Gavin Raeburn: Following what was widely hailed as an impressive debut of the EGO Engine with DiRT, we were able to make key improvements during the GRID project which lifted the quality of the game to a level we were very happy with. What kind of progress did you achieve in technical areas since the first DiRT and GRID? More details soon.ĤPlayers: Your EGO engine is a very powerful tool which is capable of delivering stunning graphics.
As a result, the Flashback system we developed for GRID was available in DiRT 2 from day one and is now being expanded with additional features and functionality. Gavin Raeburn: Both DiRT and GRID are developed by the same team at Codemasters Racing Studio so both benefit automatically from the cool tech we develop for each of them. However, we concentrate on making sure the game experience is as accessible and entertaining as possible, and in that respect we're making a much more mainstream game.ĤPlayers: Race Driver: GRID offered an amazing crash experience and gave players a chance to rewind scenes.
Weve spent a lot of time working on tyre physics, which obviously has a big effect on the way an off-road vehicle handles, and this means that driving in DiRT2 is more realistic than it was in the original game. The balance between arcade and simulation in our games is something which we look at closely and with DiRT2 I think our car handling and vehicle physics are much more advanced than they were in DiRT. Gavin Raeburn: No, we don't feel that is the way forward for our game. How difficult would it be to deliver a hardcore simulation and an arcade racer in one game? Or have you ever discussed the idea to split the Colin franchise into separate arcade and simulation games like Electronic Arts plans to do with Need for Speed? Some prefer an accurate simulation like Richard Burns Rally. We believe DiRT2 will deliver handling that will appeal to a broad spectrum of racing fans.ĤPlayers: Some players like it more the arcade way. For DiRT 2, we've completely overhauled our car physics model to deliver greater depth and accuracy, which makes the cars feel even more intuitive and natural to drive. Gavin Raeburn: We always try to make our car physics as accessible, intuitive and fun as possible, starting from a realistic physical base. Did you change anything about the driving physics? 4Players: The driving physics of DiRT were a mixture of simulation and arcade with a slight focus on the latter - especially when you think of the "wonder brake" which seemed to be very unrealistic.