Ian Bell | Straight4Games and Hyper-Realistic Screenshots

Boby Kim · Dec 4, 2022

Noooo...the devil has risen...again! I hoped the name Ian Bell was abandoned from the universe....but there hè is again with a New book: beautiful cover but a terrible lame, flat story....like Pcars 3...

James Cook · Dec 4, 2022

happy_racer · Dec 4, 2022

Richard Wilks said:
Funny, i see a lot of AC fanboys here cursing at Ian Bell yet again... how is that AC2 coming along boys?... or are you still waiting for the russian hacker to make you pay for more features that kunos couldn't be bothered to include?...

Like one user said above, at least he is again pushing to drive the genre forward, instead of just deeming things "not necessary" like other devs... so let's first see what comes out of it before judging.

delpinsky · Dec 4, 2022

jonelsorel said:
Yes, it's mainly because Ian Bell's stamp on a sim is simply worth peanuts, judging from the last 3 titles . Your time at WMD might have been pleasant, but that doesn't make Ian Bell's product any closer to advertised.

After all, it does not cost us anything. If he manages to deliver something and not just vaporware, we can follow the project and see how it's gonna be in terms of simulation, physics and considering the engine, also graphics. I try to see the bright side. Just in case nothing came out of this advertisement, fine, there was no hype, just curiosity.

Ole Andreasen · Dec 4, 2022

Love PC1 and 2, so I cannot wait for this next adventure from Mr. Bell.

the_last_name_left · Dec 4, 2022

Errr.......UE5 is pretty amazing. We knew that.

These screenshots have about as much relevance to a car sim as the UE5 railway station demo does for a train-sim.

Remember the StarWars lift demo-scene? Ever seen a game like that, five years later? [Short answer is "no". Long answer is "Noooooooooooo"]

the_last_name_left · Dec 4, 2022

F_B said:
what an awful logo that is.

Isn't it! And a stupid name too.

azaralamouri · Dec 4, 2022

Lewis Hamilton, when I asked why the media is super-duper over protective at him, I got banned for a month.

Now, copious numbers of you are attacking Ian Bell personally and even saying it brazenly. Some of you said literally "we want to attack him personally". You used words like, "liar", "fraud" and much more. ( I scanned the first 2 pages of comments quickly so forgive my inaccuracy).

I condemn in the strongest terms what you are doing. I also condemn the double standards when "some" ( I can't name them) are over-protective at some group and aggressive against another.

azaralamouri · Dec 4, 2022

Now away from personal attacks, and talking about ACTIONS and DEEDS, sanely and calmly:

What did Ian Bell do?
He said that PC2 has the most complex tire system?
He said that PC3 is going to be the most realistic sim ever?
He spread rumors about upcoming sims to raise the shares value of his company just before it was planned to be acquired?

azaralamouri · Dec 4, 2022

What is he doing now?
He says he's trying to give something for a hobby,
a hobby that is rotten and stagnated (my words)?
a hobby where there are only two people on the whole planet who know how to make and develop a physics engine, while everyone else jumps on that bandwagon to create a mod, or a livery or to share their genius settings?
a business where Iracing 1998 (sorry, it's 2008) makes millions of dollars thanks to a money model that resembles an auto money generator or a print machine, WHILE other developers are only working for passion and not for money, because no matter how hard they worked, there will only be 32 of you using the sim at this point of time (check out Steam statistics)? and where the (almost) founders of this hobby like the founder of Konus and the founder of Inside Sim Racing found out early that it was smart to abandon these people so they put on their life jackets and jumped the ship?

I say in short, I don't care about Ian Bell (for good or bad), I don't know him, but I honestly don't see any fraud, harm or violation.

I say to Ian Bell, please continue working so you and your studio come up with anything that adds to sim racing, ANYTHING is good, for example a GTR Revival/ Revolution, or even better, some new idea, an idea like what I see in the screenshots, O see what looks like a road car, maybe something about automotive, maybe a sim for driving on roads & streets, maybe something for car enthusiasts not only 10 year-old racing enthusiasts who like to crash Mclaren Senna's in the wall, I don't know.
Most likely I will purchase the product to keep the wheel of sim racing turning forward, (off coarse depending on how interesting it is to me, its value, my time..etc).

azaralamouri · Dec 4, 2022

Some smaller note,

I can catch the Madness Engine sunset lighting even if it's miles away, this looks to me like an enhanced version of the Madness engine lighting system with ray tracing added. But again, maybe this isn't anything as chat stated above I am not 100% sure.

pz666 · Dec 4, 2022

After the last few jokes that have come under his name he'll have to work very hard to get my interest this time around... A revival of one of the greatest racing games needs to be done well... Let's just hope this isn't Metallica doing a tour for Kill 'em All in their late 70s...

gamma123152 · Dec 4, 2022

Whatever he's making; it cannot be good if it's Unreal Engine 5

THK84 · Dec 4, 2022

lucifer sam said:
As a part of the "woke generation" I can assure you no one would care

= joke

TRASGU · Dec 4, 2022

I don't know how this guy still has any credibility to racedepartment. May it be Stockholm syndrome?. This is kinda like twitter, reddit, and the youtube comment section, everybody says that those places are cancer, but they still can't keep their eyes out of them.

Pete Conway · Dec 4, 2022

Johnr777 said:
The actual argument the “disenchanted dozen” are making is that the hype most often doesn’t translate into the final product.

So, it's like that bloke that bets he will give up smoking, he's gotta quit till the last day of his life to win.
But you're forgetting that 'Hype' is a personally subjective thing, and if you're the 'open wheelie bin' kinda guy then you're always gonna be disappointed with something.

Pete Conway · Dec 4, 2022

Screen Shots.
First thought... Wow, that's detailed!
Second thought... Oh, that's gonna make Modding a bit more difficult!

Metla · Dec 4, 2022

I'm looking forward to whatever they produce, a new title has to be at least worth looking at. Its a sad state of affairs that most of our flagship games are over a decade old and are still being carried along as the best thing since sliced bread. iRacing, Rfactor, Raceroom all belong in a museum on display as historical titles. Even Asetto Corsa is nearly a decade old.

Bearing in mind that the user base supports this, we can still get a discussion going where its claimed that no title has ever improved on Richard Burns Rally or Grand Prix Legends.

We are well overdue for the next generation of games.

That said, Ian Bell has acted like a pork chop since he was involved in coordinating mods for F1 Challenge, with great personal success.

Also, No VR/No buy.

Those screenshots do not look VR friendly.

mopro · Dec 4, 2022

I can't help but being skeptical. Even if he has something new and exciting to offer, in current saturated driving/racing game market, I doubt he can secure enough funding to pull it off.

Rodger Davies · Dec 4, 2022

I really don't get all the cynicism to be honest - Ian has a track record of delivering titles. Yes, bits of them have been too ambitious for the final product and bits of them might not be to everyone's taste, but whenever he's said "there'll be a game" there's been one. He's not exactly the West brothers.

And it can't be denied that those games have opened up simming to a wider audience and delivered innovation.

Ian Bell | Straight4Games and Hyper-Realistic Screenshots

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