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Before my trip to Los Angeles, World Sports Cars was the game with the most impressive screenshots of them all, so my expectations were high. The fact that only two guys are working on it, makes in even harder to believe. The West brothers, twins Tony and Chris, come from England and because of their last name and the fact, that they live nearby the Mclaren facilities, people associate them with Formula 1 team very often - I am sure they don't mind. I talked to Chris before my trip and I was looking forward to meeting them both and seeing the game in action. After I checked out Nascar Racing 4 and Grand Prix 3, I started to look for the Empire Interactive booth. Chris told me that they will be located near the Electronic Arts booth. I turned the South Hall up-side-down with no success. I started asking around and no body knew anything, and I was getting very worried. Then some lady explained to me that Empire didn't have a booth at all and I almost s**t my pants. She went on to tell me that they are in a meeting room and I tell you, I was ready to kiss her when I heard that. I thanked the lady and with a big, wide grin on my face headed in the direction of Empire's room.
 
Once I finally got there, Chris and Tony were on a lunch break. There was a red hyperstimulator placed before a large screen. I didn't have the guts to climb in the hyperstimulator so I just stood there and admired the rolling demo which was showing a Lotus driving around the Monza track. Imagine those gorgeous screen shots in motion and you'll get an idea on how the demo looked like. Twenty minutes passed and Chris and Tony finally showed up. We shook hands and started talking. They wanted me to try it right away but I declined and let them do the demonstration first.
Westies worked very hard to get this demo together. They even had some major problems the last day before the show, but it all worked out in the end. Taking in consideration, that it was all thrown together in a hurry, I must admit it looked brilliant. They ran the game and the 'Car Selection' screen poped-up. There were several cars to choose from (Mercedes, Panoz, Lotus...). Panoz it is they said. Tony was driving and talking while Chris was behind the keyboard. What I soon found out is that they both have a great sense of humor but I won't bore you with that... back to demonstration. As I mentioned before, there was one track in the demo, the famous Monza. It had all the details one can imagine and you could also drive around the abandoned oval track (all Grand Prix Legends fans know what I am talking about) as I found out later. Computer behind the desk was Pentium III 800 MHz and Chris said it runs the same as on his Pentium II 450 MHz at home. Tony wanted to show the suspension modeling so he floored the gas pedal and headed down the main stretch towards the first chicane. He deliberately drove over the curbs and the car bounced like the real thing. To demonstrate it even better, Chris took over the control and started the super slow-motion replay. If you ever watched F1 races from Hockenheim, Nurburgring or Zeltweg, you know what I am talking about. This first chicane was the only one with curbs or to be more precise, other corners didn't have 'curb height' parameter defined. Even though the physics engine was not modeled yet (it was in pre-alpha stage), it felt good. Damage also wasn't modeled, but there will be a superb damage model where every car part will have its drag coefficient. The parts will also fly of the car and in addition to damage model, there will also be a dirt factor. During the race, cars will get dirtier (4 dirty skin textures are planned at the moment but there might be more). While Tony was driving around the track, Chris warmed up his fingers and showed me all kind of fun things. To name just a few of them: he could open the doors while racing, pop the hood, rewind backwards, do a slow motion or a super slow-motion replay, etc. He could also change the camera view and placed it anywhere he wanted. This option is something every player always dreamed of. We are all different and if one view might seem ok for one person it doesn't mean the next one will like it too. With this feature you can forget all problems with finding the right view. Just place it where you want it and drive the wheels of the car. The cockpit view wasn't there yet, but as I said, you could go inside the cockpit with the camera and place it in front of the drive's visor and voila... you got yourself a cockpit view. As the car went over the bumps and through the corners, you could see the driver move around the seat and tilt his head to fight all the negative G forces. Cockpit wasn't yet modeled correctly, there were only textures and no objects. Chris went into his editor and ran the 3D cockpit from there. My eyes poped out. It was so sweet but no need for me too try and explain it. Just look at the screen shots. He could move around the cockpit and there were so many details modeled like the clutch, seat cover... I bet you could even find an oil stains if you looked hard enough. All buttons will have functions and you will be able to turn them on and off. For the first time in racing simulations, they will actually move up and down (hint, hint for Papyrus, the makers of Nascar Racing 4). One interesting thing about physics. You know how real cars develop flat spots by locking the brakes. Well this will be in the game too. Tire will be split into 32 areas and if you will keep locking the wheel on the same area, you will develop a flat spot, which will reflect in a vibrating car, loss of control and grip. Keep on locking and you'll get a flat tire. Pit stops will be 'interactive' and you won't just pick some setup changes from a menu. You will have to grab a fuel hose, open a fuel tank and stuck it in to refuel the car. If you would, lets say, want to check the fluids, you will have to pop the hood and so on. This two guys are full of ideas.
If you played Need for Speed VI: Porsche, you know how good the career option was there. Racing for money, buying new cars and upgrading them will be also in WSC. Cars in the game will be from the historic days all the way to the modern era. Weather will be dynamic, which means that you'll be seeing sun go down as the race proceeds into the night. Track conditions will also include temperature and wind strength. Tony and Chris are still talking to all the big time people regarding tracks and licenses. Until they don't have the licenses, Tony is just creating tracks that he likes. I could take a peek at Brands Hatch's garages. Chris is in charge for artificial intelligence, and he wants to make it as real as possible. What he is looking at is a calm start to the race (you don't want to get spun out on a start of a very, very long race) and a gradual rise of aggressiveness. One thing he would like to do is also for AI cars to remember if you bumped them or if you gave them a hard time when they tried to pass you. There is still a lot of work to be done in the AI department but I am positive, that we will get something revolutionary. Multiplayer will have LAN and internet play, but its still being developed and will change as the time passes. There are so many thing to talk about (read the features on the top of the page). What Chris and Tony also want for the game to be as editable as possible. That means people will be able to build cars, tracks, etc. I could go on and on and on... Let me just tell you about my experience driving the WSC around Monza.
 
I climbed into the hyperstimulator and went for it right from the start. Pedal to the metal. I missed a few first chicanes but got into a rhythm quite fast. Hyperstimulator is one awesome thing to have, if it would only be cheaper. As I said, the physics engine wasn't really there but it was still fun. Before I called it a day I also went to the oval. My Nascar experience really helped there :)
To sum it all up, all I can say is: "Fasten your seat belt, because World Sports Cars will take you on a ride, you always dreamed of!". We will have regular updates about the development of the game so make sure to return to Blackhole Motorsports page.
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