KUALA LUMPUR: Michelin has signed a contract to become the ‘official tire technology partner’ for Playstation’s Gran Turismo franchise.
The new multiyear contract will involve new Michelin content in the Gran Turismo Sport game, including Michelin-themed section in its ‘Brand Central’ virtual museum to introduce players to Michelin’s history in motorsports, Michelin tire technology in the ‘Tuning’ section of the game, as well as on-track branding elements and scenes from iconic motorsports competitions and venues.
Playstation’s Gran Turismo Championships is FIA certified, and regarded as one of the most realistic driving games around.
Michelin says it uses motorsports as a “laboratory to collect vast amounts of real-world data that power its industry-leading models and simulators for tire development”.
The company is involved in racing series such as the FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA World Rally Championship, FIA Formula E and International Motor Sports Association series in the US.
The company says track technology eventually transfer to road-going performance for vehicles.
With the game, Michelin will share their data with Sony with the objective of providing Gran Turismo players with a new dimension of strategy and competition linked to tire selection and performance.
“This relationship is a perfect match, connecting the most successful virtual driving experience with the globalleader for high-performance tires,” said Scott Clark, executive vice president of the Americas region forMichelin Group, who is responsible for the Company’s global automotive, motorsports and experiences business segments.
Clark said that Michelin led the industry with regards to tire simulation, developing and tuning virtual tires on virtual vehicles before the tires are even produced.
The simulations are ‘extremely’ accurate translations to real tires on real vehicles, he said.
“Combining this technology with real motorsports data will enable Sony to bring more tire strategy into the game, and in the longer term, also helps more people understand the critical role that Michelin tires play in optimizing vehicle performance,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kazunori Yamauchi, series producer and president of Polyphony Digital Inc. said the Gran Turismo Championships used a technical base founded on 25 years of automotive physics simulation with Gran Turismo.
He added that having Michelin come aboard and bring its passion for motorsports and engineering knowledge would help the game maker to continue its vision for bridging the gap between virtual and real racing.