Simbin UK have risen from the ashes that were never actually ashes to start with, reconfirming a game that never was, but with a promise of something that will be, without actually showing anything, but promising something soon. Confused? You should be...
Ok, over dramatizing for the sake of amusement over, let us get serious for a bit now.
Back in the early 2000's, a Swedish development studio created something incredible. Putting in more effort and attention to detail than had been seen up to that point, GTR2 was born - the official racing simulation of the FIA GT World Championship of 2003 and 2004 - arguably one of the finest racing series to grace the world of international GT specification endurance racing.
Flash forward almost two decades and plenty of drama later, the now disbanded Simbin Studios returned with bold statements about the creation of a much anticipated sequel - GTR3.
Confirming the title in an exclusive
RaceDepartment interview all the way back in 2018, complete with screenshots of the mighty Spa-Francorchamps circuit in game, the following few years have been something of an up and (mostly) down journey for the now UK based development team.
Initially coming out with strong intentions to create a true sequel to the mighty GTR and GTR2, but with a modern take on the now legendary franchise, little was actually known about the fine details of the simulation at the point of the interview in 2018 - with very little new information coming the way of the gaming public in the following couple of years - actually quite the opposite in fact, thanks to what can only be described as.... a confusing communication strategy.
A fine collection of false moves later, from
"announcing" a WEC licence that never was, to attending a games' festival without showing the actual game, many people within the sim racing landscape started to become thoroughly unconvinced if we will ever actually see the third instalment to the GTR franchise... not helped by massive periods of radio silence from the various social media channels of the developers.
Well, in a year when pretty much anything can happen, it appears the metaphorical phoenix from the flames has risen, with not only some new communications from the Simbin Studios UK social media accounts, but also the announcement of a new Discord channel and the promise of plenty more new news to come starting in early 2021.
Is this the start of the final road to release, or another false dawn... only time will tell.
GTR3 - Scheduled for console and PC release in the near future.
Want to discuss the game? Check out the
GTR3 sub forum right here at RaceDepartment!