Ian Bell's Straight4 Studios Launches Website, Showcases Key Staff

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It seems like Straight4 Studios is going all in. Now they have released a website with a blog. Furthermore, they promised a monthly newsletter! What's more interesting, however, is the information that has already been published on the blog.

The first blog post on Straight4's website features two different interviews with key members of the development team for the upcoming title GTR Revival.

Before we dive into the post, the key takeaway is that it seems like the original team is really back together. Henrik Roos, one of the key people of SimBin back in the day, is the first person featured in this post.

The Key Personnel Introduced​

As mentioned before, Henrik Roos is introduced as the Straight4 handling consultant.

If you don't know Henrik Roos, he has been a racing driver, especially known for early 2000s FIA GT racing.

His role at Straight4 includes translating how the cars feel IRL to the simulation of GTR Revival.

Furthermore, Straight4's Physics Director AJ Weber gets introduced. He "has gone on to work on many bestselling AAA-sim racers over the years". According to mobygames.com, he has been working on the first two Project Cars games in the physics department as well as Fast & Furious: Crossroads.

Physics Philosophies​

What follows is an intricate introduction into the philosophy behind the direction the physics department is supposed to go.

The post goes into detail on how realism is supposed to be portrayed in GTR Revival. Furthermore, tyre models and the fact that the physics engine is built from the ground up get featured.

You can read the full blog post here on Straight4's official website.

What do you think of this approach? Is Straight4 getting you interested in the ongoing development of GTR Revival? Let us know in the comments down below!
About author
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.

Comments

Premium
Not a bad read, actually. This part about different kinds of realism and particulartly 'qualititative realism' struck as similar to my ideas of 'intuitive' realism, "you know it when you feel it."

It sounds like these guys are well suited to produce something interesting.

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Premium
Not a bad read, actually. This part about different kinds of realism and particulartly 'qualititative realism' struck as similar to my ideas of 'intuitive' realism, "you know it when you feel it."

It sounds like these guys are well suited to produce something interesting.

View attachment 638429
As long as the late Murray Walker wisdom of "to finish first you first have to finish" is taken into account so the AI don't make kamikaze dive moves and blocking moves, I'll be happy.
Oh and yeah t'was a good read, and I'm expecting 'update news Mail'
 
This is the part of game development I detest, the true miracle workers ( who turn bad ideas into something decent) usually get the short end of the stick when things don't work out (Like SMS). Meanwhile those responsible for said "bad ideas" get severance packages and move on to the next opportunity.
 
Bring it! I miss the Bell hype train! lol :D
Remember people, you don't have to buy it if you don't want to.
Exactly!
It's better to have a multiple choice of sims, and then we can choose what's best for us.
I personally welcome each and every new simracing project on the market. Time will tell how good the project's going to be.

If there was the possibily to join in a crowdfunding way just like PC1, I would be in! I'd be glad to invest something and get two things in return: a good sim (hopefully) and some money :p
 
Premium
At the end of the day Ian Bell for all his behaviours and odd knee jerk reactions and comments, has had a direct hand in titles spanning decades that thousands upon thousands of us have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on.

Well done that man. Be a loose cannon, and give us something worthy.

Not Fast and Furious, Not Pcars 3 and not the Frog Song thanks.
 
Premium
You shouldn't underestimate how big a deal the GTR mods were when they were released for the ISI F1 games 20 years ago. It represented a huge shift within SIM racing.

It not only lead to the GTR series as standalone titles but I believe inspired the model that rFactor was built upon.

Which has all come full circle with AMS first using the Gmotor and then the Pcars version to build games on...not to mention all of it sharing history with Fractor 2....
 
i guess i am at a point in my simracer 'life' where i live by the motto "don't tell me. show me".
so i will wait until we have something palpable in our hands or at least on display.
everyone can put together a good sounding text.
 
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You shouldn't underestimate how big a deal the GTR mods were when they were released for the ISI F1 games 20 years ago. It represented a huge shift within SIM racing.

It not only lead to the GTR series as standalone titles but I believe inspired the model that rFactor was built upon.

Which has all come full circle with AMS first using the Gmotor and then the Pcars version to build games on...not to mention all of it sharing history with Fractor 2....

The mod was great because F1 2002's engine was a great one for the time. But like with almost anything these days, the moment they smell money, it all goes to ****. Rfactor2 included, for basically the same reason. S397 is pushing it as an esport platform (money +++) before polishing it as a sim. And they've been "improving" it for 8 years. After this much time it becomes a question of will/priorities, not being unable to find the right people for the job. Same with Ian Bell's endeavors called Project Cars 1,2,3, touted to be the most ultimatest sims ever in the universe one after the other.
 
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Premium
Fun Fact-I didn't buy the original GTR game because Ian Bell pissed me off on the racesimcentral forum decades ago.

LMFAO.

So now I find entertainment in telling people he has done good and let him have his eccentricities.

My hypocrisy is one of my main strengths.
 
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I've been highly critical of Ian Bell in the past, but it's undeniable that he has had talented people work under him on projects across many years.

He needs to pipe down a bit and stop over selling everything, stop telling the community you've got the best thing since sliced bread on the cards when your bakers haven't even finished rolling the bloody dough yet.

However, if he can stop over selling the project, if he can just buckle down and let the team get on with the work and we end up with a GTR for the modern era, then more power too him.

It's been made clear that UE5 is going to be the rendering power, but there's inklings that ME physics are going to be under the hood, but those that have been worked on by Reiza, Renato has spent time with Ian Bell recently and some of the renders Ian has shared on twitter have used Reiza assets.

That, I'm all for.

Just, stop promising the world and let the finished product, with the appropriate time to mature, do all the talking. Don't rush it out the door like pCars was so the community can spend the next 5 years thinking about the potential wasted, only for it to be picked up by another team and the potential to be released.

Do it once, do it right, please.
 

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