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.
RSC contains a database of 155 developers, 470 software titles, 374 cars, 42 bikes, 242 tracks and more...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.
RSC Podcast Episode 8 – Richard Burns Rally SpecialJoin Jon Denton, Tim Wheatley, Simon Croft and guest(s) as they discuss sim racing and racing games past, present and future.
RSC contains a database of news items. Our #OnThisDay page shows current day and current week of years past...
RSC contains a database of videos back to the 1980s catalogued as intros, laps, trailers, unboxings and more...
RSC contains a database of emulated software you can play in your browser...
Posting this item late due to sickness. Apologies for the gap in coverage (whole of February, 2024).
In a post on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago Dom Duhan, head of Studio 397, announced he would be leaving the studio after the successful release of Le Mans Ultimate into Early Access.
Dom strikes me as the kind of person who ‘can’t sit still’ for long, with a decent history of successful ventures in his back pocket, it was he that first mentioned a Le Mans game to me at least five or six years ago while Marcel Offermans still sat at the helm of the fledgling studio that had recently bought rFactor 2 from Image Space Incorporated. He worked incredibly hard to make that happen both before and during Motorsport Games’ ownership of the studio, and advocated heavily for Studio 397 to remain largely independent.
A couple of months ago in a brief chat Dom told me he would be leaving Studio 397. Seeing him post publicly, it really hit me just what an impact certain people can have on this genre… Dom has absolutely made an impact and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
His text:
Bit of an update! I joined Studio 397 with Marcel Offermans back in 2016 with the purpose of bringing rFactor 2 https://lnkd.in/epm__Vrx back to life. I think it’s fair to say mission accomplished, growing the business significantly with strategic content, partnerships and reshaping the product.
As a small studio we certainly made a mark, leveraging the growth of esports – from Formula E Accelerate, McLaren Racing’s Worlds Fastest Gamer, Le Mans Virtual and countless others. I am also proud to have helped launch F1® Arcade with rFactor 2, truly a ground-breaking activation.
With the successful launch of Le Mans Ultimate this brings an end of an era. Many months ago I decided that I needed a new challenge and I’m super-excited about where that will lead me. Time to making some more sim racing history!
Thank you to the S397 team for all your hard work over the years and for the partners that helped us make this happen.
