Product Developed

At the same time that Ford engineers were developing the sports car for the real world, software engineers were working to build a digital version of the GT to star in the latest version of the Xbox racing video game, Forza Motorsport. While video game developers have worked with automakers for years, it is rare for the two to partner from the start of a car’s development — and it meant that Ford had to invite the game developers into its inner circle at a time when few people, even at Ford, knew of the GT’s existence. A digital version of the Ford GT stars in the latest version of the Xbox racing video game, Forza Motorsport. The goal was to create a halo effect of a different sort, to woo elusive younger buyers who these days are less likely than their predecessors to drive. “We can start building that connection at a young age,” said Henry Ford III, who heads the automaker’s performance marketing unit and oversees the project.

There was once a time, not so long ago, when marketing expensive objects that make you look extremely cool but are environmentally unsound and liable to kill you directly to children was illegal. Fortunately, that time has passed.