We built a racing game to prove a point about advertising
Motara sells advertising aimed at the car somebody actually drives. The obvious question from every publisher we speak to is how you get people to tell you that in the first place. So we built something where telling us is the price of entry — Motara Racer, a quarter-mile drag racer you cannot play until you say what you own.
The rule that makes it work
There is no grid of cars to choose from. The first screen asks what you drive, and there is no way past it. That was a deliberate second attempt: the first version did offer a grid, and people picked whichever looked fastest — which is exactly the kind of weak, aspirational signal that makes advertising data worthless.
One car, yours, and it stays yours between sessions. If you want to change it, you can, but it is a quiet link rather than an invitation to browse.
Point your camera at it
Typing your car is dull, so you can photograph it instead. Motara recognises the make, model and generation and offers a short list to confirm — a 2003 BMW M3 comes back as an E46, and the year picker narrows to that generation rather than the fifty years the 3 Series has been on sale.
It does not need to be perfect, because the shortlist catches the rest. That is what turned it from a machine-learning project into an afternoon's work.
The photo is used once and discarded. It is never stored — not by us, not anywhere. We never read number plates, and what is kept is a make and model, never an image and never anything that identifies you.
The physics are honest
Every car is simulated properly: torque curve, gear ratios, traction limits, aerodynamic drag, and time lost to each gearchange. Each one is then calibrated against its real published 0-60, so the quarter-mile time and trap speed you see are genuine predictions rather than numbers picked to feel good.
It produces things you would hope for. The optimal shift point is the redline on every car, because the rev drop between gears is worse than the power you give up. A Caterham at 515kg launches like something with twice its power. Front-wheel-drive cars are limited by grip off the line in a way the rear-drive ones are not.
106 cars, and the roster grows with the artwork
The grid runs from a 3.4-second Porsche 911 to a 14.5-second Fiat Punto, taking in four generations of Lancer Evolution, twenty Porsches, the E30 M3, a Clio V6, a Caterham and an MG MGF. Opponents are matched on published 0-60, so races are close: pick a 205 GTI and you will find yourself against a 306 GTI-6.
A car earns its place by having real artwork and a complete specification. Draw one, and it joins the grid.
Why a game
It is the argument in playable form. A publisher asking whether people will really tell you what they drive can go and try it, and see how natural it feels when there is a reason to answer. Everything under it — the SDK, the vehicle catalogue, the recognition, the ad slots — is the same platform our partners integrate.
It is free, there is no sign-up, and it works on a phone.