M25 aggro
Earlier today we published this story:
Normally it's the violent games that land publishers in hot water, Codemasters could not have expected the latest outbreak, aimed at their racing title, Toca Race Driver 3.
A number of British organisations, including breakdown recovery company RAC, are fuming at the inclusion of a track set on the M25, one of the busiest motorways in the U.K. The M25 is a nightmare at the best of times, with long queues, plenty of roadworks, and wannabe Ayrton Sennas tail-gating and criss-crossing in and out of traffic.
The RAC believe that the inclusion of the track in Toca Race Driver 3 will encourage young commuters to drive dangerously. The track is an exact replica of the M25 and sees you ducking and diving in between traffic in order to complete the 118 miles of track.
It's the age old question of whether,a game such as this, will encourage people to change their normal patterns of behaviour. Personally I know the M25 well, and I'm looking forward to driving on it again, then testing out the track on Toca! I'm sure it won't encourage me to speed, but it will certainly be in the back of my mind next time I head down to London. If you see a Red Vauxhall Astra zig zagging in and out of traffic, don't panic, I'm just trying to see if I can beat my previous lap time.
UPDATE
The above story is a Hoax.The London Metro ran a story this morning about a game that encourages speeding on the motorway.
In the Metro the game is TOCA Race Driver 3.
The Metro tells its readers that, "TOCA Race Driver 3 players can speed at up to 165mph (on the M25), overtaking lorries on the inside lane in V8 supercars around the world's first orbital motorway".We assumed it must be an unlockable track.
The following information is from: SPONG
Enraged, the Metro spoke to an RAC road safety consultant, Robin Cummins, for his take on the game, who said: "The M25 is known for the many accidents caused by excessive speed… It is irresponsible for manufacturers to use it in this way. TOCA Race Driver 3 is targeted at a young age group who are generally new or inexperienced drivers. They may find it difficult to differentiate between reality and fiction."
The Metro also spoke to someone at Codemasters who had the following to say: "London's M25 became the perfect illegal race circuit. Speed-hungry drivers would compete late at night to see who could complete a lap closest to an hour. In TOCA Race Driver 3, the 500 professional cars means a lap can be completed in 42 minutes."
What the Codies spokesperson conveniently DIDN'T have to say was that TRD3 contains nothing at all to do with racing around the M25. Oh and also that the picture that Codemasters sent the Metro was also a photoshopped joke.
The paper ran the above story after receiving the picture, which you see right here,which was ‘leaked’ to them. Codemasters certainly has some PR geniuses busying themselves with Photoshop somewhere. If it's an agency job, then the agency in question should certainly be recommended to other publishers looking to generate controversial and high-value media coverage.
Pure genius!
Click the links below for all of HEXUS coverage on Toca Race Driver 3 :
Toca Race Driver 3: ReviewToca Race Driver 3: Screenshots
