Working on a racing sim / game, need ideas

[AutoMX]

I'm working on a race / driving sim for the PC and so far it's very standard and basic. I'm looking for innovative ideas to put in, something that you guys might have some good input on.
I don't want it to turn into yet another go around the track fast game, since plenty of other free and commercial games offer that.

I've thought about some features already, but maybe you guys have some that could be a hit. I'm thinking arcade type fun.

 

[ESPNSTI]

Cool!
I know this would be very, very difficult to do, but what I always wanted to see. is a vast, vast driving area.
What I mean is something like, flight simulator (where you can fly from any town to any other town in the US or elsewhere) but instead with cars.
It wouldn't have to be pretty as long as it let you drive anywhere you want.

Test Drive 3 comes to mind as having the beginnings of the right idea.

Key for something like this would be to have community support for designing all the roads and scenery, but perhaps using some sort of mapping software like mapquest or the likes would be a place to start.

 

[hokiethang]

Cool!
I know this would be very, very difficult to do, but what I always wanted to see. is a vast, vast driving area.
What I mean is something like, flight simulator (where you can fly from any town to any other town in the US or elsewhere) but instead with cars.
It wouldn't have to be pretty as long as it let you drive anywhere you want.

Test Drive 3 comes to mind as having the beginnings of the right idea.

Key for something like this would be to have community support for designing all the roads and scenery, but perhaps using some sort of mapping software like mapquest or the likes would be a place to start.

I definitely like that idea.

 

[Hazardous]

It would take a lot of doing... It would need loads of scenery modeling, plus a game engine that would run it...

But it could be awesome if done properly. Imagine having a race on public roads with a free choise of road, one could take a small, handy Lotus Elise to go through twistier but shorter country road, and the other a Lamborghini Murcielago and blast at average of 300kph on highways.

 

[Buba]

Cool!
I know this would be very, very difficult to do, but what I always wanted to see. is a vast, vast driving area.
What I mean is something like, flight simulator (where you can fly from any town to any other town in the US or elsewhere) but instead with cars.
It wouldn't have to be pretty as long as it let you drive anywhere you want.

Test Drive 3 comes to mind as having the beginnings of the right idea.

Key for something like this would be to have community support for designing all the roads and scenery, but perhaps using some sort of mapping software like mapquest or the likes would be a place to start.

Just so do I...

I just thought today how coll it would be to have roads with traffic and you can blast by, just like you would love to doin Real Life...

A bit like 18 wheels of steel, but with nice cars... A good objective in that would be something like Gumball Rally...
I also would like the cars to NOT withstand crashes... Maybe as an option...

Buba

 

[bigfoot1942]

I also would like the cars to NOT withstand crashes... Maybe as an option...

Buba

it would be the most important part for me... no more wall-rides like you can do with NFSU2.

 

[Mischief007]

Agree. Most of us, I think, want realistic crash modelling.

 

[ruuman]

Agree. Most of us, I think, want realistic crash modelling.

Realistic crash damage is great, I also like that rally game demo where if you crashed the car badly, the driver got injured too, like vision blur and so on.

Something I'd like personally which I haven't seen in a game yet is when playing an in-car view (especially rally) the camera always looks forwards, I'd like it to be able to track where the wheels are pointing, so if your going round a corner sideways your actually looking out the side window to balance the car as you would in real life.

good luck with the game

 

[Mischief007]

Agree. Most of us, I think, want realistic crash modelling.

Realistic crash damage is great, I also like that rally game demo where if you crashed the car badly, the driver got injured too, like vision blur and so on.

Something I'd like personally which I haven't seen in a game yet is when playing an in-car view (especially rally) the camera always looks forwards, I'd like it to be able to track where the wheels are pointing, so if your going round a corner sideways your actually looking out the side window to balance the car as you would in real life.

good luck with the game

Wow, never thought of the turning camera into the turn. Good call. Would help a lot too

 

[Avyer]

I really like the idea of having a town and stuff like that. But it would be nice to walk around too, and have actual dealerships you would go to, and tuners that would actually take your car for the time to install the things, or if you had an RPG aspect of it, you take up a trade and open your own shop and suchs... There would be a lot of blanks to fill, but I've always wanted to do something like that.

Edit: I would also include actual race tracks, so it's not all running away from the cops type street racing. Tracks could have events like drifting, solo2... have off road rally things too... Man I wish I had the time and money to invest in a game...

And it has to be multiplayer too....

 

[ESPNSTI]

Something I'd like personally which I haven't seen in a game yet is when playing an in-car view (especially rally) the camera always looks forwards, I'd like it to be able to track where the wheels are pointing, so if your going round a corner sideways your actually looking out the side window to balance the car as you would in real life.

Both Live For Speed and GTR can do this to some degree, but yes this is something I've always missed badly in rally games.

 

[Buba]

Something I'd like personally which I haven't seen in a game yet is when playing an in-car view (especially rally) the camera always looks forwards, I'd like it to be able to track where the wheels are pointing, so if your going round a corner sideways your actually looking out the side window to balance the car as you would in real life.

Both Live For Speed and GTR can do this to some degree, but yes this is something I've always missed badly in rally games.

For that, you have to get Track IR, its a device that monitor your heads position via an infrared thigy you gotta put on a cap or something... After that you can look around freely in the car... Also outside of the window, if you like

check it out

Buba

 

[ESPNSTI]

^ Well that is cool too (although I'm not sure how well that would work without it literally being a pain in the neck), but what I was referring to was the "look into the apex" function that simply swivels the view to the direction you're steering too.

 

[Derek]

I'm still wanting a realistic 'real-life' autosim. Being able to drive around in town and on motorways with other traffic.

I know this isn't possible for a single developper, but it has always been my dream

:lol:

 

[Mischief007]

I'm still wanting a realistic 'real-life' autosim. Being able to drive around in town and on motorways with other traffic.

I know this isn't possible for a single developper, but it has always been my dream

:lol:

I think it's everybody's dream. It would be sweet to have a whole world map but now we are really dreaming...:lol:

 

[Buba]

I would have always been confident with an A to B gameplay type where you have like 5 - 10 variations... Depending on current traffic you would have to try out the different routes...

This "dream" started after I've played Need for Speed 1 for the first time... Back then it was THE Game...

Buba

 

[Overheat]

I'm still wanting a realistic 'real-life' autosim. Being able to drive around in town and on motorways with other traffic.

I know this isn't possible for a single developper, but it has always been my dream

:lol:

This would be a dream game for me too - we're quite sad arent we?


Currently Listening To: Tippi Toes - Primus - Miscellaneous Debris (1992)

 

[ESPNSTI]

I would have always been confident with an A to B gameplay type where you have like 5 - 10 variations... Depending on current traffic you would have to try out the different routes...

This "dream" started after I've played Need for Speed 1 for the first time... Back then it was THE Game...

Buba

That's what I liked about Test Drive 3.
You had actual usable shortcuts (not the 25 meter variety), and on top of that, you could just decide to go off-roading and cut across a field and things like that.

I think my idea of a map of the US (or other places) is feasible if:
- You use repeated scenery (possiblty auto generated somehow) mixed in with unique scenery where desired.
- You don't make "looking good" a priority and keep the graphics simple.
- Make it customizable, so that you can call on the community to model their own street / town / buildings, etc...
- Load scenery frequently rather than trying to load a large area. Perhaps the best way would be to have a rolling scenery load routine. However, maybe this would be too taxing on frame rates.

 

[Overheat]

I think they should start with somewhere like Monaco and build up to places like Great Britain and Japan, then finally onto the massive places like the US.


Currently Listening To: Here's Your Letter - Blink 182 - Blink-182 (2003)

 

[ESPNSTI]

Well in a game idea like that, the engine / architecture is most important.
I think the scenery load mechanism would be most important.
What I mean is that once you have a system to read scenery form disk when you're coming from a rural area and entering a city and vice versa, and that system works well, then it doesn't matter how much scenery you have (from the engine's perspective).
Of course you'd need to create all that scenery, but I'd start with the roads first and then create the cities.
You wouldn't have to create ALL cities in one shot.
In fact I'd only create a few and then fill in more and more over the years.