Video game development is full of names that have made groundbreaking steps you’ve never even heard about. Shawn Nash is a behind-the-scenes pioneer responsible for SODA Off Road Racing’s incredible physics, Papyrus’ graphical advancements and iRacing’s use of laser scan data for the physical track surfaces.
This interview with RSC, published in 2021, details his early life and career, through both his own company, Papyrus, Electronic Arts, to his time at iRacing.
Better known today as the developer of Skyrim and Fallout, Bethesda once had a well-respected racing game franchise and were deep into development of a licensed Skip Barber Racing title that never released.
EA and Codemasters have released an update for the F1 23 driver ratings that will provide a more realistic result over the course of a season. While I think it’s good that they do this, because they could just leave the driver ratings as they were at the point of release or release the title later in the season, there is obviously a little problem with this – and McLaren shows us why…
The real story at McLaren this season is that for most of it, their car wasn’t fast. With an overall ‘season so far’ rating, not a per-track rating, we likely won’t see a McLaren actually doing as well – or as badly – in F1 23 as it actually should in the rounds of the season that it actually did.
You can view the driver ratings here.
Highlights:
Oscar Piastri
Off the back of a team resurgence from McLaren that saw some mighty performances including a return to the podium for Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri could consider himself unlucky not to have secured his first podium in F1® during the first half of the season.
Qualifying 4th in Hungary and finishing the race in 5th set up a great opportunity for success in Belgium. He finished second in the Sprint behind Max Verstappen at Spa-Francorchamps, before unfortunately retiring on lap 1 of the main race, colliding with Carlos Sainz going into turn 1.
Piastri appeared wise beyond his years in his inaugural F1® season, and has now moved up to 11th in the Driver’s championship. His Pace is up four, Racecraft up three, and Experience and Awareness up by a point each taking his Overall rating to 79 from 76.
This change presents the biggest improvement across the grid and we’re sure it won’t be long before we see him on the podium.
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin surprised everyone at the start of 2023, with Fernando Alonso gracing the podium in five of the six opening races. Despite this, Lance Stroll’s summer break may include some quiet contemplation.
Whilst his team-mate currently sits third in the Driver’s championship behind the two Red Bulls on 148 points, Lance’s points total sits at 48, putting him down in 9th. His best finish of the season, a 4th place in Australia, seems like a long time ago with his last five races having him finish no better than 9th.
Lance’s 9th and 10th place finishes in Hungary and Spa respectively, have impacted his Overall ranking by negative two, with a drop of two in Pace and Racecraft, and a drop of one for Awareness. We hope Lance can get back to form after the break.
Max Verstappen
What more can be said about Max Verstappen that hasn’t been already? He continues to outperform his teammate Sergio Perez, he’s on track to beat some incredible records, and could even wrap up the Driver’s Championship in record time too.
Eight wins in a row despite a five place grid penalty in Belgium, a 100+ point lead in the Championship, and you know he won’t step off the gas in the second half of the season.
Max has had a plus one boost on all of his stats – Experience, Racecraft, Awareness, and Pace – resulting in his Overall rating rising to 96.
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