rec.autos.simulators

Preview:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6103915&postcount=1

"Before we actually write our impressions of SEGA Rally, let us begin
with a little history lesson of the franchise the representative gave
us. The original SEGA Rally dates from 1995 and was released as an
arcade machine with two chairs and dito steering wheels. The graphics
were on a very high level in their time and the first game of the
franchise is still an overwhelming success, even today. In fact: it's
the most SEGA's most profitable arcade game yet! There's even a
cabinet in the United Kingdom that swallowed more than 750 000 British
pounds, or more than a million euro's, which is no mere feat! Later,
the game was also ported to the PC and the Saturn, but wasn't nearly
as succesful.

SEGA Rally 2 arrived a few years later in the arcades and the
Dreamcast, reviving the series with somewhat deeper gameplay and more
options. This game would eventually turn into one of the most beloved
game on SEGA's visionary 6th generation console. After a few ports of
this iteration, this series would be covered in silence for another
few years, until the PS2 received SEGA Rally: The Anniversary Edition
in 2006. It became the worst game in the series by far, which is
mostly the case with compilation games, but that aside...

Yet SEGA wasn't satisfied with such a blame on one of their treasured
franchises and they wish to correct that mistake with a next-gen SEGA
Rally for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC at the end of the year. The game will -
for your information - carry the suffice 'Revo' in Amerika, because
it's supposed to go hand-in-hand with a revolutionizing entree for the
series. Which is necessary in this case, considering they developed
this game from the ground up for Western gamers, hoping it will make a
comeback in said part of the global hemisphere.

The introductory part of the presentation in Amsterdam contained
comparisons between the old and new SEGA Rally, especially concerning
graphical details. For instance: the first SEGA Rally had environments
consisting out of 20 000 triangles. Pretty weak in this day and age,
but you mustn't forget that in it's time (already 12 years ago) these
were pretty impressive. Next-gen consoles won't be easily intimidated
by this and plans to provide us with levels built out of 20 million
triangles! Furthermore, this new SEGA Rally will include cars with 65
000 polygons each, which should provide us plenty of eye candy. All of
this should normally run on a constant 60 frames per second and at
1080p; my hat off to SEGA should they attain this goal in the retail
version. We couldn't actually get any confirmation though whether or
not the Xbox 360-version will support the same resolution, but we were
assured both versions will look exactly alike in every way.

Let's follow up with some words about the studio behind the latest
iteration of the ever so famous series shall we? SEGA Rally Studio was
founded in April 2005 and is located in Solihul, in the rainy West
Midlands of the United Kingdom to be precise. Currently, they have
about 50 members and most of them (if not all) are ex-employees from
other well-known studios. Codemasters, Criterion, Rare and Rockstar
North for example. The main purpose of this development company is to
offer us next-gen racing games from old and new IP's and they take
their job seriously. Mark Fisher, whom gave us the presentation,
assured us that the basement of SEGA Racing Studio is literally filled
with arcade cabinets, so that they can look for inspiration at all
times if they don't have an idea where to go next for a while. Perhaps
we'll give some false hope to die-hard fans with our next comment, but
what the hell: when asked by other members of the press whether or not
the next project of this company will be Daytona USA, we were met with
a "maybe". Mark Fisher also replied with a "who knows!", when asked if
there'll ever be an arcade version of this new SEGA Rally.

Now, the most important of racing games are of course the cars
themselves. There will be more than 30 cars available in the latest
SEGA, each with four different car classes: 4WD, 2WD, Classic and
Bonus. Classic practically speaks for itself: there will be a few
vehicles from the previous games. We don't know which ones will
reappear, as the subject was hardly discussed. It's also possible by
the way that these classic cars will be potentially unlockable, just
like the Bonus Cars. We know very little of these as well, but it
wouldn't surprise us if they have a lot of extra power under the hood,
considering the fact that the sense of speed was already satisfying.
Each car will also provide you three different pre-sets, depending on
what kind of ground they have to race on. Typical Paris-Dakar vehicles
will obviously come in hand in the desert, while other cars will be
more suitable for ice tracks, wet surfaces or just plain asphalt. You
won't be able to manually configure these pre-sets however, which was
the case in previous installments.

The biggest feature SEGA Racing Studio loves to boast about in this
game, are the environments and this for many reasons. For starters:
they paid a lot attention to the level designs so that the
environments look gorgeous. We only got to take a gander at one sadly,
but it was - especially for an older January build - already rather
impressive. Said jungle level had some features that other
environments could lack, namely large draw distances and big sections
of forest. It's only natural that you won't find much bystanders in
the rainforest, unless you take a bunch of mosquito's into
consideration. But nevertheless, there will be more spectators in
fitting locations.

The second reason why environments are so important, is because of the
Track Deformation, which will undoubtedly be the most discussed topic
whenever SEGA Rally is mentioned. What's the idea behind this feature?
Imagine driving through a sandy track with the ocassional water puddle
or two. After a few laps, the entire surface will be changed so
drastically, that no round will ever be the same. Creating muddy tire
tracks, grinding the top layer, expanding the puddles et al will be
possible during the entire race.

Maybe it's for the best to explain what we saw with a clear example.
At the beginning of the jungle level, you start with a hard surface
where the tire tracks are hardly visible. When you advance however,
the structure of the surface will become less tight and a couple of
mud puddles will originate as a result. Drive through these muddy
parts of the track and you will create deep tire tracks that not only
improve your traction, but also entirely change of the outlook of the
racing track. Because of this, your car will visibly bounce up and
down and will also covered with a hefty amount of mud, something you
can actually see on your vehicle. A nice little detail is that you can
remove the mud by driving through puddles of water, which in their
turn act as a carwash, instantly cleansing your car. In other words:
the Track Deformation will have a noticeable influence on the
gameplay, unlike Motorstorm, where it mainly served as a fancy
graphical effect. We agree with such statements from Mark Fisher in
any case, now that we've seen SEGA Rally with our own eyes.

There will be other important physics to the gameplay besides the
Track Deformation. The weight of your car for instance will help
decide the road holding (as well as how badly the track will change)
and there will be a handful of graphical effects to admire. In the
code that they demonstrated were plentiful minor details, such as
kickback of sand, mud and water - all of them were a Work-in-Progress
by the by - but we noticed they're also a part of the gameplay. The
unlucky racer that's way in the back, will possibly have to think in
advance when he will pass one of his opponents, thanks to an
obstructed view. These kind of physics will expand in the final
version, with fluttering leaves of breakable wooden fences. Or to
quote Mark Fisher: "even the side parts of the main course will be
submitted to Track Deformation, including grass". Not only that, but
it seems that the (in theory) impressive weather 'simulation' of
Project Gotham Racing 4 also had an impact on the developers, due to
the fact different weather conditions were promised. When it rains,
the course will be filled with mud in no time, which will naturally
give an advantage to off-road vehicles. This change in weather won't
happen in real time mind you: it will only differ per track. Don't
expect any extreme physics calculations either, seen in Forza
Motorsport 2.

You might be wondering: sooner or later we'll have to discuss the
actual gameplay, next to the graphical splendor and possible
influences to the replay value of the game and don't you worry: we'll
get to it in a minute. The SEGA Rally franchise, right from the
beginning, has been known for its intense playing style and this will
be retained in the next-gen sequel. Wholly different to the point-to-
point racing of the older games, is the new approach of SEGA Rally
Revo. Here you'll have to approach your opponents very closely and
sometimes even give them a strategical nudge in the back to increase
your position to eventually defend the first place during three laps,
all at blazing speeds. This kind of gameplay reminds of us the term
'arcadey', but they want to avoid that as much as possible by creating
this very complete game with a ton of unlockables and extra's. Mark
Fisher also gave us the very reason why they didn't choose for the old-
fashioned way in this next-gen edition: SEGA only used the
aforementioned checkpoint system due to technical reasons.

The company also tries to make the game feel more 'realistic' in a way
by introducing solid graphics and the Track Deformation, but they
don't want to bring in the bad sides of realism to the gameplay
either, like being slowed down because of damage. At the same time,
the representative mentioned "Hollywood damage" to further describe
their damage models. Your cars won't be made of plastic as they will
be visibly damaged eventually, but there won't be any consequences to
the performance of your car. We have no idea whether or not they'll go
as far Rallisport Challenge 2 though, where seperate parts were yanked
from your vehicle as you tumbled off a cliff. It's also possible you
will be spun out by your opponents through a gentle tap at the rear
bumper during a turn, but this is something the creators would like to
avoid as much as possible. They don't want to frustrate the player, to
the extent he hits the reset button as soon as he's behind the other
racers. This doesn't mean each race will be void of suspense, because
this is where some slight rubberband A.I. will kick in. Said
intelligence is kind of excessive in games like Burnout or Motorstorm,
but SEGA Racing Studio wants their A.I. to be reasonable so that the
players won't end up being irritated. In other words: they want to
make sure a race will only be decided at the finish line, instead of
continuously bothering you through the opposition. This kind of
attitude should give the game a higher replay value.

Another important element in any racing game, are the camera
positions. SEGA Rally Revo will have four of those: two of which will
be first-person and the other two third-person. The first two camera's
are located on the bumper and the hood of your car, while the third-
person views will either show you a close-up of your car, or will be
removed further than normal for maximum viewability. Sadly, the most
wanted cockpit view is missing, something which will disappoint a
couple of racing fans. This seems to be intentional though, so that
SEGA doesn't collide with the (sort of) 'arcadey' gameplay. Which in
its turn, isn't a beloved expression for Mark Fisher.

When we think of arcadey gameplay, we don't necessarily think about a
multitude of modes. These kind of games are supposedly all about
instant accessibility after all, with a hefty dose of instant fun.
This is something SEGA tries to blend in the latest installment,
coupled with deeper gameplay. We only got to see one single player
mode though, namely Championship; a new 10-Year Career Mode la SEGA
Rally 2 or a tour-de-force mode on the other hand, are very unlikely.
Anywho, in Championship you compete in this large tournament on a
couple of circuits against six other competitors in the retail version
- We only saw 5 A.I. drivers in the January build. There's also a more
accentuated focus on fun with more than one player: there will online
functions no matter what, as well as split-screen multiplayer. It
isn't clear at the moment how much players will be supported, but
we're hoping they'll go as far The Club by including 4-player split-
screen. SEGA is also planning 'ghost downloads' so that you can
visibly compete against the best of times, next to online leaderboards
and naturally online play itself.

There isn't much to say about the music right about now, knowing that
we only saw one track. SEGA did inform us that they are currently
experimenting with the music, so that the soundtrack fits with the
track and the competitive side of the game. Old familiar tunes won't
return (as well as the commentator), but they're trying to keep the
same tone so that those who love 'The Sound of SEGA Rally' will
instantly remember these. Other than that, there's very little to
express about the remaining audio: the engines sound well and small
details are very noticable. The mud for example lets off this juicy,
squishing sound whenever you drive on it.

Finally, potential extra's were discussed that may or may not be a
part of the game. As expected, they weren't willing to inform us about
downloadable content, but Mark Fisher did provide us small hints
concerning actual unlockables. Sonic will appear "somewhere in the
game" and there will also be a couple of familiar moments from
previous games returning as cameo's (such as the helicopter). SEGA is
also considering the inclusion of the original SEGA Rally, but they're
still on the edge about this because of the recently released
Anniversary Edition. Which, as we all know, didn't do too well.

In a period where racing games are slowly returning in a glorious
fashion after a disappointing 2006, it is very important for SEGA
Rally to differeniate itself from other games to draw sufficient
attention. Figures, with local competition (sort of) from Forza
Motorsport 2, Project Gotham Racing 4, FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage and
Colin McRae: DIRT, let alone the games on other platforms. But SEGA
Rally actually succeeds to do just that from the looks of it, by
delivering a feeling that we don't see in any other similar next-gen
racer. Not even in DIRT or Motorstorm, by far their biggest 'rivals'.
Are you craving for semi-realistic steering, then you're looking up
the wrong bush and you'd better for Codemasters game. Are you actually
looking for a game similar to Rallisport Challenge 2 to fill the void
DICE left, then without a doubt SEGA Rally is a game to look forward
to. Add advanced Track Deformations and pretty graphics, and we
realised at the end of the presentation that SEGA Rally could turn
into an excellent debut for SEGA Racing Studio. If they can work
things as promised, that is.

Expect SEGA Rally Revo in your store, starting from the fourth quarter
of this year. The game itself is currently 80% complete."

__________________________________________________________________________

Sega Rally Revo interview

http://www.x-power.be/?act=artikels&content_id=6985&game_id=745

X-Power: Will SEGA Rally include online racing? Will the game combine
this with other online functionalities? Or is the ability to race
against other people enough?

Mark Fisher: It will most definitely have online modes and SEGA Racing
Studio will include as much technology as they can. It's all about
competition and not hing gets better than something like Xbox Live.
They will focus on that and make it as best as an experience as
possible.

I'm not too sure, but they will have plans to download ghosts, but I
don't know whether or not it'll happen automatically like in other
games. I can't disclose too much about the online aspect sadly, so
we'll announce our plans in the future.

XP: Are you considering adding content from the previous SEGA Rally's?
Such as the announcer from SR 1 and some tracks from previous games?
If not: is there a chance these will appear as downloadable content?

MF: The team are looking to recreate and enhance the regional SEGA
Rally: all the previous elements from the others will be present, and
it will sound familiar to longtime fans, while sounding more advanced;
it's not the same guy however, but he's quite similar in the way he
delivers the lines. We'll be taking these moments, add them as cameo's
so that people will remind stuff from the previous SEGA Rally's, the
stuff they enjoyed and fondly think back of.

XP: Regarding the engine: will physics play a big part in the game
(next to track deformation) and will it run at 60 frames per second,
as stated before?

MF: It will stay hundred percent correct f rom what I know, and one
thing I know they will strive for, is perfection. One of these things
will be fluent sixty frames per second and they will not stop until
they achieve perfection in this regard.

The bulk of the races will revolve around three laps, so the
deformation can optimize during the length of the race. Generally
speaking: the tracks are made up out of three layers, but if you keep
the race running, there will be parts of the track that will look
noticeably different than at the beginning of the race, like expanding
the water puddles or reaching the bottom of the mud and making the
tracks very hard. We even left the game running once for more than 12
hours straight (as a test) and the differences between its original
and final state were vast.

You've all played Motorstorm by now, right? It's a fun racing game, no
doubt, but what we're doing with track deformation is completely
different from what you see in Motorstorm. You know how they, the
developers, claimed they were pioneers, that their game would be the
first racing game to properly include track deformation? I was looking
forward to that, but when I played it, it became clear that it was
nothing but a fancy graphical effect, more than anything else. Sure,
it has some (minor) influence on the track, but their track
deformation is more 'arcadey' than what we have created in SEGA Rally.
SEGA Racing Studio is the first to include true track deformation, and
they're proud of this!

The amount of kick-ups, such as the amount of dust, is being discussed
and adjusted, but we've had some very interesting conversations about
the track deformation. You can wait and keep a distance instead of
plowing through the dust clouds, which limits your vision, but later
on, once the ground becomes wetter and filled with mud, that's your
time to make your move and pass your opponents.

Physics will play an equally large part for the handling of your car,
but not in a realistic manner. Your car can't be totaled, but they
will have cosmetic damage. We like to call this 'Hollywood damage',
but sadly we couldn't show you today to what extent our cars can be
damaged. It isn't available in the current build, but rest assured:
damage models will be available in the final code.

The reason why we haven't gone for realistic damage: SEGA Rally is
about a smile inducing experience and having physical consequences for
bad driving (like mine today!) distracts the player from that feeling.
It's all about fast-paced racing and competitiveness. That's where the
rubber band A.I. comes in: yes there will be slight rubber banding,
but we also want to prevent frustrations like being spun in the back
by your opponents. Frustrations like that isn't what SEGA Rally is
about.

XP: What kind of single and multiplayer modes can we expect? Also: why
did SEGA prefer something like Championship in stead of opting for the
return of SR 2's 10-year career mode, or tour de force?

MF: They're currently finalizing the single player modes, so
unfortunately I can't give you much information about this. But, the
team, if they got a question or don't know what to do, they'll replay
the previous games and evaluate wh at made them great, and add them in
the game to further emphasize its roots. Not many people get the
chance to get to work on such an iconic franchise, so to them, it's
all about bringing back the feeling of the previous games and the
intensity of the racing itself.

XP: Speaking of modes: any new race types that weren't in the previous
games?

MF: SEGA is guilty of the past in that they had a arcade IP for
consoles, but didn't fully develop them for that specific userbase.
But SEGA wants to improve on that and insure a solid single player
where you have great depth in the concept yet keep the core
addictiveness at the same time. We want to keep the fun factor very
instant and very accessible, which is what people expect from arcade
games after all. The team is really going to great length so that this
SEGA Rally won't disappoint in both single and multiplayer.

XP : Out of the camera views: will there be a dashboard view? It would
add greatly for the immersion of the races. For that matter: any word
on support for force feedback steering wheels?

MF: There will be four different camera views: two of them will be in
third-person (one close to the car, one further), a hood cam and
bumper view. There will be no dashboard view, but there will be force
feedback on the Xbox 360: we've tried it with the Forza 2 wheel, it
works and it feels incredible!

Regarding the PlayStation 3 version: the ball is in Sony's court. We'd
like to add force feedback in one way or another and we're currently
negotiating with Sony, but we're not making any promises. The
situation is also a little different than on the Xbox 360, considering
the lack of rumble in the Sixaxis controller.

XP: Will there be any form of car customization, be it decals or
adjusting some parts of your car such as suspension, tires et cetera?

MF: The team looked closely to the level of customization in previous
games and they want to make sure that all of the vehicles will be
pretty even versus others. They will have some 'special abilities' if
you will: some are better suited for certain environments and
surfaces, but all of them will nonetheless be pretty even to one
another.

In terms of actual customization: there will be different liveries,
and the standard vehicles will have three different variants where
tires, suspension and other components will be pre-set for you, all
with specific statistics. However, there will be no independent
customization.