Interviews// Ferrari Challenge: Interview With Race Driver, Bruno Senna

SPOnG: Mark South, as producer, what has Bruno brought to the game for you?

Mark South: Well, on top of us getting the performance data and the stats and the figures, Bruno is somebody who can make sense of it. He is somebody who knows how it feels. To have Bruno in the office working with our vehicle dynamics guys, it’s a major contribution – ultimately you need someone who has done it to drive it and see if the game feels right. Right?

We know our system works, we know we’re accurate, but unless you really get in the car and drive, then it’s impossible to say, “this is how it is” and Bruno is in a unique position to be able to tell us this.

SPOnG: Mark (Cale) was telling us earlier Bruno would go for more of a sim type of experience, whereas Mark, himself, would go for a more arcade feel.

Mark Cale: Yeah, I think that’s fair. We’ve had a few arguments about that haven’t we! (he looks at Bruno and laughs).

Bruno Senna: The first thing was, when I got involved and went to Eutechnyx in Newcastle, Mark told me that he wanted a simulation game. So, I sat down with the developers and sorted out the basic bugs, got the car working so we got to the point where the in-game car was really like the real car. But it was very hard to drive. Mark decided to play and he just crashed into every wall. (Massimo and Mark laugh).

Mark Cale: Let’s make this clear here though – it’s not that I’m a shit driver. Nobody in the studio could do a clear lap either!
[b]
Bruno Senna:[/b] It became quickly obvious that there is no point in having a game that was so accurate that nobody could play. People were having difficulties playing the game.

Mark Cale: [laughs] Yeh, like everyone! Therefore the term ‘arcade simulator’ was born.

Bruno Senna: So, then what we did was to bring the game more towards arcade-style play as opposed to a true simulator, but still very accurate, trying to reflect G-force; trying to reflect lap-times as much as possible according to the circuit model and so on. But also to make sure that the game was enjoyable, for everybody, not only for a specific niche of fantatics.


SPOnG: So, you’re fairly confident that it’s going to appeal to the mass market and not only hardcore Ferrari fantatics?

Mark Cale: I think Ferrari is a mass market brand anyway. It’s an aspirational brand. That’s why it’s important that anybody that picks up the game can play it. It’s important to have electronic aids in the game. If you want to go into simulation mode you can switch them off so that’s clearly appealing to both sides of the market. And, of course, the Ferrari aficionado is going to buy it anyway.


SPOnG: Bruno, what about using the game to familiarise yourself with real-life courses?

Bruno Senna: That’s something that is really good to have. If you can reduce your learning curve by ten laps, considering that you have only half-an-hour of testing before a race or so on, then that’s great. The circuit models in Ferrari Challenge are pretty much accurate enough for you to drive around and then, when you go to the circuits, to relate perfectly to every corner in the circuit.


SPOnG: Mark, as a Ferrari ‘tifosi’ isn’t this a game that you have wanted to make for a long time?

Mark Cale: Yeah, for sure. Obviously, it’s a game we’ve wanted to do for a long time. But it’s about having the right development team, having the opportunity with the Ferrari factory, and until recently EA had the exclusive game rights tied up


SPOnG: What about post-release, how will you continue to support the game?

Mark Cale: Online there’s multiple car downloads, new tracks, hill-climbs, special effects tweaks and more. We’re going to be making every single Ferrari available, from the very earliest 166 model though to the very latest 430 Scuderia model, recently unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Plus, as Massimo touched on earlier, the virtual Ferrari Championship we’re planning for next year is very important to both of us. We’ll have thousands of rounds of sixteen-player knockouts through to the final, with a big prize we’re going to announce very soon.


SPOnG: Great, thanks guys.