Mallya chasing international appeal with Force India name change - MotorSportsTalk

Force India Formula 1 owner Vijay Mallya hopes that changing the name of his team for 2018 will help to appeal to a more international audience of sponsors as discussions regarding a rebrand continue.

Force India made its F1 debut back in 2008 and strongly embraced its national identity, only for plans for a name change to emerge last month.

A number of companies with links to Mallya using ‘Force One’ were established in the UK in the past six weeks, pointing towards a new name for the team.

Speaking to NBCSN over the British Grand Prix weekend, Mallya explained that he believed a name change to be necessary for Force India in 2018 in order to open up to more international sponsors.

“When I named the team Force India, it was to attract and appeal to the millions of young motorsport fans in India,” Mallya said.

“At that time, I was hopeful that there would be an Indian Grand Prix and that there would be many Indian sponsors.

“The Indian Grand Prix happened, but it was sadly short lived, and doesn’t seem to be any prospect of it coming back.

“And there have been no Indian sponsors as I had earlier hoped as they all seem to be putting their money into cricket.

“So I have to necessarily appeal to a more international audience of sponsors, so I must give the team an international identity.

“Force India is too India-centric, and that’s why discussions are happening on a name change.”

Despite the creation of the Force One companies, Mallya insisted that “we haven’t decided on anything yet” for 2018, but confirmed he wanted to retain ‘Force’ in the name.

“There are several suggestions. I want to be able to keep the first word, ‘Force’, and add a suffix to it,” Mallya said.

“But it’s a discussion stage.”

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”