Need For Speed Changed Racing Sims And The Game’s Iconic E46 M3 GTR Is Now A Real Car

There’s a symbiotic relationship between game developers and car companies. Especially those car companies that champion the driving experience with their performance models, like BMW.

A great driving game is excellent marketing and brand immersion for future customers. If you can get them behind the virtual wheel of your cars when they’re young, there’s the likelihood that they’ll become customers as teenagers or adults. That’s why car companies value the authenticity and brand-affirming value of games like Need For Speed (NFS).

Launched 30 years ago with the Most Wanted title, NFS has become a huge success for EA games. It has also created a deep virtual following, for some truly iconic performance cars.

BMW’s E46 M3 became synonymous with NFS, featuring in the Most Wanted update (2005), and several subsequent editions, like Carbon (2006), Heat (2019), and Unbound (2022).

The M3 will always be BMW’s halo two-door performance car (despite the naming convention change to M4, a generation ago), and its role in NFS is worth celebrating. This is exactly what BMW has done by faithfully recreating a concourse build of the original E46 M3 GTR featured in the first NFS.

BMW has an enormous collection of brand cars in its museum and invests hugely in keeping them in pristine condition. One of the two M3 GTR cars in its ownership has been wrapped like the original M3 GTR that inspired NFS’s characterization in period-correct colors. And it looks amazing. Marc Riccioni of Speedhunters was present to capture the wrapped car, just after it was done.

Featuring the side-exit exhaust, composite bodywork and that enormous rear wing, the M3 GTR in NFS colors remains one of the most iconic virtual and real-world competition cars, ever created.

Why the NFS recreation?

It coincides with the latest NFS release, Unbound Vol. 9: Prepare for Lockdown, launching this week. With M3 GTR arguably one of NFS’s most legendary cars, BMW was understandably keen to revive the nostalgia of one of its most celebrated gaming cars.

All M3s are hero cars for BMW fans, but the E46 GTR is especially revered. Why? Because it was an authentic case of racing influencing the road car build. The E46 M3 was known for its 3.2-litre S54B32 engine. It is smooth, powerful and naturally aspirated, features six individual throttle bodies and an 8 000rpm rev-ceiling.

Good for 343-hp and up to 360-hp in CSL-trim, the in-line six-cylinder S54B32 engine was everything that committed followers of BMW’s M-Division desired. BMW’s racing heritage is deep and extensive, with M3 being central to its competition success.

NFS creators didn’t choose an E46 M3 GTR as the game’s protagonist car, back in 2005, by accident. But the events that created the M3 GTR symbolise BMW’s commitment to racing-improving-road cars.

What is so special about the ‘first’ V8 M3?

BMW wanted to go racing with the E46 M3, but the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) rivals had more engine performance based on their road car homologations.

The solution was to create a (very) limited edition road car that could enable BMW’s E46 M3 racing ambitions. The result of that was M3 GTR Strassenversion. BMW built only ten of these V8-powered M3 GTRs.

Targeted upgrades made the Strassenversion 408 lbs lighter than a series production E46 M3. With a dry weight of only 2,976 lbs and a slightly detuned version of the P60B40 4-litre V8, the M3 GTR Strassenversion offered remarkable performance and exactly the homologation car BMW needed to evolve its M3 GTR racer.

Interestingly, the Strassenversion’s detuned V8 engine, despite being larger and with more cylinders, was slightly less potent at 346hp than an E46 M3 CSL, which made 360-hp.

Although the E92 generation that followed E46 would officially debut series-production V8 power to the M3 model range, the limited edition cachet of those Strassenversion cars is inarguable. They remain some of the rarest, lightest, and most driver-centric M3s ever built.

The M3 GTR’s virtual and real-world successes were profound. It won regularly during its debut ALMS season in 2001. Regulations were altered for the following season, requiring 100 homologation road cars to validate the racing versions.

Tempting as it was, BMW chose not to build any more Strassenversion road cars and continue its M3 GTR racing ambitions. Gaming is a natural gateway to performance cars, especially for those of us who mature to become true driving enthusiasts in adulthood.

What set-up was your PC for NFS when the M3 GTR became available? And perhaps more importantly: is the M3 GTR Strassenversion your favorite M-Division car of all time?

Lance Branquinhohas 20 years of reporting experience working with various carmakers and OEMs. His work at Torque News focuses on covering BMW news and opinion about the latest BMW vehicles and their development Follow Lance at LinkedIn and X for the latest BMW-related news.

Image by BMW.