We may not have an audience view specifically, but IIRC we can save custom camera locations for ourselves and generally have great freedom with the camera, so it should be doable by ourselves at least.
Q&A with Slightly Mad Studios: Ian Bell [Read OP]
- Thread starter Kitten
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We may not have an audience view specifically, but IIRC we can save custom camera locations for ourselves and generally have great freedom with the camera, so it should be doable by ourselves at least.
The_American
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No, just means i saw your question and i'm checking on it
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Thank you! Do get back when you can.
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- Stephen220378
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- davidb_165
Ian Bell
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You know, they have us on replays. I think that's about it but I could be wrong. I know I shouldn't but I really want to get those awesome looking, 'better than in game' replays going on our side. Alas, probably pCARS3...
Ian Bell
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I want to say a bit more on the GT replays. They really are epic. Kaz has blown it out of the park in this area. The importance of them also should not be underestimated in terms of the marketing clout they bring. Sure, it's not as good in-game but that goes over the heads of lots of casual consumers who want to show off their console's 'prowess'. That aspect lessens with console age but with the pro coming it becomes a factor again.
I'm not sure what they are doing, what the secret sauce is, but I'm almost thinking they run an entirely different or upgraded rendering system when they switch to replays. The key win they have on us is the quality of the motion blur, which we're still working to improve for pCARS2 and the way they use focus and bokeh in the replay cams.
Anyway, it's an amazing job, hats off to them.
I'm not sure what they are doing, what the secret sauce is, but I'm almost thinking they run an entirely different or upgraded rendering system when they switch to replays. The key win they have on us is the quality of the motion blur, which we're still working to improve for pCARS2 and the way they use focus and bokeh in the replay cams.
Anyway, it's an amazing job, hats off to them.
- 48,784
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Let's be real. They've been doing visuals for 20 years. No doubt it is going to look good. Thing is, you and your team are coming out with your second serious racer.
What I experienced in PC1, is everything I wanted for GT since GT1. You all actually did it! Hats off to you and the crew.
Like I've mentioned in the GT thread, I'll wait until the reviews. I do know, I'm not waiting when PC2 drops. First day purchase for me.
- 2,255
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- FuriousDemon
Don't worry about it too much, Ian.
I'm obsessed with all things visual and all the latest tech and at the end of the day I think if there is anything that can be sacrificed visually it would be this. It's just more fun actually racing than sitting and watching the replay. Especially considering how much time to spare most serious (old...er) gamers have.
Good question. Can't find the original post where Ian or The_American talked about how much freedom we'll have with the camera.
I can "get" what @IanBell is saying about replays as a tool for marketability, however the game play experience is what truly matters at the end of the day. What I took from watching a stream from the gts beta was a bunch of cars that you'd never see on the same grid (sls, next to Hyundai, next to mustang, next to corvette, with an alfa) running around a brands that imo looks just as good if not better in pcars1. I looked forward to gts but it just never came. In the interim I found pcars and with it an the most complete racing experience, what I see on my tv on a race weekend was brought to my living room in so many more aspects then any gt game (which, I am/was very fond of). Pcars brought that depth and a competitiveness like no other. I'm glad to hear the second outing is to be more accessible to the casual racer so they can get that same experience and I can bring more of my friends along for the ride.
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- Stephen220378
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Oh no, pCARS3. I hope pCARS2 will be fruition of simracer's ultimate dream and pCARS3 won't be needed in the next 7 years, unless pCARS3 will be focusing on rallies.
However, pCARS2 is focusing on esport and broadcasting, so high quality motion blur and replays in general are more important than in any other racing game. I hope you won't abandon pCARS2 right after release and if you won't manage to implement high quality motion blur algorithm, you will do it later.
May I ask how you'd pay the developers over the course of 7 years?
The vast majority of sales are made during the first (half) year.
- 1,001
- Germany
- bLoWfIsHrUlEz
- bLoWfIsHrUlEz
There is always a next project, even if other companies don't tell you. The money SMS will make on PCars 2 is already spent so to speak and will be used to pay back funding plus interest of the current project. A little bit of it will be used to finance the next round of the development cycle while the rest will be funded otherwise (internal or external capital that has to be payed back of course once revenues from the next project come in).
@IanBell , @The_American
In the official pCARS forums some time ago, there were some hints, that pCARS2 might be involved with the Xbox Game Preview program.
Is this something, still on the cards, or are you focusing only on just the full release?
In the official pCARS forums some time ago, there were some hints, that pCARS2 might be involved with the Xbox Game Preview program.
Is this something, still on the cards, or are you focusing only on just the full release?
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I know, every company has their own roadmap and their main goal is making money, but from the consumer point of view pCARS2 will have everything I wanted from a racing game.
What would pCARS3 need to offer to make me pay for it? If there is a reason, it should be in pCARS2.
- 1,001
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- bLoWfIsHrUlEz
- bLoWfIsHrUlEz
That is a question only you can answer for yourself. If SMS would postpone a release until PCars 2 includes everything everybody would ever dream of, they would never release a game. That is even before new technology becomes available or new trends that are surfacing in the scene over time. Also, consider the ridiculously low price we have to pay once every few years to get the latest and greatest to draw hundreds of hours of entertainment from. There is in fact no other hobby as affordable as gaming and sim racing that i can think of.
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[QUOTE="05XR8, post: 11752344, member: 218437" Thing is, you and your team are coming out with your second serious racer.[/quote]
2nd? If I count their first few, it would be 5th
GTR, GT Legends, GTR2. Won't mention the free BMW game (all credited to simbin, but created fully, 100% by Ian's crew)
Ok FRL, Shift etc are not same category, but would still make pcars 1 their 4th proper/full sim, with pcars2 being the 5th
2nd? If I count their first few, it would be 5th
GTR, GT Legends, GTR2. Won't mention the free BMW game (all credited to simbin, but created fully, 100% by Ian's crew)
Ok FRL, Shift etc are not same category, but would still make pcars 1 their 4th proper/full sim, with pcars2 being the 5th
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- 48,784
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2nd? If I count their first few, it would be 5th
GTR, GT Legends, GTR2. Won't mention the free BMW game (all credited to simbin, but created fully, 100% by Ian's crew)
Ok FRL, Shift etc are not same category, but would still make pcars 1 their 4 proper/full sim, with pcars2 being the 5th[/QUOTE]
I've not played the GTR games(I don't play pc games). Only Shift & Shift 2 and PC1. I knew about them, but had the blinders on with GT since GT1 and ToCA.
I say second, because it's hitting a broader audience, respectfully.
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The_American
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Well we do not have concrete plans about this nor has it been eliminated (to my knowledge). As you guys can see Ian (and SMS generally) appreciate working directly with the player community. We consider it a trait good product companies do. That said, when/if we do these kinds of programs I think it will be much closer to the actual release, probably just 1-month prior to official launch (my guess, nothing Ian mentioned to anyone). Mainly this kind of program would be to assess how the game will behave on actual home user XB1 machines that can be up to couple years old (*) and behind on firmware updates or whatever.
* - although design can be frozen, manufacturing processes can improve/weaken over time so it gives some slight variance on unit performance. Also we have original XB1 and now "S" to consider. This was not the case when we released pC1. We don't write software specific to "S" model but could be interesting to see how they behave (better or worse) versus normal XB1 units outside of our office machines.
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pCARS3 in the next 7 years will be just money grab and don't even try to defend them. There is no need to postpone pCARS2. They can slowly but constantly improve it after the release (rain effects, motion blur algorithm, UI etc.).
Moore's law is not working anymore, and there is no such progress in technology to justificate releasing pCARS3 in the nearest future.
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You are absolutely right! After pC2 they should definitely close the business. Mission complete!
Isn't a dynamic time of day still absent from GTS? Static lighting is much easier to get perfect than what you are doing with pCARS' lighting and weather system. I think the GT series looks absolutely phenomenal compared to the competition, regardless of the console generation, but it comes at a price. I think taking into account the dynamic look pCARS offers it destroys the competition. For me the potential shown in the next 7 seconds of this video absolutely worth slightly worse looking replays and I haven't even seen what pCARS 2 has to offer:
Not a money grab at all. Like others mentioned, developers need a constant stream of revenue if they want to stay afloat. The business model of SMS at the moment seem to be bi-yearly releases, with DLCs and free updates in-between. I'm sure the lifetime of their sims could be extended beyond that, but you can only update a game engine so much, eventually the result would be dated anyway (there are example of this in the PC sim space I think).
The only real alternative would be having a monthly fee, which to be honest wouldn't seem like a bad idea to me, given that it would mean constant official, online events throughout the year, structured similarly to iRacing.
Moore's Law is very much in effect still (it's more like an observation really, not a law), although the increase in transistors means more cores to utilize nowadays, instead of a single, more powerful core like in the somewhat distant past. This means that it's harder to fully use those extra transistors today, but the potential is still going up sharply.
Regardless, mentioning Moore's Law doesn't make a whole lot of sense when we are talking about a business decision.
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- Mauler_77
So what happens if a new generation of consoles launches within the next 7 years and pCARS 3 is developed to utilize the new power of said consoles? I know I'd definitely buy it and a new console. If SMS makes pCARS 3 in 5-6 years' time you think that's a money grab? Perhaps that's why PD takes years between games; they don't want to be accused of money grabbing
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- bLoWfIsHrUlEz
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Nothing to add to what is said before, not my job to convince you of anything. Reality wins. I'm out.
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- The_EH_Team_43
Right because Polyphony Digital's release cycle is something everyone should want to emulate.
SMS are doing work for console sims few others are doing because of what they're doing, they're releasing at a reasonable cycle/on time and the games are complete, not still in development. Codemasters can say that and the WRC series developers can say that and that's about it, tarmac sims are a bit few and far between on consoles right now so the more the merrier even if they're coming from the same source.
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- F1_Racer68
Sure glad you aren't running the company that I work for.... wow... I'd be out of work in 5 months if that were the case... maybe sooner depending on my role.
Do you have any concept of what it takes to run a business? Clearly not based on these comments.
In reality, I expect SMS is already in the planning phases for pCARS3. Most tech sector businesses are based on parallel projects. As an example, things that they wanted to do for pCARS1 that didn't make the cut probably found their way into pCARS2. The same will be true for things that they wanted in pCARS2 but weren't able to achieve within the project timeline.
Sure, they have other projects they are also working on, but if they want to survive as a company they need to keep pumping out product. Pretty simple concept..... if you don't have a product, you have no revenue. No revenue, no company. No company, no ongoing support for the last product they released.
Why exactly do you think Turn10 now has double digit Forza titles, and PD have double digit GT titles? By your own argument, they should have called it quits after the second one, because hey.... "they nailed it for that gen console.".
