Answers (Part 2) Q: Seems like this is going for the "sim" racing experience (which has been missing from app store thus far). As such i feel the physics engine will need to be great to achieve that. 1. What sort of effects are included in the physics model? Will things like tyre grip, aerodynamics, centrifugal affects, downforce, drag, fuel - weight etc be modeled accurately? I am continually surprised by the depth of knowledge on these forums. All the things you mentioned are included in our model except for fuel and its effect on changing the weight. Having said that, our aerodynamic modelling is pretty simplified. One critical component of the car model is suspension and the way that the weight of the car shifts to different tyre patches and affects steering, braking and acceleration forces. When it comes to car simulation, weight shifting and the rubber on the road is 90% of the problem. Centrifugal effects arise naturally from the rigid body physics model. Aerodynamics, engine and drive train simulation are all important but can be simulated to 90% accuracy with extremely simple approximations (so that is how we simulated them, simply). They tend not to make or break the fun factor. After including all of these things, we have had to manipulate the model to ensure that it is, above all, heaps of fun. We are aiming for the handling to feel fun and realistic and you have to make some compromises on realism to achieve this. However we aren't just tearing up the rule book like a street racing game. In that sense, we still say that we are a sim. One example of a little cheat that maybe I shouldn't admit to: all the cars are modelled like a rear wheel drive. This is fine for the muscle cars, but probably not so realistic for hatchbacks which should be front wheel drive. However, we think rear wheel drive behaviour is more fun than front wheel drive! 2. Is there car damage? No. We like the idea but there are tradeoffs involved. We haven't ruled out car damage as a future direction for Real Racing. 3. Will there be fuel consumption/pit stops? No. 4. Will other AI cars make mistakes or try and take you out? Yes, they are actually quite mean at the moment, but you can be equally mean back. We have tried to make the AI a little more like how people play. Instead of getting everything perfect, they will sometimes slide out themselves and get in trouble. There are moments in the videos where you can see this. We're still refining the AI and with further focus testing we may still change our approach on this. 5. Can we play music from ipod, with SFX? Yes. 6. Future of real racing - OS 3.0 - DLC, multiplayer improvements - will 3.0 affect the future direction of the game? If so, how? I am certain that there will be some cool things in 3.0 that we will use in future updates or versions of the game, but we aren't making update plans yet. 7. Are the cars and tracks unique or based on real life versions? They are unique. We had a lot of discussions surrounding licensing early on, and it wasn't an easy decision not to go for it. The decision to avoid licensing was to maintain the fullest creative control. Once we made this decision, we actually felt quite liberated. We are now able to focus on a very pure sort of design. 8. Will each car have a different cockpit? Each class has a different cockpit, rather than each car. 9. Will each car have different properties? We're still working on this. However they are designed for close pack racing so the variations are marginal and we have to keep things balanced for online competition. If you can gain just half a second per lap, that can be the difference between winning and losing. 10. Will the game feature car mods - unlock better tyres, turbos, brakes etc? We are toying with something here, but probably not in the first version. We have a number of ways to progress and improve through the game, classes, divisions, new championships and differently specced cars. Q. is their online muliplayer like in raging thunder Q: Or even just local WiFi multiplayer? I'm talkin' trading paint, not comparing times... A: Well be able to answer these questions closer to release! Q: When can we expect to be able to buy it? A: April 2009. Q: Bonus question: A few people have commented on the apparent difficulty of staying on the track. A: Arn hit the nail on the head with his speculation, we got a bit carried away by the cool offroad effects and included too many of those in the video. The cars aren't on rails so while it's possible to go off road, a decent driver won't have any problems staying on. Hope that answers your questions!
Thanks for such detailed answers Firemint, I am so happy that you allow us to upload long replays (to youtube limits of course) as it's a feature I would love to use. Thanks
Thanks for all the info and interaction here at Touch Arcade. I really look forward to the release of your game.
Thanks for the reply. Can't wait! Also about the graphics. What we mean is; look at the previous video (the one u answered questions on but without the answers). See those car's graphics? Now look at this video. That's what we mean.
What you are probably seeing is the broken level of detail system. The system is supposed to use low level of detail for cars in the distance and high level of detail for those that are close up. At the time we made the video it was not working, so all the AI cars are using lower level of detail models. Actually now that I look again, this is all too clear in the main screenshot that was shown where an AI car is overtaking you and they are using a lower LOD.
First off, thanks for the reply and answering my questions. Sounds like you've gone down a good route with the AI and physics models. Obviously I wouldn't expect a phone to be 100% accurate on these (even the PS3 can't do it!) but its sounds good enough - kinda like Gran Turismo 1 on PS1. It sounds like you've incorporated most of the basics, albeit slightly tweaked and that the game will be well suited to experienced racers, who take the correct racing lines and follow the slow in, fast out principle. Anyway, this could be a great racer and i'm looking forward to its release!
I just hope they don't go overboard with the sim thing. Sim racers are boring enough on regular consoles, trying to be all perfect on an iPhone screams headache.
I would disagree about sim racers being boring. Far from it actually. I guess, like most things this comes down to personal taste. I prefer sim racers (my fav being Gran Turismo) to arcade racers like Fastlane or Need for Speed. Besides, racing cars is about perfection: taking the quickest racing line, braking effectively, strategy, skill & guts all leading to getting to the finish line first! A good sim racer requires you take the best line and learn the braking points for every corner of each track. In doing so, I feel that i've achieved something when I win. And being able to show off the replay is just a bonus! Anyway regarding this game, they said that they've tweaked the gameplay to be fun and pretty realistic (using RWD cars, tweaking physics model, AI). And if you don't like it - don't buy it! There's plenty of arcade racers on the app store!
Firemint Questions I have some simple questions for simple people: What sort of steering controls will you make? Touch & Tilt / Steering Wheel on screen? Or just 1 of them? What sort of gas/brake controls will you make? Touch & Tilt? Can you do like Touch Steering and Tilt gas? Will you keep updating this game with suggestions of players and will you add new levels/cars? Can you post just other simple information, like what will appear as the App-description? I can't wait! Thanks, TheOnePb
1. Touch and Tilt please. As much as I love Tilt control, they're virtually impossible to play on public / while lying on my side. Giving us the touch option would help a LOT! 2. No tilt for gas & brake please, that would ruin the control. It's very hard to play in a relaxed position and good luck playing that while in the car / bus.
Firemint Well, everyone can give arguments why not and why they should make it, but it's much easier to ask for a button to turn it off. (This will make scores unreliable?) TheOnePb
Is there true head to head multiplayer? Can I race 5 of my friends online at the same time, on the track, and post the replay video on youtube? Thanks.
The game is smooth in it's current pre-release form. One small comment is that the controls are a bit sensitive and it reacted very quickly. The franchise could greatly expand its "core gamer / driving enthusiast" audience with the addition of a "casual" gamer mode. More sales never hurt! Looking forward to seeing it in the App Store. Great job Firemint. Thx! HHG
It won't make scores unreliable because everybody will have the option. If you only gave certain control options to certain people, then scores would be unreliable. I personally would like options for every situation: 1. At home: a. Tilt steer/ touch accelerate and brake b. Tilt steer/ auto accelerate 2. In car/bus: a. Steering wheel on screen/ option for touch or auto accelerate b. Buttons on side of screen for steering/ auto accelerate 3. Laying down: see in car/bus I think that this would satisfy the most people.
On the off chance that Firemint reps are still answering questions here: Did you include an option to toggle screen orientation (screen flip)? I ask because Pink Slip does not include this option, and while I as an iPod touch user have no issues, iPhone users may not feel comfortable playing this game (as was the case with Pink Slip) if screen flip isn't an option. iPhone and iPod touch have their headphone ports placed differently from one another, with the phone having it in the top left hand corner when held in portrait (with the home button on the bottom), whereas the touch has it on the bottom right hand corner. So if a game is to be played in landscape, and there's no screen flip option, users who have one type of device will have the headphone jack sticking into their left hand which is not comfortable at all. The video for the recent Fast & Furious game shows this, btw. So, please...screen flip option.
Well I am officially excited for this. I have completely given up on NFS. I don't even care about it any more. It's sad. Anyways! So it should be out soon? Awesome! Is there a submission date? Also, what kind of multiplayer options will there be. And will you guys be implementing any cool stuff for 3.0 such as bluetooth peer to peer? Thanks. Can't wait for this game. Looks great.
