As a direct ancestor of iRacing, the ‘Grand Prix Legends engine’ had multiple stock car racing false starts, before eventually releasing as NASCAR Racing 4. The original NASCAR 3, cancelled and replaced by one that used NASCAR 2’s engine, is barely remembered.
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.
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Sim racing developers are historically very specialized and those that have found success will have developed a title every couple of years. This has changed in recent years, however, as developers begun to favor ongoing development of a single title.
Very few newer racing game developers have written their own software engines from scratch because of the difficulty involved in simulating vehicle dynamics, but those that have tend to release higher quality simulations and be more respected in the industry. Many successful developers can trace their software evolution from titles released up-to 20 years ago, such is the complexity and financial investment involved in fresh development.
Argentinian developer 2Pez built on the isiMotor engine and still holds rights for Asociación Corredores Turismo Carretera.
Originally known as Dusenberry Martin Racing, American studio 704Games acquired the NASCAR license via Eutechnyx in 2015 and went on to collaborate with Monster Games on NASCAR games until they were acquired by Motorsport Games via majority investment.
Best known today as the developer of Plague Tale and the 2020 edition of Microsoft Flight Simulator, Asobo are a French studio that have shown expertise in creating vast game worlds for Ubisoft’s The Crew and Codemasters’ FUEL, which was an evolution of Asobo’s own cancelled Grand Raid Offroad title.
Formed from a split with SIMBIN when Ian Bell formed his second company, they didn’t last long and ultimately Ian Bell’s third company, Slightly Mad Studios, acquired the assets.
Originally working on the PC conversion of Wipeout for Psygnosis, Broadsword are most-known for Spirit of Speed 1937, a title that suffered greatly due to the original publisher being purchased and then ultimately was released too early under pressure from the new owner.
They went on to release a Paris-Dakar Rally title for PlayStation, but shut down a few years later.
British game developer most famous for their series of Formula One and Rally titles that include those under the Colin McRae and DiRT franchise names. Also notable for the original TOCA Touring Cars franchise.
Owned by Electronic Arts (EA), an American company.
British game studio founded by the legendary David Braben, famous for creating Elite (a space-trading game that was one of the first computer games to use wire-frame 3D graphics with hidden-line removal). Now recognized as a developer of Elite: Dangerous (another space game) and a series of successful management games including Rollercoaster Tycoon, Planet Coaster, Jurassic World Evolution, Planet Zoo and F1 Manager.
Legendary British game developer whose career spanned a 20 year period and included groundbreaking simulations of Formula Three and Formula One, including arguably the first ever racing sim: Revs (1984).
Most famous for his Grand Prix series that were published under the MicroProse label until 2000, his career unceremoniously ended when his studio was shut down by Infogrames and the Xbox version of Grand Prix 4 cancelled just prior to release.
Most famous for their miniatures and board games, this American studio branched out into software development and produced a small number of driving experiences for both PC and console in the early 2000’s, including licensed products for the Hooters restaurant brand.
Their only sim, Hooters Pro Cup Racing, used the Sports Car GT engine by Image Space Incorporated.
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.
This American studio was formed by David Kaemmer (co-founder of Papyrus) and John W. Henry (at the time owner of the Boston Red Sox and avid sim racer – he has since added NASCAR team ownership and more) after Papyrus was shut down by Vivendi, owners of Sierra, in 2004.
iRacing acquired the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season software engine (itself an evolution of Grand Prix Legends), pushed groundbreaking track technology for home use and developed a Web-based front end where users could easily find races in a variety of vehicle-types using the iRacing service.
The company has acquired a number of other studios, most notably Monster Games.
Able to trace their roots to SIMBIN in 2004 and the GTR franchise, KW Studios have been through restructuring multiple times and was also known as Sector 3 Studios for a significant amount of time. Known now for the Raceroom title.
Formerly known as RaceWard Studio prior to their Nacon ownership and still operating under that name occasionally for their racing titles, Nacon Studio Milan is most recognized for their motorcycle racing games.
Originally known as Papyrus Design, the legendary Massachusetts-based software studio developed highly-regarded simulation titles and published with Electronic Arts, Virgin Interactive and Sierra before their shutdown by Vivendi, owners of Sierra, in 2004.
Co-founded by arguably the father of the modern racing simulation, David Kaemmer, the studio created NASCAR and IndyCar titles that consistently pushed the genre forwards.
Their groundbreaking Grand Prix Legends game engine was used in three NASCAR titles between 2001-2003, evolving to become iRacing after Kaemmer re-acquired former Papyrus assets for his new company.
A Sony studio used for PlayStation exclusive racing titles like Gran Turismo.
Formerly known as Bigmoon Entertainment, now owned by Saber Interactive and renamed Saber Porto.
Known in sim racing as the developers of the Dakar franchise.
The SIMBIN Studios lineage can be tracked through Sector 3 Studios (now known as KW Studios) and also through Ian Bell’s Blimey! Games and Slightly Mad Studios.
The company are most famous for their GTR franchise titles.
Formed by the same owners as SIMBIN, Sector 3 and KW Studios, SIMBIN Studios UK was an independent studio tasked with developing GTR 3.
Originally an independent contractor for Papyrus and based in the United States, Shawn Nash collaborated with the legendary studio on the NASCAR Racing franchise titles until persuaded to stick around and develop SODA Off-Road Racing for himself; Software Allies was the small studio created to produce that groundbreaking title.
Italian sim developer most famous for the Assetto Corsa franchise.
netKar was an ultra-realistic simulation created under his own name before Kunos Simulazioni was formed and the AC title released in 2014.
He since left his own company and went on to form Jaxx Vane Studio.
Studio formed by Ian Bell, originally a modder for the Electronic Arts Formula One titles and founder of SIMBIN, Blimey! Games and Slightly Mad Studios. Most famous for the GTR and Project Cars franchises.
New studio, Straight4 Studios, launched 2022.
When Image Space Inc. halted development on rFactor 2, Dutch company Luminis colaborated with Marcel Offermans (a software developer who had previously worked with ISI) to form a new company around the product, bringing over a number of the former ISI production team.
In 2021 Studio 397 and the rFactor 2 product were acquired by Motorsport Games who intended to both continue rF2 development and use the engine for other licensed racing titles under their own name.
Originally an independent studio developing Madden NFL titles for Electronic Arts, the American company was acquired by EA in 1998 and continues to operate in a semi-independent state under the software giant.
Tiburon developed NASCAR titles for EA starting with NASCAR SimRacing in 2005.
Credited software developer on Live for Speed responsible for much of the Web functionality integrated with the simulation.
Most famous for their Command & Conquer real-time strategy titles, Westwood Studios involvement in sim racing is strictly limited to their collaboration on Sports Car GT with Image Space Incorporated.
Both SCGT and ISI moved under Electronic Arts publishing when Westwood were acquired by the software giant.
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