified content packs built on the same game engine known as the ‘touring car framework’, sold as individual games with optional expansions.

“My plan was to get the British Touring Car Championship game done and make it operational and successful,” said Motorsport Games CEO Stephen Hood to Traxion recently.

“Then, over time, you could buy into British Touring Cars as a standalone product and add DTM, or you could buy DTM and add British Touring Cars as a DLC pack.

“All would stand as ‘the official game’. Your entry points were different, but it was the same core product.

“The same with Supercars in Australia. We had a deal on the table, and I could have signed that, but I said, ‘I’m not going to do it because I’ve got to focus [on Le Mans Ultimate, its current simulation title].’

The plans to create all of this content fell through due to the company’s financial challenges that not only led to the cancellation of this content but also a possible rFactor 3, another NASCAR game and an IndyCar title from the team behind Kartkraft.

Instead, it now solely focuses on the ageing rFactor 2 and the promising Le Mans Ultimate with one, much smaller, Studio 397 development team

While the torturing car framework looks to be over, at least the BTCC licence was used for some rFactor 2 car and track content. But a free-standing Supercars game? That looks to be a pipe dream once more.