Interview: Reiza Studios unveils its crowdfunding plans

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When Reiza announced that June would have been a great month for Game Stock Car Extreme, we figured it was the right time to have a chat with the Brazilian dev team. We got in touch with studio boss Renato Simioni, and it seems like our timing was perfect indeed...

RaceDepartment: Let's start with something more general. I think the last couple of years have seen some kind of mainstream resurgence of the racing sim - after being relegated to a niche for several years, blockbusters like Project Cars and Assetto Corsa brought back the genre to the forefront. What do you think of the current simracing panorama, and how can things evolve from here?

Renato Simioni: Interest in realistic racers does seem to be increasing - most importantly it seems there's been some osmosis from the console userbase to the PC. Up until very recently there used to be this dichotomy where console racers (which at least marketed themselves for realism) were extremely popular and sold by the millions, while PC sims were this ultra-small hardcore niche. These days, due to a variety of factors, the gap between these markets seem to have been bridged somewhat, which is a very good thing. As technology continues to evolve and the scope for game development becomes greater, so do the costs involved, so it's very important that the simracing market grows to sustain these developments and push us to the next level.

RD: Steam is clearly the leading digital distribution platform for games, so it's an important gateway to a whole new audience. How did the GSCE Steam launch go?

Reiza: It went very well, and is still going remarkably well considering we're working with titles initially released almost 2 year ago. In hindsight we clearly underestimated how much of a role Steam has in the PC gaming market place, otherwise we'd have pushed to make the move sooner. Fortunately it does not seem like we made the move too late.

RD: GSCE is fairly unique because of its stock content - it's based on a relatively obscure racing series, with an unusual but fantastic selection of cars and tracks, yet it has managed to find a global audience. Are you going to include more Brazilian content, or perhaps focus on some other racing series in the future?

Reiza: As GSC evolved, it has become less about giving the content a proper context, and more about delivering great driving & racing experiences, which is really what simracing is mostly about. At the core though it still has Stock Car Brasil, or the brazilian racing scene in general as its main theme, so while context may no longer be required for adittional content, we still feel it is valuable to have at least some complete real-life series in the package.

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RD: After PCars (and now PCars 2) using the WMD platform and Assetto Corsa using Early Access, would you consider using any kind of crowdfunding or Early Access?

Reiza: Crowdfunding is certainly a valuable path, and actually something we are just about to experiment to try raise additional funds to continue developing GSCE further. Personally I'm not big on the idea of giving people access to alpha builds and such. While I can see how having that insight and the option (even if merely illusory) of helping develop the game is an appealing novelty to some, as an user myself I prefer my initial contact with a creative project to be with something that at least resembles the finished article. Some of my most memorable gaming experiences derived from trying a game or a sim for the first time, so I feel lifting the curtains too early can spoil that magic somewhat. Thus as a developer it's unlikely we'd elect to go in that direction ourselves. Open betas at a later stage of development on the other hand are very possible, given the nature of most sims these days where development is always ongoing and that initial platform is built on for years, whatever the initial release is it's bound to evolve substantially anyway so you might as well release it and get a revenue stream to boost that development. So long as the core features are in place and functioning properly.

RD
: Any news or details on that rumored Senna game?

Reiza: Can't share much yet, but there will be a lot more info about it before the end of the year. One thing I could advance is that while Ayrton Senna will certainly be part of our next project, its scope has probably become too broad now to call it "the Senna game".

RD
:
You've said that June is going to be a great month for GSCE. Can we get some kind of sneak peek at what's cooking in the Reiza kitchen?

Reiza: The base of the announcement is that we have licensed the ISI Motor source code, and while that's especially relevant to development of our next title, it can also have some impact into the current titles and that is what has driven us to launch a crowdfunding campaign. Our goal with the campaign, which starts tomorrow, will basically be to raise the funds to further develop GSCE (and also FTruck), making it a bigger & better simracing platform, before we wrap it up for good and shift focus to the development of our next title.

RD: Something more personal: what's your favorite car\track combo in simracing, and why?

Reiza: All our cars and all our tracks really. Bit of an obvious reply I guess but if you consider how much time we look into various cars & tracks before we elect to develop them - precisely because we figure these will provide great experiences - and then how much time we spend developing & polishing them, picking favorites becomes almost like choosing one of your own children.. Naturally the ones coming up the pipeline at any given time have the focus so right now I'm very fond of tossing the SuperV8 around Montreal, hah.

RD: Thank you for your time.

Reiza's Crowdfunding campaign is now live on Indiegogo, while the update for Game Stock Car Extreme will be released on June 26.
 
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As someone said earlier in this thread, a developer with integrity. :thumbsup:

Unlike SMS, of whom the head-of-studios openly tried to guilt-trip the site owner of RD, here at RD, over 10 'free copies', only to be shot down in a, rather hilarious, blaze of glory.

I will gladly help Reiza studios out, GSCE has been my go-to sim as of late, which is mostly due to C.A.R.T Extreme, and I don't know much about this 'Senna Project' - but I'm willing to bet it'll beat the pants off of GT's Senna-content, because it's Reiza studios people! :roflmao:, we know they're good for it.
 
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Since 5 hours and 40 minutes it's the 25th here...
Can't
Wait
Any
Longer

:D

Good news - really curious to see what comes with the GSCE update and what their crowdfunding project is all about.
 
Reiza is like the Studio of the people. :D

If some people cannot discern how others would be excited for Reiza's crowdfunding while disinclined to alter their state of indisposition towards SMS' market strategy re. Project Cars: The Second Coming of Hype then I don't rightly consider them observant enough to deserve their internets.

And lest I forget and leave this unremarked upon:
Personally I'm not big on the idea of giving people access to alpha builds and such. While I can see how having that insight and the option (even if merely illusory) of helping develop the game is an appealing novelty to some

Such brash candor. Truly a hero. I'd vote for him. :cool:
 
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Up until very recently there used to be this dichotomy where console racers (which at least marketed themselves for realism) were extremely popular and sold by the millions, while PC sims were this ultra-small hardcore niche

Personally I'm not big on the idea of giving people access to alpha builds and such. While I can see how having that insight and the option (even if merely illusory) of helping develop the game is an appealing novelty to some, as an user myself I prefer my initial contact with a creative project to be with something that at least resembles the finished article.

Not to start on the bashing of the pCars2 crowdfunding compared to this one but I just LOOOOVE these subtle stabs (intended or not) :D
 
let's get some more friends ;)
I think I will only support this, when I will see that their new enigine is visually at least on the Asetto Corsa level, I was quite disapointed with GSC, so I don't really have much faith into Reiza, yes they might be doing great job with technology from 2001, but times has changed

hopefully new engine gives them more freedom/power. Eventhough when I look at rF2 looks like maybe not
 
im kind of surprised they went with rf2's physics engine (if i read that properly) as niels comments on it in his recent video suggested that while he admired it it was a bit over his head/he thought it too complex to produce reliable results.

that said, its an incredible engine, so im not disappointed at all with the choice & its tantalizing to think about what reiza might be able to accomplish with it.
 
i dont interpret those as barbs about pcars/pcars2 btw. the first comment strikes me as appreciative, it is assetto corsa & especially project cars that smashed that hard barrier dividing 'couch simcade' from 'hardcore sim'. and what he says about pcars development is true, youre not going to influence the game in any major way, but its a neat thing to be able to follow. its just not his preference, which is fine.

im curious about the stock car extreme update, theyve kept a tight lid on whatever content or features it might have as far as i know? maybe some fixes for formula extreme & the career modes but i cant think of much else.
 
I think I will only support this, when I will see that their new enigine is visually at least on the Asetto Corsa level, I was quite disapointed with GSC, so I don't really have much faith into Reiza, yes they might be doing great job with technology from 2001, but times has changed
Do you really see the visuals of AC when you're racing?
I'm really curious, as i don't even remotely see any difference between AC or GSCE once i'm actually racing. I only see the apexes, brake markers and other cars.
I don't care about the surrounding scenery, i couldn't care less if the back of my car is constructed of 48 oder 4800 polys and if there is a plane in the air or the clouds are dynamically moving ... i absolutely don't see those things when racing.

Yes, watching a replay i think to myself "Oh, this gras doesn't look great" or "Missing some depth", but for that i could also just watch pCars footage on youTube :)

It's all about racing and if you want to go against AI, then GSCE and rFactor2 are your only options as about all other active games currently out completely fail in that department.
Not to forget the superb FFB.
 
Wonder if this will help them fix the points system that's been broken for over 10 months.

I must sound like a broken record, but I don't care. They managed to break it within a few weeks, now it's almost a year and they haven't been able to fix it. I can't feel right to support this if a core part of their previous game is still broken.

Every time we're just told "we're fixing it". Are you? Really?
 
what i am surprised about it….. that reiza let the big news get out not through them as the first source. and rather just by an interview.



Sort of dampens the surprise when them themselves announce it .
 
well, how expensive is interlagos? deduct that and...

rf1 engine is already incorporated in gsc. i dont think it would be news for an isi engine to be the core of the next reiza product unless it was rf2's.

There was another thread about the rF1-engine and how different developers used it. It seemed that Reiza could not effectively change the core features of the engine (which was most propably the reason for the mess with the points and qualifing) because they hadn't licenced the engine. So I think the news is that they now can change the core of the engine and give us some cool new features. An rF2-licence wouldn't be needed to improve GSCE. I'm very excited what reiza can reach with the rF1-engine :)
 
that would make the most sense indeed. id presumed they had a license since they use it, but i have absolutely no idea how these things work. :)

imo, if its what their devs are most comfortable with, its the best choice. doesnt matter if you think rf2 is the greatest thing ever, in the wrong hands its going to be a disaster. w/e engine they chose, i'm sure they see a lot of potential in it.
 
Do you really see the visuals of AC when you're racing?
I'm really curious, as i don't even remotely see any difference between AC or GSCE once i'm actually racing. I only see the apexes, brake markers and other cars.
I don't care about the surrounding scenery, i couldn't care less if the back of my car is constructed of 48 oder 4800 polys and if there is a plane in the air or the clouds are dynamically moving ... i absolutely don't see those things when racing.

Yes, watching a replay i think to myself "Oh, this gras doesn't look great" or "Missing some depth", but for that i could also just watch pCars footage on youTube :)

It's all about racing and if you want to go against AI, then GSCE and rFactor2 are your only options as about all other active games currently out completely fail in that department.
Not to forget the superb FFB.

No the point isnt about what we see, its about two things as far as im aware, attracting people that dont know about the game, eg console players moving to pc and about modders wanting to show off their work whether for fun or for professional reasons.

The simple fact is that any car model looks better in the AC engine then it does in the GSCE. I know many people that dont think graphics matter however i know many more people that are put off by a game that is slacking the graphical fidelity department. To new comers it gives the illusion that either its low budget and or low quality.

Lets say a random person is looking to join the sim community for any reason, chances are they are on pc as a result chances are they have steam which for majority is the preferred platform. Now they go the racing section, project cars is ignored because the community discussions is just people telling you to go to other games. rfactor 2 is likely ignored because many are too lazy to buy a game that isnt on steam. Anyways people are then left with three options, iracing, AC and GCSE maybe rfactor but that is likely ignored when they see the release date. The common consumer will assume modern means better, the reviews for AC and GCSE are both very good, iracing's price scheme might put off a person leaving two games. Now majority of the time people will then pick Assetto corsa if it comes to these two.

Graphics help with sales, they might not effect physics or have the biggest difference in immersiveness to you but they are a great way to advertise and to generate sales. Its just my opinion but an upgrade to their graphics engine will help them massively
 

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