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Evolution GT Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
21/02/2006
The creators of Screamer return with a racer that places the emphasis on the driver...
Racing titles haven't exactly been few and far between during the last couple of years, with motor fans catered for with everything from Gran Turismo 4 through to Forza Motorsport and the excellent GTR. Undeterred however the team who originally put arcade racing onto the PC in the shape of Screamer are returning, with the promise of a game that focuses on the skills of a driver rather then merely increasingly superior vehicles - perhaps the first real Racing/RPG?
Does Evolution GT have what it takes to pull away from the competition or will it left stalled on the starting grid; TVG recently had the opportunity to catch up with Milestone and find out a little more about the game.
Can you tell us a little about the team that is creating Evolution GT? With the competition so fierce within the racing genre what do you feel will make the title stand out from the crowd?
Milestone has always been appreciated for gameplay, realism and graphics quality. After the Screamer series, Milestone developed across the year 2000 the Superbike series, a set of three titles published by EA. Next, the company moved to the console development with Racing Evolution (Apex in the US), released for the XBOX by Atari, and SCAR - Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo, published by Black Bean and available for PC, PS2 and XBOX.
Evolution GT features state of the art graphics, deeply realistic physics and unmatched artificial intelligence of virtual opponents, together with an innovative and unique design of the driver management and modification.
"We see the core of the game as 'modding the driver' rather than the car."
How deep does Evolution GT attempt to go as a simulation? You promise the player the opportunity to experience the life of a real racing driver, and the evolution of his alter ego throughout the course of his career. Can you expand on the structure of the game and the kind of progression that the game offers, and the type of challenge presented to the player?
In Evolution GT the player takes on the persona of a racing driver and will manage his growth in experience and ability over the course of a career spanning four racing seasons, taking him from a rookie to a racing legend.
As the challenges and the competition become more and more extreme the player must nurture his driver in order to overcome the higher stakes. A more able driver means more spectacular racing.
We model the race driver in terms of a set of 9 skills that cover both physical and mental abilities that can be associated with a real racing driver. As the player progresses through the various car classes and relative championships, he will accumulate experience which can subsequently be invested back into improving his skill levels.
The player is thus able to mould his alter ego to match his own style of driving and racing tactics.
How much attention has been placed on technology and with it appearing on both the PC and PS2, doesn't it limit the kind of performance you can squeeze out of the game?
The PC version of the game is for sure much better from a visual standpoint than the PS2 one. We don't think that top notch hardware is essential to offer a very good graphics quality, so a medium range PC should be enough to play Evolution GT with high resolutions and pretty good frame rates.
What involvement do you presently have with 'real' professional racers and what kind of input do they provide the development team?
We had the opportunity to work with Gabriele Tarquini, current WTCC driver and former ETCC and BTCC champion (look out for an interview with Tarquini on TVG). He, of course, has a huge experience in racing in general and touring cars in particular: his support was great, and we gathered his experience in the game to introduce the players in the world of Evolution GT also Gabriele gave great insight into how racing drivers react and develop and with all this feed back we ended up with the fantastic AI displayed in Evolution GT.
"We are very proud of the quality of artificial intelligence we developed, fighting with AI competitors is really challenging"
Please tell us about the tracks and circuits you will be racing on. Have you gone for licensed circuits from real-life or perhaps taken a more creative approach when it comes to designs?
Evolution GT features 27 courses, set in beautiful and famous European environments (like Corsica, Cote d'Azur and Highlands), together with city tracks like London, Berlin and Barcelona. Of course in each city track the player will be able to spot a few landmarks of each place.
Regarding real race tracks, we included Hockenheim, Donington Park, Laguna Seca and the Spanish tracks of Valencia and Albacete. Racetracks are based on real world references like maps, CADs, pictures and movies gathered directly from licensors. Finally, each course is both available in dry and wet conditions: nice to see, hard to master!
Although the game offers the WTCC season you have also extended gameplay. What other areas of gameplay do you believe gamers will find enjoyable and can you explain a little about the 'reverse play' feature and why it has been added?
The videogame doesn't offer an official championship, but has a various range of tracks and challenges set up in towns as London, Berlin and Barcelona, country tracks as Cotè D'Azur and Corsica, as well as official circuits as Laguna Seca, Donington Park and Hockenheim Ring. The time slip feature is there as a tactical tool. It represents a real driver's ability to anticipate problems before they occur. So for example you forget that the next bend is a left hander and you are positioned incorrectly, you can time slip back a few seconds and re-align yourself for the corner. The feature will not help you if you have already made a mistake as you only get a few seconds which isn't enough to pull you out of the tyre wall if you spin off!
Can you expand on the cars on offer, the kind of differences between them and how much thought and consideration must be put into the driving experience?
We don't want to spoil the surprise! All we can say at the moment is that Evolution GT features some 35 very nice looking and enjoyable cars, ranging from small but aggressive 'hot hatches' to roadsters, from GTs to real race cars, including a few historical vehicles.
And sure, all of them are reproduced with realistic physics, with different handling according to real parameters (power, weight and traction over all).
You have been quoted as saying Evolution GT will have some of the most advanced AI and physics seen within a racing game; could you clarify this and explain what Evoltuion GT does that others don't?
The AI drivers in Evolution GT are racing drivers featuring the same set of skills as the player's alter ego. However the skills in which they excel, the way in which they decide to grow particular skills rather than others and the tactical choices they make during a race will depict a unique and recognizable character that they will portray throughout the course of the game. This ensures a constantly challenging game experience and a different twist to the tale for each individual rider the player creates, prolonging the game's lifespan.
Tell us about the various game modes on offer, the online experience and the kind of race tactics and driving style that Evolution encases?
The Career mode is the core game experience. As well as presenting the player with four seasons each featuring championships that the player must compete and perform in to progress, it also offers the possibility for the player to experiment with his character's set-up and the cars and tracks available to him, in Practice mode the player may race against the clock or against a definable number of opponents. If the going gets tough the player can target growth in specific areas by completing skill specific Challenges.
Furthermore, Quick Race and split screen Multiplayer modes will allow the player to mix and match the cars and tracks which he unlocks in the career mode against AI opponents or other players.
What kind of role does vehicle tuning and modding play within the game, and what type of rewards can players expect?
We see the core of the game as 'modding the driver' rather than the car. It's a driver simulation with strong tactical and character building elements borrowed from Role Playing Games. It takes advantage of well-known game mechanics such as experience levels, character skills and character development.
Therefore by growing his driver's skills the player will be able to tame, and ultimately dominate, the more and more powerful cars that he will unlock as he progresses through the game; he will be able to challenge the other drivers who emerge from the ranks and compete with them for dominance of the racing circuit.
If you had to pinpoint one feature that gamers will find compelling and intriguing, what would it be?
Racing! We are very proud of the quality of artificial intelligence we developed, fighting with AI competitors is really challenging, and it's so satisfying to finally cross the finish line with such a fierce competition!
What are your thoughts on the current crop of racing games around and what do you see as the next big step forward for the genre?
Everybody seems to focus on graphics and multiplayer, but there's so much to explore in terms of physics and gameplay to offer a much better single player experience as well...
Any final thoughts you'd like to offer our readers?
Take the time to check out the demo we'll soon release, you won't be disappointed!
Our thanks to Milestone for providing this insight into what Evolution GT has in store. TVG was also fortunate to chat with Gabriele Tarquini, so make sure to check out what the motorsport veteran had to say. Evolution GT is scheduled for a UK release in April; TVG will have more on the title soon...
