Q&A with Slightly Mad Studios: Ian Bell [Read OP]

[Yellowstone]

It's actually in British Columbia, in the Okanagan Valley.

You're absolutely right. My apologies. Being a fellow Canadian - I should have known that!

 

[Masscot]

Jacques Villeneuve's new Club Circuit - known as Area 27 - officially opens this weekend. Located in a beautiful valley in Alberta, Canada - maybe some food for thought for Ian. Here are a couple of links: http://www.area27.ca/ and

That video made me realise how washed out skies generally look in racing games. The rich dark blue sky in that video looked fantastic, especially with the bright clouds and god rays.

 

[killerjimbag]

That video made me realise how washed out skies generally look in racing games. The rich dark blue sky in that video looked fantastic, especially with the bright clouds and god rays.

That's just an average Canadian day. Except for the winter, when it's white and Grey.

 

[05XR8]

Is there a particular reason why Australian road cars didn't make the cut?
1960-2015 Falcon
Chrysler Charger
Holden Monaro & Commodore

Also, any possibility the FG Falcon V8 Supercar will have a comparable different car to race against?

 

[jake2013guy]

Is there a particular reason why Australian road cars didn't make the cut?
1960-2015 Falcon
Chrysler Charger
Holden Monaro & Commodore

Also, any possibility the FG Falcon V8 Supercar will have a comparable different car to race against?

From the previous games, the Nissan was apparently planned if the PC1 Car List thread is anything to go by and there are a few cars from there which we see here.

 

[05XR8]

From the previous games, the Nissan was apparently planned if the PC1 Car List thread is anything to go by and there are a few cars from there which we see here.

I believe it was confirmed no Altima would be in PC2. However, I'd like to know if it's a travel thing or no interest from SMS or Virgin Australia Supercars or SMS haven't gotten around to it.

I remember Mercedes PR slipped on details of their cars being sheduled for GT6. As it happened to be Forza 6 where those cars showed up. So, was it a licence thing(Forza got the FG X and sponsored Marcos Ambrose; PC1 got the FG II) about the Altima or other (V8)Supercars.

 

[jake2013guy]

I believe it was confirmed no Altima would be in PC2. However, I'd like to know if it's a travel thing or no interest from SMS or Virgin Australia Supercars or SMS haven't gotten around to it.

I remember Mercedes PR slipped on details of their cars being sheduled for GT6. As it happened to be Forza 6 where those cars showed up. So, was it a licence thing(Forza got the FG X and sponsored Marcos Ambrose; PC1 got the FG II) about the Altima or other (V8)Supercars.

I don't remember that was the case.

 

[05XR8]

I don't remember that was the case.

I haven't read anything in these threads about why there aren't other Australian/Australia based cars in PC1 & PC2.

 

[jake2013guy]

I haven't read anything in these threads about why there aren't other Australian/Australia based cars in PC1 & PC2.

Licensing and plane tickets probably?

 

[05XR8]

Licensing and plane tickets probably?

Maybe. We'll see if that was the case.

 

[FuriousDemon]

I got the most important question for Ian, is JonZ cooking up part 2 for the release of the new game?
Miss his videos.

 

[Ian Bell]

I got the most important question for Ian, is JonZ cooking up part 2 for the release of the new game?
Miss his videos.

Yes he's a fantastic video creator, one of the very best. I think he was working for Kunos but I could be wrong there.

 

[FuriousDemon]

Yes he's a fantastic video creator, one of the very best. I think he was working for Kunos but I could be wrong there.

Oh, so he is not part of WMD for pCARS 2? That's unfortunate. Hope he still makes a video or two when the game is out.

 

[breyzipp]

Still my most favorite racing game video show-off ever. Granted the music selection and the synergy between the song and video has a lot to do with that.

 

[Ian Bell]

Still my most favorite racing game video show-off ever. Granted the music selection and the synergy between the song and video has a lot to do with that.

That's by Ed our resident awesome video maker, with Music by our Audio Director Dr. Baysted and vocals by his wife

 

[Masscot]

Yes he's a fantastic video creator, one of the very best. I think he was working for Kunos but I could be wrong there.

That's a great shame. Louder Than Words is amazing - I must have watched it over a dozen times.

 

[Cluck]

JonZ does his videos in his spare time and is immensely talented, of that there is no doubt. I would hope he has something on the cards for pCARS2 but there's no way of knowing - Louder than Words appeared out of nowhere! He is a WMD2 member but not very active on the forums.

 

[BorisTheFrog]

I have a question for Mr Bell to conveniently overlook.
After the release of Project Cars on XB1 and (to put it as politely as possible) the less than favourable attitude by yourself and certain members of the game's forums towards the console's community, I was wondering how exactly SMS are planning on restoring the faith with those that, as a result of past experiences, don't feel inclined to want to reinvest in your software?
Whilst nobody can deny that the content of Project Cars 2 is indeed quite spectacular, the underlying problem for myself (and probably many others) is that I don't particularly want to have to endure a repeat performance of two years ago because it's just not worth the hassle - and probably far easier to simply take the Forza option.
At the end of the day all people want to hear this time around that ''99.5% working'' means exactly that and not some PR stunt to mislead the games playing public into parting with their money.

 

[Ian Bell]

I have a question for Mr Bell to conveniently overlook.
After the release of Project Cars on XB1 and (to put it as politely as possible) the less than favourable attitude by yourself and certain members of the game's forums towards the console's community, I was wondering how exactly SMS are planning on restoring the faith with those that, as a result of past experiences, don't feel inclined to want to reinvest in your software?
Whilst nobody can deny that the content of Project Cars 2 is indeed quite spectacular, the underlying problem for myself (and probably many others) is that I don't particularly want to have to endure a repeat performance of two years ago because it's just not worth the hassle - and probably far easier to simply take the Forza option.
At the end of the day all people want to hear this time around that ''99.5% working'' means exactly that and not some PR stunt to mislead the games playing public into parting with their money.

Your post opens with a false proposition.

Anyone that knows me for any period of time at all will know that I tend to treat people as they treat me. I ask our moderators to be patient for the most part but the simple truth is that some people are disruptive on forums. Forums have rules and if a person breaks those rules then they are removed from the forum eventually. I can say that we removed roughly 0.0005% of the forum members for repeated breaches (or occasionally one honker of a breach)...

I've never had a single issue toward the 'console community'. I have gone out of my way to drop my wheel for the whole of pCARS2 development and have prioritised every sensible console based request. I've spent more time on 'console forums' than any others (here for example)... We shipped exactly the same content updates on console as we did PC and we kept to an insane monthly schedule

I can tell you nothing will change here and if something in our 'attitude' puts you off purchasing our games, then so be it.

 

[BorisTheFrog]

Your post opens with a false proposition.

Anyone that knows me for any period of time at all will know that I tend to treat people as they treat me. I ask our moderators to be patient for the most part but the simple truth is that some people are disruptive on forums. Forums have rules and if a person breaks those rules then they are removed from the forum eventually. I can say that we removed roughly 0.0005% of the forum members for repeated breaches (or occasionally one honker of a breach)...

I've never had a single issue toward the 'console community'. I have gone out of my way to drop my wheel for the whole of pCARS2 development and have prioritised every sensible console based request. I've spent more time on 'console forums' than any others (here for example)... We shipped exactly the same content updates on console as we did PC and we kept to an insane monthly schedule

I can tell you nothing will change here and if something in our 'attitude' puts you off purchasing our games, then so be it.

That's cool, you are entitled to your opinion... As am I.

I think we're all fully aware of the goings on within the forums during the early days of Project Cars and whilst i wholeheartedly agree with you over acceptable levels of behaviour, you also have to understand that some of those members were customers with genuine issues regarding the launch quality of Project Cars.
Ironically i'm actually a member of your ''0.0005%'' club; not because I was rude or abusive towards yourself or fellow community members but simply because I questioned the ''we want to get it right first time around and not make the same mistake as others'' comment stated by yourself - and for my troubles got my posting rights removed. The irony being that if that statement would have been even remotely accurate then the forums wouldn't have deteriorated as rapidly as they did, SMS wouldn't have had to spend needless man hours putting things right, Project Cars would have achieved the long term success it deserved and I amongst many others wouldn't be wondering if Project Cars 2 is going to suffer the same fate on XB1.

So with all due respect, yeah attitudes do kinda put people off and the very last sentence has told me what i want to hear so thanks for taking the time to reply.

A false proposition - apparantly so.

 

[Ian Bell]

That's cool, you are entitled to your opinion... As am I.

I think we're all fully aware of the goings on within the forums during the early days of Project Cars and whilst i wholeheartedly agree with you over acceptable levels of behaviour, you also have to understand that some of those members were customers with genuine issues regarding the launch quality of Project Cars.
Ironically i'm actually a member of your ''0.0005%'' club; not because I was rude or abusive towards yourself or fellow community members but simply because I questioned the ''we want to get it right first time around and not make the same mistake as others'' comment stated by yourself - and for my troubles got my posting rights removed. The irony being that if that statement would have been even remotely accurate then the forums wouldn't have deteriorated as rapidly as they did, SMS wouldn't have had to spend needless man hours putting things right, Project Cars would have achieved the long term success it deserved and I amongst many others wouldn't be wondering if Project Cars 2 is going to suffer the same fate on XB1.

So with all due respect, yeah attitudes do kinda put people off and the very last sentence has told me what i want to hear so thanks for taking the time to reply.

A false proposition - apparantly so.

I've yet to see a single person removed unfairly Boris and I've checked all of the history for any person banned. The accusation that we remove people for criticising our work is preposterous. We have 10 critical threads opened for months in the first 3 pages alone on the open pCARS1 forum right now. We're actively asking thousands to criticise us daily in WMD2 and we pay pro drivers to do the same. This is all posted, unfiltered, for all involved to read. Some people struggle with the wording of their criticism though I'll grant you.

Our forums have not 'deteriorated rapidly'. In fact since we remove the disruptive people, in breach of forum rules, it's become a nicer place to be, full of useful information and help for all users and all with a friendly atmosphere. This is how all normally moderated forums operate, we aren't being in any way 'exceptional'.

Frankly if you needed to be removed from the forum, I'm happy you're giving pCARS2 a miss.

 

[DesertPenguin09]

I have a question for Mr Bell to conveniently overlook.
After the release of Project Cars on XB1 and (to put it as politely as possible) the less than favourable attitude by yourself and certain members of the game's forums towards the console's community, I was wondering how exactly SMS are planning on restoring the faith with those that, as a result of past experiences, don't feel inclined to want to reinvest in your software?
Whilst nobody can deny that the content of Project Cars 2 is indeed quite spectacular, the underlying problem for myself (and probably many others) is that I don't particularly want to have to endure a repeat performance of two years ago because it's just not worth the hassle - and probably far easier to simply take the Forza option.
At the end of the day all people want to hear this time around that ''99.5% working'' means exactly that and not some PR stunt to mislead the games playing public into parting with their money.

That's cool, you are entitled to your opinion... As am I.

I think we're all fully aware of the goings on within the forums during the early days of Project Cars and whilst i wholeheartedly agree with you over acceptable levels of behaviour, you also have to understand that some of those members were customers with genuine issues regarding the launch quality of Project Cars.
Ironically i'm actually a member of your ''0.0005%'' club; not because I was rude or abusive towards yourself or fellow community members but simply because I questioned the ''we want to get it right first time around and not make the same mistake as others'' comment stated by yourself - and for my troubles got my posting rights removed. The irony being that if that statement would have been even remotely accurate then the forums wouldn't have deteriorated as rapidly as they did, SMS wouldn't have had to spend needless man hours putting things right, Project Cars would have achieved the long term success it deserved and I amongst many others wouldn't be wondering if Project Cars 2 is going to suffer the same fate on XB1.

So with all due respect, yeah attitudes do kinda put people off and the very last sentence has told me what i want to hear so thanks for taking the time to reply.

A false proposition - apparantly so.

Wow. Just......wow...

 

[Elitekilla29]

@IanBell I forgot if I asked you this or not but will there be a pit road speed limit coming into the pits this time instead of just driving full throttle into the pits and not being penalized?

 

[Ian Bell]

@IanBell I forgot if I asked you this or not but will there be a pit road speed limit coming into the pits this time instead of just driving full throttle into the pits and not being penalized?

There is a full manual pit option

Actually, I've just re-read. We had the car auto slow to the pit speed limit the first time around...

 

[DesertPenguin09]

@IanBell Is that pit speed limit the same on all tracks for all cars? I figure you can do something like this in career mode since it's more tailored but in quickmatches and online how will that work from track to track/car to car?

Also, what part of the world are you in right now? Can you swing by for a beer tomorrow?

 

[BorisTheFrog]

account: boristhefrog

Account is active but with posting rights removed. The comment in question critisized the reasons SMS gave relating to launch delay (as a reference to actual release quality on XB1) and was subsequently deleted with my aforementioned rights removed. I reserve the word ''hypocrite'' for very special occasions....
You're happy that banned forum members are giving the game a miss! You see, that is the Ian Bell we all know - the true ambassador.. Wow, duly noted... You take care. Goodbye

 

[Bfann22]

@IanBell it must be discouraging to from time to time hear criticism, especially when it's something you've passionately worked hard out. It is admirable what you are doing by continuing to respond even when the response may not be what somebody may not like to hear. See, the point is, I would ask you a question, but they're all being answered here by following this thread for the last few months. That should definitely be applauded!

 

[Ian Bell]

account: boristhefrog

Account is active but with posting rights removed. The comment in question critisized the reasons SMS gave relating to launch delay (as a reference to actual release quality on XB1) and was subsequently deleted with my aforementioned rights removed. I reserve the word ''hypocrite'' for very special occasions....
You're happy that banned forum members are giving the game a miss! You see, that is the Ian Bell we all know - the true ambassador.. Wow, duly noted... You take care. Goodbye

Boris, you're really just underlining my point. 'The Ian Bell we all know... etc', really just indicates you can't refrain from ad hominems and that's probably why you were removed.

 

[jake2013guy]

@IanBell it must be discouraging to from time to time hear criticism, especially when it's something you've passionately worked hard out. It is admirable what you are doing by continuing to respond even when the response may not be what somebody may not like to hear. See, the point is, I would ask you a question, but they're all being answered here by following this thread for the last few months. That should definitely be applauded!

That's probably why they're so committed to improving on release whether with content or bug fixes

 

[jake2013guy]

account: boristhefrog

Account is active but with posting rights removed. The comment in question critisized the reasons SMS gave relating to launch delay (as a reference to actual release quality on XB1) and was subsequently deleted with my aforementioned rights removed. I reserve the word ''hypocrite'' for very special occasions....
You're happy that banned forum members are giving the game a miss! You see, that is the Ian Bell we all know - the true ambassador.. Wow, duly noted... You take care. Goodbye

He's happy to see that you're not buying the game because you're only going to get it refunded anyway or were never buying it anyway.

Also, I don't think he wants public forum confrontation as a result of excessively angry people voicing their opinions in an abusive manner and from what I've seen of your posts, I am not surprised he takes that view. He took the time to respond to you and you're just giving him more of the same.

Deep. Double post.