SimBin Studios Makes a Shock Return!

[Paul Jeffrey]

The legendary SimBin Studios name is to make a shock comeback to sim racing, with industry veteran and former Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe and Route 1 Games producer Allan Speed taking the reigns of the new UK based concern, in collaboration with Sector3 Studios.

SimBin, responsible for such classics as GTR2 and the RACE series of sim titles, sadly closed its doors back in 2014, only to find many of its former employees find a new home as Sector3 Studios, and continue development on the last SimBin product, RaceRoom Racing Experience. The "new" studio will be based in the North West of England (yes, I'll be asking for a site visit) and will be focused of developing "cross platform titles for the current and next gen platforms, primarily in the racing genre".

"We are extremely excited to announce the collaboration with newly formed SimBin Studios UK being headed up by Allan, his industry knowledge and talent network will provide the perfect spring board for our future strategy and let’s not forget the revival of the Simbin name which has a long, rich and successful heritage in delivering some of the best racing titles to date" said Chris Speed, CEO of Sector3 Studios.

With an enviable heritage in racing simulations and a positive track record with community engagement, it will be highly exciting to see what the future holds for the company, and how the announcement will effect the desire for RaceRoom Racing Experience to continue with licencing the WTCC series, an historically well embedded associate of SimBin.

Coming alongside the announcement is news that SimBin will be partnering up with Mathias Lauda "to provide his expertise, insight and support for their up and coming racing projects".

Son of three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda, Mathias is perhaps best known for his time in the German DTM series and more recently driving an Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

More news to follow....

Excited? Do you think SimBin can regain its former glory? What do you hope from the new studio? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[CCKaren]

Gonna say this outright, I'm not hugely optimistic about the future of R3E if Sector3 are opening a new studio with the SimBin name.

 

[Nox]

Well, I'll keep an eye on whatever they create, but if it uses the R3E pay model, I will skip it. (Just a personal preference, keep your pants on). I'd love to see a modern GT Legends, for example.

 

[Will Mazeo]

"The focus will be on developing cross platform titles for the current and next gen platforms, primarily in the racing genre."
So, Simbin will be responsible for taking RR and anything else Sector 3 release for PC to the consoles(?)
Or a maneuver to escape from possible debts?

 

[Deleted member 130869]

No idea how they worked out the debt, etc, but my guess is this studio will head development of console titles while S3 remains on R3E and its expansion packages.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

#excited

 

[ouvert]

For 2 seconds I imagined GTR3 ... ulitmate racing sim with AMS physics and feel, R3E sounds, Drive Club visuals, GT Sport licences, iRacing tracks, rF2 racing features, rF1 modding comunity and Gran Turismo sales numbers .. well those were nice 2 seconds

 

[Tom Blackett]

Hope it works out for them, they lost their way with RRRE, hope they hear the community and do GTR3 with laser scanned tracks.

 

[DaVeX↯]

"We are extremely excited to announce the collaboration with newly formed SimBin Studios UK being headed up by Allan, his industry knowledge and talent network will provide the perfect spring board for our future strategy and let’s not forget the revival of the Simbin name which has a long, rich and successful heritage in delivering some of the best racing titles to date" said Chris Speed, CEO of Sector3 Studios.

Ok let me understand this part....

 

[Szymon Olizarowicz]

R3E was that sim that I regularly get a desire to try, but the desire passes away rather quickly when I see purchase model and little physics development. Out of 'modern' sims it's definitely the one that feels the least advanced.

That's why I'm somehow perplexed by this announcements. On one hand I don't hold out that much hope, on the other it's not like I would follow sector3 in its current state anyway. So really, it's just a slightly surprised 'meh'.

 

[kmanitou81]

Think about the future. Don't have a mess of DLC packs and add-ons and repacks with the same names like Race 07 and don't do the R3E mess of content, series, packs, virtual bucks and general nonsense.

Time to get serious.

(Although this baffling announcement is not a great start.)

 

[CCKaren]

I just looked at Allan Speed's LinkedIn and he was at Bizarre Creations during the PGR glory days. Suddenly have more faith in him as a studio head.

I will say with regards to what SimBin 2: Sim Harder is gonna work on I doubt it'd be R3E for consoles. When I see devs talk about 'current and next-gen platforms' the PC is generally included in that so don't assume SimBin are gonna be an exclusively console developer while Sector3 handle the PC. What I'd expect more is a single series game with bonus stuff on the side like Race 07 was and AMS is now. Whether that series ends up being WTCC again or if they go full bore death or glory with their first game and make it GTR3 (probably with the Blancpain licence) I couldn't even speculate.

 

[ThatRacingGuy]

Eh... Yay..... I guess....

 

[gamer19]

#hyped

Tbh, I was just thinking these days... to uninstall the good old GTR2. Sadly.
I got some mods in it and it just waste my space. GT Legends would stay. At least until that ...announced resurrection.
And wallah... look at this news !!
They must have simply feel their customers desperate urge for some ...changes.

You know... it's sad that I thinking about uninstall at all, I remember clearly... my first touch with GTR (one). God. @@
I was at my friend house and he got from some magazine CD GTR demo.
What a treat! What a sight! And, above all... thing that most impress me (at that time, it was long time ago, mind you) was THAT sound !?! It sent shivers right down my spine.
What a sound that was. Never heard before. And long after, tbh. I'm old. Dam.

 

[Sergio Andrade]

Very good news... Welcome back on track!

 

[ZombieInfected]

Cool! The more the merrier.
Just skip the 'pay to play' thing, right?

 

[Rodent]

What's there to be exited about? So far they announce nothing and hint at consoles, I hope it turns into something magical but right now it's about as exciting the return of Atari that was really just Infogrames.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Brings a huge grin to this grumpy old mans face

 

[Paul Bennett]

Well, I'll keep an eye on whatever they create, but if it uses the R3E pay model, I will skip it. (Just a personal preference, keep your pants on). I'd love to see a modern GT Legends, for example.

GTL 2017 is WIP, but no word on this for some time.
http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/breaking-gt-legends-rebirth-confirmed.117260/

 

[Large Style]

Hoping for GTR 3 and GTL 2 - still playing the previous titles nowadays love everything about them (apart from FFB setup, which obviously was improved for RRE). Some timeless classics right there.

FWIW: I'm not going to defend RREs payment model, but in response to previous mention of their pricing system, during the Christmas sale last year I picked up a car per pack for; ADAC GT 2015, Aquila CR1, FR2, FRJ, GTR 1, GTR 2, GTR 3, Hillclimb Icon, P1, P2, Silhouette, and Tatus F4, along with all but two tracks, all for £30, which wasn't too bad really. Considering that it's now my favourite title (over all the main titles available nowadays) I have no regrets with my purchases. However if you buy entire series packs it'll cost a fortune and then becomes somewhat unreasonable.

Just hope they don't "dumb down" future titles to attract a bigger market space (aka consoleitus).