In dem ersten Q&A Part mit Steve Anthony, geht es um Handling und Physics des Spiels.
Part I: Cars (Handling & Physics)
Community Team: How is car handling different in Carbon than it was in Most Wanted?
Steve Anthony: We’ve spent a lot of time this year making sure that the cars felt different from one another. The major difference obviously is felt when you compare the handling between all the different classes. All of the muscle cars feel completely different to drive than the tuners for instance. Within each class, you can also feel more subtle differences between some of the cars depending on whether it’s a classic muscle car, or whether the car is lighter or heavier than another.
Overall, I think that players will notice a much more realistic experience based on the different performance levels of the cars. For instance, it makes sense that a car such as the Mazda RX8 can’t keep up with a car like a Lamborghini Murciélago and vice versa. As players progress through the game, they’ll reach certain points where the car they’re driving just can’t quite compete with the competition and they’ll have to head to the car lot to make a step up in performance. I think this is a key difference from Most Wanted where you could, through the use of upgrades, make a low end car that could compete with some of the fastest cars in the game.
CT: How have the drifting physics and handling changed from Most Wanted to Carbon?
[MEHR]
SA: The drifting physics and handling have been totally revamped for Carbon. Our number one goal throughout development was to focus on the speed of drift. In the past, drifting in racing games has felt quite sluggish and didn’t capture the insane speeds which you see in some of the pro drift competitions. We’ve focused on speed so much that we’ve tied point scoring to it. Keeping up a consistently high speed is the key to getting huge drift scores.
In addition to the regular drift tracks which take place on closed circuits, players will also have a chance to try their skill at the challenging Canyon Drifts. These drifts take place on narrow mountain roads and have the added risk of being able to break through the barriers and fall off the track. The handling on these roads is pretty similar to regular drifts but you’ll have to really learn how to control your car to avoid hitting the walls or going off the road. These are by far my favorite drifts in the game. It’s a very satisfying feeling when you can make it to the bottom of the track without having touched a single wall.
CT: What was the process behind selecting which cars were going to be included in the game?
SA: The drifting physics and handling have been totally revamped for Carbon. Our number one goal throughout development was to focus on the speed of drift. In the past, drifting in racing games has felt quite sluggish and didn’t capture the insane speeds which you see in some of the pro drift competitions. We’ve focused on speed so much that we’ve tied point scoring to it. Keeping up a consistently high speed is the key to getting huge drift scores.
In addition to the regular drift tracks which take place on closed circuits, players will also have a chance to try their skill at the challenging Canyon Drifts. These drifts take place on narrow mountain roads and have the added risk of being able to break through the barriers and fall off the track. The handling on these roads is pretty similar to regular drifts but you’ll have to really learn how to control your car to avoid hitting the walls or going off the road. These are by far my favorite drifts in the game. It’s a very satisfying feeling when you can make it to the bottom of the track without having touched a single wall.
Since our ultimate goal was to play into the real life rivalries that existed between fans of tuners, muscles and exotics, we wanted to have a broad selection that would give us a good balance across these three categories. We ended up with over 50 cars in total and I’m sure our fans are going to love the choices. There will be a lot of returning favorites as well as a ton of new introductions to the Need for Speed series. Among the Development team here, the loyalties are pretty divided. A lot of people are huge fans of the classic muscle cars and love the acceleration and drifts they can get out of them. Others are a little more traditional in their driving and are fairly evenly divided among Exotics and Tuners. I find that I have a couple of favorite cars from each class that I like to drive. It’s a challenge to master each of the three car classes because they definitely require different driving styles to win.
CT: How do the different car classes factor into the game and how I play (ie are certain cars more suited to certain race modes)?
SA: The drifting physics and handling have been totally revamped for Carbon. Our number one goal throughout development was to focus on the speed of drift. In the past, drifting in racing games has felt quite sluggish and didn’t capture the insane speeds which you see in some of the pro drift competitions. We’ve focused on speed so much that we’ve tied point scoring to it. Keeping up a consistently high speed is the key to getting huge drift scores.
In addition to the regular drift tracks which take place on closed circuits, players will also have a chance to try their skill at the challenging Canyon Drifts. These drifts take place on narrow mountain roads and have the added risk of being able to break through the barriers and fall off the track. The handling on these roads is pretty similar to regular drifts but you’ll have to really learn how to control your car to avoid hitting the walls or going off the road. These are by far my favorite drifts in the game. It’s a very satisfying feeling when you can make it to the bottom of the track without having touched a single wall.
The cars in the game have been divided into three groups: Tuners, Muscles and Exotics. Each class feels very different to drive and has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s very apparent when driving the same track with a car from each class that each car will require you to drive a little differently to be competitive. Tuners are all around performers and their strength is handling. Muscles on the other hand lose out in the handling department but certainly make up for it with their raw acceleration. Finally, Exotics have a clear top speed advantage over the other two classes. So, just by looking at these different strengths, it’s easy to see how certain types of cars will be well suited for different types of tracks.
The Career Mode in Carbon is very much geared towards the battles between the three car classes. Palmont city is divided into a number of major territories and each is controlled by a major crew aligned with one of the three classes. It will be up to you to pick where you begin and start to challenge for territory. You have to make it through the bosses of each of these crews before you can start challenging for control of the city. Anyone up for a real challenge will want to start a career with each of the car classes and spend the time to master them all.
CT: Am I locked into driving one particular car class?
SA: The drifting physics and handling have been totally revamped for Carbon. Our number one goal throughout development was to focus on the speed of drift. In the past, drifting in racing games has felt quite sluggish and didn’t capture the insane speeds which you see in some of the pro drift competitions. We’ve focused on speed so much that we’ve tied point scoring to it. Keeping up a consistently high speed is the key to getting huge drift scores.
In addition to the regular drift tracks which take place on closed circuits, players will also have a chance to try their skill at the challenging Canyon Drifts. These drifts take place on narrow mountain roads and have the added risk of being able to break through the barriers and fall off the track. The handling on these roads is pretty similar to regular drifts but you’ll have to really learn how to control your car to avoid hitting the walls or going off the road. These are by far my favorite drifts in the game. It’s a very satisfying feeling when you can make it to the bottom of the track without having touched a single wall.
Absolutely not. While you choose to align yourself with a certain car class at the start of the game, this by no means limits you to driving cars only of that class. It’s more of an allegiance that you choose which weights the unlocks and car selection toward that class during the career. In addition all of the Challenge Series events will put you in a variety of different cars so you really need to get a feel for all three classes in order to finish every event. The Reward Card is also full of tasks which will require the player to try out a few different classes.
