Ford is calling on gamers to help design the ultimate virtual racing car in a unique collaboration between an auto manufacturer and the gaming community. A completely new vehicle, “Team Fordzilla – P1” project will demonstrate Ford’s real‑world Human‑Centric Design thinking in a digital world. Designed fresh from the ground up, Ford’s first virtual race car not to be based on an existing real‑world model, will see an auto manufacturer and the racing community come together in a completely new way.
Among those closely involved in designing the car – codenamed “Team Fordzilla P1” project – will be the captains of Ford’s five Fordzilla esports teams from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. The Ford of Europe Design Team will also be actively seeking inputs from the wider gaming community. “Coming up with a no-holds barred race car for the virtual world is when the gloves come off and the design team can really let their imaginations fly. The expertise of gamers is crucial to ensuring that this will be the best-looking car on the grid,” said Amko Leenarts, director, Design, Ford of Europe. The design phase of the project will involve a unique collaboration between the Ford experts who imagine and create some of the planet’s most desirable and popular real-world cars and the expert gamers who lead the way in racing their virtual counterparts. The designers will throw open key design decisions to the wider gaming community through a series of Twitter polls that will be posted by @TeamFordzilla. Each poll will surface a key design attribute – from engine to cockpit shape – that gamers can then decide on.
