Asobo, known today as the Microsoft Flight Simulator developer, created groundbreaking technology for large scale maps that was intended to be used in a high quality rally raid title. It was never released and ended up as FUEL, a post-apocalyptic open-world racing game. What happened?
Originally working in military simulator design, this Michigan-based studio developed Zone Raiders for Virgin Interactive before moving to Electronic Arts for publishing their second PC title, Sports Car GT, when Westwood Studios (their SCGT development partner) was acquired by the software giant.
Known primarily for their mod-friendly SCGT and rFactor racing platforms, ISI also developed Formula One and NASCAR titles on PC for Electronic Arts, but perhaps their lasting contribution to the genre was the licensing of the isiMotor engine that allowed studios such as 2Pez, Blimey! Games, KW Studios, Motorsport Games, Reiza Studios, SIMBIN Studios, Slightly Mad Studios, The Sim Factory, Tiburon and rFactor 2‘s ongoing developer Studio 397 to begin with or release on an evolution of their software.
Another fork of the isiMotor engine, rFpro, continues to be developed and is used by a wide array of automotive companies for both road and motorsport simulation.
Join Jon Denton, Tim Wheatley, Simon Croft and guest(s) as they discuss sim racing and racing games past, present and future.
In a somewhat shocking turn of events, especially for those in sim racing who have become so familiar with Geoff Crammond and his Grand Prix series, Infogrames yesterday announced that the studio responsible for those titles would be immediately shutdown, going on to confirm today this means the XBOX release of Grand Prix 4 has been cancelled.
This is quite sad when you consider that the licensing fee is no doubt fully paid and the XBOX product was demoed to press and appeared to be almost ready for release according to various published previews.
GP4 is a simulation of the 2001 Formula One World Championship. It includes the 17 tracks from the season and allows the player to select from 11 teams.