First off, I would like to thank you guys for doing the interview. We all know you are very busy so I will try to keep it as short and to the point as possible.

PWF: Thanks Jure, fire away.

BHMS: We always like to begin with introduction. So can you tell us a little bit about the history of the Wildfire project? How it all started, how big is the team, what does each person do...?

PWF: The history of Project Wildfire itself is fairly short. Not long after NR2003S was released, we were contacted and informed that Papyrus was going to be unlocking the physics models for the Busch and Craftsman Truck models. We were provided the patches during beta testing & received some preliminary help from some of the folks that work for Papyrus during their own time. We were well into creating the GNS and CTS mod's when we were informed or I guess I should say surprised to learn of the TA type physics. That's how it started, as we know it. At what point in time Papyrus decided to make the physics models available via this last patch, I really don't know. I'm under the impression that those models have been in the game for sometime now. As far as who does what, John Hughes, John Beatty, Kevin Combs, Jay Taylor, Sean Thompson, and Brian Simpson all do 2 and 3D art for both the car models and tracks. It's pretty hard to break it up to exactly who does what because they all seem to get involved with most of it. Jay does the AI balancing and puts out the 'raw' version of the tracks. All of those guys then get their creative juices flowing and put in the finishing touches. Bob Stanley does the setup work, some of the administrative stuff and most of the PR work. In addition to artwork, John Beatty manages the website and Kevin seems to be the general technical go to guy. John Henry acts as our Sr. Advisor and we have some great beta testers; Rodney Arndt, Brian Tate, Billy Murphy, Chad Fales, Jon Nelson, Shannon Whitmore, & Joe Tamborski

BHMS: What gave you guys the idea to do this and what is Papyrus' position on what your doing?

PWF: I guess the idea came from our secret contact Other than providing us the patch, Papyrus as a company does not have any involvement, but I think everyone realizes that the individual people who've worked at Papyrus for a number of years now would like to see the NR Series platform live on awhile longer. It's amazing to us what a very small group of guys and gals have done for the sim community. I'd bet that most people have no idea just how few people worked at Papyrus on the last couple of titles and how hard they had to work to pull it off.

BHMS: Who approached whom? Did you approach Papyrus or did Papyrus approach you about doing a mod to NR2003?

PWF: Neither. We (the members of Project Wildfire) were approached by an individual with the right contacts.

BHMS: What was the hardest thing for the group to develop in the mod's?

PWF: Probably the Levels of Detail and the damage model.

BHMS: What modifications will be done to the damage model? Will damage model be different for each mod (BGN/CTS/Trans-Am)?

PWF: Since the skins are the same for the Cup and BGN cars, that damage is the same. The damage for the CTS truck has to be done from scratch and it has to be done for each make, Chevy, Ford, Dodge, and Toyota. All of that is currently being tweaked and it's really a painstaking process. It'll be the same for whichever 4 TA cars we decide to model. Right now we're looking at doing the Jaguar, Vette, Camaro, and Mustang. So far this season, those are the 4 manufacturers that have run the most.

BHMS: We know physics can make or break a game/mod. What is being done to make sure, the physics are as real as possible?

PWF: Putting on my Papyrus Beta Tester hat, I can tell you that we worked a lot on the tweaking the physics of the Cup model. Manuel Daskalos provided Papyrus a lot more info right at the end of the cycle for the release version especially in regards to aero mapping that didn't make the release version but is in the patch. As you know, the release of NR2003S coincided with the start of the season so there was real world data specific to this year that just wasn't available in time to make the release version. I can't really comment a whole lot in regards to the overall effort that was put into the BGN and CTS mod's to insure the physics are as real as possible but I do know that there have been some real world drivers that have driven the mod's and made very positive comments in regards to how they drive. As far as the TA mod goes, it needs to be thought of as more of a 'generic' road-racing model. It's close to a Trans Am car but it's definitely not as 'realistic' as the other mod's are.