Video game development is full of names that have made groundbreaking steps you’ve never even heard about. Shawn Nash is a behind-the-scenes pioneer responsible for SODA Off Road Racing’s incredible physics, Papyrus’ graphical advancements and iRacing’s use of laser scan data for the physical track surfaces.
This interview with RSC, published in 2021, details his early life and career, through both his own company, Papyrus, Electronic Arts, to his time at iRacing.
If you ever played Papyrus’ seminal Grand Prix Legends then you’ve read his name. Rich began working as a tester on NASCAR Racing (1994) and was with Papyrus at the end. In this interview, published in 2022, we discuss his time at the legendary studio and the design of Grand Prix Legends, including initial feelings of hurt at not being asked to join iRacing.
iRacing have scanned 1987 Ford Thunderbird and Chevrolet Monte-Carlo stock cars for their racing simulation, matching up perfectly with the soon-to-be-released North Wilkesboro. This will actually be the first time a NASCAR Generation 3 (1981 to 1991) model will be seen in a racing simulation. The NASCAR Legends (1999) title featured Gen-2 cars from 1970 and NASCAR Racing (1994) featured Gen-5. Every simulation title after that used a later generation of race car.
The short track Chevrolet Monte-Carlo they scanned was built in February, 1987 and ran 15 races between 1987 and 1989. It finished all races in the top ten with six wins, three second places and two third places. Two of those wins came at North Wilkesboro, including the first ever race on radial tires in 1989. It’s held at the NASCAR Hall Of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I know less about the Ford Thunderbird that they scanned… Only that it is one from Bill Elliott’s private collection in Dawsonville.
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