While only a few lucky individuals out there will have the opportunity to climb behind the wheel of the new 2017 Ford GT in real life, Xbox One->ke4786 owners will get to try their hand with a faithful virtual recreation in the upcoming Forza Motorsports 6 gaming environment. The blue oval’s flagship recently made its official gameplay premiere as the exclusive cover car for FM6 at E3, descending from the ceiling of the Galen Center in Los Angeles amidst the collective nergasms of gamers and auto aficionados alike.

FM6 is a particularly important game for Ford,->ke31 with additional vehicles including the iconic 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang muscle car and 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor uber-truck. The game->ke2888 will give controller jockeys the opportunity to compare these high-end dream machines against similarly out-of-reach cars on a slew of famous tracks around the world.

The debut coincides with Ford’s announcement that it’ll return to Le Mans->ke1591 next year with the new 2016 Ford GT Le Mans to compete in the LM GTE-Pro class, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1964-1969 Ford GT40’s famous 1-2-3 finish in 1966.

Forza Motorsports 6 arrives for the Xbox One console on September 15th and features over 450 cars, 26 locales, more than 100 different track configurations, wet-weather conditions, night racing, and more. 

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Why it matters

Ford’s partnership with Forza Motorsports->ke3733 is a smart one. The game is one of the more hotly anticipated next-gen titles scheduled for release, and Forza bears the torch when it comes to the racing->ke447 genre on the Microsoft-based platform. 

The GT’s appearance in the game, therefore, does wonders for enhancing the car’s appeal and desirability. Even though the real-life car won’t hit dealerships until later next year, having slews of gamers put the car through its paces against competitors from Ferrari,->ke252 Lamborghini,->ke44 and Chevrolet->ke199 will surely add momentum to the hype-train prior to the real car’s release.

What’s more, having close ties to FM6 also increases Ford’s brand recognition and performance-vehicle associations. The automaker has been on a real roll lately when it comes to offering sporting iron, with the GT joined by the new Shelby Mustang,->ke1359 F-150 Raptor, 2016 Ford Focus RS, 2014-2015 Fiesta ST, and 2015 Ford Focus ST, among others. In total, Ford plans on offering 12 new performance models from now through 2020, making a racing game tie-in all the more powerful. I fully expect a Ford Performance Pack DLC sometime after FM6’s release.

It’s similar to what we’ve seen from that other racing franchise, Gran Turismo,->ke3689 which has given PlayStation owners a look at automaker’s aspirations through the Vision concepts project, plus the chance to drive Nissan’s->ke62 outrageous 2015 Nissan GT-R LM NISMO Le Mans prototype in the final qualification round of the GT Academy.

All told, when automakers choose to promote their vehicles through video games, everyone wins. Just so long as that DLC is reasonably priced (yeah, I’m looking at you Forza Horizon).

2017 Ford GT

Read our full review here.