Seeing GTR and SIMBIN at Donington

For anyone who hasn’t been following the progress of ‘GTR: The Ultimate Racing Game’ over the past twelve months, RSC are pleased to complete the ‘detail’ for you having tested it thoroughly at Donington this last weekend.

Now there’s testing and then there’s Testing.

If you’re a print magazine, then all too often the testing is a little ’month before’ piece written before going on a fully paid holiday to a sunny climate, securing a three page advertising deal and then returning the promised score.

If you’re online media, you’d better not expect that long holiday in the sun. But at least we get down to the real business of playing the game and getting the headline. In this instance, it means sitting down and playing a game on various machines, screens and pedals…on various tracks, using eye-tracking hardware and watching link-up games as the public battle it out. It means talking to those who do the hard work on the game, those who play the game, promote the game and those who give valuable input.

It’s safe to say that GTR is (just) accessible enough for the buying public and at the same time it is super-hardcore for you sim nuts.

When asked what Henrik Roos thought about the difficulty of the game, he immediately knew the problem. “Do you use the assists?” he asks! I’m from RSC! I can’t use assists! Well that’s what I used to think. But with the technology and difficulty of today’s sims, perhaps it’s time to concede and use a little traction control. Two points here. First Henrik Roos knows this game. He knows the menus, he navigates carefully to ensure a guest had the camera high enough and close enough within the cockpit view. Second, He should know because he’s one of the drivers for Henrik Roos Racing, who are the team funding/helping development of this highly anticipated sim.

SIMBIN

Let’s get back to the basics for those who are unclear about the facts:-

– Simbin Development Team has Henrik Roos as CEO. That’s a racing driver as CEO!
– Simbin staff are distributed right around the globe. They work together online and cooperate but are not based in a single office.
– Amazingly they do not have the cash backing of a game publisher yet the game has just about been completed.
– Game publishing is signed for Scandinavia, but not the rest of the world. It’s still being teased around the major publishers.
– In a world of 100+ teams for game development, Simbin still work with a relatively small team.
– Simbin create all their own documentation, secured the FIA license and are marketing the game, so far without publisher aid.

So that’s Simbin. How unique is that? Very, very unique. In a world where the game publishing/developing/marketing seems corrupt, ludicrous and out-dated, this seems to me to be a very refreshing, exciting and frankly very brave thing to do.

THE GAME

Only six months ago Simbin had not a single pixel lighting up their isolated screens. How uplifting then to see the full Donington circuit and a huge bunch of loud cars running seamlessly and smoothly around the track. But not just Donington, all the 2003 tracks are ready, all the cars are done and frankly the game is only weeks from completion. Weeks I tell you.

Compared to the single track demo, it was great to have a choice. I tried out the Lotus Elise, Ferrari Modena Challenge car, Lamborghini Murcialablahblah and a trusty Viper. The Ferrari felt reassuringly familiar. The Elise even more so. I really enjoyed the Elise, although the gears needed a little tuning it was really chuckable and much easier to grab than the full blown GT cars. With practice, I’m sure the Elise will become a favourite for online sparring.

The linked games worked a treat as you’d expect.

Pit stops look set to be a quick decision menu affair, needing to calculate the volume of fuel, type of tyre etc as you are actually inside the pit watching the clock. Alternatively you will be able have your computer help you out and do the stop manually.

Online play will (thankfully) not be via Gamespy. It’s going to be Simbin’s own handiwork. Hopefully then, since they’re all seasoned gamers, it will be friendly and useful and no more complicated than necessary.

Audio quality is a tough one to write about. I didn’t really notice it because it was immersive and real. I hope my point has made it home there….it’s amazing because it’s what you expected to hear. I’m sure it helps that it was running through great equipment and very loudly, but lets not be distracted here, this is seriously good quality audio.

THE DISPLAY

Simbin had a hospitality suite on one side of the trailer and a public tent on the other. In the public tent was a projector screen and eight linked up racing frames. The queue often stretched to the door, never less than dozens of people deep. There was lots of room too, providing seating and refreshing shade from the (nearly) blazing sunshine.

To the side of the trailer was the merchandise retail stand with flyers etc and two beautiful and shining cars – a Saleen and a Viper. See the photo. The Viper is Henrik’s road car. For comfort it does have a radio. Not much else though. It actually got driven here from Sweden. Blimey!

HOSPITALITY SUITE

In addition to everything else you’d expect, the hospitality suite housed a further, private demo pod running a really high resolution LCD screen and some standard Logitech wheel/pedals. This is where my track time was spent, well on this and two other special racing frames. I will write more of these in the coming weeks, but it would suffice to say that the NIXIM racing frames were by far the most intuitive and accessible way to learn how to play such a difficult game.

THE NOW

The game is pretty much ready to ship, but as I said above, apart from Scandinavia there’s no publishing deal in place. I am assured that deals are on the table – some good, some great. I think we have to appreciate that this game has been coded so quickly (with no sight of any compromise I should add) that putting a publishing contract of perhaps a more unusual type is going to take time. So be patient. Publishers don’t just think about a single game you know, they plan ahead. Let’s hope that Simbin Lawyers cut a fair deal and the game comes to all regions with haste.

THE FUTURE

Something, just a little something had been knawing away at my concern strings over the past few years and Donington thankfully raised both the question and the answer. My concern (as it turns out) was that sim racing in this more hardcore variety is becoming more for the say 27-47 age group and the younger folks are taking less interest in this genre. I was really pleased then, to see so many younger players (and I mean really younger) on the linked up games and enjoying it. So it seems Simbin will have a larger target audience than even they perhaps imagined. And that can only be a good thing for the wider sim community. Perhaps those publishers who have walked away from simulation games in recent years will look more kindly in the future.

56 cars, I am assured was happily racing around a circuit together. The mind boggles quite honestly. Imagine being position 56/56 and working your way through the pack. Of course you’d probably need to get more friendly with your PC parts supplier if you intend running that kind of pack, but hold on, does that mean future proofing? I believe so. And talking of future proofing, the word is that the game will be moddable to some degree, but definitely not the physics or online components. I look forward to seeing some of them photoshop wizards doing their stuff.

Simbin are a very professional, dedicated, enthusiastic and above all refreshing development team. They’ve taken their own tag line to heart and are very real indeed. They’re expanding their team size. They’re going to open offices in the UK. They finished the game that was born from their favourite hobby. You’ve probably played the demo and witnessed for yourself the physics are mint. They clearly mean business.

From whatever point of view you take, when a developer’s background is this sim-centric –you’d be well advised to watch this space, and that goes for GT racing fans, as well as fans of other motorsports.