Nissan’s new plan to get in more homes
Amid its radical restructure and focus on the Nismo brand, Nissan has entered a licensing deal with one of the biggest sim racing brands.
Nissan is relying on the performance and enthusiast aspect of its business to get it out of a hole, and has further strengthened that plan by announcing a new partnership with sim racing giants Fanatec.
Labelled as a new licensing partnership, the Fanatec x Nissan deal will see the German-based company develop officially licensed sim racing steering wheels linking to the Japanese marque’s heritage.
It appears just one wheel will be developed, with Fanatec saying it’ll have “a strong focus on craftsmanship, ergonomic precision, and visual authenticity to ensure sim racers feel fully connected to the road and immersed in the experience”.
The companies have yet to reveal what vehicle the wheel will be based on, whether it’ll take inspiration from the GT-R family, the Z cars or one of Nissan’s many racers.
“We are thrilled to welcome Fanatec on board and are excited to collaborate with them on this new, exciting, licensed category extension for Nissan,” said Nissan senior manager, Yukika Sato.
“We have long-standing gaming partners that we support and an avid global fan base of keen sim racers, so we are sure this licensed product will be a welcome addition!”
Fanatec already offers a number of licensed steering wheels for its wheel bases based on existing designs, with Porsche, BMW and Bentley offering their racing car cockpits as the basis of the sim racing products.
Nissan is also no stranger to racing-based video games, having been closely associated with Gran Turismo through the ‘GT Academy’ partnership, which ran between 2008 and 2016.
