00:01Peggy3
00:04Hi and welcome to the next Formula 1 2010 Dev Diary
00:16So when we're working on the car handling we've basically got two goals from my perspective
00:21It's about making the most authentic experience possible
00:24and it's also about making the car handling predictable and consistent
00:27I think there's huge interest in terms of the balance that we have for arcade or simulation handling
00:32and personally my preference has always been to go down the simulation path
00:36You can make a realistic sim easier to play for somebody
00:40that is new to racing games or new to Formula 1 in general
00:43but it's very very difficult to take an arcade handling system and make that appeal to
00:47really what we consider to be our core audience of Formula 1
00:50the people that prefer the simulation handling
00:52realistic representation of a car on a circuit
00:55specifically a Formula 1 car
01:00I'm the Braun test and reserve driver from 2009
01:04part of that job is developing the simulator as well
01:06we've had access to the teams, to the engineers, to the drivers
01:09So what I do is try and bounce my level of expectation off Ant
01:14who gives us a lot of feedback week by week
01:17and it gives us new avenues to explore the car handling
01:20the onboard footage when you see on TV from these cars
01:23they always look incredibly easy to drive
01:25when you're inside the cars there are so much more twitchy and nervous
01:29that's one thing that's incredibly hard to get right
01:31unless you've got someone that's actually driven these cars
01:33it's something I've really tried to get over in the game
01:35is to make them as twitches real life
01:37especially in the slow speed corners where you have no downforce
01:40as soon as you get them up to high speed they work in a completely different range
01:43it's just getting away from how easy it looks from the onboard footage
01:47that really kind of annoys me in a way
01:49because it makes my job look easy and it's not
01:51To have Ant's input on what it's actually like to drive a car at these kind of speeds
01:56the feeling of that weight shift when you're going through a corner
01:59coming out of a corner under braking
02:01those things have to come through in a Formula 1 game
02:04if you're going to nail the handling
02:07so one of our first goals was to re-engineer the car handling from the ground up
02:11we do want a very simulation experience
02:13and you've got the inclusion of aero
02:15which changes the handling of the car completely
02:17we're not talking about doing huge drifts around corners
02:20we're tailing the car handling to a very different market
02:22to that dirt too and grid
02:23you know they're very different cars, very different handling
02:25it's not just about lapping the circuit
02:27it's about being able to be consistent
02:29putting the car on the right line
02:30it's about you controlling the car
02:32the fans of F1 are very passionate and very knowledgeable
02:34and we want to feed them the most authentic experience they've got
02:38one thing that racing developers often comment on is the driving aids
02:42and we're trying to come up with a new approach to this
02:44what we don't want to really do is dumb the experience down
02:47it still has to be fun and accessible
02:49we don't want to make the game as hard as what it is in real life
02:52because otherwise people will be spinning off left right centre
02:55and I think it's very important not to blunt the experience of driving a Formula 1 car
02:59but when you start applying the driving aids
03:02to kind of make it accessible without losing the fun parts
03:05for example normally turning traction control on dulls the sense of oversteer
03:09and for me oversteer is fun
03:11you like putting a bit of opposite lock on the car
03:14especially when the rain starts to come down
03:16but the driving aids should just keep those things in check
03:19and allow you to stay on the circuit without blunting the experience completely
03:23you want to make it to the point where it's just playable
03:26and to enjoy but also to be reasonably difficult as well
03:30it's about maintaining that level of fun
03:32things are fun when you're driving around on the circuit
03:34what I don't want you to do is to be losing the car completely
03:36and becoming frustrated with the simulation physics
03:39you should be able to scale it so that you can find that point where it's exciting
03:43you're consistent, it's a great level of fun
03:46you're slicing and dicing with the other cars
03:48the rain starts to come down and you can still control it
03:51you want a bit of a kick on the car coming out of a corner
03:53but you want to be able to catch it
03:54it's about feeling as though you're that hero driver
04:00the strategies that come with Formula 1 as well
04:02the challenges that are thrown up at you
04:04that all add up into making your life difficult behind the wheel or control pad
04:10you know we've accurately modelled the tyre simulation
04:13we've got blisters, we've got marbles
04:15they've all got optimum tyre temperatures and ranges and performance zones
04:18and it's going to be very key to the player as they manage their tyres throughout the session
04:21as your fuel depletion comes
04:23you're burning off fuel more and more
04:25there's obviously no fuel stops
04:26the car gets lighter
04:28and for every ten kilos in real life
04:30the car will normally go to about three to four tenths a lap faster
04:33and that's in the game as well
04:35I've been keen to try and get as many of those details into the game as possible
04:44the cars are expensive you know it's two million plus for one of these cars
04:48and if you damage them the onus is on you and the teams are very unhappy with your performance
04:53so it's trying to make the cars fragile enough in the game
04:56that if you do tag another car or curb strikes too heavily or hitting cones
05:00all these things can damage not only your car but also your performance more importantly
05:05so I've tried to include that in the game
05:08and it will just hopefully teach people to race better online as well
05:12and be more respectful of the cars around them
05:14for me it has been unprecedented to be able to have a guy that's driving these cars
05:20come in and put us on the right path
05:22his feedback is invaluable to getting that right
05:25we've got the real world numbers
05:26we want the players to experience that even that the driver experiences
05:29and from the real car to the computer game it's very realistic
05:32handling for myself and for the team is key in Formula 1 in any race in general
05:55in any race in general
