Is it best to name real cars as competition, or just imply?

[UlyG]

Hi,

I'm going through the motions of creating my brand and doing the marketing stuff (website, etc) to go with it. Part of the marque's history is tied in with the competition in the industry, as with all cars, and part of the marketing stuff will reflect this. I'm going for an authentic feel to the material, but I think that doing the same thing as the devs (ie not naming real cars, but using fake names or just giving clues using fictional brands based on real ones) might fit the game's unofficial side a little more, rather than naming real manufacturers in my stuff which don't exist in the game. I've built a history of the brand from the 1960s until now, some of which is based on interactions with other brands (which are real but could be made to fit the game's nature), so what do you think?

I've seen a lot of people mention real marques in their stuff, and it always makes me feel like it doesn't quite fit.

So yeah, let's see what you think!

[utopian201]

Its up to you, some people do, some people don't.
I personally prefer it since it keeps things realistic. It is all too common to see cars with 700hp selling for $50,000, with ridiculously high production costs and units.

I like to compare cars to their real life counterparts as per here
viewtopic.php?p=62993#p62993

[Packbat]

I think the idea of saying, "Our car is better than the Ford!" is something that would be fairly new at the time of your company's founding anyway - it makes perfect sense to me that a company would be implying in-character, not just as a meta thing. Plus, it sounds like that's your own personal preference. As utopian201 said, it's up to you, but I'd recommend going with that.

[UlyG]

Thanks guys.

utopian201, that stuff of yours is awesome! There's a very Lexus LFA vibe to the car in the 'Dyno' video, too

I think I'll stick to my guns and not use the names of any real cars, but imply and allude like I have been doing. When the website is finished and up and I have my manufacturer thread, I'll probably carry on like that 'in character' but then mention real cars when I'm just speaking as myself.

[strop]

It really does depend on how far you intend to go. I have the same conundrum, because I like writing stories and generating fictional universe, but because it's unlikely to really become a huge thing, the risk I take in comparing hypothetical cars to real life ones is low. The main thing, as utopian said, is to see how realistic you can keep it.

[stm316]

In a similar vein, it just so happens that my surname actually IS, well, WAS, a real life marque, and it's just one of a few brands I'm pondering using in game.... not that it really matters.

So I dig on the interwebs, and find the name is now owned by a Chinese company... interesting...

[UlyG]

In a similar vein, it just so happens that my surname actually IS, well, WAS, a real life marque, and it's just one of a few brands I'm pondering using in game.... not that it really matters.

So I dig on the interwebs, and find the name is now owned by a Chinese company... interesting...

Rover?

[maffc]

Stm? I reckon it's Morris
Rover btw, is now owned by Jaguar Land Rover

[UlyG]

Stm? I reckon it's Morris
Rover btw, is now owned by Jaguar Land Rover

Ah yeah, just a quick-fire guess

Nanjing (state-owned Chinese organisation) do own some MG Rover assests though, as well as Morris.

[maffc]

A lot of the IP, premises and a number of the marques, (MG, Morris and Austin) I believe went to china
BMW retained Triumph and Riley names (probably Standard too), Mini and Land Rover, which they promptly sold to Ford
The Rover name plate was licenced to Phoenix by BMW when they ran MGRover in it's final years. Ford, however, retained the rights to purchase the name from BMW from when they bought Land Rover, they exercised this option added the name to the Jaguar Land Rover Package. I guess they were trying to make it more attractive.

Rumours abound every year about the potential revival on most of the dead brands, but so far nothing ever appears

[UlyG]

I see you're an expert! Who's behind the MG Seven that's out now, then?

[maffc]

Nah, not an expert, just an enthusiastic fan of the former British car industry
The MG7 is basically an updated Rover 75, which was designed by Rover when it was owned by BMW. In the final days of Phoenix the IP was sold to Nanjing Automotive before it went bankrupt and the MG7 is a product of that deal, however, In a little twist, when MG rover went bust, the remains of the company, including the Rover 75 toolingm were bought by SAIC who also started producing Rover 75 based cars as the Roewe 750. Shortly afterwards the Chinese government "encouraged" SAIC and Nanjing to merge.

[UlyG]

Aha, "encouraged," eh?

Have you got any thoughts on the original question, btw?

[maffc]

Lol,I was thinking we derailed the thread somewhat.
I love reading the fictional back stories people create for their companies and cars.
I tend to avoid real names directly, just because then I don't have to fit the real world history into my fictional one.

[UlyG]

Yeah I couldn't agree more. Like I said at the top of the thread, it just feels a bit unnatural to mention real marques when the game itself can't (for obvious reasons) and we're often creating a version of the past with a new manufacturer.

For example, my brand will probably spend most of it's early years as a more personal, small-time alternative to Italian companies like Alfa Romeo (how is the Guilietta, by the way? I've been thinking about getting a 147 and they share some bits if I'm not mistaken), Maserati, etc, and then the bigger European companies as time goes on and they expand into the wider market. It feels weird to name them, though, in a website talking about their past when they're a figment of my imagination.