When SimBin Studios was re-established in North West England last year, the racing community rejoiced as the developer synonymous with several acclaimed PC racing titles had returned to the scene. Now, just over three months later RaceDepartment confirms that the revitalized studio’s first project set for release will be the third installment in the GTR franchise.
As discussed previously, the studio will now focus on creating multi-platform titles, meaning of course that GTR 3 will be available for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 players when released in 2018. When discussing the direction of the game, lead man Allan Speed revealed that the racer will be targeted toward the hardcore sim racer, as well as the more relaxed casual racer:
“The plan will be at some point to branch off. It will be proper simulation but for the console version the casual user is just as important. At some point RaceRoom will switch over to the technology we are creating and we’ll just take that a different route, as in simulation with support for both console and PC.”
Plans for the game are already well underway, with Allan Speed going so far as to suggest the first playable version of the game could be arriving in as little as six months time:
“The plan is after six months we’ll have a first playable. We are working on deals at the minute with publishers which takes time of course. We’ll have something on all three platforms, it will be one track, weather, damage, new particle system, physics and AI. I suspect we’ll have multiple cars on that track with all the new systems running”.
Powered by the Unreal Engine 4, both Scott and Allan have confirmed to RaceDepartment that GTR 3 will take advantage of key features absent from a number of current games that are vital to the experience: 24 hour day-to-night transitions and a dynamic weather system. Vehicle damage is another confirmed feature, in addition to the team wanting to bring a “substantial improvement over RaceRoom’s current particle system and AI behaviour.”
The original reveal, and the rest of the juicy information can be seen over at RaceDepartment.
We’re excited to see what SimBin will bring to the genre in this era, so be sure to stay tuned to GTPlanet for more on the upcoming game as it becomes available.
See more articles on GTR 3, Sector3 Studios, and SimBin Studios.
