Project Cars fans were given a treat back in March. Following the reveal of the McLaren 720S at the Geneva Motor Show, Slightly Mad Studios announced the British supercar would be coming to the next installment of the dev’s racing franchise.
A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it teaser trailer, just 20 seconds long in length, showed an in-game 720S blazing down a straightaway at Long Beach. Now, an off-screen video taken from a presentation at the GamesBeat Summit in Berkeley, California has provided us with a deeper look at McLaren’s latest metal in the upcoming sim racer.
The video takes a behind-the-scenes look at how Slightly Mad Studios worked on replicating the driving characteristics of the 720S for the game. To help make the virtual version as consistent with the real-life product as possible, the developers invited Chris Goodwin, McLaren’s chief test driver, to come in and take the car for a spin on the simulator.
According to the video, Goodwin provided valuable insights every step of the way — not just with regard to the 720S, but all of Project CARS 2’s McLaren vehicles. The test driver notes in the film that the initial rendition of the 720S that he piloted in the title felt very incomplete and off the mark. However, progressive tweaks to the vehicle’s physics have created an experience that he says is now spot on with the real thing.
“The car in the game has the same challenges, the same feel, the same balance, and the same performance,” Goodwin said.
For the development team, part of the difficulty of nailing the sensation of driving the 720S was accurately modeling some of its more unique, defining features. One of the major challenges was the car’s active suspension system.
According to Casey Ringley, Slightly Mad Studios’ lead vehicle artist, the game’s physics had only been built to support passive springs and dampers. This meant the team had to go back to the drawing board to adapt their engine to support McLaren’s advancements.
The whole video runs four minutes in length. While it’s a crime to have to watch it entirely off-screen, it is unfortunately the only method available at the moment.
Projects CARS 2 is scheduled to launch later this year on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
See more articles on McLaren 720S and Slightly Mad Studios.
