| rFactor Facts : | ||
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BHMS: Let's start off with an introduction. Who are you and what is your job title? I am sure our visitors would also like to read a bit about the company history, its games and basically what drives ISI to continue producing racing titles. ISI: My name is John ("Bee") Bayley. My job title is Product Development. Also, one of my roles is to help facilitate 3rd party development. I became very interested in what ISI was doing when I first encountered ISI's Sports Car GT back in 1999. Its solid physics, modability, and immersion factor just set it apart from all other racing games for me at the time. I became quite involved in creating tools, MOD's, and tech docs for SCGT and other ISI racing titles that followed. When the opportunity came along to get involved with rFactor, which appeared to me as ISI getting back to its roots, and the type of racing I found exciting in SCGT (but with some very new and exciting technology), I jumped at the chance. You can find detailed info regarding ISI on our website at www.imagespaceinc.com in the company section. BHMS: We don't like to beat around the bush so let's start with the really interesting questions. How long has rFactor been in the making and what is the idea behind it? ISI: We have been thinking about a product like this for many years now, and actually did a little bit of work on it a few years ago. The first step was an overhaul of all technology which started in late 2003. rFactor as we now know it started in early 2004. The concept for rF is a flexible environment that allows us to create the type of racing we enjoy, and at the same time the ability for other players to modify it to their liking. BHMS: How different is the graphics engine and physics engine from the one used to create F1 Challenge 99-02? Is it all new or just one step forward in its evolution? Will you implement DirectX 9 effects? ISI: The graphics engine, gMotor2, is all new and unique to rFactor. It is a significant advancement from previous engines, with full shader support for DX9, an advanced material system, and dynamic shadows for time-of-day effects. It also supports older DX7 and DX8 video cards. We have continued to refine the physics engine, and have focused on exploiting its full capabilities. The physics, a.k.a. pMotor2, is a complex system and we needed new functionality such as the ability to easily add physical modifications to cars. We are also doing work on an advanced damage system although it appears that it will not be ready for the first version. BHMS: What range of vehicles will we see in rFactor, how many of them and what are the differences between them? ISI: We have a number of vehicles currently in the works. It has yet to be determined which will be included in the initial release, however, rF will initially consist of vehicles designed for mixed class road racing. BHMS: What can you tell us about the sounds? Did you use real life samples for engines? ISI: We've added additional effects and are working with veterans in the industry to create the sound experience we were looking for.BHMS: How did you approach the physics for each vehicle? Where did you get the data and how do you know it feels real? ISI: Over the years, we've acquired many contacts in the sport of motor racing and being in the Detroit area sure helps. We make use of these contacts and their expertise to create the initial data sets and then allow developers and testers to make adjustments. We take those for a spin, discuss it, and iterate. Now and again, different people will have opposing views on how a car should feel, or what makes it more realistic; therefore, the best part of this process is the ability to make your own refinements. Additionally, in the past, we have also used simulation packages to verify performance results. It's worth noting that, prior to coming to ISI, a few of the members of ISI were deeply involved in the development of vehicle simulation systems and retain many ties to this industry. BHMS: Our visitors are mostly hard-core simmers and they love to get their fingers dirty in the garage. What setup options will we be able to change? ISI: The majority of settings will be similar to our previous games. However, additional settings are being added to accommodate the different vehicle types. For example, we have 3rd spring settings for some open-wheel cars, and lateral weight for oval courses. BHMS: Racing is not just about being fast, it's also about being fast at the right time. Will we see pit stops and different racing strategies in rFactor? ISI: Yes, pit stops will exist, although we completely scraped our old pit stop character animation system and are rebuilding it from scratch, so the final version will not likely find its way into the initial release. BHMS: Your company is known to develop titles which can be edited pretty easy, and that is also one of the reasons so many people still play your older titles. Are you planning to go the same route with rFactor? ISI: The modding capabilities of rFactor are well beyond those of any of our previous games. We've added allot over the past six months, making the system much more powerful, but also more complex. This complexity has contributed to the delay in the release of our Multiplayer Stress Test demo. Once this test is released we hope to spend some time documenting the new additions so it will be easier for others to get up to speed more quickly. BHMS: Will rFactor feature multiplayer racing over the internet and LAN? Realistically, how many clients per server will rFactor support and will it have a dedicate server feature? ISI: Yes, we are actively working on expanding our Internet and LAN multiplayer capabilities, which obviously include a dedicated server. In addition, we plan to add full remote control to the dedicated server so that users can put one up anywhere they choose. We are currently stress testing the MP system to find the best settings to support a large number of clients without warping. An exact number of clients will depend on your settings and the connection type. By the way, we now allow the server to add AI's to multiplayer games or the clients can vote to add them. BHMS: We've read that you are still looking for publisher and licensing deals are still in progress. Is there anything new that you would like to share with our readers? ISI: Publishing, distribution and licensing talks are ongoing, there is nothing official we can report at this time. BHMS: Thanks for doing the interview and all the best with the development of rFactor. ISI: You're welcome, and thank you. |
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Comments : |
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| Author: shortyman | 15-10-2004 |
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Great work guys! Very interesting read! |
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| Author: Scott Michaels | 15-10-2004 |
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Thanks for that! Some nice peices of info in there :) |
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| Author: spede | 15-10-2004 |
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Sounds very promising, thx! |
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| Author: Sandeep Banerjee | 16-10-2004 |
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Man, this sounds good. I just hope the online bit works as well as Papy's. That's all we need really. |
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| Author: jonathan uyan | 13-11-2004 |
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More questions on game physiscs next time please... |
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| Author: Jeff Bell | 29-01-2005 |
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Answers all my questions! Thanx! |
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| Author: hol | 15-04-2005 |
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great demo, hope to try patched version soon as kept hanging on my system |
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