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...
Studio 397, a few days after previewing one of the AF Corse cars with dirt all over it have also tweeted some screenshots showing dynamic dirt build-up on the body of the Porsche Hypercar.
I don’t really want to post a news item every time they release a couple of screens, but these images reminded me of a World War II flight simulator and game called B-17 Flying Fortress – The Mighty Eighth, which also had build up over the course of a mission. You’d end a mission with holes in your wings, oil streaks down your wings, dead engine props and blackened wings behind any engines that had been on fire during the raid. The way the plane looked when the mission ended really told a story and seeing it build during the course of the sortie was really great… That’s basically what I meant in my post about the first screenshot.
So yeah, you could say I like the fact this has been modelled. However it should obviously be modelled across all surfaces, such as the windscreen, too.
Announced with the mention of a “24 Hours of Le Mans” title in the press release announcing the acquisition of Studio 397 and rFactor 2. This title is expected to use rFactor 2’s physics.
