Paul Coleman, a 10-year veteran of designing racing video games, takes the job very seriously. His latest release for Codemasters, the complex Dirt Rally (available for Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4), clearly demonstrates his passion and work ethic.
So much so that his obsession with building the perfect rally-racing recreation was a four-year odyssey that also led him to take part in the real sport as a co-driver.
Unlike arcade-style racing games, this niche sport simulation takes drivers into real-world situations, driving physics-based vehicles through a variety of hazardous weather and road conditions and mimicking the reality of the rally circuit.
Mr. Coleman took time between races to talk to Zadzooks about the genesis of “Dirt Rally,” the future of virtual reality and why he loves Greece.
Designing the best rally racing game ever: I was so inspired by the original “Colin McRae Rally” game back in 1998 and felt that each game after didn’t quite capture the spark. In fact, when the franchise changed its name to “Dirt,” we started to move further and further away from rally. It was more of a multi-disciplined, eclectic mix of off-road racing. While I was happy to work on the project, it did not feel like the right game we should be making.
Over time, that same sentiment started to be shared by the community. The direction we were taking the game in was frustrating them. When we made “Dirt: Showdown” in 2012, we let the community know we were doing more of a party mode destruction derby angle. It was fun to work on and this might not be to your liking, but don’t worry we are going to make a more authentic rally game.
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Genesis of the “Dirt Rally” game: Over the last four years, myself and a small group of people were locked away working while the rest of the studio were off making more track-based racing games.
In 2014, we had a prototype and had spent the most part of those two years working on the physics simulation and trying to make these cars drive in a way that would allow them to get down these narrow, forest tracks.
If you are going to make the most authentic rally game every made, you have to put the real roads in there. Soon as you put real roads in there, you can’t use an arcade-style racing car, because it won’t handle the corners and just falls off the road.
We rebuilt our physics engine around the notion that we need to make this behave as close to the cars in real life as possible. We have mud, gravel, snow, ice and all of surface varieties in between in which these cars drive.
We looked at physics papers and read up on fluid dynamics and use surface density calculations so that when the wheels spin or slide, they dig into the surface and find the grip below. That is something that nobody has every done before. It’s what sets this racing game apart from all other racing games. In our minds, it was the best that had ever been done in rally racing.
The best way to release “Dirt Rally:” We looked at what the community was doing with games and saw early PC access as a way to get a game out there and get it funded. We saw it as a way to not test the game from a bug’s point of view but validate what we had done. Is this the sort of game you wanted us to make? We essentially molded a diamond in the rough with the community’s help.
Rally racing fans verdict? I usually made my game, put it in a box and let it sail off into the sunset and start on the next game. Now, I was being held accountable by the community for all of the decisions that we had made.
There was some stuff they loved and some stuff they really disliked. These were the PC connoisseurs of racing games that have many of thousands of dollars invested in steering wheel set-ups and racing seats and lock themselves up in a room in the back of a house, and their wives do not see them all afternoon while they go in there and pretend they are a full-on racing driver.
Those guys told us the way the steering wheel felt in the hand was not how they expected it to be, and it was one of the things we overlooked. We had been focusing so much on what the car felt like, that we hadn’t looked at how the controllers worked. It was partly because we had been making console games for the past 10 years and had no experience with what a steering wheel peripheral should do.
We got the guys to come into the studio and had them explain what they wanted. We ripped out the steering module and completely rewrote it and released it as a big update and that was the defining moment for the project. We showed people that we were willing to listen to their feedback.
My favorite part of “Dirt Rally:” It’s the level of the detail we put into the co-driver notes and how they are delivered. Previously, we would get a guy in who would write the notes for us, and we would record them in a recording booth. For this game, I got together with the guy, and we wrote the notes together. I sat down in one of the simulator seats that move around and as somebody drove the stage, I would be wearing my crash helmet and we would record the notes live as the stage was being played. And the way the seat was moving, the intensity from the jumps and crests, all was getting delivered through my reactions, and you could hear the car jolting around.
My favorite-looking location in “Dirt Rally:” Greece. We have a fantastic climb into the mountains. When you start in the valley below, you can see the roads winding into the hills above. We actually thinned some of the forestation back from the real to virtual location to see the hills. All of our stages embrace the wilderness and they are real roads used in rally events. We really set a sense of scale to the environment.
Tips for playing the game as a new driver: We have not held any punches here, this is a tough and challenging sport, and we represent it at that level. My advice is to go out there and take it easy. Do not worry about the times the AI drivers are setting. Find your own pace and speed in the game. As you build up your confidence, you will build up your speed and it won’t take you too long, if you stay on the road and are by not crashing all the time, to and a feeling foe the car and start hitting those stage times of the AI drivers.
The present and future of virtual reality in race gaming: VR is an extension of the experience, and it will not be to everyone’s taste. Some get motion sickness in a car, and others don’t. You’ll need to try it out.
From the perspective of a developer, it’s a fantastic tool for us. When you slide a car around a corner, you are actually sending it sideways and your view on a screen is not actually visible to you and you are hoping the road is there when you threw the car sideways. With VR, you can actually turn your head and see where you are going through the side window, just like you would in a real car.
Our cameras in the game take away the sense of climbing up a hill or into a ditch. But with VR, your head stays still but the car moves around you, it gives a much clearer sense that the stages we have created are undulating through mountains and valleys.
VR is at a tipping point, and as the technology gets better, it will go much more mainstream, and companies will release some enticing and affordable bundles for the consumer.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
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