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.
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.
Join Jon Denton, Tim Wheatley, Simon Croft and guest(s) as they discuss sim racing and racing games past, present and future.
While sim racers will have a chance to get more content for N2 in November of this year, when Papyrus will roll out its NASCAR Grand National Series Expansion Pack, the additional tracks released today are designed to get you back behind the wheel and enjoying yet again one of the best racing sims we’ve ever seen.
You can grab Bull Run Raceway and Red Rock International Raceway from our downloads page.
Text from the readme:
NASCAR Racing 2
Fantasy Tracks Readme File
8/11/97Thank you for downloading the NASCAR Racing 2 fantasy track
demo archive. While these tracks are freely distributable,
we ask that you do not alter the contents of these archives
or the files therein in any manner. We are not responsible
for altered versions of these distribution files.Bull Run Raceway and Red Rock International Raceway are fantasy
tracks that will be released in November 1997 with the NASCAR
Grand National Series Expansion Pack. As such, these tracks
should be considered pre-release versions; they may not be
compatible with the release versions. This warning also
applies to early versions of these tracks that were released
on demo CDs in certain magazines.SIERRA ON-LINE, INC. DOES NOT WARRANTY OR PROMISE THAT THE
INFORMATION HEREIN WILL WORK WITH ANY OR ALL COMPUTER SYSTEMS.
SIERRA DOES NOT ASSUME ANY LIABILITY, EITHER INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL, FOR THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN,
INCLUDING ANY AND ALL DAMAGE TO OR LOST USE OF COMPUTER
HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE PRODUCTS, LOSS OF WARRANTIES,
OR LOST DATA BY THE CUSTUOMER OR ANY THIRD PARTY.
NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY
SIERRA, ITS EMPLOYEES, DISTRIBUTORS, DEALER OR AGENTS
SHALL CHANGE THE RESTRICTION OF LIABILITY OR CREATE ANY
NEW WARRANTIES.——————————————————————–
I. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
You must own a licensed copy of NASCAR Racing 2 to use
these fantasy tracks. Each track works with either the
normal or Rendition-ready version of NASCAR Racing 2.———————————————————————–
II. INSTALLATION
In order to install these tracks, you need to have a .ZIP archive manager
such as PKUNZIP for DOS or WinZip for Windows 3.1/Windows 95 that
can understand extra directory information.WINZIP USERS:
1) Open the TRACKS.ZIP archive.
2) Select EXTRACT.
3) In the dialog box, check the box that says “Use Folder Names”.
4) Select the “All Files” radio button.
5) In the “Extract To:” window, type in the drive and directory of
your NASCAR Racing 2 installation (eg. C:\SIERRA\NASCAR2\)
6) Click “Extract”.
7) Once your archive has extracted, run the CALENDAR.BAT file that
was extracted in your NASCAR Racing 2 directory.PKUNZIP USERS:
1) From the DOS prompt, change directories to your NASCAR Racing 2 installation.
(eg. C:\> cd \sierra\nascar2)
2) Type “pkunzip -d\tracks.zip” from the prompt. stands for your
download directory where you stored the TRACKS.ZIP file.
(eg. C:\SIERRA\NASCAR2\> pkunzip -d c:\download\tracks.zip)
***NOTE: YOU MUST INCLUDE THE -D TAG IN ORDER TO INSTALL THE FILES CORRECTLY!
3) Once your archive has extracted, run the CALENDAR.BAT file that
was extracted in your NASCAR Racing 2 directory.———————————————————————–
We hope you enjoy these fantasy tracks. Look for the
newest versions of these tracks in Papyrus’ upcoming
NASCAR Grand National Series Expansion Pack at a retail
store near you!Thanks,
Papyrus Design Group, Inc.
A division of Sierra On-Line, Inc.———————————————————————–
NASCAR Racing 2 is a 1996 racing video game by Papyrus Design Group based on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series of the same year, with a later addon for the 1997 Busch Grand National Series. It featured many drivers, Gen-4 chassis and tracks from both series.
Papyrus developed this title and released multiple NASCAR-based video games with incremental changes up until their transition to the “GPL engine” used in NASCAR Racing 4.
Official 1997 Busch Grand National Series addon for NASCAR Racing 2, featuring many drivers, teams and tracks from the Busch series.