Need for Speed Guy: Car Sims are "Dry" Right Now

Are car sims chaffing your gaming skin? Need for Speed Shift 2 lead designer Andy Tudor thinks they are, and he thinks he's got the answer.

He tells The Guardian, "The simulation genre, really, is just a numbers game at the moment; it's all about 'We've got the greatest physics engine, and we're going to add 1,000 cars, tracks etcetera.' Which is quite a dry experience.

"We want to turn that on its head, by adding in social features, such as Autolog, for example: which lets you compete with your friends, even if they're not online right now. But having that thing, where I can see all your lap times, and spend half an hour or an hour trying just to beat you is great. And we're continuing to pioneer in new areas."

He also bigs up NfSS2U's night racing, "Many games have night racing, for example, but nobody has night racing like we do it, because previous games have always done it the same as normal, just with darker lighting – there's no new gameplay in there at all. What we do is strip away all the lights and now you've just got your headlights to guide you, which is a scary place. That's based on feedback which has been given to us by real drivers: they say: 'We've got these high-beams on, but as powerful as they are, we still can't see the next corner coming up.'"

Full interview here.