Asobo, known today as the Microsoft Flight Simulator developer, created groundbreaking technology for large scale maps that was intended to be used in a high quality rally raid title. It was never released and ended up as FUEL, a post-apocalyptic open-world racing game. What happened?
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.
Volvo Car Corporation and SimBin Development Team released Volvo: The Game in May, 2009. It was completely free, and could be downloaded originally from the Volvo Web site. A fairly interesting marketing experience, the software was downloaded more than 50,000 times in two days. The software was developed with quite a few optimizations to try to minimize the system requirements. The intention was that anyone with a relatively recent PC would run it.
It included the Volvo S60 Concept road car and Volvo S40, Volvo 850 Estate, Volvo 240, Volvo C30, Volvo S60 race cars. Just two circuits were included: Gothenburg Eco Drive Arena, Sweden and Autodrome Chayka, Ukraine.