Web games tout features that let auto shoppers configure and compete
By Jeff Bennett, Knight Ridder Newspapers
12/13/2003
Exhaust streams from the tailpipe as the Dodge Durango sits waiting for just the right computer mouse click.
Bam! It’s off driving down a dirt road.
Tumbleweeds blow in the distance as the sport-utility vehicle rounds bends and heads for a covered bridge. You are off on a trip to town to buy the supplies you need to build a garage.
The scenery might look sweet, but the star is the SUV. The color is so sharp and the graphics are so lifelike that even sexy Laura Croft would look a little dated.
But here’s the twist. To find this game and others like it you have to visit the Web sites of Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., DaimlerChrysler AG and Toyota Motor Corp. rather than Playstation, GameCube or Xbox.
Welcome to the new hybrid in computer gaming, where infomercial and play have been melded together to create a high-tech shopping experience.
Once content to license the likenesses of their vehicles for use in popular video games, the world’s automakers are now using gamelike technology to transform their Web pages into interactive arenas.
They are rolling out everything from simple configurators like one with the Toyota Scion — which allow visitors to build their own vehicle — to complex games like Chrysler Group’s Ultimate Dodge Garage, which challenges the player to drive into town, pick up a few supplies to build a garage, such as wood and nails, and load them in the back of the Durango.
They allow shoppers to see almost everything from what the sunroof might look like and the price it adds to the bottom line to what the opened console looks like in the back seat.
Why?
About 64 percent of Americans consult the Internet before purchasing a car.
Automakers have the technology to ensure that what potential car buyers experience on the computer screen matches what’s in the dealership.
Almost everyone loves to play games.
Bob Kurilko, vice president of marketing for vehicle information Web site www.Edmunds.com, said automakers took an online car brochure approach in the late 1990s because they didn’t understand its power. Now they do.
“The more involved I get the consumer the more committed I get the consumer,” he said.
But the benefit to both game players and potential car shoppers is that the automakers are going all out on these sites.
Adrian Si, Scion’s interactive marketing manager, said this computer society wants what it sees on the screen in the dealership.
“They want to see what the car is really going to look like,” he said. “They want to spin it around and see how it will look in the garage. They expect to see the vehicle exactly how they are going to get it.”
Retail experts say a vehicle is the second most important purchase people make in their lives after a house.
The automaker sites offer online use or complex gaming, which requires a user to download the information onto a personal computer hard drive. Some offer both.
General Motors Corp. has been operating the Buick Rainier 3D experience since July through www.buick.com, although the vehicle didn’t go on sale until September.
Among its features, a click on the ride category shows the Rainier traveling down a road. It stops, and two heavy coolers are loaded in the cargo area. The screen quickly flashes to underneath the vehicle to show how the coolers’ weight interacts with the rear suspension.
Even someone buying a semitrailer truck from Volvo can personalize the 18-wheeler through its 3DTruckConfigurator at www.volvo.com, which allows users to do everything from selecting one of 45 different colors to adding sun visors, decorative stripes and an air horn.
Best yet, you can view the truck from all sides including the bottom by the click of the mouse. You can also print out the picture of your preferred truck and hit Hyperview, which makes the truck about as big as the computer screen.
The oval spotlight selection could be one of the coolest features, because the headlamps flash directly at you once they are added to the truck.
Reggie Beckius, Buick’s interactive manager, said automakers are pumping dollars into the sites.
“The industry has been putting more money into Web marketing,” he said. “We see that as the future. The amount of functionality of these Web sites continues to improve.”
New York-based Viewpoint Corp. has built many of these interactive sites for automakers.
“Anybody who is serious about showing off their new vehicles is using interactive,” said Ales Holecek, Viewpoint’s senior vice president of engineering. “The problem with vehicles is the education of the customers. The improvements in new vehicles are harder to show customers because they are so technical and they are harder to understand.”
Holecek said it’s no longer about showing off leather vs. cloth seats. Automakers must now convey such technical information as the improvements in suspension. They must also translate the information into how it affects the vehicle in daily life while keeping the message sexy.
Chrysler Group is among a handful of automakers that continue merging Web sites with gaming.
Sometime soon, the automaker will unveil “The Ultimate Dodge Garage,” which allows users to experience the 2004 Dodge Durango’s loading, towing and driving capabilities.
The game, which must be downloaded onto a hard drive, offers players three games in one.
In Dodge Ranch Parts One and Two, the player is given a to-do list by the ranch boss. Tasks include hitching a trailer to the vehicle, driving to town for supplies and towing a full load of building materials down tricky Copper Creek Road.
The Durango Pack-it-Puzzle asks players to pick up tools and supplies during their drive and fill the cargo area of the vehicle.
Copper Creek Road allows players to experience various driving trails from smooth to rugged.
The game can be downloaded for free at www.dodge.com.
“The challenge is that what you do in the game you should also be able to do in real life,” said Jeff Bell, vice president at Jeep and head of interactive marketing for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep.
