We caught up with Ralph Fulton, Chief Game Designer for Race Driver: Grid while at a community day for the game at Omega Sektor in Birmingham. We attempted to ask questions that hadn’t been asked before elsewhere as well as ask about areas of the game people have commented on in Codemasters own forums. Here’s how it went:
GiantHaystax: Race Driver: Grid is out on the 30th May. Are you pleased that development is over and how do you think the final product has shaped up?
Ralph: yeah, I’m absolutely delighted that development’s over. It’s been quite a hard slog, obviously we have been desperate to get everything into it we wanted to get into it and I think we’re all really pleased now the dust has settled on it with the product we’ve got. I think it’s a really exciting racing game, I’d go as far to say it’s the most exciting racing game ever made, it looks stunning and I think were all going to take a well deserved rest after this.
GiantHaystax: You’ve got a couple of weeks holiday coming up or something then?
Ralph: We do yeah, I think the whole team room will be desolate for the next couple of weeks.
GiantHaystax: One of the more unique features of the game is the flashback feature in the replays. That’s never been done in a racing game before. Do you think a lot of people are going to copy it given the amount of praise it’s getting in reviews and things?
Ralph: Well you never know, I mean were obviously looking at it because we think, were really pleased with it. It’s a cool feature and once you get used to playing with it, it changes the way you race, it changes the way you experience a racing game so… yeah I wouldn’t be surprised if people look to copy it and I wouldn’t be surprised if we maybe look to prevent that. But certainly I think for Codemasters racing games it’s something we will look to in the future because when you damage like we do I think it’s really important that we do something like flashback.
GiantHaystax: On the damage modelling, it’s quite detailed, is that something you wanted to do from the start? or is it…I mean games like GT5 for example the damage modelling is non existent.
Ralph: Yeah, I’d say it’s a staple of Codemasters racing games, going back to World Touring Cars last century. You know, we’ve been doing it for a long time, it’s something that we improve on with every game and I think DIRT showed exactly how powerful a really accurate damage system can be in a game. But when we finished DIRT and we looked at GRID, then I think we wanted to go back to the drawing board and make sure the car damage in GRID was going to be something really spectacular. So we went back to the drawing board, we built it again from the ground up and I think the results speak for themselves, I mean it’s pretty impressive.
GiantHaystax: There’s 45 cars or something like that in the game. A few people have commented in forums and places online that they would have liked to see a few more. What have you got to say to them?
Ralph: Yeah I can understand that. When you have competing games like Gran Turismo and Forza, which pride themselves on the car list, there all about the car list, that’s their focus. I know Turn 10 have been quite open about the fact that Forza is just really a car list. Which is great for them. Does it make sense for Codemasters to try and do the same? Probably not, I think from a number of perspectives. Not least of which is that their doing that already. I think you can put a different slant on a racing game and I think we have done that by making it about racing.
GiantHaystax: (Interrupts) Yeah, you seem to have gone for more of the fun angle. I mean the controls are sort of a mix between half simulation and half arcade with the driver aids you can turn off.
Ralph: Yes.
GiantHaystax: so you’ve gone for more like the fun, enjoy playing it rather than the simulation style?
Ralph: Yeah, I’d loathe to say that it’s just about fun but at the end of the day that really is what it’s about. We wanted people to be able to pick it up, anybody to be able to pick it up and have fun with it almost immediately. Were putting them behind the wheels of some really aspirational powerful cars right from the start of the game. It’s important for us that people aren’t spinning out on the first corner, putting the game pad down and moving on. We want them to be able to have fun with it and enjoy it immediately. That’s not to say that there isn’t depth there obviously there is, I mean you can turn assists off, you can increase the difficulty, you can play in pro mode, so there’s depth for the hardcore there but the important thing for us is that it’s a game for everyone and they can take it as they find it.
GiantHaystax: Youv’e gone for releases on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, and also DS. A few developers are saying their not really supporting the pc anymore due to piracy issues and things like that, but Codemasters still seem to be. Why is that?
Ralph: Yeah definitely, it’s still very much part of our plans. We will continue to do PC games. We know that there’s a lot of people still out there that are wanting to play racing games on PC that perhaps aren’t interested in the simulation end of the spectrum which is well catered for on PC. I think games like ours there are less of and I think its important were still putting our games out for them. We certainly don’t think of them as the poor cousin. Were developing on three platforms and those three platforms are all equal to us.
GiantHaystax: And finally, there’s Formula Three cars in the game, is that a hint of what’s to come now you’ve got the Formula One licence?
Ralph: Well I mean, yeah they say Formula Three is the proving ground for Formula One. So maybe the players that are practicing on Formula Three in GRID might be driving Formula One cars in our F1 game that’s forthcoming. In truth we had Formula Three cars in the game design two years ago, long before we were even thinking about F1 or anything like that. There in because there a different kind of racing, there really exciting, there actually my favourite car in the game , so yeah maybe you can draw conclusions from that for what F1 will be like but I wouldn’t like to say.
GiantHaystax: (Suddenly thinks of another question) Will there be any downloadable content coming after the release like car packs or additional tracks or anything like that?
Ralph: Yes, definitely. Were still working through the plan on them just now but i can guarantee you there will be at least two downloadable packs which will refresh the game, bring in new content and keep it fresh in peoples minds and keep it alive online.
GiantHaystax: OK, thanks very much.
Ralph: Not at all.
GiantHaystax: (runs back to playing the game)
