Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Sector3 Studios to upgrade RaceRoom Racing Experience to Unreal Engine 4 and include day / night cycle, enhanced weather and improved physics in future development plans.
When RaceDepartment went to visit the new UK office of SimBin Studios a few weeks ago we had the chance to have a chat with Sector3 Studio Head Christopher Speed, where we took the opportunity to speak about the future of RaceRoom Racing Experience and gauge how the Swedish developers plan to prolong the relevance of the title in light of an increasingly competitive sim racing marketplace.
Many of us know the history behind RaceRoom Racing Experience, and the great strides the game has made under the leadership of Sector3 following their formation back in 2014. However with many top quality games such as Project CARS 1&2, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista and many others flooding into the racing game space, what do Sector3 intend to do with RaceRoom Racing Experience in order to improve their positon in the sim racing pecking order?
"We know with R3E the game engine is old in comparison to the competition, there is no doubt we are missing certain elements and eye candy the others have. We took the decision that Unreal is the way to go" said Chris Speed.
This is indeed exciting news for RaceRoom fans, and with a new graphics engine sat in front of an already very enjoyable force feedback experience and some incredibly well made content, a move to the Unreal engine and the addition of all the benefits that will bring could prove to be somewhat of a game changer for the title - proof positive that the current investment of both time and money fans have dropped on RaceRoom Racing Experience won't be wasted in light of the GTR3 announcement.
"Eventually RaceRoom will move across to this new technology, but first and foremost it's GTR3. Then we look into what we can do with RaceRoom afterwards.... he continued.
Of course with SimBin Studios UK dedicated to working on the new game, and Sector3 still progressing with the current RaceRoom project as well as lending support to GTR3, it will be some time until the benefits of the Unreal 4 development see light of day in RaceRoom.
"There is no doubt that the work that is going on for GTR3 we will see in RaceRoom when we make that decision to switch, which means day night cycle, weather, improved physics, AI and visuals. All these goodies will be coming across when the time is right" added Speed.
This is very positive news for fans of R3E. With the long term aim of SimBin and Sector3 to get the Unreal Engine 4 working to it's maximum potential, Speed was at pains to stress that the continual development of RaceRoom remains Sector3's priority. He went on to acknowledge the fact that many currently missing features that fans consider to be essential content are in development and should be included in the title as part of future update.
"No doubt there is still some key elements missing in RaceRoom... Flag system, tyre compounds on certain cars is being worked on. Multiclass racing we have a design on paper and will at some point work towards that but first and foremost we have to get the structured MP racing features done"
When pushed on the subject of the sheer volume of work to be undertaken in order to get both games where they want them to be, Speed explained a little more about the division of resources
Think of it like this, two separate studios working on two separate products. We are under the same umbrella but we are two separate entities working on different things. We are supporting one another in different areas and provide feedback where necessary, but the Swedish studio is still solely responsible for RaceRoom whilst the UK studio is responsible for GTR3.
This is a very intelligent move by both development teams as it allows Sector3 and RaceRoom Racing Experience to benefit from a considerable jump up in technology and graphical standards, without the need to undertake a costly development exercise in terms of both money and resource if the team were to go it alone with just the RaceRoom product. Basically by developing a shared structure of support with SimBin and GTR3, Sector3 will be able to utilise the hard work and development effort that goes into producing the new GTR3 game for the benefit of R3E, a move that may have been more difficult and costly to achieve otherwise.
For a sim running an older engine and DX9, RaceRoom still looks a very visually pleasing title and stands well amongst it's sim racing rivals. The studio are well known for the quality of their content, and have some very impressive licences already under lock and key in terms of the WTCC, DTM and ADAC deals, plus some interesting open wheel vehicles and a number of official licenced cars and manufacturers, so a move over to the latest generation graphics and inclusion of weather, time of day, improved physics and all those other things that are yet to be revealed, it looks like the future of this game is very secure and rather exciting indeed.
In case anyone wondered how much more development RaceRoom has in front of it in light of the new announcement, I'll leave that over to Chris to put those doubts to rest.
"We want to assure everyone that RaceRoom is going to be here for a long time."
We will be publishing the full RaceRoom interview sometime in the next couple of days. We will talk more about the future development, have a deeper look at the focus on eSports racing, chat about some new content coming to the sim and take a look behind the scenes at what RaceRoom has in store for their fans heading off into the future.
Stay tuned to RaceDepartment over the weekend to read more!
RaceRoom Racing Experience is a PC only racing simulation from Sector3 Studios. Available to download for free with limited content, further cars and tracks can be added either as individual items or full packs via the in game RaceRoom store.
Here at RaceDepartment we do club racing. We do club racing very well indeed. If you feel the need for an online fix then please head over to our RaceRoom Racing Experience League and Club Racing forum to have a look what we have on offer and sign up for an event - all skills and experiences welcomed.
If you don't want to get involved in the racing action then head on over to the RaceRoom Racing Experience sub forum to catch up with all the latest news and discussions regarding the game, download a mod or two or just simply hang out with like minded individuals. All here at RaceDepartment.com!
Do you feel excited for the future of RaceRoom Racing Experience? What do you most anticipate? What series licences would you like the developers to secure for the game? What new features are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments section below!
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This was just a standalone article about the UE4 bits (and to show off some nice pictures I didn't have room for in the interview 
