- Primary Subject: Porsche Licensing History in Racing Games - Key Update: A comprehensive retrospective exploring Electronic Arts' sixteen-year exclusive Porsche licensing deal, the rise of RUF, and how Porsche's return changed racing games. - Status: Confirmed - Last Verified: August 6, 2026 - Quick Answer: Electronic Arts held exclusive Porsche video game rights from 2000 to 2016, forcing rival racing franchises to use sublicenses or RUF stand-ins. The first time I drove a RUF CTR in Gran Turismo, I had no idea what I was looking at. The game called it a Yellowbird and described the maker as a German sports car marque, which told me nothing. It looked like a 911. It sounded like a 911. Nobody in the game would say the word Porsche, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to work out why. The answer was a contract signed in 2000 that shaped which cars you could drive for the next sixteen years. The Deal That Started With Porsche Unleashed Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed arrived in 2000, and it remains one of the strangest entries in the series. EA built an entire game around one manufacturer, spanning the 356 through to the 996 Turbo, with a Factory Driver mode that cast you as a Porsche test driver rather than a street racer. The marketing at the time promised seventy models covering the company's whole history. Around that release, EA secured the exclusive license to Porsche in games. No public figure has ever been attached to the deal, and anyone quoting you a number is guessing. What is documented is the effect. For the next decade and a half, if you wanted a car with a Porsche badge, you played an EA game, or paid EA for the privilege. Gran Turismo Just Went Without