Gamasutra’s racing feature this week rounded up several key racing devs to discuss the future of racing games, and specifically about their shifts from console to PC. It’s an interesting look at a wide-range of developers, and I’ve provided some juicy opinionated tidbits from the feature here.
Split/Second dev Andy Hubbard says that “Black Rock’s closure was largely due to the racing game genre and, in particular, the arcade aspect of it, being in decline.” He also supposes that consumers are less likely to invest their limited cash on a new racing IP/idea when they can buy something more familiar, which is why we see racing game sequels like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport retain their console crowns.
Darren Jobling, Eutechnyx COO, says he sees “free-to-play offering huge opportunities for developers who want to get much closer to the players, especially if they want to publish themselves.” Of course, he’s referring to the team’s free-to-play Auto Club Revolution. He says “the PC format gives mass-market access — much more so than console,” especially in countries where consoles don’t reign king like Russia, Brazil, Turkey, China, and Korea.
Trackmania’s Anne Blondel-Jouin makes a rather striking claim, believing that racing lends itself more to the PC platform than to consoles: “The racing experience as a very demanding and challenging one that requires skill. Devoting your undivided attention when playing on a console seems to be much more of a struggle than playing on a PC.”
The article states that Slightly Mad’s Andy Tudor hopes to avoid a premature ill fate like many console IPs, all the while taking on PC competitors like sims rFactor, iRacing, and netKar Pro:
“This is a much easier task… given the fact that we have products currently in development — one of them being Project C.A.R.S. — that we believe can win that war.’”
Slightly Mad’s Tudor also describes how next generation consoles may be exploited, and in specific the WiiU. In addition to using the controller as a steering wheel, Tudor suggests one can use the Wii U to enable a rearview mirror or a navigation system.
The full feature linked below is definitely worth a read. What do you think about all the racing titles that have come and gone these past few years? What do you think are the pros and cons of console and personal computer racing games?
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