MERIDIAN, Idaho — The video game industry has created an exciting new revenue stream for hot rod designers.
- The video game industry's revenue in 2022 was $225 billion.
- That's eight times the amount Hollywood took in.
- Designer David Eckert created the Mach 40 that appeared in Gran Turismo 7.
- Eckert brought a custom car to this year's Boise Roadster Show.
- This car is a combination of a Ford GT and a 1969 Ford Mustang.
The gaming industry is worth more than the music and movie industries combined. A recent visitor to the Treasure Valley is using his popularity to grow his business even bigger and faster than that Ferrari.
The hot rod community has always thrived thanks to its undying dedication to American car culture, but the gaming world poured gasoline on the fire.
“This is huge, it's a huge industry. Here we're talking about electric cars, we're talking about AI and the future of our children. There's no better way to learn driving skills than with video games.” said owner David Eckert. Eckert rod and custom.
In fact, the global video game industry was worth $225 billion in 2022. This is eight times more than in the film industry, where it was once the goal for automakers to attract attention with their cars.
Designer David Eckert got his hands on this modernized '69 Mustang in Gran Turismo years ago, and says the attention it brought was huge.
“Anyone can jump in that car and drive it. They can destroy it, they can reset it and it just keeps going…My grandson is playing the game and I have cars in the game and I play it all the time,” Eckert said. .
Gran Turismo made history by creating an online racing team that eventually achieved great success on real tracks. They even made a movie about it. Go figure.
The great thing about driving a real-world car online is that you can customize it to your liking. As if it doesn't already look cool enough.
