OpenWheel by Brain in a Jar Races to KickStarter

[Bram Hengeveld]

[youtube]

UK based development studios Brain in a Jar have launched an exciting new project called OpenWheel to Kickstarter and needs the sim racing community to back up their campaign.

OpenWheel is an on-line multiplayer racing game and is about the real heart of racing; built to race, single seat open wheeled race cars. No pick-ups, no power boosts, no killer combo moves; a pure and realistic racing experience.

Brain in Jar, who have previously worked on NASCAR The Game: Inside Line, Indianapolis 500: Evolution, Euro Rally Champion, IndyCar Series and whole bunch of other racing titles over the years, have already announced a few key features of the game:

• Up to 32 racers on track
  
• Leaderboards
  
• Telemetry
  
• Online Championships
  
• Teams
  
• Car and Driver customizations
  
• On-track celebrations
  
• Realistic Damage
  
• Tyre wear and Fuel use
  
• Oculus Rift support
  

Four different open wheels cars will be available at launch

• 250cc Racing-kart
  
• 750cc Formula style car
  
• 1960s Grand Prix style car
  
• Modern Grand Prix style car
  

The cars can be setup via a wide range of settings that dedicated racers are familiar with from other sim racing games.

• Tyre pressure
  
• Camber
  
• Toe
  
• Caster
  
• Inclination
  
• Spring rate
  
• Damper bound and rebound
  
• Ride height
  
• Roll bar stiffness (if present)
  
• Weight jacker (if present)
  
• Stagger
  
• Track width
  
• Brake bias
  
• Differential
  
• Gear ratios
  
• Wing angles
  
• Engine mapping
  

Initially the game will come with twelve different circuits which will offer traditional circuit racing, city tracks, and for the oval fans speedway racing is offered.

Online is where the heart of this game is as the studios fully focuses on multiplayer options offering races to a very decent grid size amount of 32 online players in an enviroment that no longer uses the traditional way of lobby hosting but a sophisticated new design that ensures you race to race with enough players in an online event.

For a in depth look on the all the features and design choices Brain in a Jar have made header over to Kickstarter.com to read more information on how you can backup this new sim racing title.

If you have any questions about this new project you can leave your comments in the section below or visit the OpenWheel community forums and speak to the developers directly.

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[Xavier de Carvalho]

Cool

 

[Scott Webber]

looks pretty nice, hope the feel & FFB is good

 

[BoyZero]

Thanks guys. (I'm an artist here at Brain in a Jar).

We've spent a lot of time getting the cars to feel how you'd expect. Together with force feedback the cars feel really nice to drive.

 

[Baz Cutting]

looks a great game n realistic which us racers want.i shall be backing the game

 

[Jos Swarthoff]

the menu and the blooming remind me of Dirt1...

 

[Henri Mäkinen]

I think this might not be free-to-play game. Looks too good to be free-to-play IMO.

 

[Andrew Ford]

great idea. which i had 5 grand pocket money for track day, helmet design etc (the reward for backing).lol

 

[Terry Evers]

With all the current stuff like R3E, AC etc I have to say these graphics look a bit dated IMHO. I hope you can get some better road textures going. That beeing said I do like the shine and the details on the tires look very nice indeed, so props there..

Graphics aside I do care more about how a game feels and drives. If you can deliver good FFB I certainly wouldent mind giving this a go..

PS. will youre tire model support actual flat spots?

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

Looks interesting. The online functionality has been thought of a lot. Specially the option to join mid-race is a good choice. I tried that concept in Victory and it's a good idea. Basically you will always find a server that has room and is active, no need to wait for certain session to start. It sounds strange but trust me, it's the way to go.

 

[Andrew Ford]

Looks interesting. The online functionality has been thought of a lot. Specially the option to join mid-race is a good choice. I tried that concept in Victory and it's a good idea. Basically you will always find a server that has room and is active, no need to wait for certain session to start. It sounds strange but trust me, it's the way to go.

it's like they're tapping into part of what makes iracing successful. I really like the ideas to be honest. then again, will it come to fruition?

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

joining mid-race was very successful in lfs. you joined the server, finished the arce already started and then hung on for the next start which was usually 5 mins down the line (time for toilet, drink etc.). overall, this looks and feels a lot like lfs did, a game i really liked back in the day, so i might give them my 10 quid..

 

[Carl Dalton]

Hi guys
Thanks for taking an interest in us!
I'm Carl one of the devs on OpenWheel.

OpenWheel is at the prototype stage right now, we've a long way to go and that is why we started the Kickstarter, to try to raise the funds to allow us to concentrate 100% on the game.

Up until now we have been working on OpenWheel whenever we can between projects that 'pay the bills'. Most of the work so far has been under the hood stuff... getting the multiplayer solid and stable, getting the drop-in drop-out connections good, hooking up all the telemtry and putting in code that allows it to be uploaded to websites and servers and downloaded again. And while we've been doing that working on the physics and force feedback.

We're currently working on the PC version of the game, but we want to be able to do versions for PS3 and Xbox360 as well (but they will come later down the line).

We are now starting to work more on the graphics, to get the level of everything lifted up to a point where we wouldn't be worried about getting judged on our looks before people get their wheel out and drive!

We've got the first two of our 'final' cars in progress (the Formula car and the Kart) and we're designing the first of our final tracks (the circuit). We'll post work in progress images and video here and if you guys are up for it, get your feedback and comments.

As soon as we're comfortable that we're good enough to merit some serious feedback we'll post our first public demo.

 

[Carl Dalton]

it's like they're tapping into part of what makes iracing successful. I really like the ideas to be honest. then again, will it come to fruition?

LFS and iRacing definitely formed part of our inspiration for the connection method. It just makes most sense to allow people to drop into the races - get as much time on-track as possible!
The system is written and works (we'll post some video of the guys racing). You can drop into a live race and drop back out again.

One of the other things that we've worked on is having the grid filled with AI cars.
So if the person that creates a race session wants, they can have all the empty slots filled with AI.

When someone new connects to one of these races they are at first 'given' an AI car to take over (the highest placed AI behind the lowest placed human currently). They can stick with that car if they want and just take over from the AI and drive, or they can drop out of the race and into the pits to apply their own set-up etc and re-join from there. Even if you decide to stick with the car you're dropped into when you join, at the end of the race you can still head to the pits to swap.

 

[Carl Dalton]

With all the current stuff like R3E, AC etc I have to say these graphics look a bit dated IMHO. I hope you can get some better road textures going. That beeing said I do like the shine and the details on the tires look very nice indeed, so props there..

Graphics aside I do care more about how a game feels and drives. If you can deliver good FFB I certainly wouldent mind giving this a go..

PS. will youre tire model support actual flat spots?

The graphics are 'prototype' right now. Some things are nearly there and other things certainly are not. One of the biggest jobs we have to do is to sort out the lighting, get some good ambient shadows (dark areas under the cars and in all the little nooks and folds), and get the shadows on the track a lot better. Another is getting the tarmac and grass shaders 'just right' - plenty of detail and variety. That one is going to be a bit of an iterative process I think, but we'll get there.
For the cars themselves we are putting a lot of effort into detailing, we want them to look as real and detailed as we can possibly make them and on they way we're going to need a lot of feedback and ideas (once we get into Alpha).

The physics and force feedback have had a lot of work so far and there is more to be done, but we think it feels pretty good. We'll find out when we release the demo!

The damage system is one of the things being worked on right now. So far we can dent, break and smash off parts and do damage to the mechanical systems. We can also damage the suspension. Handling punctures, blowouts and flatspots is on the list, but we're not there yet... we'll get there though.

 

[Carl Dalton]

great idea. which i had 5 grand pocket money for track day, helmet design etc (the reward for backing).lol

For just £10 you can pledge to get the Early Bird version of the game

We've done a couple of track days at Oulton before (kind of have to really, being right next door and all ) and I've got to say it is huge fun! Whether we get some backers at that level we'll have to see.

 

[xmotoracer]

open wheel racing has always been a favorite type of racing of mine.it's great to see Brain in a Jar working on this as it does come across that this is being made not just by a proven talented games developer but also some real life motor sport fans who want create the best game/sim they can. I've coughed up & backed this project & wish it the very best.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Looks interesting on many levels.
I liked the energy and passion in the video presentation

 

[Cote Dazur]

the video at their web site

 

[Peter Stokman]

Great idea off the 250 cc karts hope they will drive like a real kart and that they also look like a real one. hope you can post some images off that. this will detirminate iff i gonna back you .