I caved. I recently retired my trusty Xbox 360 and the only two games I played on it, Grand Theft Auto Five and Forza 4 for a newcomer, an Xbox One and…drumroll, please…Grand Theft Auto Five, Forza 6 and Forza Horizons 2. And oddly enough, it wasn’t GTA 5 that I was looking most forward to, it was both of the Forza series, because they had a car that I’ve wanted to have in a video game for about fifteen years now: a last-of-the-G-bodies Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. It might not have T-tops like the car I drove in high school did, but the five-spoke N90 wheels were there, the wheezing 180 horsepower “High Output” 305ci V8 was there, and the gray paint with dark silver stripes was present and accounted for…mostly. Forza Horizons2 was the one I was especially looking forward to, simply because it’s open-world roaming around the south of France, and something about bombing my way through vineyards in a 1980s muscle car just made me smile a little.

But when the game finally loaded up (Overnight? Really?!) and I made enough money using the freebie cars (1969 Camaro SS396? Yes, please!) I made my way into the market for cars, selected the Monte Carlo SS, and immediately noted one huge discrepancy: there was not one single “SS” badge on the car. Nowhere. Not the doors, nor the trunk. Not even on the horn button. Intrigued, I checked the freebie Camaro…nope, no “SS” badge on the tail pan. 1970 Chevelle SS454? No grille or rear bumper badge. Even the 2015 Chevrolet SS was de-badged.

Hear me out: I know that it’s a video game, I know that I’m being nit-picky, and I know that in the grand scheme of things that it isn’t a big deal. I also know that with the available paint options, that there should be no issue in re-adding the proper graphics or emblems to vehicles (except in the interiors, where the game does not allow modifications.) But why in the hell would all of the Chevrolet Super Sport cars be shorn of the two letters that denoted their reason for being special? A quick Google search turned up this response from Brian Ekberg, Forza’s Community Manager: “Changes to the Super Sport models In Forza 6 were made in association with Chevrolet in order to align with the brand’s global naming strategies.” What?

Chevrolet has a model called the SS. It isn’t anything else, it’s literally “SS”. It is a model name that has been a part of Chevrolet’s history since the first Impala Super Sport in 1961. It might be my interpretation, but is this supposed to mean that globally, Chevrolet is now choosing to ignore the Super Sport? It didn’t exist? It did in a global context, that’s for sure, because Holden, GM’s Australian arm, has used Super Sport and SS, and the Chevrolet SS, a Holden Monaro-based coupe, was sold in South Africa. So, tell me again, GM: why is it that Forza Motorsports cannot use the “SS” callouts on their cars? Is it because of political correctness in certain markets? Is that it? Because from the outsider’s perspective, you are turning your back on your own history.