Honda uses Codemasters tie-up to showcase latest Civic range

In a first for both the car and video games industries, Honda is to showcase its latest car launch, it’s eighth-generation Civic, in a computer game.

The brand tie-up with games publisher Codemasters will see Honda’s 2006 model Civic featured in racing game TOCA Race Driver 3: The Ultimate Racing Simulator. The game launches this month.

Codemasters has created tailored in-game content that means a raft of Honda vehicles, including the latest Civic, will form part of the game action.

Players of TOCA Race Driver 3 will be directed to Honda’s Power of Dreams website, where they will be given a bonus code that, when entered into the game, reveals an entire series of Honda racing events called the Honda Championship.

As well as the Civic featuring in the game itself, Honda is promoting its partnership with Codemasters via demo discs that offer a virtual test-drive of the new car. The demo is available online at www.thepowerofdreams.com and CD versions will be inserted into copies of Top Gear magazine.

As part of the television campaign for the game’s launch, Codemasters is to run ad-break bumpers across key motoring programmes on satellite and digital channels, including Jeremy Clarkson’s Extreme Machines and Top Gear. The sponsorship will run from mid-February to April.