Ian Bell's Straight4 Studios Launches Website, Showcases Key Staff

straight4.jpg
It seems like Straight4 Studios is going all in. Now they have released a website with a blog. Furthermore, they promised a monthly newsletter! What's more interesting, however, is the information that has already been published on the blog.

The first blog post on Straight4's website features two different interviews with key members of the development team for the upcoming title GTR Revival.

Before we dive into the post, the key takeaway is that it seems like the original team is really back together. Henrik Roos, one of the key people of SimBin back in the day, is the first person featured in this post.

The Key Personnel Introduced​

As mentioned before, Henrik Roos is introduced as the Straight4 handling consultant.

If you don't know Henrik Roos, he has been a racing driver, especially known for early 2000s FIA GT racing.

His role at Straight4 includes translating how the cars feel IRL to the simulation of GTR Revival.

Furthermore, Straight4's Physics Director AJ Weber gets introduced. He "has gone on to work on many bestselling AAA-sim racers over the years". According to mobygames.com, he has been working on the first two Project Cars games in the physics department as well as Fast & Furious: Crossroads.

Physics Philosophies​

What follows is an intricate introduction into the philosophy behind the direction the physics department is supposed to go.

The post goes into detail on how realism is supposed to be portrayed in GTR Revival. Furthermore, tyre models and the fact that the physics engine is built from the ground up get featured.

You can read the full blog post here on Straight4's official website.

What do you think of this approach? Is Straight4 getting you interested in the ongoing development of GTR Revival? Let us know in the comments down below!
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About author
Julian Strasser
Julian Strasser
Motorsports and Maker-stuff enthusiast. Part time jack-of-all-trades. Owner of tracc.eu, a sim racing-related service provider and its racing community.

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Comments

Julian Strasser
Premium
Mekonrider said:
Cue loads of posts telling everyone how much they hate the guy.
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I'll be honest, I don't care what happened in the past. I see this project as an exciting new opportunity for
1. the modding community
2. sim racing in general
I think it's always exciting when something new is in the works! Especially in a niche as (relatively) small as is sim racing.

We live in an exciting time. Having GTR Revival, Rennsport and (eventually) Assetto Corsa 2 to look out for as well as ongoing development for other titles. :)
 
Nitro McClean
Premium
On the website: "That’s around the time he joined up with Ian Bell with whom he developed one of the most beloved sims of all time—GTR" Yeah really! Which part exactly did they develop? In fact, GTR used rFactor (the first edition). You could see it as a DLC for rFactor with a different user interface. So the fact that the physics engine is built from the ground up has nothing to do with the fact that Ian Bell and Henrik Roos developed one of the most beloved sims of all time—GTR. But we will see what they are going to deliver.
 
Bazooka_Joe
If it's another project from Ian Bell that's finished too early to start working on another title - I'll pass. PC2 had great physics potential (now proven by AMS2) but still ended up with too many bugs,

He's a businessman, he's not breathing digital octanes which means financial possibilities, but not necessarily a good and polished simracing title.
 
MJQT
Nitro McClean said:
On the website: "That’s around the time he joined up with Ian Bell with whom he developed one of the most beloved sims of all time—GTR" Yeah really! Which part exactly did they develop? In fact, GTR used rFactor (the first edition). You could see it as a DLC for rFactor with a different user interface. So the fact that the physics engine is built from the ground up has nothing to do with the fact that Ian Bell and Henrik Roos developed one of the most beloved sims of all time—GTR. But we will see what they are going to deliver.
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That's not quite right. SimBin licensed the isiMotor2 engine source code from Image Space Incorporated before GTR 1 was made, and further developed it – subtly different underlying physics, different file formats, new AI related features, a different (or highly modified) weather system, a (primitive) dynamic track surface, and possibly more. Like a "fork" in open source software, this modified game engine is what they kept working on into the RACE 07 years. Far more than a reskinned rFactor UI. Old school GTR2 fans like jgf would know even more about this. Also, SimBin got the code before rF1 was completed, so the source code they got was not the same as in rF1. It's why rF1 is somewhat more capable and flexible in terms of physics for a wide variety of cars than GTR 2 – the underlying base is not the same.
 
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MJQT
I'm no Ian Bell fan, but I'm interested to see more about the people working with him on this new venture. Plus I agree with Julian – always exciting to see something genuinely new in the works in a space as niche as sim racing. :)

Besides, sometimes you need someone a little off-the-wall to bring something different or innovative to market – like a licensed FIA GT game from what was basically a fledgling group of modders, a brand new sim racing game engine like the Madness Engine, or a community funded investment project like the original Project CARS (Community Assisted Racing Simulator). I don't appreciate Ian Bell's tendency to over-hype things misleadingly, but I respect his guts in being bold and trying new things.
 
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S
FeltHat said:
ue5
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That's what rumours said, but vaguely excited to see if this is taken seriously and absolutely essential about hardware requirements and flexible adaptation. Or if you just extend the temporal lifeline of endless teasers on the "blog site"until everyone has AM5/i14's, topline raytracing RTX5090/RX8950XTXX's and DDR6.

Good Bell have his experienced retired racing driver at his rooster, but looking forward to a hardcore dedicated sim developer team really understanding physical models.
 
Ryno917
Nitro McClean said:
On the website: "That’s around the time he joined up with Ian Bell with whom he developed one of the most beloved sims of all time—GTR" Yeah really! Which part exactly did they develop? In fact, GTR used rFactor (the first edition). You could see it as a DLC for rFactor with a different user interface. So the fact that the physics engine is built from the ground up has nothing to do with the fact that Ian Bell and Henrik Roos developed one of the most beloved sims of all time—GTR. But we will see what they are going to deliver.
Click to expand...

GTR was released before rFactor.

They did both use the ISI pMotor, though, but if you knew the number of sims, from different teams, that shared underlying physics engines...
 
G
I expect no proper VR support since they use UE5 which probably means:

- Deferred rendering(blurry in VR in the distance or needs a 6090TI) + TAA (ghosting/smearing in VR, less sharp with movement).

- Instead of forwarded rendering (sharp in distance with normal hardware) + MSAA (no ghosting/smearing/sharper with movement)

And since I read nothing about VR on that website I expect the worst, maybe no VR at all or VR as I described.

Second thing that worries me is that he seemed to have hired the same guy as PC1/2 for the physics department. They should have cooperated with Reiza or something instead, since it costed them years to fix the physics disaster of PC1/2.

So no so much hope for this new title, since I'm a VR user and since I never liked the physics of PC1/2 (but I DO love the physics of AMS2, it's imo even the best/together with the best, so it's not the engine, it's "the idea's of that physics guy" that he now hired again).
 
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FeltHat
stenovitz said:
That's what rumours said, but vaguely excited to see if this is taken seriously and absolutely essential about hardware requirements and flexible adaptation. Or if you just extend the temporal lifeline of endless teasers on the "blog site"until everyone has AM5/i14's, topline raytracing RTX5090/RX8950XTXX's and DDR6.

Good Bell have his experienced retired racing driver at his rooster, but looking forward to a hardcore dedicated sim developer team really understanding physical models.
Click to expand...
rumor? its on their site
 

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