Gran Turismo Wiki
Advertisement

The Ford Focus Rally Car '99 is a rally car produced by Ford. It first appeared in Gran Turismo 2 and has been featured in all subsequent mainline games up to Gran Turismo 6.

As the car in-game doesn't show a driver number and lacks the Martini livery, it is instead based on the 1999 pre-season test car, driven by Colin McRae, Petter Solberg, and Simon Jean-Joseph prior to the 1999 WRC season.

Colors[]

There is only one color (two in GT2) available for this vehicle:

  • White
  • Blue (GT2 only)

In-game description[]

"Driven by famous drivers like Colin McRae. Its allure will never fade away."


Ford, a longtime participant in the World Rally Championship, had for the better part of the 1990s always competed with its Escort model. But on the cusp of a new millennium, the company introduced an all-new race car with the 1999 season, the Ford Focus, a vehicle that in just a few short years would, for a time, claim the title as the world's best-selling passenger car.

Its engine was mounted transversely, just like in the production car, but its Xtrac transmission was placed longitudinally in an effort to try to improve upon the vehicle's weight distribution. Ford's main rival at the time in the WRC, Peugeot, also employed a similar layout in their 206. In comparison to the French car, the structural rigidity of the Focus far surpassed that of its rival.

Ford also had a stellar driver lineup: legendary rally driver Colin McRae was on the cars, as were Petter Solberg, Thomas Radstrom, and Simon Jean-Joseph.

In its racing debut, the Focus's water pump was found to be in violation of the regulations. But despite having to undergo hurried modifications, it proved highly competitive from Day One. McRae made steady progress by leveraging his and the car's strengths, and the Focus WRC machine scored its first victory in the third stop of the season, the challenging Safari Rally, and went on to win the next race as well at the Portugal Rally.

Acquisition[]

Game Purchase location Credits Other methods
Gran Turismo 2 Ford Dealership 500,000 ---
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec Ford Dealership 350,000 Win the Smokey Mountain Rally
Gran Turismo 4 Prologue --- --- Complete the Lesson #17 in Driving School
Gran Turismo 4 Ford Dealership 750,000 ---
Gran Turismo PSP Ford Dealership 750,000 ---
Gran Turismo 5 Used Car Dealership (Lv. 11+) 244,871 ---
Gran Turismo 6 Ford Dealership 250,000 ---

Trivia[]

  • Its in-game depiction is based on a prototype that was tested by the Ford team prior to the 1999 WRC season. When Ford's team eventually expanded after the Focus' immediate success on the WRC stage, a third car was added to the duo of Martini-liveried Focuses that bore an unsponsored white scheme with the Ford logo, very similar to the example presented in-game. From 2001 onwards, the Ford logo was changed to an "RS" logo. After the 2002 Rally Monte Carlo, this third car had its livery inverted to white-on-blue, similar to the second scheme available in GT2. For its final year in 2003, the scheme was reverted to blue-on-white, before switching to the actual Ford Focus RS WRC with two different sponsor liveries (BP and Castrol) in 2004.
Focus Valvoline Removal
  • Between the release of versions NTSC V1.0 and NTSC V1.1 of GT2 in North America, the small Valvoline logos on the doors above the number were removed. This may be related to the unauthorized use of Mark Martin's 1999 Taurus NASCAR, where Valvoline was the premier sponsor for that car at the time. The logos were reinstated in GT3, but were removed once again in GT4 and onwards.
  • In the early versions of GT2, it was known as the Ford Focus '99WRC Gr.A. The name is incorrect, as the Focus was built to the then-current World Rally Car regulations.
  • The car's blue color in GT2 is derived from the presentation model of the car, along with the windshield banner.
  • In GT2, the car incorrectly features a sunroof .
  • It also appears in Gran Turismo Concept as an unplayable CPU car.


Pictures[]

Videos[]

Notes[]

Advertisement