Project Gotham Racing 3

Under the Hood of PGR 3

Martyn Chudley, managing director and designer at Bizarre Creations, let us play pit crew for the day when he gave us some background info on his company\'s upcoming game, Project Gotham Racing® 3.

Xbox.com: Was Project Gotham Racing 3 conceived originally with the successor to the Xbox® in mind? If so, how did it change your outlook on what you could accomplish?

Chudley: Yes, we started out knowing that Xenon was the platform we were aiming for, and that was really exciting for the team. Looking at the specs, we realized we could push PGR 3 into new directions and add loads more realism. And, of course, everyone on the team was buzzing that we were getting to work with the new hardware, and that we\'d been chosen to be one of the launch titles!

Knowing that you\'re aiming for Xenon does help in the design. But obviously, when you\'re writing for a machine that doesn\'t exist yet, there are problems that you can encounter on the way. You end up developing the game alongside the hardware—which is great in some ways, as you work out problems together with the hardware people. But it can also be stressful, too, especially at the start, as there\'s nothing powerful enough to run your code and graphics in their full glory!

At the beginning, we started designing the game based on the hardware specs and a bit of inspired guesswork, and as the hardware firmed up in design, it got easier all the way. We started off hoping that it would cope with the artwork and programming effects we were all optimistically developing, and it\'s gotten more and more exciting as it becomes apparent that it can do all that was promised!

Obviously, things like the graphics have taken a big step forward. The artists have been able to add in all the polygon detail that they\'ve just had to fake in the past. And the texturing has taken leaps forward, with massive resolutions being used now. The programmers can smoothly push around many times more polygons, and can add fantastic programming effects such as post-processing, full-screen anti-aliasing and high definition to make the graphics even more realistic.

The sound engine has been completely rewritten too, and it\'s amazing how good the Xenon can make a game sound!

When you have a huge leap forward in technology, you can really push the game forward like this. There have been things that we\'ve wanted to do in the past, but have never had the chance, as the hardware wasn\'t up to it. But now we can really let our imaginations take us where we want to go. And as we get more familiar with Xenon over the years, I\'m sure it can take us even further.

Xbox.com: Aside from graphic and sound design, what game design elements does the new system let you implement that were not possible with the first Xbox?

Chudley: I think our biggest design element that has really made the difference to how the game feels is the whole atmosphere we can achieve with Xenon. With Xbox, although we could get something close to reality, it always felt a bit clinical, as we hadn\'t got enough graphics or processing power to make the worlds feel real. For example, it wasn\'t possible for many reasons to include any "life" in our cities in the former two games, and so they always seemed barren and lifeless.

But now, with the power of Xenon, we can finally take the cities that final step forward, and can make them feel like real, living, breathing cities! We have (at last!) got crowds—but not 2-D flat people or angular stick figures with the odd arm waving here or there that you\'re used to in games. We have a whole throng of people in the game, all motion-captured to produce realistic crowd movements. And it\'s not just the same few models dotted here and there, but literally thousands of different people!

It\'s not only the crowds that make the racing experience come alive. There\'s a whole host of atmospheric effects such as litter and leaves, and dramatic weather and time-of-day effects. The lighting and effects that you can achieve with Xenon are amazing—light that glints off movement and reflects off anything shiny, with amazing light-blooming effects. Our worlds have finally come alive!

Xbox.com: If you had to choose one feature to call out for PGR 3, what would it be?

Chudley: The main thing we\'re most proud of is the way that the entire package seamlessly works together, with the online and offline modes all encapsulated within what we call GothamTV. It\'s all much more user-friendly—it\'s almost non-game-like in its style and simplicity.

But if there was one particular feature to pick out, then that would be the … well … we can\'t talk about that yet! Let\'s just say it\'s a whole new way to play racing games! And we\'re not just talking about letting the A.I. do the driving for you!

Xbox.com: What has the crunch time leading up to E3 this year been like, and what have you prepared for the show?

Chudley: Ahhh, the wonderful time leading up to E3! The smell of sweaty developers! The bins full of empty Coke cans! The stacks of congealing pizza boxes! The grey shadows under everyone\'s eyes! It\'s been busy, as usual, but this time it\'s been made even more complex by the fact that we\'re trying to get a game ready for launch, and E3 has come at just the wrong time in our development cycle. Now if they\'d postpone E3 until Christmas, we\'d be just fine!

With a new hardware launch, especially one timed when Xenon is, it\'s always a stressful time juggling marketing and PR commitments and the game development. Just as you\'ve got to the stage when it\'s starting to come together, but full of bugs and looking ropey, you need to show off what you\'re doing!

So, unfortunately, you might not see as much as we would have liked for E3, as there just isn\'t enough time to get everything we would have wanted together and working in time. But hopefully there\'s enough to give a nice little taster of what the finished game is going to offer.

Xbox.com: Has the basic structure of the offline career mode changed, and if so, how?

Chudley: It\'s changed quite dramatically, as our ambition for PGR 3 has always been to really drive forward the whole idea of style, speed, daring, and Kudos. The premise of this advance is to make sure that everyone is catered for, whatever their skill and however they want to race and progress. There are so many different ways that gamers want to take on a racing game that we needed to make sure that everyone can pick up and play the game, and enjoy it the way that they want, whatever their preferences.

PGR 2 was focused around car groups, as the player raced through one set of cars and then progressed onto the next group. The major change this time round is the game is split into unique championships—sets of themed events that the player will be able to race in any car he owns. He can complete the entire game in his favorite car, or choose a different car for every race—it\'s totally up to him. There\'s also much more choice over what sort of races the player wants to enter, based around different racing disciplines.

Ultimately, the player\'s main goal is still to reach the top rank. But in PGR 3, they can now do that however they wish—whatever their driving style—buying whatever cars they like and racing them in whatever championships they like along the way.

Obviously, the old favorite elements like Kudos and the Garage are still there, but with the whole experience now tuned to make PGR 3 a personal experience, however you want to race.

Xbox.com: Damage modeling on cars has always been a popular feature. Can you go into detail on how the damage modeling works in PGR 3?

Chudley: Well, with the power of Xenon, it\'s all about everything—including the damage—being bigger, better, more realistic, and in your face! The effects will look lifelike, with the actual car mesh being realistically distorted as well as having just simple texturing effects.

And as for when you crash, we\'ve been studying real crashes to make sure the effects and dynamics are spot-on. But with the cars looking so much more detailed than on [the original] Xbox, you\'re not going to want to damage them, are you?!

PGR3 pic

Lots of good info.

That pic is really great looking except for the windows of the buildings, they look drawn on and flat.

[Evi]

I want to be under the hood of Gran Turismo 5.

forza > PGR

Originally posted by unknown
forza > PGR

Isn\'t that like comparing apples and oranges?  A sim to an arcade racer?

[Evi]

Why must you analyze everything? Just let it be...

Originally posted by EviscerationX
I want to be under the hood of Gran Turismo 5.

Word son

 PGR3 screenshot and a videoclip

Boxart
Two new screens:
http://media.xboxyde.com/gallery/public/1097/726_0002.jpg
http://media.xboxyde.com/gallery/public/1097/726_0001.jpg