F1 2011 Interview: Physics Will Better "Feed the Wheels"
Recently, I had the pleasure of a participating in a roundtable interview regarding F1 2011 with other journalists to get in some last-minute questions before the game’s release this week.
With the responses everyone gave on the F1 2011 interview poll, I asked the community’s most pressing questions along with a couple developmental questions for good measure.
I first asked Steve Hood about wheel support and what is adjustable with respect to wheel settings. Steve said that about all the wheels that were supported previously should be in there, and that the biggest improvement is that players can finally feel whats going on with the car. “That doesn’t really come through the wheel settings themselves, or force feedback and such, in terms of changing it.”
He admitted that the physics model in F1 2010 wasn’t particularly complex, so there “wasn’t that much to feed the wheels. But now with the physics engine and tire models, it’s far more involving in corners… You can feel the wheel waking up in corners, and you can adjust it during those mid-corner moments.”
I next spoke to Steve about laser scanning tracks, as that seems to be the de facto standard in providing simulated raceways. He says that it was very, very expensive when the team looked into it for F1 2010. For their track process, Codemasters sends photographers to gather data. Past reserve drivers also come to the team and tell Codemasters how the tracks actually feel.
Steve felt they could get 99% accuracy on track recreation from the data the team has. “The final piece, I think, comes from the driver input. Because drivers currently, when they go to work on the simulators, have arguments with the race engineers and the simulator guys” about what the data shows and what all the drivers know they feel on the track.
“What we’re trying to match at the end of the day is the experiences that the drivers in the teams talk about during the race weekend on TV because that the reference for all our players.” Steve wrapped up scanning noting that he’d rather push the physics engine much further before they started using laser scanning, in order to justify the cost of the latter.
Steve confirmed that sound effects have been improved in 2011, with a more realistic differentiation between the teams. He said he could hear two different cars going around in the office and could tell the difference between the Ferrari and Mercedes engine. However, he said “because a lot of the engine manufacturers provide units for the other teams, there’s not that much variety that goes on in Formula One anymore.”
While not so much with the downshift sounds, F1 2011 has loads of new sounds such as “different audio effects when you are running at speed, when you are damaged you can hear whistling. We’re trying to put a lot more information through the audio whereby instead of having to look at the head-up display… you can hear that you’re having problems with your fuel or the engine is running rough.”
Regarding pit stops in F1 2011, Steve said players have the choice of having the game automatically drive in and out of the box or manually players can put the limiter on and off, with a little more control in terms of steering. Steve would like to expand this all in the future, but the team wanted to fix some of the bugs in pit stops in 2010 whereby players would ultimately end up in last position.
My last question poked at historical vehicles or tracks. Steve said those are “the world’s biggest licensing nightmare.” It’s a problem when the drivers and sponsors are all scattered. However, Steve was adamant that if Codemasters is going to continue with the Formula One license, they will get around those barriers and eventually get them in the game.
Stay tuned for the final videos and full list of supported wheels on F1 2011, releasing this week.
[Steve Hood at Codemasters and Jen Chong from FortySeven, thanks so much for making this possible!]
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