RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (July 16, 2013) — The Falken Porsche GT3 RSR will be sporting a new look for the 2013 Petit Le Mans race in October.
Falken Tire Corp., in association with Microsoft Corp. and Turn 10 Studios—the makers of the Forza Motorsport series for Xbox 360—have announced the winner of the Falken Tire Livery Contest in Forza Motorsport 4. Beating out livery designs from hundreds of competitors, Belgium's Kevin Neuville was chosen as the overall winner, and his winning livery will be featured on the race car during the Petit Le Mans race.
"Originating from Forza Motorsports' partnership with the American Le Mans Series, we jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with the Turn 10 Studios team," said Nick Fousekis, Falken's director of motorsports marketing and events. "We really wanted to do something different and impactful so we gave the incredibly dedicated and talented Forza Motorsports community a chance to have one design replicated on a real world race car and crowned by our Falken fans via Facebook.
"The social media and buzz on forums across the Web was quite impressive and if things go well, we plan to do more similar promotions in the future with Forza."
During April, Rancho Cucamonga-based Falken and Turn 10 Studios conducted a contest designed to blur the lines between gaming and real world racing, the tire marketer said. Throughout the month, Xbox Forza 4 players were urged to submit their own designs utilizing the Team Falken Tire Porsche GT3 RSR as a canvas to alter the Teal and Blue livery. From there, six finalists were chosen by Falken and Microsoft's Turn 10 staff, then their designs were posted on Falken's Facebook page for voting by fans.
The winning livery will debut at the Petit Le Mans, according to Falken, and also will be on display at the Specialty Equipment Market Association trade show in November in Las Vegas.
Mr. Neuville's "menacing and creative" design will be available as a free download later this year through Falken's Official Forza Motorsports account, the company said.
"Car passion is at the heart of Forza Motorsport," said Alan Hartman, studio manager at Turn 10 Studios. "Forza Motorsport 4 for Xbox 360 offers players a huge palette to explore their automotive dreams—from racing to drifting, photography to livery creation.
"It's inspiring to see the amazing content continuing to come from the Forza community and we look forward to seeing Kevin's amazing design come to life on the track at Road Atlanta."