Regalia

Regalia, also identified by its license plate RHS-113, is the party's car and mode of transportation on the field in Final Fantasy XV. It is a black convertible driven by Ignis.

According to director Hajime Tabata, players should consider the car a member of the party, as one would consider an airship of previous Final Fantasy games also a piece of the party. The car symbolizes the open world and the freedom in the game, as well King Regis's presence, as the car was originally his. The car is a metaphor the journey will be preserved by his father and also represents the relationship between Noctis and him.

The car transforms into a flying vehicle and Regalia will be the only aircraft controllable by the player.

Appearance
The car is a black four-seat convertible with dark leather interior. The hubcaps have chocobo talon motifs as homage to the birds usually being a common field transport method in the series. It has a single license plate at the back that lights up in the dark. The plate reads "Insomnia" above the "RHS-113," referring to the capital of Lucis and Regis being its 113th ruler. The bottom of the plate says "The Royal Capital," further denoting this.

The real world concept car resembles the Regalia in appearance. It also resembles the real world sports car, particularly in the front bumper and grille. Tabata has said this about its design: "I can't really tell exactly you which company we looked at, but certainly the design of the car in the game was inspired by German car manufacturers and a couple of British cars, as well." At a Final Fantasy XV fan meeting event in Tokyo, it was revealed Regalia was designed by researching Rolls-Royce luxury cars.

When the game was known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the car resembled the and had a panoramic roof that stretched to its trunk.

The player will be able to customize the car with different "skins", and some will be available as preorder bonuses.

Story
Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum and his friends—his royal advisor Ignis, his bodyguard Gladiolus and his childhood friend Prompto—head out to meet Noctis's fiancée Lunafreya Nox Fleuret in Tenebrae in Regalia, King Regis's car. On their way, Prompto wrecks the vehicle and they need to raise the funds to have Cindy repair it.

Gameplay
The car can be set to autopilot driven by Ignis, or be driven manually by the player,, and during car rides one can listen to the characters' conversations. The car can be customized by the player, possibly with parts dropped by monsters to change up the specifications and the paint job. The car's trunk acts as the party's storage.

Square Enix is looking to install a car radio that could either play the player's own MP3s, or Final Fantasy/Square Enix title music. Legal issues surround the first option, but the team is working on the latter. It has been said the car radio is possible in Japan and the United States, but European laws are strict.

The developers looked at games like Need for Speed in making the driving mechanics enjoyable. The driving is meant to replicate the feel of controlling a car without going into the nitty-gritty. Players will travel mostly by car, although it is also possible to go by foot, although this is generally not advisable as some places can be far off; walking is primarily reserved for reaching places that can't be entered by car. The Tokyo Game Show 2014 trailer shows the party driving on a stone arch near an astral shard, but generally the car cannot be driven off the road. If the player becomes separated from the car, they can summon it. Enemies can attack while the party is riding in the car and they must get out to fight.

During the August 29th Active Time Report Square Enix showed new footage of the game's driving mechanics. In auto mode the player sets a destination and the car will begin running towards it with Ignis taking the wheel, but the player can stop anywhere. The car runs on gasoline, like the cars in Final Fantasy VIII, and can run out; gasoline is replenished at gas stations. "Joyride View" lets the player travel along the party and see how the characters interact. "Driver View" lets one see the road through Ignis's eyes, and a "Scenic View" shows the drive from a more cinematic perspective. Spots labeled with a "P" are parking spots and the car can automatically park. There will be no loading screens when driving or flying.

The trailer revealed during the Uncovered: Final Fantasy XV event shows that the Regalia can fly, and thus become the player party's airship. The player will obtain the flying Regalia near the end of the game as an additional challenge; when certain conditions are met, the car is remodeled to the flying model. The player can maneuver it anywhere on the skies of Eos, but landing it is said to be tricky.

Creation and development
A black car appeared in trailers for Final Fantasy Versus XIII that appears to have been the precursor for Regalia in Final Fantasy XV.

Regalia is Regis's car and represents the party traveling with him, and has been described as a metaphor "for the prince taking his father's love, burdens, and bond on the road to his destiny." How the bond between Noctis and his father and the focus on the car is going to be represented in the story was personally important to Tabata. He explained that in Japan kids are proud of their father's car, it being a big thing to go on a ride and to get the car's functionalities explained by one's father. He described this as a wonderful experience on my his childhood that he wanted to present within the game.

The car was initially designed with the steering wheel on the right (like cars in Japan have), but this was changed to the left side after long discussion at the company. Part of this reason was that they needed to consider the world's lore: cars were first developed in Niflheim then exported to other nations, who adapted to suit the exported cars' design. The reason for left-hand drive in-game was that a large number of people in Niflheim are right-handed. When looking at the lore, the team decided to adjust driving so it was uniform rather than having the signage and necessary driving positions changing and confusing players. The team decided to make it right-hand traffic, left-hand wheel to express the taste of the journey like a road trip in the United States. There was an idea to let players choose the direction of the traffic, but this was deemed too cumbersome.

The car was planned to be included in the Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae demo, but was removed. Hajime Tabata explained his reason for the decision to be that he didn't want the demo to deviate too far from what the fans expect from a Final Fantasy game by making it driving-focused.

Trivia

 * During the livestream talk show on 2nd October 2014, Hajime Tabata brought up the Internet memes featuring the Final Fantasy XV party in the car, looking off to the side, that had been Photoshopped in a number of ways. Square Enix released art assets of this scene for fans to mess around with to encourage more memes to bring publicity for the game.
 * The Regalia would be worth 50 million yen ($440,000).