I am currently VP of Product Development for Bethesda Softworks. I have developed over sixty titles in my 20 years in the industry. Skip will be the fifth racing
title I've produced. The rest of the team are veterans of Bethesda's previous racing titles.
2) I have a bit of SCCA experience myself and had a video from the Skip Barber School. Could you tell our
visitors a little about Skip Barber Racing and the school.
Skip Barber started the racing school back in the early 70s. Skip himself was a successful driver and saw the need to share his knowledge with
others. That original school has grown into a driving school, a racing school and two race series. The program was created to allow an aspiring driver to easily move up the ladder from school, to amateur racing (the
Formula Dodge series) and into the Pro Dodge series. Many drivers go on to a successful racing career from there.
3) PowerSims.com is a site for the more serious sim racer, so lets cut right to the
question 99% of our visitors are going to ask. What about and how complex is the physics? Will it have 6 degrees of freedom like GPL? Are the tires and friction modeled individually? How about braking?
The physics model is very complex, the most complex I know of. Yes it is 6 degrees of freedom. The tire model we use is very complex and is based on research from race engineers. Each tire is modeled individually and is
affected by driver inputs such as throttle, brakes and steering as well as terrain, suspension, aerodynamics and everything else. The suspension really moves, springs, dampers, and anti-roll bars are actually modeled by
algorithms derived from experimental data on the component. We received a tremendous amount of data the Barber engineers that has allowed us to create some of these systems accurately.
4) What kind of adjustments to the car will the driver be able to make in the garage?
The amateur series Formula Dodge cars are all equally prepared and the driver is not allowed to make any
adjustments. The Pro cars are however adjustable by the driver. Suspension, wings, brake bias are among the components the driver can modify.
5) What is the most difficult part of getting a racing sim to "feel right" ?
Probably the most difficult part is trying to adjust for the unknown attributes of the car. Things such as inertias
and aerodynamics (aside from wings) that are not typically measured are difficult to narrow down. The only way to do it is to tweak them until the car does what it's supposed to based on experience. I have a bit of
racing experience in closed wheel cars and karts and I've probably spent ten to fifteen hours driving these cars and many more around them talking to drivers and mechanics. Without that experience it would be much more
difficult to make the car behave as the real one. The math and physics make it "real", the "feel" comes from experience.
6) Most sim enthusiasts consider Grand Prix Legends to be the
best sim, in terms of physics, to date. How would you compare Skip Barber Racing's physics to GPL?
That's really difficult to answer. I don't know what type of system GPL is using. I can only say that
as far as I know, Skip will have the most advanced system I know of. I have played with GPL and have found a few unrealistic things- things that aren't quite right. It's more realistic than previous sims but I think
there are still some short comings. I know what's in Barber and I think it's closer.
7) Tell us about the graphics in Skip Barber Racing.
Skip will be Bethesda's first racing title to
use the new DirectX based engine. The engine supports any hardware accelerator supported by DirectX. Everything is at least 16-bit color.
8) Could you tell us about the sound in Skip Barber Racing?
The sound is digitized sound from the actual cars. The sound is played back through the Aureal 3D sound system.
9) Tell us a little about Controllers, setup, and the general interface
The interface was designed to mimic the corporate look of Barber's programs. It very clean and is designed around the color scheme and trapezoidal logo of the Barber image. Controllers are fully customizable
by the user as are many sound, video and game features.
10) Will Skip Barber Racing Include FF and if so, how is it implemented?
Skip will support force feedback through Direct Input.
Whatever the user has setup there, Skip will utilize.
11) Personally, I think in-car should be the only view included in any "sim". What views will be available in Skip Barber Racing?
There are four views in Skip. The in-car view is actually the most realistic and useful. The other views are good for watching some of the neat stuff happen on the car like the suspension movement and over
or understeer. It's sometimes hard to sense this from the cockpit view.
