Apex Point: Car Mechanic Simulator Meets Japanese Car Culture


On today's episode of "What has Julian found now?", let's take a look at Apex Point. The indie game aims to digitalise a part of the Japanese car culture, including tuning the cars and driving them around a small part of Japan.

What is Apex Point About?​

From my research, Apex Point looks to be an ambitious project focussing on bringing a little bit of Japanese car culture to your PC. This game aims to simulate a small open-world environment around Tokyo.

In this environment, the player will be able to experience buying cars, tuning them and then trying them out on open-world roads.

As a person both interested in cars and Japan, this game seems to pique my interest quite a bit.

ApexPoint_AE86.jpg

Apex Point's Features​

Currently, the game is in closed beta. Features include:
  • Open-world gameplay with a dynamic environment
  • First-person mechanic mode
  • Intelligent traffic system
  • Simulator/Sim-Cade physics
  • Dynamic weather
  • Modifying the looks and parts of cars
  • Wheel support
  • And tons more
However, a few features that are not yet introduced seem to be rather interesting:
  • Racing on the streets, on drag strips and around circuits
  • Multiplayer
The combination of at least sim-cade physics, wheel support, car tuning, multiplayer and racing could be mind-blowing, should it be executed correctly. Many communities struggle to find a game to host their digital car-meets in. If executed correctly, this piece of software could become the goto car-meet spot online.

Apex Point is currently listed as "Coming Soon" on Steam. However, according to the developers, a release date for the open beta is coming soon. The last few issues preventing the open beta (wheel support and save system) are said to be all but ironed out.

I will be looking forward to seeing this game in action and trying it out once access is granted. How about you? Is this a combination of niches that piques your interest? Let us know in the comments down below!
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About author
Julian Strasser
Julian Strasser
Motorsports and Maker-stuff enthusiast. Part time jack-of-all-trades. Owner of tracc.eu, a sim racing-related service provider and its racing community.

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Comments

DRDNA333
I think Rev To Vertex is a more hopeful title and has a functional demo on steam. R2V is not suppose to be a sim-cade but a simulation...Judge for your selves!
Instead of Japan this is Hong Kong and is described by the Devs as " Explore the vibrant hills and shimming metropolis of Hong Kong"
Also be aware the demo has only one car and one stage to test out.
 
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FinFan
The combination of a mechanic game with the possibility to really drive the car sounds indeed great. But why limit it to just Japanese cars ? Aside from the the usual stuff like licensing that is.
The machanic part in the game seems to be rather superfical. You just point and the part is removed. You don't have to unscrew anything. Same as with putting parts in. Just click and done. And that would be my greatest fear. That by combining both elements each one is a bit half cocked.
 
Julian Strasser
Premium
FinFan said:
The combination of a mechanic game with the possibility to really drive the car sounds indeed great. But why limit it to just Japanese cars ? Aside from the the usual stuff like licensing that is.
The machanic part in the game seems to be rather superfical. You just point and the part is removed. You don't have to unscrew anything. Same as with putting parts in. Just click and done. And that would be my greatest fear. That by combining both elements each one is a bit half cocked.
Click to expand...
Its not just limited to Japanese cars. For the final release, many different cars from all around the world are on the roadmap.

Regarding the half-bakedness, you gotta remember that this is no AAA development team with seemingly unlimited ressources. It's a small team deveoping this game. And it seems to me the focus is not on hardcore simulating every single step or screw (which can easily become rather tedious) but on the customisability of the vehicles and the fact that you can drive them around an open world.
 
Julian Strasser
Premium
DRDNA333 said:
I think Rev To Vertex is a more hopeful title and has a functional demo on steam. R2V is not suppose to be a sim-cade but a simulation...Judge for your selves!
Instead of Japan this is Hong Kong and is described by the Devs as " Explore the vibrant hills and shimming metropolis of Hong Kong"
Also be aware the demo has only one car and one stage to test out.
Click to expand...
I tried R2V a few months back and it didn't work well on a technical level. Unfortunate, as I was looking forward to that title too...
 
P
R2v also has insane requirements for a demo with only a single car. My PC runs all other sims fine that one was way too much for my midrange PC lol
 
FinFan
Julian Strasser said:
Its not just limited to Japanese cars. For the final release, many different cars from all around the world are on the roadmap.

Regarding the half-bakedness, you gotta remember that this is no AAA development team with seemingly unlimited ressources. It's a small team deveoping this game. And it seems to me the focus is not on hardcore simulating every single step or screw (which can easily become rather tedious) but on the customisability of the vehicles and the fact that you can drive them around an open world.
Click to expand...
I see and I get your point. Too much simulation can become a negative thing. In any case it would be a game concept that interests me.
 
Metla
Premium
We need Street Rod 3.

That concept with today's tech would be killer.

It could be combined with Stunt Car Racer 2.

Someone ring the wreckfest and Beamng teams, I have a plan.
 
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mesa
DRDNA333 said:
I think Rev To Vertex is a more hopeful title and has a functional demo on steam. R2V is not suppose to be a sim-cade but a simulation...Judge for your selves!
Instead of Japan this is Hong Kong and is described by the Devs as " Explore the vibrant hills and shimming metropolis of Hong Kong"
Also be aware the demo has only one car and one stage to test out.
Click to expand...
That's not a mechanic type game, just a drift 'simulator'.
It could be more like sequel of Street Legal Racing Redline.
 
Flakka93
Durge Driven said:
All these titles and still nothing to rival the original Driver, Interstate '76 or Motor City Online.
Click to expand...
I missed out on MCO, would be cool if we got something similar to it with an extended car roster, still sticking to old muscle and hot rods, with a few new ones. That'd be cool. Buuuuut the physics engine would be another issue, as MCO ran off the High Stakes engine, and the modern NFS engines past HP2010 (and maybe a couple others) are just...bad.
 
Metla
Premium
I believe I was on dialup (and in a small rural town in New Zealand) when MCO was a thing so also missed out.

I still hold that disappointment close to me...
 
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azaralamouri
Beautiful details in terms of graphics, wow.

They even simulated paint-rash, I hope they won't forget rust as well.

By the way, it is illegal to have red front lights as we saw with those angel lights in the video.
 
T
MCO was pretty cool. Had good physics too.And it was developed by EA. Sorry EA haters.
Anyway, it's such a shame it was online. Back then almost nobody had internet that was capable of online gaming and servers didn't work nearly as well as they do nowadays.
If it was single player+multiplayer i think it would have been a major success with many sequels.
As for Apex Point...we'll see.I have low expectations. Being a Unity game, means that it will have very poor performance and numerous limitations when it comes to physics and features. So don't expect a simulator
Also, the developer seems a bit too obsessed with detail while it's spiritual predecessor, SLRR, focued on content. I mean, if i want to be a virtual mechanic, i can play Wrench. I don't need that much detail in a racing game. I prefer physics and content.
 
Flakka93
Metla said:
I believe I was on dialup (and in a small rural town in New Zealand) when MCO was a thing so also missed out.

I still hold that disappointment close to me...
Click to expand...

I missed out because I just didn't know of its existence and didn't touch online gaming until...2007\2008?

We got World, and the revival of the servers, and the demonetization has really helped it but the grind is still there.
turbo86 said:
MCO was pretty cool. Had good physics too.And it was developed by EA. Sorry EA haters.
Click to expand...
Nothing bad to write about it here, I hate EA but I give credit where it is due. They just don't have anything worth offering now. Back then, however, they were awesome.

turbo86 said:
As for Apex Point...we'll see.I have low expectations. Being a Unity game, means that it will have very poor performance and numerous limitations when it comes to physics and features. So don't expect a simulator
Also, the developer seems a bit too obsessed with detail while it's spiritual predecessor, SLRR, focued on content. I mean, if i want to be a virtual mechanic, i can play Wrench. I don't need that much detail in a racing game. I prefer physics and content.
Click to expand...

Highly agree, let's just wait and see where it leads as we get closer to release day.

Can't be bothered buying a new game now anyway :p
 

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