DesignCar: New Ways to Make Car Enthusiasm More Accessible

For many automotive enthusiasts, cars are art, not just performance machines. Yet who has the budget to buy a garage full of cars that represent themselves? With the free-to-play app DesignCar, people can now visualize their dream cars — and get in touch with brands in a whole new way. The app is only available in the US.

Car enthusiasm has many different facets. Among them are high-performance enthusiasts, for whom the engine sound of a 911 resembles a symphony, and those with an eye for design, for whom cars are like sculptures in a gallery. However, living out these dreams can cost a lot of money.

Video games have made the feeling of speed available to the public. On their traditional gaming consoles, kids, teens, and the young at heart can virtually blast their dream cars around the world’s most popular circuits. But what about people that care more about the design of a car than its performance — and are not console gamers, but nonetheless car enthusiasts?

Car Design gamified

DesignCar scratches the itch to make a beautifully designed car without the worry of track performance. The hyper-casual free-to-play app allows players to virtually live the life of a car designer and collector. The app gives players design challenges and allows them to visualize their personal dream car for, say, a trip down the Pacific Coast Highway. Players’ design submissions are judged by the community and can earn them rewards.

With DesignCar, there are hardly any limits to the variety of cars, from the Porsche Taycan to the latest models from Audi or VW. Almost every part of the vehicle can be modified and adapted based on true-to-the-original 3D models, and the individual dream cars can be staged for the community in an in-game photo mode.

DesignCar is open to all manufacturers and will continuously add new content

DesignCar is a product currently in beta phase by Erik Miller and Nha Ha from Porsche Digital based in the Silicon Valley, in cooperation with Territory Studio in San Francisco led by Marti Romances and developers from UNIT9. Their vision is to make car enthusiasm more accessible and while doing so helping potential customers and brands to connect in a whole new way. Companies in automotive and beyond, such as Rally, Turo, Porsche Drive, and Le Car can create branded challenges to inspire players for their next road trip with their friends or family. Brands can then offer unique rewards to players for finishing highly in their challenges, further deepening the relationship between the two.

The beta app is currently undergoing testing in the U.S. and the existing community of players is actively participating in the continuous development through feedback, for example, to balance the game mechanics. In the coming months, the team plans to roll out additional new content incrementally, adding new features, cars and challenges before launching the game officially. DesignCar is open to any car brand and is intended to provide players with tangible gains in the future, such as giveaways or discounts. The social features will also be developed further so that players can visit each other’s car design collections.

Let your creativity run wild designing your personal car collection

The app allows anyone to shape their favourite cars to become a piece of their own personal art collection, an expression of their passion for the design language of automobiles. In the future, these could even be cars that have yet to be discovered on the road: When a new model premieres, DesignCar may make it possible at some stage to experience the car in the app even before it goes on sale. The automotive world is larger than a racetrack. With DesignCar, players can create their virtual car collection without owning a real-life garage and let their creativity run wild. After all, not only the sound but also the design of a car is in fact art.

Download DesignCar

Make sure to download the DesignCar app on Apple’s App Store or Google Play (only available in the US).

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