Last August, we broke the bad news to you as gently as we could: thanks to licensing restrictions, the Xbox 360 racing simulator Forza Motorsport 4 would have to make do without any models from Porsche.

The problem was a legal one: the rights to use Porsche vehicles in video games were held by EA Sports, the rival to Forza’s creator, Turn 10. While the two companies had hammered out licensing agreements to feature Porsche vehicles in earlier Forza games, EA declined to do so for Forza 4.

If you wanted to drive a Porsche onscreen, that restricted you to EA’s Need for Speed franchise games, which rely more on plot and less on realistic vehicle physics and the accurate recreation of racetracks.

Until now, that is: Porsche has announced that some 30 production and racing Porsche models will be available for download via an expansion pack for the Forza 4 game. The cost will be 1,600 Microsoft points (roughly $19.99) and the list includes an impressively diverse selection of cars, ranging from a 1955 550A Spyder through a 2012 911 GT2 RS.

It’s still not clear where EA Sports fits into all of this, but the fact that the announcement came directly from Porsche is significant. Porsche’s vice president of marketing for North America, Andre Oosthuizen, called the release “an excellent opportunity for Porsche to offer a virtual experience with our cars in a very fitting environment.”

Oosthuizen was referring to the world’s race tracks represented in Forza 4, a point also touched on by racer Patrick Long. Long called the game, “ an excellent way to learn the same tracks that we race in the American Le Mans Series and around the world.

Here’s the complete list of Porsche models in the Expansion pack:

Production                2012              911 GT2 RS
Production                2012              Cayenne Turbo
Production                2012              Cayman R
Racecar                    2011              #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports 911 GT3-RSR (997)
Racecar                    2011              #23 Alex Job Racing 911 GT3 Cup (997)
Racecar                    2011              #17 Team Falken 911 GT3-RSR (997)
Racecar                    2011              #54 Black Swan Racing 911 GT3 Cup (997)
Racecar                    2008              #2 Gruppe Orange Racing 911 GT3 Cup (997)
Racecar                    2008              #16 Dyson Racing RS Spyder Evo
Racecar                    2007              #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR (997)
Racecar                    2008              #7 Penske Racing RS Spyder Evo
Production                2010              911 Sport Classic
Production                2010              Boxster S
Production                2010              Panamera Turbo
Production                2007              911 GT3 (997)
Production                2007              911 GT3 RS (997)
Production                2007              911 Turbo (997)
Racecar                    2005              #31 Petersen-White Lightning 911 GT3-RSR (996)
Racecar                    2005              #66 AXA Racing 911 GT3 Cup (996)
Production                2004              911 GT3 (996)
Production                2003              Carrera GT
Racecar                    1998              #26 Porsche AG 911 GT1-98
Production                1995              911 GT2
Production                1989              944 Turbo
Production                1987              959
Racecar                    1987              #17 Racing Porsche AG 962c
Production                1982              911 Turbo 3.3
Production                1973              911 Carrera RS
Production                1970              914/6
Production                1955              550A Spyder