STACK#127 May 2016

GAMES

FEATURE

visit www.stack.net.au

How do you design a racer that everyone wants to play? You develop it in conjunction with your core audience.This is Project CARS. The Community Racer

Moreover, input from “Stig” Ben Collins, European Touring Car driver Nicholas Hamilton, and European Le Mans series champion and BAC Mono test pilot Oli Webb provided Slightly Mad with the ‘real driver’ insight the studio sought for inspiration – and above all, authenticity. Project CARS has been designed as the ultimate sim, where players can just about tweak any part of the game. The cars are photorealistic, with the studio purportedly using 300,000 polygons per vehicle. You can race anywhere at anytime in any format, too, with events spread across 14 countries, with 80 different track layouts and over 400 kilometres of tarmac. The team also decided to break the traditional format of a racing title. In Project CARS, there’s upgrades, so you can compete with the best. All the cars here are unlockable from the off. No grinding out results to get a sniff of a decent ride; you simply get what you want and race it where you want from the start. How many times have you asked for that in a racer? And the vehicle diversity is unprecedented, with everything from road cars, karts, supercars and touring available. It’s been almost a year since we last saw Project CARS at E3. It looked good then, without the benefit of further time to work on its completion. While the project has been delayed several times now, this could turn out to be a blessing. We know the racing enthusiasts in the STACK office are talking about no other game at the moment. We might have to form a queue. no incessant circuit repetition and under- performing vehicles collecting money for

T he ubiquitous racing genre is a tough place to trade. Finding a point of difference in such a

heavily populated marketplace is a struggle facing developers with every new iteration of a racing franchise. However, Slightly Mad Studios think they have what it takes to lead the pack. Based in London, Slightly Mad was formed in 2009 following the acquisition of the developer behind the GTR racing series, Blimey! Games. The studio’s portfolio includes the acclaimed Need for Speed titles, Shift, Shift 2 and Unleashed for EA, before completing Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends in 2012. While contemplating their next project, Slightly Mad canvassed the thoughts of both racing game enthusiasts and professional drivers in a bid to determine just what was required to produce the perfect racing title. Armed with this information, they decided to develop a racing title with direct input from the people who will be playing it – the fans – and

Slightly Mad conceived a crowdfunding platform for the production of Project CARS

Slightly Mad conceived a crowdfunding platform for the production of Project CARS . Under the title of WMD, or World of Mass Development, potential involvement in the game was accessed via a website where different tiers of investment denoted the level of involvement in the development process. It’s a fine idea and was eagerly adopted by the racing community eager to submit creative input and access regular opportunities to road test code; and more importantly, provide vital feedback. In all, some 80,000 racing

enthusiasts helped shaped the game with the added incentive of the prospect of earning money from their contribution.

• Project CARS is out May 6

MAY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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