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.
RSC contains a database of 153 developers, 467 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 7 – Management Simulations, F1 Managers, Always Used To Be Better?Join 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...
Well, this is lovely. According to GameRant, EA are laying off some employees immediately, with up to 400 planned across EA studios into the early summer. Some other staff will be redeployed to other titles, which is always nice for someone who probably wanted to work at Codemasters because they liked the products they made.
They laid off staff back in December, 2023, as well.
While they can frame this as general downsizing all they want, halting production on titles and killing a franchise that has existed since the 90s just means you value the stock price (which fell in January) more than the people who work for you. Those happy posts on LinkedIn from your upper management really do have a bovine whiff to them right now.
A statement to Video Games Chronicle read:
“As a business, we are constantly evolving to meet the growing needs of our players and driving greater focus across our portfolio,” a spokesperson said. “This has led us to look at reducing some roles, while we redeploy as many as possible against our strategic priorities.”
This smells bad.
