If you thought an aluminum body was a big leap for the Ford F-150 a few years ago, get a load of the newest version with a rocket booster and optional wheels made of giant kiwis.
Ford Motor Co. collaborated with video game maker Psyonix to make the 2021 F-150 available for purchase in Rocket League, a soccer game played with vehicles. The digital pickup includes the F-150’s C-clamp headlights, rounded wheel arches, drop-down windows and F-150 stamped in the tailgate.
“It had to be an F-150 but one that fits within Psyonix’s extreme virtual world pairing soccer and mayhem,” Ehab Kaoud, Ford’s chief truck designer, said in a statement.
Ford has signed on as the presenting sponsor for this month’s Rocket League Championship Series Winter Majors, meaning the on-screen arena will be filled with Ford billboards and a special F-150 will appear between matches to tow away damaged vehicles and repaint boundary lines on the pitch. Ford also will sponsor the Ford + Rocket League Freestyle Invitational, providing a real 2021 F-150, sans rocket booster and tropical fruit wheels, as the prize for the winning competitor.
Ford is promoting the partnership with a series of ads aimed at gamers and narrated by actor Bryan Cranston, who also does the voiceovers for F-150 commercials.