Friday Night Forza: Driver Mentalities

In terms of simulation the physics of the driving models in racing games like Forza Motorsport or Race Pro are usually what receives the attention critically, and for good reason too; If the physics and dynamics of racing a car quickly around a race track do not feel right -- regardless of whether it’s a controller or steering wheel being used -- then the illusion is broken and the experience becomes less enjoyable. Or worse, dull. Get it right, however, and it can be an exhilarating, fulfilling experience that is probably as close to real life racing as one can get in a virtual sense. But just because handling is the main focus that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other aspects of racing that are being simulated simultaneously.

Driving a race car consistently, precisely and most importantly, quickly, is an incredibly complex and involving task. Not only do drivers in real life need to manage the physical side -- acceleration, braking, gear changing and, of course, steering* -- they also have to manage racing mentally, and it’s here where racing sims do a pretty remarkable job of capturing the mental processes a driver has to go through not just throughout a race but in preparation for one as well.

Most real life race weekends follow a schedule that allows for drivers to learn the track; test various car setups that suit not only the track but its conditions as well (sunny, overcast, rainy, etc.); secure their position on the starting grid; and then, eventually, the race. The thought process in the approach to each session -- practice, qualifying or the race -- differs based on the performance of the car, the goals the driver or team may have, and the experience with how the track may or may not change over the course of the weekend. In practice for example, the mindset is relatively relaxed and it’s here where experimentation with setup, different racing lines and when to be on the track versus being in the pits can be used to potentially improve the prospects for the overall weekend. In qualifying, the mindset shifts to one lap dashes (usually involving three laps: the out/warm up lap, the actual lap where a decent time is hopefully set, and the in lap on the way back to the pits) where concentration, focus and absolute precision is necessary to set and achieve the best lap time. Arguably, it’s here where the track really does become like a tunnel, the driver’s vision not focused on anything else except what’s in front at the time. I’ll explain this “tunnel vision” phenomenon in a little more detail in my next post. Lastly we have the actual race, where the mindset once again shifts and all eyes point towards a victory. Concentration isn’t necessarily focused on precision -- though it helps -- with the location of competitor vehicles being important, and avoiding any collisions is crucial.

Something that both surprised and impressed me while playing Forza Motorsport 3 is just how amazingly realistic it is in recreating the various mindsets a driver has. Of course, to speed up the process and not alienate the more impatient audience of gamers out there, the way race events are presented in these games is significantly different to the way a normal race weekend pans out, but this is mostly irrelevant. Instead of practice sessions or qualifying, racing games have testing (for the tuners out there) and time trial modes, not to mention quick races or free runs. It’s in these modes that the varying mental approaches appear, and in reality it doesn’t matter what a mode or session is called because the end result is going to be the same thing.

I’m a fairly passionate person about time trial modes, as I enjoy the challenge in being as precise and perfect as I possibly can. As far as Forza 3 is concerned, I have a goal in mind to be in the top 200 people around the world for each specific time trial event, and, if possible, the various hot lap leaderboards as well. It’s a big ask but based on my experience with Forza 2, it’s entirely possible and I’ve already got a few decent times down. When I’m on the track pushing to be as perfect as I can be, my mind is focused entirely on precision, and getting the best out of the track and car I’m in. My focus is literally that of the tunnel vision I’ve already alluded to, and the side and background detail of a track -- including the walls if it’s a street circuit -- is ignored without even realising it. It’s just me, the racing line, and the clock, and if anything else enters into my concentration span then I’m not at the peak of my potential ability. This is a big contrast to how I approach a race, where, as in all racing games, all I care about is winning -- both for the progression throughout a game and because that is the ultimate position. Failure to win means restarting or retrying a race until that victory is secured, and anything else is just trivial distraction until that is achieved. This changes again when it comes to approaching, say, an online race against real people (as opposed to AI); the desire to win remains as strong as ever but the variables are different, so the approach needs to be. Racing against the AI cars is serviceable but mostly predictable: assuming how they will react as I make a pass or block my line into a corner results in relatively easy outcomes with very few surprises. Racing real people, on the other hand, is unpredictable: the lines that they take, how deep (or early) they will brake into a corner or whether they will try to ram you as you make a pass are just some of the unknown factors against real people. This unpredictability can make online racing really exciting, but also has more potential for collisions, unfair competitors and less of a chance to actually win. The differences in the various approaches I take depending on what I do in the game is remarkable, and extremely similar to how a real race driver would adapt to the conditions they may have to face.

Exit Strategy

At any given time on the track, a driver’s thought process can be focused on a multitude of things depending on the circumstances they find themselves in. Ranging from how they took the previous corner to whether they are close enough to an opponent’s car to make a pass, decisions are constantly being made based on what is being presented at the time. It’s no different in a racing simulation game.

I may not realise it while playing, but I too am making decision after decision as I make my way around a track, and as you’d expect, the choices I make will either help or hinder the outcome of my race. For example, exiting the final corner of America’s famous race track Laguna Seca can present many different situations to deal with. As I exit, I could be thinking about my throttle application because I may have gone wide (off the racing line); started to accelerate too early (thus inducing wheel spin); or because I’m trying to get the best exit possible. This latter point can be for two reasons: to end a fast lap as precisely and as quickly as I possibly can, in order to obtain a decent lap time, or, to get the best run down the short straight as I can in order to hopefully make a pass heading into turn one. This second situation gives yet more possibilities: am I close enough to my opponent’s car to slipstream him? What about close enough to brake later than him into the first corner? Or do I need to patiently bide my time, because I’m not close enough, and wait for another opportunity to pass? While thinking about these potential scenarios and what to do with them, I also have to be mindful of what my opponents are doing, too. They could be aggressive and therefore hard to pass; they might not see me alongside them heading towards the corner and so when they turn into it like normal, they cause a collision; or they could be slow -- either because they had a poor exit from the corner or because there’s something wrong with their car -- meaning I have to be careful not to ram into the back of them because I’m going faster.

These are just some of the potential situations that can occur leaving the final corner of Laguna Seca. There are plenty more, and that increases exponentially once you consider the rest of the corners -- including the famous Corkscrew -- that make up the Californian track. And that was just one example! The mental prowess required to not only race quickly but competitively and precisely is amazing, and now that I have noticed it I am impressed by just how well racing simulation games manage to replicate that complexity yet still maintain the fun factor videogames are usually known for. The intriguing thing though is that despite all of this, motorsport is mostly a reactionary sport which relies on reflex and quick thinking as opposed to careful consideration and planning. You can strategise for a race as much as you want but at the end of the day, once you’re out on the track and the light has gone green, it’s just you, your opponents, and the path to victory -- it’s up to you to deal with whatever comes your way, and it will always be the drivers who are best at doing this that will come out on top.

*A lot of people assume motorsport is just a hand-based sport but it is as much a foot skill as it is a hand skill.

Racing Like A Pro

Welcome to a small series of posts that I am going to focus on the various racing games I have been playing in recent months. I will be using this series to share my thoughts, discuss what makes them tick for me as well as where I think or would like to see the genre move forward. The genre is without a doubt my favourite, mainly due to my love of all things cars and Motorsport in real life. It begins with Simbin’s first foray into console gaming: Race Pro.

I will be honest, I had high expectations for this game, expectations that I shouldn’t have had and ones which resulted in mild disappointment once I got my hands on it. You see, due to being a racing simulator I assumed that Race Pro would replace Forza 2 as the game I would play whenever I wanted a realistic, circuit-based racer. This means that I expected to fire it up whenever I wanted to do laps around a track, test my skill and precision by setting and beating lap times or whenever I wanted to have a race or three with my friends online. For now, it provides this but once I have finished Race Pro completely I can see myself setting it aside in favour of playing Forza 2 again.

Don't get me wrong, I love Race Pro. For their first attempt at a console game, the sim experts that are Simbin (they're renowned for their games on PC) have created a decent title that gives people like me the chance to finally see what they're capable of, but being a first attempt also means that it contains a few flaws. The obvious one and something that puts many people off is the graphics: they are fairly average. They do the job, but in a generation which features stunning and beautiful games, it can be off putting. I don't have a problem with it, but most people do so it is worth mentioning here. The game's handling, while pretty damn good, also needs refinement and doesn't feel as tight as Forza 2. Unfortunately for you guys, I can't really explain the difference between the handling of both games as it's something you can only feel, and sometimes the differences are so subtle that only experience with both games (and others) would bring them to attention. Race Pro's handling seems to be inconsistent. An example could be that you go to brake for a corner at the exact same place you did on the previous lap, changing down gears like you normally would and yet you end up in the gravel trap instead of taking the corner properly. It's like the car's handling changes on you randomly and I will admit it has caused some unnecessary crashes and excursions off track. You could argue it's simulating a track's grip level as tracks in real life change and evolve over the course of a race, but if this was the case then I believe it would be obvious and would also happen in every race rather than randomly. AI is also inconsistent; I am playing it on the Professional difficulty which is the hardest and for the most part, passing and beating opponents is easy. If, for example, I choose to not qualify and therefore start in the middle of the pack, I have no problems getting to the front and once I take the lead, I usually end up being many seconds ahead of second place. Not a small distance like 5-10 seconds, but at an absurd 30-50 seconds ahead. That's how easy the AI is to beat. Yet sometimes when I go to pass them they will be extremely aggressive and will move over to block me, push me off the track or even spin me and to say it gets frustrating after such an easy time in other races is an understatement. It's like a button was switched on and suddenly they are supposed to take you out at all costs. Another inconsistency is despite being so far behind, one of the sixteen drivers can end up having faster sector and lap times than you. It puzzles me purely because if they are supposedly that fast, then why are they so far behind? It doesn't surprise me though because the game's online leaderboards (for time trials and stuff like that) are also inconsistent, perhaps even glitched. Some people have managed to set six second lap times around tracks which is clearly impossible, and my own times registered on the leaderboards have been quicker than the ones I actually set.*

Those aren't the only problems I have with the game; I have some more personal issues as well. The races in the Career mode, for example, are too short. Ranging from two-seven laps, they are fine but I enjoy longer races too and it would have been nice to see some within the career, especially in faster cars such as the F3000s. I would have also liked to see some Endurance races but their exclusion doesn’t matter too much because you can choose the amount of laps you want to do in the Championship mode. I also don't like how the game doesn't seem to use some of its features when it could, with a prime example being the weather effects. I was really happy to see weather be integrated into the experience, but throughout the career not one race has any rain. It's always sunny and therefore if you want a rainy race, you'll need to create your own via the aforementioned championship mode, or in time trials or online. That's a little disappointing and it seems like a waste of effort on Simbin's part.

Wow, quite a lot of criticisms for a game that I love. Again, don’t get me wrong, Race Pro is great and I have really enjoyed playing it. It features some tracks that aren’t usually in other games such as Brno and Zandvoort, so it has been nice to learn and master them. Despite rarely being used, features such as the weather effects are welcome as far as I am concerned and I have thoroughly enjoyed racing on a wet track, using the in-car camera view with a windscreen covered in water, wipers working in overdrive. Racing online with friends has been a blast as well, with it containing practice and qualifying events before a race (there’s an option to turn this off) -- something that isn’t usually done in other games and breaks up the pace as you go from track to track. Despite my concerns above, the handling system is a remarkable effort for a first attempt and I give full credit to Simbin for creating a game that rivals Forza 2 (the king at the moment for realistic handling on console) in that department.

In summary, Race Pro is flawed but for a first attempt I absolutely love it and fully commend Simbin for achieving so much on a platform they have had no experience with. If this is the result of their first attempt, I seriously cannot wait to see what they can do in future installments.

*Thankfully a patch was released just yesterday which eliminated these leaderboard glitches as well as fixed a few other things in the game. While it is easy to argue if patches are a good or bad thing, it is nice to see developers working on their games after release.

Always Connected: Racing Games

Always Connected is a series of posts about online gameplay with today's post taking a look at my time with some racing games.

Last week I took a look at my time playing both Gears of War games online and detailed how I was disappointed in the community that surrounds the two games for generally being disrespectful and inconsiderate of you as a player. Whenever I compare that experience with the other games I have played online, specifically the various racing games, I always find myself confused and curious as to why they have been so different.

It's not always different though as bad multiplayer sessions can happen in any game. Naturally it depends on who you end up versing, something that you have no control over when using a game's matchmaking system. The racing games that come to mind when I think about my bad racing experiences are the Project Gotham Racing series. I have been playing the series online for as long as it has been offered, beginning with Project Gotham Racing 2 and finishing with the last game to be released Project Gotham Racing 4.

I can't say I am surprised when I think about the bad times I have had with the game, because the more Arcade nature of the handling system and racing means that it is easier to be an idiot and crash into people on the track, with no repercussions to penalise the players who do it. Braking for corners can result in eager players behind you smashing into you to use you as their brake, with the end result seeing you slamming into the wall while they pass for the position and carry on to do it to the next unlucky person. Racing side-by-side with someone may see them purposefully swerve into you with the aim to make you spin out. Hell, some people even drive around the track the wrong way with the sole intention to slam head-on into whoever they see first. Like Gears of War before it, it's disappointing but you have to expect it with any game really. I won't deny that across all the racing games I have played online, the PGR series has been the most prolific with bad multiplayer sessions but despite that I still firmly believe that it is one of the most fun games I have ever had the pleasure of playing against other people. With perhaps a touch of irony, I would argue that the reason is again because of the more Arcade-like nature that the game has allowing it to be more accessible to a wide variety of players with different levels of skill. Car damage is cosmetic, it doesn't affect the performance of the vehicle at all and means that if a player was to crash they wouldn't suffer too badly in a race and may only lose a few positions rather than be forced to retire. This is a good thing because it means less players get frustrated if they aren't doing so well and have a desire to press on due to the unpredictability that comes with racing. Combine that with the reward of Kudos (points) for pulling off daring maneuvers like power-sliding around the corners and getting up on two-wheels and you just have a damn fun racing game.


Another racing game I have played online heaps is Forza Motorsport 2. With it being a simulation game and therefore a more serious racer, I was expecting it to be another game where players act like fools, only worse due to the game featuring damage that can affect your car's performance to a point where a snail would be moving faster or that I would be forced to retire. Much to my surprise I found the game was fantastic to play online with the community surrounding it being open to all levels of skill and more importantly being respectful of other drivers. Apologies were offered over the in-game chat if someone caused an accident unintentionally; people helped out with car setups if players were struggling; offered tips for people who couldn't take a particular corner right and it was just generally warm and welcoming. Now I'm no slouch when it comes to racing games and didn't need the help being offered but I still observed it happening and was definitely impressed. Of course there were still some races that weren't as fun as they could be which is again due to the nature of being matched up with randoms, but my time with Forza 2 was very pleasant. I even met a group of people who I'm now friends with in the game who also happened to be on par with my skill level, something that made it even more fun for me as the racing was close, competitive and a real blast to participate in. To put it simply, there is nothing like sharing a common interest (cars, racing) with a group of people who are also on the same page as you and who are happy to race just to have a race. I can only hope that other people that are into racing games can find a similar experience to share because it has certainly influenced my opinion of playing games online.

Moving onto some other racing games, the Burnout franchise has been another great series to play online although I can't really offer any comments about playing it with anonymous people because I have only played with friends. Each of the three games that offer online play in the series (Burnout 3: Takedown, Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise) have been great fun to play online and each offer a different experience. The recent Midnight Club: Los Angeles is also quite fun to play online with it reminding me of an old favourite, Test Drive Unlimited. Both games allow you to just simply cruise around their locations (LA for Midnight Club, Oahu for TDU) and as you would expect that can be fun when chilling with your mates.

As you can see my time playing various racing games online has been a positive one both with friends and people I don't know. It's nice to be able to say that because anonymous people are unpredictable and I can only hope that the positive experiences continue to happen in the future. Whether it is Arcade games like Project Gotham Racing or Burnout, or a more serious racer such as Forza 2, it is nice to be able to fire up a racing game and enjoy some races online. Simbin's first console game Race Pro is next on my agenda and it comes out next week. Here's hoping that playing it online is also something I end up enjoying.