Opinion: what happens when videogames infiltrate the world of cars?

Normally when car manufacturers and video game developers collaborate, it’s very much a one-way street. The video game developers ask very nicely if they can include a manufacturer’s car in their game, cut a reasonably sizeable cheque, and you get to pretend to own a 1,000bhp hypercar in Forza Horizon or similar. Occasionally though, things flow in the opposite direction and elements of video games worm their way into real world cars themselves.

Take the Call of Duty Jeep Wrangler Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 editions. Jeep leaned heavily on its military heritage in this collaboration with the most popular first person shooter series of the time. The Modern Warfare 3 edition in particular, of which only 200 were made, was positively festooned with Call of Duty logos to ensure you never forgot your favourite game even for a moment.

They adorned the headrests, spare wheel cover, slush mats, even the speedometer. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the event of a crash, the airbag reverse printed one onto your forehead. In Jeep’s defence, both editions of Call of Duty Wrangler were kitted out in Rubicon spec meaning they were actually equipped for proper off-roading rather than just adding a dash of military fetishism to the school run. Still, if my experience in Call of Duty Warzone is anything to go by, I’d make it about two minutes down the road before I was fatally sniped by a 12-year-old called xxWeedSmoker420xx.

With 1,200 made in total, the two Call of Duty Wrangler variants are positively commonplace compared with the Final Fantasy themed Audi R8 ‘Star of Lucis’. In 2016 a Japanese raffle winner won the opportunity to spend £365k on this one-of-one V10 R8, inspired by Final Fantasy XV, a game infamous for essentially simulating a road trip with a handsome, sword-wielding boy band. Designed to be a car worthy of the game’s fictional royal family, this R8 featured arabesque details on the bodywork and rode on some truly droolworthy custom wheels. And while winning the chance to spend the price of a generously proportioned family home might not sound like much of a prize, it was auctioned off in 2019 for just shy of two million quid.

Then there’s Grid 2: Mono Edition, which held the Guinness world record for most expensive commercially available video game of all time. Weighing in at £125,000, this ‘special edition’ of an otherwise bang average racing game came with a PS3, some racing overalls and, crucially, a custom Grid 2 liveried BAC Mono.

It was all considered a jokey PR stunt to generate a few column inches, until someone actually got in touch asking to buy it. That person was DJ, producer and Ferrari’s least favourite customer, DeadMau5. Though given that the base price of a Mono at the time was £101,000 and the Grid 2 modifications seemed to amount to a few decals here and there, it feels like Mr Mau5 handed over a little more of his cheddar than was entirely necessary...