Race the Ford GT in ‘Forza Motorsport 6’ before it races for real at Le Mans

By Stephen Edelstein Published June 16, 2016

Ford GT Forza Motorsport 6 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Next week’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is a big one for Ford. It marks the 50th anniversary of the Blue Oval’s storied victory over Ferrari at the French endurance race, and Ford hopes to make a big splash this year with its new GT. It’s a racing version of the road-going supercar inspired by the GT40 that won Le Mans back in 1966. So yeah, no pressure.

Before the GT takes the green flag at Le Mans a week from Saturday, though, drivers all around the world will get to see what it’s like. That’s because Ford is releasing the GT race car as a free download in Forza Motorsport 6. Starting today, codes for the download are being sent to the inboxes of players on Xbox Live. Ford notes that it may take a few days to send out all of the codes.

Recommended Videos

It’s not surprising that Ford would use Forza to promote it’s upcoming Le Mans assault. The GT road car is already the cover car for the game and available for players to use, despite the fact that Ford no one outside Ford has driven the real thing. The company is currently vetting potential GT customers, and only plans on building 250 cars per year.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Read more: Audi’s 2016 R18 hybrid is ready to take on Porsche

The GT race car is equally fresh. This marks its first season of competition, and conventional wisdom holds that any race win, let alone the grueling and hyper-competitive 24 Hours of Le Mans, should be out of reach for a newbie team. The original GT40 didn’t win on Ford’s first attempt, after all. The GT is racing on both sides of the Atlantic, including the U.S.-based IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the European FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

For Le Mans, the two teams will unite for a four-car shot at glory. The two WEC cars will keep numbers 66 and 67, while the two IMSA cars (which also race as numbers 66 and 67 in the U.S.) will be numbered 68 and 69. The numbers signify the original Ford GT40’s four straight Le Mans victories at the tail end of the 1960s.

The GT40 was able to claim overall wins, but today’s GT can only hope for a class win in the category for production cars; it doesn’t have the speed to compete with the top-level hybrid prototypes from Audi, Porsche, and Toyota. A victory of any kind will be quite a challenge, though, and with so many eyes on Ford a defeat could be quite embarrassing.

Topics

Stephen Edelstein

Contributing Editor

Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…

Cars

Costco, Electrify America add EV-charging stations in three states

costco electrify america add 50 ev charging stations in three states ea chargers 1280

Costco, which had abandoned offering EV charging 12 years ago, is getting serious about resuming the service.

Over a month ago, the big-box retailer once again put its brand name on a DC fast-charging station in Ridgefield, Washington, that was made by Electric Era .

Cars

Mini’s infotainment system is very charming, but still needs work

Main screen of the Mini infotainment system

When you think Mini, you probably don’t think of infotainment. Personally, I think of the British flag taillights, the distinct exterior, and the surprising room on the inside. But after driving the Mini John Cooper Works Countryman over the past week, infotainment might well be something I think of more often when it comes to Mini. It’s charming.

It also, however, suffers from all the traps that other legacy automakers fall into when it comes to software design. Mini has something on its hands here — but it still needs some work.
Bringing the charm
The first thing that stood out to me about the system when I got in the car was how fun it was. That all starts with the display. It’s round! No, it’s not curved — the screen is a big, round display sits in at 9.4 inches, and I found it plenty large enough for day-to-day use.

Cars

Plug-in hybrids are becoming more popular. Why? And will it continue?

Kia Niro EV Charging Port

There's a lot of talk about the idea that the growth in electric car sales has kind of slowed a little. It's not all that surprising -- EVs are still expensive, early adopters all have one by now, and they're still new enough to where there aren't too many ultra-affordable used EVs available. But plenty of people still want a greener vehicle, and that has given rise to an explosion in hybrid vehicle sales.

That's especially true of plug-in hybrid vehicles, which can be charged like an EV and driven in all-electric mode for short distances, and have a gas engine as a backup for longer distances or to be used in combination with electric mode for more efficient driving.