New Wreckfest Car and Track Previews Revealed

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
Wreckfest Racing Euro Hatch WIP.jpg

Bugbear Entertainment have released a couple of preview images from the new WIP European Hatch car and track terrain updates.

After a period of radio silence from the team over at Bugbear Entertainment fans finally have something new to look forward to, with previews of a new racing variant of the European Hatch having broken cover as well as some mighty impressive shots detailing the work going in to bringing the current track art up to scratch in Next Car Game: Wreckfest.

It is worth noting that the team have stressed the picture of the European Hatch show a car still in "heavy WIP" status, with such things as fatter tyres and other racing specific details yet to be added to the car.

As we all well know, Bugbear made the decision last year to work on bringing the finishing touches to Next Car Game Wreckfest, ready for a full port over to consoles sometime during 2017. Often criticised as making little to no progress despite having sat in an Early Access state for a not inconsiderable amount of time, scepticism as to if the studio can finally bring this title across the finish line remains fife amongst sim racing gamers within the community. This is a shame as I firmly believe the core gaming experience in Wreckfest is fundamentally sound and the potential for this game to grow and become a commercial success is substantial.

Many expected, myself included, that the 2016 announcement of a move over to console would act as a major motivation for the developers to increase productivity within the studio and accelerate development of a title that has plateaued noticeably in recent months. Yesterday's Twitter reveal of the WIP Euro Hatch and track improvements are the first sign of life from the developers since release of an out of the blue update back in late December, and at least show that things are progressing even if it is a tad disappointing to see reworking of current content, rather than a much needed new toy for us to play with.

Wreckfest Track Preview.jpg


Aside from the early preview of the racing variant to the European Hatch car, the team have shown off an admittedly impressive image of enhancements they are making to the current tracks found in Wreckfest. The detailing that has gone in to the improved curbs are impressive and do look good, leading to a cause for optimism if the development team can maintain that level of quality throughout the tracks already in game. To be fair to Bugbear and Wreckfest I actually think the visual quality of the title is already at a high standard. The game does feels pretty well put together in terms of track art and layout and one cannot argue that the quality of the deformable trackside objects and detail that goes into the crashes within the game already reach a high level, even at this "early" stage of development.

I really hope 2017 is a breakthrough year for Wreckfest. I feel the game is stuffed full of potential and could become a very popular title that makes for a refreshing break from the more serious side of sim racing. Let's hope that yesterday's previews are a first step in the right direction for this sadly underrated game.

Next Car Game: Wreckfest is currently available for Windows PC via the Steam Network. A proposed release to both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is scheduled for sometime during 2017.

Check out the Wreckfest sub forum here at RaceDepartment for the latest news and discussions regarding the game. Head over to the forum and join the discussion today!

Do you still enjoy Wreckfest? Are you looking forward to seeing the game finished? Will it make a solid impact on the console market in your opinion? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
Last edited:
One of the slowest and most painful early access I've been a part of... but you can't say the game isn't damn fun. I put in a good hour last night. Even though H-Pattern is useless (since game lacks clutch support), the wheel and pedal support has seen huge improvements over the early builds. Beyond the final bits of content, I just really want to see a nice polish on the main menu UI, better triple screen support (HUD/UI spread across all monitors), and a more through career mode (championships, sponsors, etc).
 

Paul Jeffrey

Premium
What about VR-support?

Now that would be sickness inducing awesomeness at it's best! Please oh please let that happen!

One of the slowest and most painful early access I've been a part of... but you can't say the game isn't damn fun

That's what frustrates me so much too! I'm really not an "arcade" kind of guy but this game feels so close to simulating an arcade experience (if you know what I mean :) ) that it's actually a thoroughly believable and enjoyable driving experience. The bloody game has just so much potential it's crazy.. just spoilt by a snails pace development process that kills off even the keenest of fans. If / when it's done I suspect it will be popular, assuming they haven't by then wasted any good will that remains with the fan base.
 
This is an example of how Early Access campaigns should not be done. What they bought themselves with it , is a damaged reputation that will stick to them for long time to come, even more so after they announced another title recently, with this one not even being done. They went on Early Access too early, went on too slow, and obviously a confused course plotting over the years haunted them, until today. If they argue money was what forced them to go like this, then I would say that already the economic fundament on which they started was not appropriate from beginning on.

However, I must also say I bought it very early and thus for very little money, and this money's value I have gotten out of it. You can have some good in-between fun with this. But hardly more, me thinks.

I also would not spend more money on it.
 

How much money have you spend on your current simracing hardware

  • €0-150

    Votes: 86 19.5%
  • €151-500

    Votes: 120 27.2%
  • €501-1000

    Votes: 72 16.3%
  • €1001-1500

    Votes: 38 8.6%
  • €1501-3000

    Votes: 43 9.8%
  • €3001-5000

    Votes: 23 5.2%
  • €5001-10000

    Votes: 28 6.3%
  • I stopped counting a long time ago

    Votes: 31 7.0%
Top