Project Motor Racing, the upcoming sim racer by Straight4 Studios and publisher Giants Software, aspire to be the ultimate motorsports sim and it is doing so by incorporating driver feedback via the Factory Driver Program. This initiative allows seasoned sim racers and pro drivers to try a build of the game and test out the cars available so they can provide feedback on how to improve the handling physics so that it can be as close to the real car as possible.
As part of the Factory Driver Program, Sega (the distributor of Project Motor Racing in Asia) has enlisted the talents of multiple-time Super GT and Super Taikyu champion and Pikes Peak hill climb record holder Tetsuya Yamano. In this new promo video, we see Yamano drive the wheels of the humble Mazda MX-5, and relay his feedback of how the car in Project Motor Racing is compared to his real-world experiences.
The video shows some glimpses of what does it mean to provide feedback. Yamano’s comments include how the ABS system as it’s implemented in the current build he’s testing is “sluggish,” how the steering input in-game couldn’t keep up with how he is turning the wheel of the sim rig, and it “needed more resistance when turning.” A team of developers, including from Straight4 present via video call, was there to collect feedback from Yamano, including filling up the Factory Driver Program form. It’s a form with 40 questions, that covers five different categories: Car Setup, Authenticity, Finding Speed, Endurance Racing, and Dynamic Track.
The closing comments from Yamano should be reassuring for sim racing heads. “They’ve done their research,” he said. “I can’t help but admire how well they recreate the details. It’s as close to the real deal as it gets.”
Another notable figure part of the Project Motor Racing’s Factory Driver Program includes professional racer Ben Collins, formerly The Stig from the TV show Top Gear and now mostly known as a YouTube creator. These folks participating in the Factory Driver Program help inform Straight4 on how they can fine-tune the handling of each of the race cars features in Project Motor Racing, spanning decades worth of motorsport history, to be recreated as faithfully as possible.
Project Motor Racing, spiritual successor to the Project Cars series, will feature 70 cars across 10+ “definitive racing classes,” 18+ scanned locations for tracks and a dynamic weather and time system (True2Track) at launch, alongside a single-player Career Mode and multiplayer online features.
Project Motor Racing goes racing on November 25 for the PS5, PC and Xbox Series X|S.