About

The "BMW M3 GTR" is a popular car mostly known from the Need For Speed franchise. It is regarded as one of the most iconic cars in the entire series, followed up by the many reappearances of the car in future releases of the game. The BMW has been a fan's favorite to the point where the design of the car is replicated by BMW owners for showcase, personal use and photo shoots. As well as memes parodying the sound of the engine of the car.

Origin

Need For Speed Most Wanted was released on November 11, 2005. Following the success of Need for Speed Underground 1 and 2, it focused on street-racing, free roaming and police chases as one of the main features. Althought the Need For Speed franchise wasn't stranger to police pursuits, the game focused mainly on it with both the story and gameplay features revolving around it.

Unlike previous games where the player starts with a stock or borrowed car, the player starts with an already-tuned-up silver and blue striped BMW M3 GTR where they're set to drive 3 races. (Sometimes refered as the "Hero car")

Right at the beginning of the game, the player loses their BMW to the main villain Clarence "Razor" Callahan (Portrayed by Derek Hamilton) , who purposely sabotaged the car and take it for himself. The player's main goal now turns into getting their car back by going through "The Blacklist" of the city, which consists of beating 15 racers before facing Razor again who now drives the BMW M3 GTR

The car makes a reappareance in the next Need For Speed game "Need For Speed: Carbon" But only for a brief short time after you drive away from police officer "Jonathan Cross" Also known as just "Cross"

Spread

Many fans have regarded the BMW M3 GTR as the most iconic car of all of Need For Speed due to the attachment that the player gets from the game, the design of the car itself and the sound of the engine, which is what people remember the most from the car.
The earliest known video regarding the car was titled "BMW M3 GTR on Nürburgring" which features a real life BMW M3 GTR being driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck at the Nürburgring Nordschleife roads. The video features the real sound of the engine which is very similar to what people heard in the game. It is believed that this was the inspiration for Electronic Arts when developing the car for the game, as the video took place in 2004, but video broadcasting wasn't accessible for everyone back then.

On December 6, 2018, Youtube username "Andre Klebleyev" uploaded a video titled "NFSMW M3 GTR Full Build Timelapse" which featured a real life BMW M3 GTR being modified to look just like the version of the game. The video has gathered over 10 million views
On January 14 2019, he uploaded a video titled "What is it like taking the NFS M3 GTR to a car meet" which featured his real life modified BMW M3 GTR driven into a car showcase. Althought his main goal wasn't to participate in the main event, many fans gathered around the car to take pictures and stand right next to it.

On October 2, 2022, Youtube username "renzhoes." uploaded a video parodying the Please stop saying dumbass things with the BMW M3 GTR revving up and accelerating, whilst showing the onomatopeia text of the sounds of the engine.
Youtuber "NhatHuy8204" uploaded a video just titled "BMW M3 GTR" which parodies a scene from Zombie Land Saga which the character Sakura gets hit by a white truck, but the video edits the BMW in it instead, as well as playing the song "I am Rock" by Rock, which is a featured song in the game

Official design and Razor guest appearance

On November of 2024, The BMW M3 GTR has been featured at the BMW Welt Museum in Munich^[1], as part of the celebration of 30 years of the Need for Speed franchise.

Following the public showcase, actor "Derek Hamilton" who played as Razor in the game, made a guest appearance at the museum. Reddit user "WOLF-TJ" uploaded a post "Finally reunited!"^[2] which features a photo of Hamilton right next to the BMW M3 GTR. The post gathered over 6.8k upvotes.

External References