Co ciekawe zapowiedziano wyścigi uliczne

GC 2007: Race Driver One First Look
Codemasters unveils it lastest next generation racer.
by Rob Burman, IGN UK

UK, August 23, 2007 - It may be more than a year before you'll be able to get behind the wheel of Race Driver One but that didn't stop Codemasters showing off a behind closed doors demo of the game to a select number of journalists during the Games Convention. However, the UK publisher was keen to point out that Race Driver is currently only its working title and the finished product is likely to be very different to what fans of the series may have become used to.

At least that's what Ralph Fulton, chief games designer, had to say about the title during a very brief presentation. Speaking about the ideas behind the game, Fulton explained that he thinks next generation racers have moved too far away from the core racing experience and are now focused on the customisation process or "painting Homer Simpson on the bonnet of your car". Fulton added: "We want this to be about the thrill of racing because when was the last time you really felt thrilled by a racing game?" As a result, the game revolves around rather short five or 10 minute races that pack as much excitement into those few minutes as possible.

Also, Fulton mentioned a further aspect of Race Driver that could be extremely interesting. You see, the development team is keen on producing a "persistent world of motorsport" that changes as you play. So, the three regions that you drive in (USA, Europe and Japan) evolve during gameplay - which means that different racing teams are available to race against or you may have access to new types of races depending upon when you play. From what we could gather from Fulton, it sounds a bit like Test Drive Unlimited, although we're keen to find out more concrete details.

Finally we were shown a short tech demo of a car racing through the streets of Milan. Because Race Driver is based on Colin McRae: DiRT's Neon Engine, you could instantly see some similarities between the two. In fact the actual road looked exactly the same as some of the tracks in DiRT. However, one of major changes in Race Driver is the fact that Neon is used to build entire cities, rather than muddy dirt tracks through forests. So, alongside the circuit were plenty of highly detailed buildings and notable locations from Milan, although the code was extremely early so there was quite a lot of pop up and the crowds hadn't been dropped in yet.

However despite that, Race Driver One looks like it could be something special when it's released next year. Although we definitely want to get some hands-on time with the game to see if it handles as good as it looks.

GC '07: Race Driver One First Look
We check out an early work-in-progress version of this Neon-powered racer during a meeting with Codemasters.


Codemasters has never been a company content to rest on its laurels where racing games are concerned. The long-running Colin McRae series of rally driving games was recently given much broader appeal courtesy of DiRT, and it's really not that long ago that the ToCA series got its Race Driver makeover. With Race Driver One--which will almost certainly not be the finished game's title--Codemasters is promising a revamp for the Race Driver series that represents as significant a leap forward as DiRT was for the aforementioned rally driving games. Codemasters will be talking about its plans for Race Driver One for the first time at this week's Games Convention in Leipzig; thus, intrigued and impatient, we paid a visit to the company's UK headquarters for a first look at the game while en route to Germany.

Ralph Fulton, chief game designer at Codemasters, told us that, unlike many modern racing games, Race Driver One will focus squarely on what happens between the starting grid and the checkered flag. Of course, there will be plenty of licensed cars for you to drive, but your goal won't be to collect them all, nor will you be encouraged to spend the majority of your time painting and upgrading them. Race Driver One will be all about "the thrill of racing" which, without straying too far from the realism that Codemasters' racers are known for, means taking a leaf out of Hollywood's book. Rivalries between drivers will be evident during races, while drama will come courtesy of more frequent crashes, mechanical failures, and the like, but not in a way that hampers your own efforts too much.

In Race Driver One's career mode, you'll start out as a lowly driver-for-hire, trying to scrape a living in demolition derbies and other events that aren't nearly as glamorous as those featured in most racing games. But you won't be the only driver striving for a shot at the big time because you'll be up against hundreds of other drivers from all over the world who are working toward the same goals as you: driving for prestigious teams then ultimately, starting your own team, being in a position to hire other drivers, and signing sponsors. Every race that you compete in will take place in a persistent world that's divided into three main regions: Europe, Japan, and North America. Races will take place regardless of whether or not you're involved in them, and you'll have the freedom to compete wherever you're chosen career path should take you. Europe will offer a lot of traditional racing events with licensed cars and circuits (including the Nurburgring), while Japan will afford you an opportunity to enhance your reputation via semilegal street races and drifting events. In North America, you'll get to race muscle cars in San Francisco, Detroit, Long Beach, and numerous other real locations.

All of the vehicles in Race Driver One will, of course, be destructible. Having seen a very early test build of the game in action, we can tell you that parts of the environment are also destructible. For example, we saw a great-looking Aston Martin cruising the impressively detailed streets of Milan. After a couple of laps, both the car and a number of the crash barriers around the circuit had dents in them. The car, which rolled onto its roof at one point, was in bad shape by the end of the demo and had lost a door. In the finished game, thousands of modeled spectators will purportedly line the circuits and react realistically to whatever is happening in the race, which should make crashes all the more impressive.

In addition to the career mode, Race Driver One will support about 20 online players simultaneously, if everything goes according to plan. With a year or so left in development, Race Driver One is already showing a lot of promise. We really can't wait to see how the career mode pans out and how much more power Codemasters can coax out of its impressive Neon engine. We'll bring you more information on this game as soon as it becomes available.
-GameSpot

Race Driver One will include locations around Europe, Japan, and the US, mixing official circuit-based championships and urban street competitions.

PRESS RELEASE: CODEMASTERS SHIFTS RACING INTO HIGH GEAR WITH GRID

Burbank, CA - Thursday, November 29, 2007 - Codemasters® today announced GRID™ as the full and official name for the game formerly introduced under the working title Race Driver One. An all-new racing experience from Codemasters Studios, creators of the DiRT™ and Race Driver™ series, GRID is due out in mid 2008 and will deliver a step-change in the racing genre.

"GRID is all about the race," said Gavin Raeburn, Executive Producer, Codemasters Studios. "The next iteration of our DiRT engine combined with a decade of experience in developing driving games enables us to put players at the center of the action like never before. Damage, packed grids, intelligent opposition and unprecedented race day atmosphere will combine to deliver an experience like no other."

GRID takes players to dramatic and beautifully realized race locations over three continents to compete in an unprecedented variety of racing events. Packed with the most powerful race cars - new and classic, circuit and drift - players will compete to conquer the most prestigious official race tracks and championships then beyond to compete in challenging city-based competitions, and then on through to road events and urban street races.

"GRID is set to capture every single racing moment, right from the starting grid to the checkered flag, and concentrates these moments into an intense and dramatic race experience," said Ralph Fulton, Chief Game Designer, Codemasters Studios. "The drama, the rivalries, the aggression and the crashes; this is not a game about collecting cars or spending all of your time in the front-end tuning suspension settings or designing liveries. We want to make racing exciting again."

Gamers will compete on Europe's greatest official race tracks in prestige Marques including Aston Martin, Koenigsegg and Pagani. Iconic cities across the U.S, including San Francisco, Washington DC and Detroit - each with their own atmosphere and events - will play host to diverse street races, where high-performance V8 muscle cars set the pace in aggressive, closely fought pack competitions. And in the Far East, Japanese racing culture sets the tone where night races, including Drift racing, takes drivers through neon illuminated cities and to outlying mountain roads. There's also the opportunity to compete in races that operate on the fringes of legality in the back streets and industrial areas of Yokohama.

GRID is being developed for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows®, and is currently rated "RP" (Rating Pending) by the ESRB. To register for future driver briefings and get a place on the grid, be sure to visit www.codemasters.com/grid

Tzn. w którym miejscu? Masz na myśli to rozmazane otoczenie czy auta na poziomie NFS'a? Ja bym się przychylał do stwierdzenia że bardziej jak Burnout wygląda a nie jak GT5:P.