I Miss My Virtual Toyotas
I’ve been playing a lot of Forza Horizon 4 since it came out a couple of weeks ago; it’s one of my favorite Forza games to date, which pretty much makes it one of my favorite driving games to date. I love the variety of events, the UK countryside setting, and the vinyl system that—while sorely in need of a revamp—can be used to add impressive racing liveries and other designs to any vehicle in the game if you are willing to put in the effort. Where Forza Horizon 4 is coming up short for me though is in the showroom, where there is nary a street-legal Toyota to be found. Forza Horizon 4 is not the first game to find itself in this situation as brands pull away from video games, but it is the first game I have felt Toyota’s absence in personally.
Other brands are conspicuous by their absence in Forza Horizon 4 as well, most notably Mitsubishi, but Toyota is the brand that I miss most, in part because I grew up close to a Toyota dealership and spent my formative years lusting after Celicas, Supras, MR2s, and even the occasional Corolla. In previous Forza games I always gravitated towards Toyotas for this reason, regardless of their in-game stats, and so when I kicked off my Forza Horizon 4 career and went shopping for cars I was paralyzed with indecision. Maybe 20-30 hours in I still have not purchased a single car; I am just driving the numerous cars that I’ve found hidden in barns or lucked into from wheelspins.
I’m sure that I could find cars that are more or less equivalent to the Toyota models I miss most elsewhere in Forza Horizon’s sizable showroom, but my affinity for Toyota goes beyond the usual brand loyalty because it stems from childhood fantasies. I never had a poster of a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, or a Porsche on my bedroom wall as a kid; I had a poster of the Celica GT-Four ST165 rally car.
There have been plenty of theories circulated as to why Toyota no longer wishes to see its cars in video games. I refuse to believe that it is simply a matter of games companies not offering them enough money; it seems far more likely that Toyota is well aware of its current lineup’s shortcomings and wants to avoid being labeled as one of the “boring” brands in a game. As much love as I have for many of Toyota’s older cars, I honestly cannot think of a single current model outside of the GT86 (which was jointly developed with Subaru) that I aspire to drive either in a video game or for real, and that is more or less true for their Lexus luxury brand as well.
Just as Porsche did in recent years, I am hopeful that Toyota will rethink its current position and allow its cars to appear in games again soon. Drivers and gamers alike will likely be chomping at the bit to get their hands on the 2019 Supra after it debuts at the Detroit Auto Show in January. I for one would have no problem paying extra for it as part of a brand DLC pack similar to the one that marked Porsche’s return to games in Forza Horizon 3, how about you?
