Why No Matra in Sim-Racing?

[garyjpaterson]

I keep speaking with modders & modding teams who tell me that modable sim games are dead ... the modders I've spoken with have no plans for new content, paid or free, at least for AC./QUOTE]

lol you're speaking to the wrong modders then

 

[Deleted member 503495]

https://www.facebook.com/ApexModding/photos/a.1343895435709784/1343896002376394/?type=3

 

[anthony monteil]

Maybe companies can not get the licensing for them?

Licensing is totally possible though, but it's true that it's not done the conventional way, due to the specificity of the rights owners.
First contact is the Matra museum and the people who are restoring the cars there :
http://www.museematra.com/

 

[Gaëtan Legastelois]

Good article. And good question.
Yes why they are no more Matra. They are old iconic cars. If licensing is possible, maybe there is a lack of documentation ?

 

[Koen Verlinde]

V12's deserve to be remembered.

 

[manu68]

As a french guy myself, I support of course the idea to bring such iconic racing cars as the matra on simulation.
The 69 Matra is great on the Grand prix legends mod, but we surely miss the Le Mans prototype in simulation like assetto Corsa (so as some of the best Alpine cars of this period)

 

[anthony monteil]

Good article. And good question.
Yes why they are no more Matra. They are old iconic cars. If licensing is possible, maybe there is a lack of documentation ?

Documentation doesn't lack, the protos and formulas are still running in many historic events, and they're quite easily accessible in general.

The reason of why the Matra are not in racing games is probably because of all the others brands they were competing with (especially the Le Mans cars). Porsche and Ferrari are always coming first in mind for most people, which of course has a big influence on the publishers choices.
And most of the time, you won't replicate a full WSC 70's or Le Mans 70's grid in a racing game.
Devs/publishers will always go for the most iconic/awaited first.

Let alone F1 for the reasons we know.

The second reason is also because the Matra LM cars were racing in the Prototype 3000 (3 liters) class, which is usually the most ignored class from developers (players will mostly mention the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 5 liters protos in their wishes).
You can note the influence of Steve Mc Queen's "Le Mans" here, in which those two cars were the stars of the movie. While being the pinnacle of motorsport films, it tends to occult all the others parts of the 60's-70's Sports Cars golden era.

Therefore, Matra and Alfa Romeo are clearly the forgotten brands when it comes to Sports Cars in racing games.
The Alfa 33-3 proto almost made it in AC, but the survey proved that people will always prefer modern F1s and GTs over those iconic machines.

So, yes, Matra is probably too complicated/risky for most developers compared to the big bosses that are still running, but the reasons of the absence of a brand are rarely simple and unique.

At the time when historic motorsport is attracting much more spectators than modern racing (just look at the Silverstone/Spa/Nurb/Le Mans this year), it might look weird that most of the racing titles are focusing on GT3, but it's still where the main market is for now.
It might change though, hopefully for us, classic racing lovers

 

[Davide Nativo]

Documentation doesn't lack, the protos and formulas are still running in many historic events, and they're quite easily accessible in general.

The reason of why the Matra are not in racing games is probably because of all the others brands they were competing with (especially the Le Mans cars). Porsche and Ferrari are always coming first in mind for most people, which of course has a big influence on the publishers choices.
And most of the time, you won't replicate a full WSC 70's or Le Mans 70's grid in a racing game.
Devs/publishers will always go for the most iconic/awaited first.

Let alone F1 for the reasons we know.

The second reason is also because the Matra LM cars were racing in the Prototype 3000 (3 liters) class, which is usually the most ignored class from developers (players will mostly mention the Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 5 liters protos in their wishes).
You can note the influence of Steve Mc Queen's "Le Mans" here, in which those two cars were the stars of the movie. While being the pinnacle of motorsport films, it tends to occult all the others parts of the 60's-70's Sports Cars golden era.

Therefore, Matra and Alfa Romeo are clearly the forgotten brands when it comes to Sports Cars in racing games.
The Alfa 33-3 proto almost made it in AC, but the survey proved that people will always prefer modern F1s and GTs over those iconic machines.

So, yes, Matra probably is probably too complicated/risky for most developers compared to the big bosses that are still running, but the reasons of the absence of a brand are rarely simple and unique.

At the time when historic motorsport is attracting much more spectators than modern racing (just look at the Silverstone/Spa/Nurb/Le Mans this year), it might look weird that most of the racing titles are focusing on GT3, but it's still where the main market is for now.
It might change though, hopefully for us, classic racing lovers

Thank you Anthony for the in-depth reply, appreciated

 

[Thombike]

I think it's a licence problem. May it be - nobody knows who have name rights for now And maybe it is a documentation problem too. Todays sim developers build his car not only because they have couple of pictures and technical data. I think...

 

[ricerracer]

Licensing is totally possible though, but it's true that it's not done the conventional way, due to the specificity of the rights owners.
First contact is the Matra museum and the people who are restoring the cars there :
http://www.museematra.com/

Maybe but who knows until you try it, and some companies may not want to license a car that is not a big brand. Most companies only want to waste money on brands that will attract player base. Do not get me wrong its a great brand but its hardly going to sell trailers to the mass audiences

 

[anthony monteil]

Hence my sentences : "Devs/publishers will always go for the most iconic/awaited first."
"Matra is probably too complicated/risky for most developers"
So we can agree to agree

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

very nice thread, must read for an old j. laffite fan like me. it's probably simply the brand having vanished where other brands from the same age have much more name recognition, e.g. porsche, ford, ferrari. every market is miniscule compared to formula one, i suppose, and their name hasn't been around there for ages and ages.

 

[omanrak]

I keep speaking with modders & modding teams who tell me that modable sim games are dead ... they tell me that we will only see single series games going forward, and they, the modders I've spoken with have no plans for new content, paid or free, at least for AC.

Then your sources are limited, because the modding community is still blooming.

 

[ricerracer]

Hence my sentences : "Devs/publishers will always go for the most iconic/awaited first."
"Matra is probably too complicated/risky for most developers"
So we can agree to agree

well i did not read that post

 

[Nick Hill]

I don't know who that 19bozzy92 guy is, but he's got the best engine sound vids on all of the YouTubes.

 

[RobJLee]

We could ask why aren't F1 running a current vintage series, same for historic GT or Prototype.
I believe it all comes down to money like everything else what will sell?

Two words, Masters Historic. Sanctioned by the FIA. http://www.mastershistoricracing.com/

And I'm sure there's as many sim racers want to see GTL2, i.e. historic content, as there are sim racers who want to see, for example, F1 or Blancpain, GTL1 was a success, I see no reason why the climate should be any different 12 years later.

As to why there's no Matra official content. Who knows, licensing issues probably, and even if licences are available it'll boil down to money, who even owns the Matra name and rights these days?

You could ask the same question of many brands - why no official BRM, why no official Eagle, why no official Cooper (I'm thinking Cooper Monaco), why no official Lola, another big under-represented, if represented at all, marque.

Having watched the Goodwood Revival over the weekend it reminded me that there are so many marques not even available as third party mods, let alone official content.

If Matra, Lola or any other historic marque were to be included my biggest issue with it would be that it would be like other historic marques, one or two cars, with none of their contemporaries to race against, I was surprised to see pCars2 has the Porsche 917 and the Ferrari 512. But again, none of their contemporaries like Lola T70's, Matra's, Chevron, Alfa, or Healey Repco, and that's just the prototypes of 1970 and 1971 before the FIA effectively banned the Porsche 917, what about the GT cars they also raced with?

I fear for the future of sim racing, because unless you are interested in what the game provides as base content, which in the grand scheme of things will be very limited, you're going to be SOL and out on the fringe still playing GTL/GTR2+P&G, if that's not already the case at present...

 

[Shaun Clarke]

Love to see them in AC, but probably won't.

I keep speaking with modders & modding teams who tell me that modable sim games are dead ... they tell me that we will only see single series games going forward, and they, the modders I've spoken with have no plans for new content, paid or free, at least for AC.

I think we would be more likely to see a Matra if it was already part of a package than we will as new content.

Disagree with you there mate......I am still working, and will continue to if people still want them. Just because ACC is coming out (and a long way off yet) there is still plenty of people and series and groups like Lega Corsa, SRS and RD that use modded content.

The only problem with modded content is if the people don't want to continually keep them updated / improve them, which is what I am all about and will continue too, as long as the demand is there.

I haven't built up all these connections with real teams, drivers, race engineers for nothing

The only problem I see with "single content" is people will get bored eventually, as variety is the spice of life, just look what the GT cars did to AC, everybody got bored for all the GT servers eventually.

Just my minor 2 pennies worth, but you haven't spoken to me

Regards

Shaun

Edit - Totally agree with @garyjpaterson

 

[Kenny Paton]

Slightly off topic here,(and I have warned myself to stop it).
Just because ACC is coming it doesn't mean that AC ceases to be a good game and there's no reason why modders won't continue to work on it, also I think it will continue to be a favourite of many players.
On topic I would love to see a Matra or a Tyrrell P34 in AC.

 

[hal4000]

If I could only choose one, it must be this one:

I'll keep dreaming...

 

[freytzouil]

My favorite about Matra's V12.

"sound like power..."