• by Karl Greenberg , December 3, 2010

Suzuki's virtual racing game, "Kizashi Ring of Fire," is designed to build brand awareness and drive people to SuzukiAuto.com and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, is going to iPad. The racing game will use the device's accelerometer to allow players to "steer" with the tablet. The game also uses a technology called Brass Monkey that moves the game from the tablet to a bigger screen and turns the iPad into a controller.

Via Culver City, Calif.-based Dvelop, the street racing game takes drivers through levels of racing -- first in places like Tokyo, Siberia, and Alaska. The player with the highest score on Jan. 3 gets a trip to a racing school. The game is timed with this fall's launch of the GTS Sport version of the Kizashi.

Jeff Holland, who runs social media programs for the Brea, Calif.-based American Suzuki, says the automaker is the first to use iPad for a racing game. "Most other OEMs are using iPad to do content programs like online newsletters. We didn't want to go in that direction because we wanted it to be fun."

He says the purpose is less to provide a realistic experience of the car than to build name recognition and awareness for both the brand and the car, which launched late last year. "First and foremost, this should promote awareness," he says, adding that a lot of people still think the company only makes motorcycles.

Suzuki car sales were up 51% last month, per Holland, who said the company has devoted much of its marketing budget to social media, although he says a new TV, print, online and radio ad campaign will begin around Christmas.

He says the "Ring of Fire" game "ties into our brand philosophy of Suzuki as a fun, lighthearted brand that makes peppy cars and trucks. Also, people playing the game are likely to be in the right demographic of Kizashi buyers; we are trying to try to lower the average age of the buyer as well as make it a more affluent-leaning brand for college-educated people, ranging from Millennials to Gen X and Gen Y -- early adopters." Holland says the company is looking to develop another version for the Android operating system, and second- and third-generation versions of the game.

Brandon Rea, director, Midwest client services at Vibrant Media, says brand integration into console racing games like "Gran Turismo" and games that automakers develop themselves may be virtual but they can have a very real effect on brand equity if done well or poorly, even if the game has nothing to do with cars.

"In Xbox John Madden Football, if you make an 80-yard touchdown pass, you get a Cadillac Achievement reward. So Cadillac becomes instantly associated with achievement -- an 80-yard touchdown." He says virtual test-drive games that let people compare or race against competitive vehicles can also sway perception and consideration, even though the vehicles are virtual. "But if it isn't done well, or if it's just a casual game experience, well, you get casual perception."

But he adds that the medium defines the experience and how deeply interactive and "real" it should be. "If it's Facebook, everyone knows those games are not meant to be sophisticated; it's not about the experience, it's about achieving things and telling others."

Michael Cartabiano, founder and CEO of mobile and table publishing technology company Thumb Media Group LLC, has been involved in developing car-centric games for EA, THQ, including one for Corvette on Verizon and Sprint in 2003. He was also involved in Web and mobile campaigns for Scion.

Cartabiano says virtual auto games can build brand loyalty without requiring the player to own the real car. "They are building the car and racing it on different tracks against global competitors, so they invest social currency in that brand. Back in the '60s through the '80s, you'd get a Firebird or Camaro, hop it up and street race. You can't do that anymore, so the only way you can do it is virtually." But he warns that racing games only work with automotive brands that are performance-oriented, "whether it's a compact built out for drifting or Corvette Z06."

He says that if marketers decide to do a console racing game, or insert their vehicles into an established console game, they should pay as close attention to driving dynamics as the engineers working on the real thing. "The serious players are using seats, steering wheels, pedal controllers and paddle shifters, in front of big screen with surround sound. In these kinds of rigs, you really do feel like you're racing the car. It better to feel as close to the real car as possible, or people won't take you seriously and you've wasted your money."

While he says such concerns are less important for a game designed for iPad than for a more hardcore console race game, it had better be fun because "it's on a social-media platform so it's going to be shared. If you had a crappy experience, you will share that, too."