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...
Yesterday in a livestream that you can currently watch here, Thrustmaster announced and showed off their brand-new T818 Direct Drive steering wheel hub, designed to compete with Fanatec as the current market leader and currently only listed with PC support. I’ve been waiting on this announcement because my force feedback wheels are within the Thrustmaster ecosystem and I was curious, mainly, if I could keep my wheel rims. Turns out that you can.
The price looks reasonable (599 GBP / 649 EUR / 649 USD), although there are cheaper offerings I am very happy to see an upgrade path for Thrustmaster tech, including pedals, which are fully compatible. I did wonder, after Logitech launched their version, whether they’d price similarly.
The only thing stopping me from getting my hands on one right now is that they are currently not for sale in the United States and they don’t have stock here for me to buy one. They also don’t have stock to send me one for review at this time (I wanted to do a direct head-to-head with the Logitech PRO – as Logitech did send me one for review). They say that because they produced the hub in France, shipping to the United States is delayed and will only be available in March, 2023.
Check out their profile page for the product for more information and a pre-order link. The livestream will probably be deleted from Twitch at some point… I have downloaded the stream and will upload it to my own channel if they do not mirror and preserve it somewhere else.
