Copyright in a car game

Help and Feedback Game Design Support
#1

Hello, Im making a car driving game with a friend and i have some doubts.

I see that the most of the car related games dont use real car names.

1st: Is there some copyright limitation or its just because the creators dont like to use the original names for the cars?

2nd: If i add a circuit to my game like Laguna Seca or any other circuit, i need to use a custom name or i can use the original?

3rd: If i add some track cars, some of them have sponsors like Castrol, Motul… I need to change them or not?

Thanks in advance.

1 Like
#2

Yeah, your not allowed to use actual car names.

You can make up custom names for sure.

I mean I’ve seen sponsors on roblox cars but I’m not sure if it’s allowed

#4

Games like Gran Turismo and Forza Horizon get license/approval to use the shape and branding of the cars.

Games like GTA and Burnout decide to create their own names and shapes (albeit inspired heavily by real cars) to avoid having to get license.

Making games on Roblox or any other platform is subject to the exact same rules. If you get license from the IP owner and send that license to the developer relations team, you’ll be okay, but getting license to use their branding is going to be tough, probably will cost money, and is not really worth it imo.

5 Likes
#5

Make like knockoff name brand car name, example bloxy cola is coke. something like that. It really shouldnt be that hard or like Volkswagen could be renamed to Spokeswagen.

#6

You are correct, finnithegamer. Some companies imply specific copyright/trademarks on their branding, and this may cause issues if you use them in your game. In my experience, I have seen some games try to change the name very slightly to get away from the copyright issue, but in my experience I just don’t mention any similar/exact name of any trademarked company intentionally.

I hope this answers question 1 in a way which it can be understood.