Video game development is rarely about one man, but if it was, then Terence Groening should certainly get a mention for his contributions to the genre as the man responsible for the physics of Sportscar GT, EA’s PC F1 and NASCAR games of the early 2000’s, rFactor, rFactor 2 and every title and rFpro simulator that spawned from ISI’s engine.
This interview with RSC details his early life and career, through to him joining iRacing in 2021.
Shortly after the release of Grand Prix Legends the sim racing community looked forward to another title that promised to offer a similar insight into historic racing. Trans-Am Racing ’68-’72 ultimately never released, a victim of a publishers shady dealings, but as a part of my research I uncovered a VHS of a never-released trailer for the game. Watch the trailer and read about what sim racing missed out on.
After skipping a roadmap update last month (they still released a major update), Reiza are back to regularly scheduled programming and another monthly roadmap. This one confirms some superb content is coming to the title, and I will break down the roadmap below:
– Racing USA Expansion Pack Part 1 (of 3) DLC to be released late this month for $12.99 USD, including GTE class Porsche 911 RSR, BMW M8 and Corvette C8R, along with the Cadillac DPI-R prototype.
– Racing USA Expansion Park Part 1 DLC will also include WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Long Beach and Daytona International Speedway. (screenshots below)
– Racing USA Expansion Pack Parts 2 and 3 (content not yet announced) expected before the end of the year.
– Driver suits and helmets will be customized for each era (t-posed character render image below).
– AI personalities are coming. Some will be good in the wet, some will be able to manage tires better than others.
– Gamepad support to be improved as requested.
– Older track content is undergoing a performance pass which should improve framerates on tracks released first.
– Audio developments should improve richness while decreasing CPU usage.
– Car and track shaders being re-worked, including to work with weather (see directly below).
– Weather system will be able to give live weather along with weather from a database going back 40 years. Track art will then vary accordingly with orange trees in the autumn, etc. (screenshots below). Will require ~20GB of additional storage space.
– Custom championships is next major (May) update.
– Community events (races, specific timetrials) should be starting up in the next few weeks.
I do think it’s a good idea to read the roadmap if you are interested in the history of Reiza as a studio. They started out modding rFactor, and looking back at Grand Prix Classics is an interesting insight. They also cover quite nicely the topic of licensing and why they add cars and tracks to the software in the way they do – it’s not as random as it can sometimes appear.
USA DLC Screenshots:
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