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.
EA have announced that their first licensed WRC title can now be pre-loaded for those who have pre-ordered and also updated their system requirements which, honestly, seem pretty reasonable for a title using Unreal Engine for graphics.
Minimum:
OS: Windows 10
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, Intel i5 9600K
Memory: 8GB
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1060, Radeon RX VEGA 56
Broadband Internet Required: Yes
DirectX: 12
Disk Space: 95GB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Recommended:
OS: Windows 10
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, Intel i5 10600K
Memory: 16GB
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2070, Radeon RX 5700 XT
Broadband Internet Required: Yes
DirectX: 12
Disk Space: 95GB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
EA SPORTS first WRC title, developed by Codemasters and the DiRT Rally team.
The 2024 season addon for EA Sports WRC was available as a separate DLC for those who purchased EA Sports WRC. For those who purchased after its release, it was bundled with the 2023 content.