R.I.P V8SC’s (TOCA Race Driver Series)

The death of an excellent game in favour of “Arcadey Fun”

   Yes, true, it seems Codemasters, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen to go the route of full-on Arcade style game in their new series GRID (ex Race Drive One). It will cover 3 continents, but NOT include any BTCC or TOCA or V8 SC’s series whatsoever, and is a cross between NFS Pro-Street, Juiced 2: Import Nights and the PGR4 (arcade style) series, with their “Street Racing Style game play”. It will come with a selection of cars from the US (muscle), Europe (exotic/performance), and Japan (Tuner).

So for those of us who have been following the series with great enthusiasm, it’s time to look at a solid PC set-up for you Racing Sim stimulation . . . especially if Forza 3 takes the same route . . . heaven forbid, but it “could” ?? – it’s be the death of all True Racing Sims on consoles. Which btw, still has an active online user base of over 1.000.000 players, NOT including the huge number of off-line Forza 2 players out there.

It seems to me that console developers still think their market is kids . . and with a broadening market share on both Xbox360, and PS3 in the HD field and “Next-Gen” game engine capabilities, they may feel that to get a bigger slice of the market, they need to broaden their games to a bigger audience, and that audience is ONLY interested in Arcade games . . . or so it seems.

There’s no changing their minds now, with the game being released mid ’08, and thus development well underway, so we just have to grin and take it on the chin. I now know it’s NOT a game I’ll be buying, even though I’ve bought every V8SC’s game from its inception.

There will be millions of fans worldwide who will not be very happy about this, and you need only look at the official Codemasters Aust forums for GRID/Race Driver to see this. As well as get the real story on it from the admin of the site btw.

The change of name has been made to appeal to a wider, younger audience, and as they (Codemasters) felt the name Race Driver wasn’t gaining them any new audiences, just solid followers of the current series.

But one would have to wonder, is there something wrong with racing sims on consoles . .? It seems so, as almost all the developers are opting for arcade style racers on their console versions, and keeping the true sims for PC users only.

With “This-Gen” consoles like the 360 and the PS3 really using their power to great advantage, you’d be forgiven to think that developers would jump at the chance to try their luck in the ever expanding console market by pushing the hardware further with simulation style racing engines.

But no, it seems the arcade style is having a greater pull that the sim-crowd.

It’s a truly sad day for real racing sim enthusiasts. So get your copy of V8SC’s 3, as it’ll be the last chance you’ll get to play anything close to a sim on a console . . . or so it seems.

This from the official Codemasters GRID Forums

“Ok, then I’ve finally been cleared to drop this one out there.

No V8.

And no DTM, either.

Various reason for this, most of which I can’t go into for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

We do still hold licenses for those championships, and we do still have ideas for what we want to do with them, but not as part of Grid – what those ideas are, I can’t say, and nothing has been greenlit or confirmed at all, but we do know that these are popular series, and no decision relating to them has been taken lightly.

So far, the PR activity has played up the new “street” aspects over the trad aspects as we need to reach out to a new market- but to reiterate, that’s not all there is. We do have a very prestigous, real-world championship signed up that I’m bursting to tell you about, but can’t.

But we do need to reach out to new people- Costs of next-genaration development at this stage demand that. Like it or not, we do need to sell games in the US to survive, and while Race Driver historically did better than Colin McRae in that regard, it’s still not good enough.

So, if the lack of those two championships is a total deal-breaker, then fair enough, GRID probably isn’t for you, and it’s probably best if you stop following it and weighing it down with expectations of a straight sequel to RD3 which it’s not going to be. No hard feelings from this side, I know it’s a disappointing thing to hear if you’re a fan of a series when it takes a turn you may not be happy with, but the ultimate result may actually be better for everybody.
__________________
Rich Tysoe
Motorsports/flight/shooting/strategy CLO.
Codemasters.
www.codemasters.com
XBL Gamertag: RichXM655

And here’s the official Codemasters Press Release on GRID.

Codemasters Shifts Racing into High Gear with GRID

By Codemasters
Press Release -

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 PLAYSTATION3 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.

About Codemasters Codemasters is a leading developer and publisher of best-selling interactive entertainment products for a global audience across multiple gaming platforms and channels. Established in 1986, the company’s dominant brands include DiRT, Overlord, Clive Barker’s Jericho, Race Driver / GRID, and Operation Flashpoint. Codemasters is headquartered in Warwickshire UK, with North American operations based in Burbank, Calif. The company also maintains operations in Germany, France, Spain, and Benelux. Codemasters receives over two million visitors to its web site every month, discover why at www.codemasters.com

Press Resource Web Site Download game artwork, screens and essential Codemasters’ press materials direct to your desktop from: http://www.codemasters.com/mediabank

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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Microsoft Games, New Game Information, Xbox 360 3rd Party Games, Xbox 360 Game Previews Tagged: | 360, BTCC, Codemasters, Grid, Race Driver One, Race Driver: GRID, Racing games, racing games on xbox 360, TOCA, V8 Supercars, V8SC's, xbox360