Interview between PspMeet (MyPSP.com.au) and Kevin Burfitt (Head of Development - Test Drive Unlimited, Atari)
1.Can you tell us about the Test Drive Unlimited?
Test Drive Unlimited is a car racing / car driving game, set on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Oahu is the island with Pearl Harbour, this game is based on the entire island of Oahu, there is about sixteen hundred kilometres of roads. You can drive across all of island, it is a world you can just drive, drive, drive and drive, and never have to stop and load while you're driving around. The basic premise is beautiful cars, fast cars, driving around on this island doing challenges, races, speed challenges, club challenges, all sorts of things like that. There is an entire other side of things, cruising, just around on the island and enjoying your self in either single or multi-player.
2. What’s your favourite car?
It depends on what I am doing because obviously the fastest cars in the game are kind of fun just because they are fast, like Saleen or Koenigsegg, I like those just because they are really really fast. In practice however, there not particularly useful in hilly, twisty mountain races. I have a soft spot for the Ford GT, I don't know why, it's something I just like. Lotus' are fun when I can drive them and the Caterham are also just fun to drive because it is a toy car, it's just a fun car to drive.
3. What kind of performance upgrades can you add on to the cars you own?
Majority of cars can have 3 levels of upgrade, a performance pack which improves acceleration, braking and top speed. A couple of the cars actually can be upgraded into a different model, i.e. the very specific ones where they are getting a really effective performance upgrade and change.
4. What kind of cars are available in the game, and how do you obtain new ones?
We have 30+ exclusive licenses from manufacturers including Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Mercedes, Saleen, Shelby, and Jaguar, there are about a hundred cars available. The simplest way to obtain new cars is to drive around and win events, or win cash from obtaining places in some events, then you can visit a car dealership to buy the car of your choice. There are many different ways to get cars, from single player activities such as: Race Clubs and Race Series. Race Series allows you to race in a sequence of races, and when you have completed those, there will be cars prizes.
5. Will motorcycles be available in the game?
Motorcycles will not be featured in the PlayStation versions.
6. There have been a few criticisms about the driving physics on the Xbox 360, have you polished up the engine used in the PS2 / PSP version?
Due to the simultaneous development schedule, we haven't had any chance to address the feedback. We didn't have time to wait for the Xbox 360 version to finish, we have been building Test Drive at the same time as 360. We actually headed in a different direction with the physics. Melbourne House have developed a lot of racing games in the past, going back to GP Challenge, Le Mans, GP500, Death Cars, and these racing games over the years have built up a very strong racing physics engine which we call "Racing Engine", it is specifically designed for cars and motorcycles. Our racing physics engine is fine tuned for the PlayStation 2, we consider it our style of handling. We have spent a lot of time trying to make these cars fun while still keeping the realism of the type of car your driving, I think it is a lot easier to handle, cars generally behave a lot better in my opinion.
7. Is the PSP version scaled down in comparison to the 360 version?
Not as much as your might expect, you still have the entire island, it is still a streaming island of 1.6 billion square meters, that's a lot of land, there is 1600km of roads, all streaming, you haven't lost any of that. All the stuff that is next gen you have there in your hands while your riding on the bus, there are a few things that had to be reduced because the PSP is a lot less powerful console, the races are limited to 4 cars instead of 8 (as on the PS2), there are a couple of little things that are different on it as well, mostly to do with system performance, the game play is essentially the same.
8. The Xbox 360 version was all about online, can you please tell us about the multiplayer in the PSP version?
There are two multiplayer modes available on the PSP version, AdHoc and Infrastructure.
The AdHoc Multiplayer mode allows you to connect directly to your friends' PSP, and you can just cruise around, you don't actually have to compete in races, you can just cruise around on the island with each other and just enjoy the ride. You can also race with your friends based on the races available in the game, which have been fine tuned for times and checkpoint locations and things like that, or you can just create your own races on the fly, like "Hey, I'll challenge you to a race right now starting here were going to finish over at that mountain over there".
The Infrastructure mode allows you to play over the Internet and you can play with people who your not sitting anywhere near, they can be basically anywhere in the world, and once you started playing, you wouldn't notice the difference between AdHoc and Infrastructure, its just you cant see the guy sitting next to you any more. Our multiplayer server is able to handle forty to fifty thousand people, and we have placed filters to prevent you seeing that many people on your screen at once. While the server manages these tens of thousands of players but you will only see a small number of players at the same time while you are driving, those that you see while you are driving around the island will change depending on the proximity of the players and who your friends are, whether if you have blocked anyone, or if you are currently in a race.
9. What kind of download-able content will be available for the PSP version?
There is no download-able content unfortunately.
10. This is one of the very few race simulations that can be classified as a Massive Multiplayer Online Game, will we see more of this in the future?
I could say that, Test Drive Unlimited will change the expectations of the of Driving / Racing games. The freedom of just driving around with friends down the coastal roads is what I believe will make it popular, and there is also the racing element available to hardcore racing gamers to race from one event to another. However we have discovered the next group of players spend probably more time just driving around and enjoying it. It is good to know there are no restrictions or limitations to stop you from driving anywhere on the island, there is noone to tell you where to drive and "No you cant do that", you just get yourself a nice car and go for a drive with your friends. The total freedom I think will rub off on other titles and you will see that in the future. Obviously arcade racing games will still exist, but I think you will start to see this to widen in a similar way to Gran Turismo has affected other games, made them more of a sand box environment where you can go and do what you want to do in your own time, I think you will see that rubbing off in driving games now.
11. Is this the direction you think all future racing games are heading?
I don't think all of them will [be massively multiplayer] because there is still room for Gran Turismos and Forzas and titles similar to those but I think this is the definitely the way, especially as more and more people get online, I mean the cruising around is still fun, but its no where near as much fun as doing it with other people so as more and more people are playing online.
12. Do you think playing games like this will enable us to become better drivers?
Yes, and No. Obviously it depends on what you do. I can share the experience in the F1 racing game we developed for the GP500. We worked with Kenny Roberts Jnr. just before he became the world champion, leading up to the world championship. We know for a fact that professional racers played games like ours to Learn the track, working out the best driving line and how to take corners, it is use as a training aid. Now, you couldn't done that if it didn't have a certain level of realism, it can definitely teach you something and improves your reaction time, and I think anyone who's driving a car would benefit from having a better reactions.
Test Drive Unlimited will definitely improve you ability to drive around Oahu, Hawaii. Similar to some previous titles I have actually been around the Phillip Island track and the Albert Park Track, it's amazing that I know exactly what is coming up next, and I know I have been there. I haven't been to Oahu personally, but from the photographs and video clips I have seen, you just know what comes around the next corner, and there is a dead end on that road.
13. Will we see a Nintendo Wii / PS3 version in the future?
I can't talk about it, but I think you will find the PC version is coming out next year.
14. When are we expecting this game to be available in stores here in Australia?
Test Drive Unlimited is currently listed as a February 2007 release. Which we are still on target for.
More about Test Drive Unlimited
Test Drive Unlimited is the only game that immerses you into the car
enthusiast lifestyle, with total freedom to race however and wherever you
want within a huge, online-persistent environment. Visit the most
sophisticated car dealers to purchase new vehicles or simply take
them for a spin. Collect and trade rare performance parts and customize
each vehicle to make it one-of-a-kind. Test Drive Unlimited challenges
players online to experience the most exotic and fastest vehicles on more
than 1000 miles of diverse Hawaiian roads. Gamers win races, challenges,
missions and tournaments to earn credits and purchase new cars, rare performance
parts, clothes, apparel, homes and garages.
Submitted by PSPMeet
19/12/2006
4
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