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Slightly

ISSUE 1 | VOLUME 1 | YEAR 2018 MAD W rld

NIC HAMILTON LIKES THE “THE STIG” BEN COLLINS HAS KEEPING SANE WHILE WORKING HOW WE ENGINEER VIRTUAL ODDS―BECAUSE HE KEEPS SEEN THE FUTURE—VIRTUAL FROM HOME―AVOIDING THE DOWN TO THE VERY NUTS BEATING THEM ... Page 1 REALITY ... Page 1 PITFALLS ... Page 2 AND BOLTS ... Page 2

NIC HAMILTON ON THE EX ‘STIG’ BEN COLLINS RACING LEWIS, RACING HIMSELF, HAS SEEN THE FUTURE AND RACING CLIOS From racing Lewis on sims As “Ready Player One” recently demonstrated, is the (was Nic faster?) to carving gateway to Virtual Reality. In the movie, the players sped through out a career in motorsport, beating the odds is what Nic a world populated by scarier curves than the Monaco Grand Hamilton’s been doing since Prix while dodging a giant who was trying the day he was diagnosed with to pulverize them. I grew up playing Pac Man and Eye cerebral palsy. Now racing in Spy … the hyper-competitive world of Renault Clios in the UK, Nic looks back to the future… Spielberg’s futuristic vision of VR is already here. The Games READ ON Industry, led by a few notable visionaries, has spurred in- novation on to an unprecedented level. Who would have imagined that a graphics card company, Nvidia, would pioneer the Artifcial Intelligence inside the robots that will be driving the cars of the future. Or that games would become so vivid that they would evolve into professional sports.

I became addicted to speed at an early age when I convinced my Dad and my cousin to push my ped- al kart until they were sprinting, and then let go. After that anything with a was fair game in my view. READ ON

Slightly Mad Studios has teamed up with US-Korean developers Project CARS GO is Go GAMEVIL to bring the Project CARS franchise to mobile devices. The game will be called Project CARS GO.

“Alongside GAMEVIL, Project CARS GO puts players in the ’s seat to experience the adrenaline pumping in a whole new way,” said Ian Bell, CEO of . “The racing genre has a large, dedicated fan base, who are going to be 1 stomping the gas pedal and burning rubber very soon.” RENAULT BRINGS How to TO Pay it Forward PROJECT CARS 2 cyber- Slightly Mad Studios backs 10-year-old Mil- la Sjorstrand’s racing dreams as she follows engineer in the heavy bootsteps of many Swedish race cars aces that have come through the self-same school of hard-knocks

So Milla, how did a 10-year- What does sponsorship old racer get into motor mean for your racing ca- racing and how? reer? Project CARS 2 has been I drove rental karts when I was It means everything to me. selected to be the plat- on vacation with my family and My parents have ordinary jobs form for the frst ever it was fun, and when I was sev- and racing is expensive. They “Renault eSports Series.” en-years old, I tested a racing can support my racing at the kart. I really loved the speed in current level, but a crash or This competition is the racing kart so I got a racing a broken engine could stop owned by Renault and license and then a race-kart my season. When we leave operated by Events and started practicing. I did the kart or engines for bigger House, one of the com- almost a full season just prac- services at the workshop and panies responsible for ticing and this is my second full telling the mechanic what is 2017’s F1 eSports Series. season doing races. wrong or needs fxing, he al- ways seems to fnd a lot more Online qualifying rounds “I love my dad and he stuf that isn’t working! My for this competition are does everything for me, sponsors help me fnd a bufer already underway in Pro- for unexpected happenings to but he isn’t exactly a ject CARS 2. Our game keep racing. was selected due to the trained mechanic!” READ ON variety of Renault cars available in the game, and our experience in hosting top level tourna- ments. Within the racing game genre, engineering artists such as Players’ skills will be Casey Ringley are in high- tested in Renault tour- demand—it’s a role that takes ing cars, rallycross cars, years to master (Casey got his Clio Cup and Formula start back in the late 1990s), Renault. The top players incorporating a passion for will compete in a live mechanics, a deep knowledge fnal at Renault’s mar- of both engineering and keting zone at the 2018 physics, and—perhaps most , and crucially—a test-driver’s ‘feel’ the winner will receive a for how a is reacting on the full day of training at the limit. This is how he engineers UK’s Palmer Sport race the feel for in-game cars from school, including seat the most iconic automakers on time in Clio Cup and For- the planet. mula 3000 machinery. READ ON READ ON

Keeping sane while working from home...

Ana Vahia Tiza’s role as HR manager at Slightly Mad Studios is a challenging one, complicated enormously by the studio’s unique, award-winning, and pioneering Distributed Development System that sees staf working remotely on four continents and dozens of countries around the globe. That remoteness―phys- ical as well as cultural and linguistic―can lead to complex issues when communication is reliant solely on emails, Skype calls, HipChat, and no actual person-to-person contact.

Ana has been with the company for many years, and has seen and experienced many of the pit- falls―and has also found the solutions through the years to fnding a happy balance between home-life 2 and home-work. READ ON Factor in the laser-scanned tracks, depicted in 4K resolu- tion, and you become deeply immersed into the world of speed. Every bump and kerb is reproduced and accurately placed, which means that you learn the rhythm of the track and can carry that over into the real world.

Last year I was asked to do a project at the Nurburgring, and I had to get up to speed before I arrived. The best and only way to learn 170 corners in the two weeks I had avail- able, was to climb aboard a GT3 car and boot up Project CARS. For my line of work, it’s become as routine as going to the gym.

THE EX ‘STIG’ BEN COLLINS HAS SEEN Logitech is probably the big- gest supplier of plug-in steer- THE FUTURE ing wheels for racing games and of gaming paraphernalia The frst racing games felt a bit like ‘’ by comparison to the real thing. The frst ‘sim’ racer that in general. During a visit to had any value was ‘’ by Microprose. The tracks bore some resemblance to the places their HQ in San Francisco, I I was frequenting in a Formula 3 car, and the degree of discipline to sit there for hours shaving a was blown away by the scale few tenths of a lap time was familiar too. The game-changer was when my teammate linked our and professionalism of their computers and we had a three-way race between ourselves and Juan Pablo Montoya, who was eSports program. Their spon- extremely fast. sored players work in an envi- ronment as advanced as a For- There was an interminable pause in quality between Sim Racing then, and now. F1 teams spent mula One team; with coaches, millions creating rigs that lifted and shook you all around, while you steered and pedaled to the vid- dieticians, tacticians and ana- eo on a multi-screen. The experience split the drivers right down the middle: those that threw up lysts pressing for an advantage and those that lied about being sick. The irony was that despite the diabolical handling references wherever it can be found. these machines produced, the teams were able to extract useful data about diferent car setups. While you might expect that Here’s where Ian Bell at Slightly Mad Studios stepped in. Ian’s vision was to re-create, down to the level of elite performance last bolt and fber of carbon, every car that would appear in his vision for the ultimate sim racing from a corporate-backed op- game: Project CARS. Realism was the goal. Assimilating the varying weights and measures of the eration, the secret to the suc- cars provided a solid foundation, but the holy grail lay in recreating something almost intangible: cess of eSports is the way that the tyre model. it has democratized the Sport. costs somewhere The way a tyre behaves is organic and it’s what between the makes a real car so intuitive to human beings tens of thou- because it responds to every touch. After a The game-changer was when my teammate sands to the painstaking development process, we round- linked our computers and we had a three- millions. For a ed on an intuitive handling environment. No way race between ourselves and Juan Pablo few hundred more driving by Morse code. You could feel dollars, you the road through the feedback fickering Montoya, who was extremely fast can hook your through the steering wheel. You became one steering wheel with the car. into a virtual Nascar, Le Mans or F1 car and drive it like That’s where my role developed with the studio. A car either feels right, or it’s really wrong. A mi- you stole it. The mental skills nor faw in the handling or a delay in the resolution is like rubbing sand into your contact lenses. It are broadly the same, as my kills the reality. I worked with the development team to slay these undesirables and chase down heart rate told me during a live the dream. With Project CARS 2 we rounded on a mode of handling that was gradual. The feedback race at . Physically, loop between losing and regaining control felt natural, and its that connection that makes it so you get chucked around a lot addictive. more in real life because gravi- ty is elusive like that. The reality of racing involves a degree pain too. In England, we call it weather. At Le Mans you race for 24 hours come rain or shine at speeds of up to 230mph. In my frst race there, it remains etched But don’t presume that gam- in my memory for all time. It was an experience we wanted to share with Gamers. ers aren’t ft.

Real racing drivers rarely get the luxury of practicing in the rain because Team Managers Be ready for the next gener- generally don’t like sweeping up fery wreckage. So for those looking to learn how to drive ation of Player One to walk 3 like a Ninja, this is defnitely the sim you’re looking for. onto the and surprise you. NIC HAMILTON ON RACING LEWIS, RACING HIMSELF, AND RACING CLIOS Nic on: Growing up with Lewis

We don’t come from a motorsport background at all―far from it, we were just a poor black family when Lewis was born. My dad back then did what many dads do―work hard to provide, and then on weekends fnd ways to hang out with his kid. He kept coming up with cool things to do with Lewis, and that’s how they began remote control racing.

Lewis had a natural ability at it, which was immediately obvious, so he joined a championship―he was six, maybe seven-years old― and was racing against grizzled old pros in their 20s and 30s. Didn’t matter, of course, because he won the British Championship when he was like, seven! It was pretty clear he had amazing hand-to-eye coordination and people suggested my dad get him to try karting. He won his frst time out, and from there my dad bought him an old kart, a real banger, to go racing with. It was more for fun back then, you know, just dad and Lewis hanging out on weekends―until Lewis immediately started beating everyone in that old banger, won his frst race, and just kept on winning.

By 10 Lewis was British Champion, and then things got serious ―my dad had to work three jobs to keep Lewis in racing, but at the same time his talent was clear, and I guess my dad also saw it as a way to get us, as a family, out of the gutter. That was about the time―I’m eight years younger than Lewis―that I was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. I wanted to be a part of it, of course, and mot- orsports became our lives as a family, following Lewis up the ladder, but it was all pure chance that it happened this way, you know?

Watching Lewis in motorsport fed my love of the sport growing up. When I was seven-years old, I persuaded my dad to give me a go in a kart, but I was too weak to operate the brake and ended up having an enormous accident―that scared me a lot. But the love of motorsport endured, and as I grew older, I became more-and-more fascinated by sim racing. At frst, I used only the buttons, but with GTR―the old SimBin game that was created by Slightly Mad Studios’ CEO Ian Bell―I started using pedals and a wheel and really got into racing big-time. My dad, he used to give me a hard time: “Nic, read a book or do something constructive!” But I just loved racing games. And it became part of my story. Mine and Lewis’s.

Back in the day Lewis and I would spend days playing GTR―I remember I’d set a time and then head of to school and Lewis would spend the whole day trying to beat my time and wouldn’t allow me to have a go again until he beat my lap by a considerable amount! I remember once, I set a time at with a Ferrari, and he fnally, after a whole day or something, beat it, and I came home from school and beat his time in two laps!

Lewis and I spent a a lot of time playing sim racing games together when he was driving in the feeder series, working his way up. Aside from GTR, we’d play Crammond’s Grand Prix games, Grand Prix II and III and IV―and we were really serious about it all, you know, we’d update it with all the latest patches and download community packs and what-not, and we’d literally spend 4 ages getting it all to work―hours and days! We were playing games like TOCA as well, and he taught me how My frst-ever season in real motorsport was back in 2011―and to use manual gears and stuf like that. By then he was getting I was thrown very much into the deep-end! I hardly had any re- really good, but I would always be there or thereabouts. Then, as al-world training at all back then, and getting into that car, with his career developed and he hit Formula 1, he moved to Switzer- my condition and no training―that’s where all those years of land, and so the gaming time that we used to have together at sim racing really helped, for sure. But that was hard, and being home was not the same because he lived so far away from me. a Hamilton meant so much pressure from expectations, and it That was the time when I was big into gaming, big into GTR, and didn’t help that I had a BBC crew follow me around the whole we got the same set of computers and racing rigs, and we would season! play together online with guys like Kovalainen and so on. Those were great days. Nic on: Clio Cup Racing

I did that entire season with mixed results, and did 2012 as well, but as you know, motorsport is very expensive, and my father was sponsoring most of it of his own back, and we got to the point where we were all really stressed out about the money and the results and so on, so I said to my dad, “Listen, I want to do it for myself, so you can relax and the pressure is of me, too.” For 2013, I did half a season in European Touring Cars―I was ly- ing 10th when I had to withdraw due to funding issues. But that was a great season for me―against 32 drivers, being able to prove myself, with my frst race at Monza being up in seventh, that was just crazy.

But the funding ran dry, and, in 2014, I was fully invested in con- sulting for Project CARS and out of the cockpit. But in the back- ground, I kept thinking about how to reinvent myself, how to Nic on: Carving a Career in Racing fnd the funding to get back into full-time motorsports. During the development of Project CARS, I learnt a lot about how to Working on Project CARS as a consultant, that is an integral part market myself, how to work on professional relationships, how of my story. I was fortunate to stumble into the project―I had to fnd and keep sponsors, all that stuf which is fundamental to a contact at another gaming company who told me about this a driver. new sim, Project CARS, that was in development, and Ian Bell and I, we just hit it of, you know, and suddenly I went from lov- At the end of 2017, with Project CARS 2 out the door, I took my- ing games to actually developing a game, which really was some- self into my bedroom with my laptop and created a presentation thing so unique and special. Even more so that the developers with which I began “knocking” on people’s doors. I sold my story, were the same studio who made GTR, which changed my life. you know, both behind the wheel and also outside the cockpit― name recognition and my life story. And it actually worked for I put my whole life and soul into it and everything I do, and I al- the frst time in my life. ways wanted to work on games and actually doing it alongside my motorsports―that’s very special. I created everything myself and I’m really excited and proud to be back behind the wheel and to have done it all of my own As part of the promotion for the franchise, I had a great oppor- back. I’m racing a full season in the British Clio Cup Champion- tunity to showcase what the game can do and what I can do, ship, one of the most cut-throat series in Europe. The cars are and being featured on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and in separated by mere tenths, and some of those guys have been all sorts of media, that was important to me, as it allowed me to racing 20 years. Honestly, even when you’re down in 16th it’s tell my story, and I hope inspire people to just keep fghting, you like being 3rd or 4th in any other series because the margins be- know, keep chasing their dreams because anything is possible. tween the drivers are just so close.

That’s my story―and sim racing is so much part of that in I guess we’ll see what the future brings―the most important that it allowed me to train and prepare for my career as a thing is to just keep getting out there and trying and never-ever 5 real-world driver. giving up. Pay it Forward Milla on: Competition I race in the Middle-Sweden Kart Racing Championship. It’s a very tough championship. The Swedish F1 driver Marcus Er- icsson used to race there too when he was my age. I also do other races out of the championship when it fts in the sched- ule. I race because it’s exciting and I love competing. Milla on: Career

Right now we race for fun, but if I can keep racing, who knows where this will go? My dad cheers for McLaren in Formula 1, but I want to race for Ferrari.

Milla on: Girls in Motorsport

In every race there are between 27 and 35 starters in my class. Around 10 of those are usually girls. Milla on: The future

I want to win and continue to develop as a driver. Racing in the UK would be fun! I also hope to be able to do karting in It- aly, because that’s where the fastest drivers in the world race.

Milla on: Training SLIGHTLY MAD news My local track is in the town Södertälje where I live, and it’s where I have done most of my practice. But I go to other FROM AROUND THE tracks around Stockholm to practice too. GLOBE Milla on: Simulators — New Zealand insurance company Star Insurance Special- I use them a lot, especially during the winter when I can’t get ists sponsor Project CARS 2 eSports. The “Project CARS 2 NZ any other driving other than indoor rental karting. I use the Championship” is broadcast on Sky Sport on Tuesdays. (Read karts in Project CARS and also the fast cars I want to race one on in the NZHerald) day when I grow up! — The UK has 630 game development studios, 48 percent working out of Central London, incl. Slighly Mad Studios, mak- ing the UK the 5th largest developer of games in the world. (Read on in ESI)

— The British Esports Association taps Project CARS 2 for its inaugural “British eSports Championships”. (Read on in ESI)

Milla on: Karts — Infuential mobile gaming news site —one I have a CRG kart with a Raket 95 cc engine. In my class the of the world’s top 100 websites according to the Guardian top speed is just below 90 km/h. Next year I will change class newspaper, and The Sunday Times’ Top 5 Websites for Gam- to a faster engine. ing, tapped Slighty Mad Studios’ forthcoming mobile game, Project CARS GO, in its “Hot 5”. (Read on at Pocket Gamer)

Milla on: Her team — With the 24H of Le Mans just around the corner, Project CARS 2 fans get the “Spirit of Le Mans” DLC to recreate the My dad John is my mechanic. And my coach. And my world’s most enduring and thrilling endurance race. (Read 6 truck driver. And my whole team! details here) KEEPING SANE WHILE WORKING FROM HOME … Ana Vahia Tiza: HR and the Human And that brings us onto Seasonal Afective Disorder (SAD), a harsh reality for many of our Northern-latitude staf, and a se- Challenge of Remote Working rious and damaging condition with knock-on efects on general well-being and productivity. Let’s face it: we were not made to be living in the dark! Light beings, right? Remote working comes with many positives and is, I believe, one of the reasons why turnover of staf at our studio is extremely Take the time to get out, get some fresh air, and do so before low. But as HR manager, my role requires that I am also aware you log-in to work. Frequently, in these busy times, we tell our- of the very real dangers that remote working, over a prolonged selves we’ll just quickly log-on and check which emails have come period of time, can have on individuals. rolling in during the night, and, three hours later, there we are, at our desks, consumed by work. So, before you log-in, be kind to Slightly Mad Studios has a central admin’ hub in London but the yourself; get outdoors. If your kid needs to be taken to school, majority of our 150-odd crew log in to work remotely, using Jira, volunteer to do that even if it’s a short walk to the bus stop, HipChat, Skype and so on to coordinate their productivity. you’ll be out, and maybe get to know a few fellow parents. Or take a quick walk to the corner shop and get a cofee and say hi Our Distributed Development System has won a few awards to the guy at the counter. Or, ideally, take the time for some ex- over the years, and this isn’t surprising given it goes back to the ercise! Your health matters to your family, and it matters to your very dawn of the studio, a time before remote access even be- employer as well; be good to yourself. came a ‘thing’ in all of our daily working lives. Addressing SAD is often as simple as changing one’s routine; more concerning, however, are the complicated issues that can’t In a fundamental way, remote working has grown up with us be dealt with by simply getting some air and sunshine and install- as a company, ever since CEO Ian Bell founded the studio from ing some new therapy lights in your home ofce. his apartment at the tail-end of last century. Our frst game was Feeling a little alienated? developed remotely back when Talent was recruited without their the studio didn’t actually have geographical location ever being From feeling disconnected to an address and as we became the project you’re working on more successful on the back of considered: what the studio need- to feeling somehow detached chart-topping titles such as GTR ed, then and now, is talent, and we from the entire company, for and GTR2, it was somehow ‘natu- remote workers, these are quite ral’ that the best and most crea- recruit the best no matter where normal feelings to have. In our tive talent was recruited without studio, many of our talents their geographical location ever they’re located have never actually met their being considered: what the stu- co-workers or managers per- dio needed, then and now, is talent, and we recruit the best no son-to-person, and as HR manager, I am keenly aware of how this matter where they’re located. can afect an employee’s morale.

But that presents its own challenges. If you’re not a remote In an ofce, one can get a sense of how a project is coming along worker, consider your daily routine: catching a train or a bus, buy- by having a chat at the cooler or overhearing a conversation in an ing a cofee or a newspaper, chatting with fellow commuters, or elevator. With remote working, none of this is possible, and this simply getting into your car and sharing (and swearing!) at fellow lack of social contact can be difcult at frst; working from home road-users all of this gets you outdoors and afords you a certain can often mean eight hours―and even more when deadlines are amount of social interaction. For someone working remotely, being met―of no physical interaction at all with other people. this kind of routine is : generally, working from home Just you, sitting at your desk. That’s both a sedentary life and a means commuting from your kitchen to your workspace, potentially lonely one. and while this saves on commute times and hassle, it also Feeling alienated also takes its toll on productivity; after all, as 7 means you don’t tend to get outdoors much. much as we don’t want to admit it, if there’s a hard deadline to be met, most of us are far more likely to burn the midnight oil for ask for help without fear of judgement. https://www.the- colleagues or managers who we like and respect. Doing so for calmzone.net/about-calm/what-is-calm/ someone who we know simply from HipChat or Skype or emails can begin to seem as if we’re taking instructions from a remote Our mental health should be a top priority, which means HAL-like entity. Add to that the very real misunderstandings that being proactive and embracing the three golden rules of come from text-based-only communications, and you begin to mental health practice―repeat, repeat, repeat. see the real challenges of remote working. Also keep in mind there are tricks to trick our mind and There are a lot of pitfalls here: from lack of social contact and help our body: meaningful person-to-person relationships to the toll it can take on family life (the assumption that, because you work from home, you must surely have the time to insert domestic chore― Know Your Triggers dishes, shopping, cleaning up, babysitting and so on), all of this can have implications on an employee’s productivity, mental Self-observation and the ability to acknowledge what health, and physical well-being. bothers you will help you immensely in anticipating de- pression and act accordingly. And that is where I come in. Swap a Negative for a Positive The frst and most important thing here is communication, which is a Has a negative thought or feeling popped up? Swap it word I actually hate―I much prefer for a positive. Just try it. For example: “I hate getting up the old-fashioned word “talking”. when it’s dark out” to “I love being awake for the sunrise”. There is, for me, a diference; some- times you don’t want to communi- cate, you just want to talk. Eat Well, Drink Water, and Exer-

Being in HR means I serve as a point cise of contact for our employees; and when they approach me, my reply is Make time for yourself. always the same one―take that step and start the conversation with your Breathe Well colleagues and manager. Ask for help when you need it. People who care about you will be supportive. Stop breathing automatically and introduce deliberate So trust them! And you can ofer help to others too. This doesn’t breaths, or mindfulness! Take a deep breath in through just cover the practical things like giving someone technical ad- your nose. Yes: all the way in! Fill your belly with air so vice, it can be as simple as asking your colleague how they’re do- it expands. Hold it. Count to three. Slowly breathe out ing. And if someone asks you how you are doing, have the cour- through your mouth. And yes again: all the way out! Relax age to be honest. your shoulders. “Your health matters to your family, and it matters to your employer as well; be good to Make Sleep a Priority yourself” Get of the phone at night. And get of the phone frst This is one of the reasons why we always organise a yearly Christ- thing in the morning. That urgent email? It can wait half mas party where all our employees are fown in to the UK for a an hour. Do take phone-free and computer-free breaks few days to meet-and-greet their colleagues and managers. during the day. Get away from your electronics for lunch: fnd a park, go out on your balcony, have a quick nap. As Finally, there are many resources out there to help you if you feel one researcher in this area, Dr. Michael Britt puts it: “Naps you need it. Remember, you matter, to your colleagues, friends, truly are important. What we fnd is that 15-20 minutes family―you matter. Reach out; that’s the frst step, especial- of downtime through either a nap or a walk allows the ly when you’re working remotely: the lack of person-to-person brain to consolidate memories. These breaks help our contact does mean even those who are closest to you won’t al- neurons to solidify the things we’ve learned.” ways be able to see that you may not be in the best place, but that failure is not because they don’t care―it’s just the reality of remote working. Keep a Routine You should fnd a routine that works for you and stick with it, even if you are working outside conventional working hours. Structure is of crucial importance. RESOURCES AND Do Something Kind for Someone MINDFULNESS and Do Something Kind for Your- self

CALM Depression tends to avoid those who have found ways to be happy, so take good care of yourself! These guys are awesome at what they do: they are a char- ity dedicated to men’s mental health, reducing suicide, helping people who have lost someone to suicide, and Remote working should be viewed as the chance to be 8 do wonderful work at campaigning for a man’s right to creative in shaping our working reality. The simulation engineers at Slightly Mad Studios need to get it all right in order to get a car to behave in-game as it HOW TO would in real-life—so accurate that many racing drivers use SMS’s simulation technology to test for their real-world rac- CYBER-ENGINEER es. Here’s how that process works … RACE CARS BUILDING A CAR

Casey Ringley is Lead Technical Vehicle Artist at Slightly Mad Studios; he leads the engineering process on all vehicle art production and in-game visual-efects systems—in other words, building them and then ensuring that they handle correctly.

For those who are interested in his day-to-day job, Casey gave a fascinating interview with Honda, which you can read here.

Creating a car for a high-end simulator is about more than simply inputting raw numbers into the physics engine; no matter how accurate the engine is, there is always the ‘hu- man’ touch that is needed to ensure the car handles as it Suspension does out in the real-world. The same, of course, applies to laser-scanned tracks: you can scan a track to ensure it repli- A good starting point for building any car is to look at the cates the real-world track to almost the millimetre, but only suspension geometry. With modern cars, we often receive a driver with experience can pin-point why one turn will have detailed CAD models from our automotive partners. Pickup just a little less grip than the rest of the track, for reasons points from these models can usually be applied directly into no-one will ever know. our dynamic suspension model to be sure that things such as caster angle, kingpin inclination, roll centers, etc., and chang- During the lead-up to the release of Project CARS 2, a series es of these with respect to suspension travel, all match the of videos were produced (#BuiltbyDrivers) highlighting this behavior of the real car. close working relationship between auto manufacturers, drivers, tyre manufacturers, and the studio. For Project CARS The steering geometry here also plays a direct role in calcu- 2, drivers were not simply endorsing the product; new lating forces which come through on FFB steering wheels, motorsports such as rallycross needed the sure-touch of giving drivers a ‘feel’ for how the car is reacting, so this a key professionals in order to lead engineers such as Casey to- area of focus and a main driver in what makes an RWD pro- 9 ward unrivalled accuracy. totype have diferent cornering feel to an FWD touring car. tion therefore changes all the way from 40:60 to 50:50 in this car, depending on fuel load, so the chassis dynamics will evolve signifcantly over a long run. Getting this kind of accuracy in our simulated cars is vital—not only for us, but also for our manufac- turer partners.

Engine & Gearbox

Dyno plots are the gold standard for engine model creation. We use them whenever possible to match the torque curve shapes, and we then add to that minor calibration for known power lev- els (because all dynos have some calibration factor in-built and are more about ‘torque curve shape’ and relative diferences rather than absolutes).

Suspension Setup Our engine model works on a volumetric system—amount of air fowing through it—so setting up the intake system is the next This data often comes from the manufacturer. Things like ho- step in making sure throttle response is correct, while also pay- mologation forms for modern GT3 cars include a vast amount of ing close attention to the efect of things like engine air restric- information for spring rates, damper force vs. velocity plots, and tors being correct. anti-roll bar dimensions. These values generally plug directly into our model or can easily be approximated with best-ft curves to Turbocharged engines get a boost pressure curve mapped over match the real car over its range of setup options. the full engine RPM-range, which is especially important for mod- ern race cars as balance of performance is largely done through Chassis controlling how much boost turbo cars can use at various engine RPM. This ensures both power level and throttle response is cor- The most important aspects of the chassis itself are mass, center rect—something that a few of our drivers are not too thrilled of mass, and moments of inertia on each axis. The former pairing with when we accurately model the turbo-lag inherent in some is relatively simple to measure on a real car; moment of inertia (MOI), on the other hand, is a much more complicated afair.

To measure it accurately requires a large turntable and setting up a car with no fuids and rigid suspension to remove dynamic efects—all of this along with a great deal of test rig calibration in order to produce accurate values.

It’s quite an ordeal, and although we have received this kind of data on occasion, it is very rare. A much more common approach, and the one we use, is to break the car down into seven or eight component boxes such that their size and mass create a reason- able approximation for the known specifcations and dimensions of the real car. The result from this approach can be remarkably close to MOI measurements from a real car. of the early 1970s monsters! Other chassis elements include aspects such as the fuel-tank size and position, which also play a part in vehicle handling. Modern Hybrid race car designers put a premium on locating the fuel tank as low as they can and as near to the Centre of Gravity as possible Our hybrid power unit system is essentially adding electric mo- so that handling does not change signifcantly as fuel-load burns tors in parallel with the ICE engine. We give it basic specs such as of. maximum torque and power output, storage capacity, recharg- ing properties, etc., and then hook it into the drivetrain to assist in driving the car.

The modern LMP1H feld are a challenge in this respect, mainly because so much of the tech’ is highly-secretive, but the regu- lations dictate enough detail (max power output, total energy per lap at Le Mans, for example) that it is possible to observe on- board telemetry and reverse-engineer the systems so our game model is as accurate as possible. This actually does bring up a point about our working relationships with auto-manufacturers: they’re happy to share detailed information, but some racing technology will always remain a secret, sometimes even years after a car has been retired from competition.

Drivetrain

But race car engineering is not an exact science, of course, Our driveline model is a modular system where each element which is why you will also fnd superb racers such as the Aston of the car, from engine crankshaft through to the wheels, is as- Martin DBR1 ftting their fuel-tank right out at the sembled from a range of building blocks: clutches, diferentials, other end of the spectrum—a 182L tank hung way bearings, gearboxes, brakes, couplings, shafts and so on to link 10 out behind and above the rear axle. Weight distribu- everything together. Each component of each car is tuned for inertia, stifness and damping properties, and special functions such as the various types of diferential (clutch & ramp, geared torque biasing, viscous, locking). This, for a ‘simple’ car, might be modeled as:

ENGINE->CLUTCH->GEARBOX->DRIVESHAFT->DIFFERENTIAL->AXLES->BRAKES->WHEELS

A complicated AWD car might send the GEARBOX output through center diferential, one shaft of the center diferential’s output going to another diferential on the front axle while the other shaft goes through a handbrake-activated disconnect before reach- ing a third diferential on the rear axle. Our system allows for a completely arbitrary design of the driveline models using as few or as many of those building blocks as is necessary to connect the engine to the wheels. This lets us create accurate models for everything—from your average FWD hatchback to the 1968 Lotus 56 AWD turbine-powered IndyCar to the Ford Bronco ‘Brocky’ with a transfer-case 4WD system which can toggle between 4WD and RWD modes.

Aerodynamics

When we’re really lucky, a car’s reference data will include a complete aero’ map showing how it responds to ride height and setup changes for drag, downforce, and center of pressure. The task then is one of matching the behavior in our system which is composed of 8 individual aero’ elements, each with unique response to setup changes, ride height, chassis rake, yaw efects, and non-forward motion.

Tyres

Cars usually begin their development life on ‘donor’ tyres from a similar car. As other elements fall into place, focus shifts to the tyre construction so the carcass handles vertical and cornering loads appropriately. We monitor defection in the model to adjust the sidewall and tread construction so the magnitude of translational and torsional defection is in the correct ballpark and occurs in a way that suits the tires being modeled—radial, cross-ply, or some hybrid in-between. The rubber compound is then tuned for adhe- sion, thermal, and wear properties to suit what is used on the real car. This process then iterates to fner detail until the performance aspects all match the real data as close as possible.

11 Project CARS 2 has also been selected to be the platform for the frst ever “Renault eS- ports Series.” This competition is owned by Renault and op- erated by Events House, one of the companies responsible for 2017’s F1 eSports Series. Online qualifying rounds for this competition are already underway, using the Commu- nity Events mode in Project CARS 2.

Our game was selected due to the variety of Renault cars available in the game, and our experience in hosting top level PROJECT CARS & tournaments. Over the course of the tournament, players’ skills will be tested in Renault touring cars, rallycross cars, GLOBAL ESPORTS Clio Cup and Formula Renault. Esports is a key aspect of the Project CARS 2 brand, and one of the main ways in which we keep The top players will compete our community of fans engaged with Slightly Mad Studios’ products for the long-term after each in a live fnal at Renault’s mar- game’s release. keting zone at the 2018 British Grand Prix, and the winner will Esports are multiplayer competitions which are usually live-streamed online so that receive a full day of training fans can watch their favourite games and cheer-on their favourite professional players in action. at the UK’s Palmer Sport race The winners receive large cash (or other) prizes that serve to incentivise participation, as well as school. Including seat time in raise the stakes to engage the online audience of viewers via and Facebook Live. Clio Cup and Formula 3000 machinery. The motor industry is starting to see eSports as a new way to reach a younger audience. Our gam- ing hardware partners are also engaged with these competitions, sponsoring teams, drivers and even the competitions themselves. Names like NVIDIA, Logitech, Thrustmaster, and Oculus have all supported Project CARS competitions, and sponsored Project CARS teams over the last three years. Sim-racing is also the next emergent form of motorsport. It is already being used by events such as McLaren’s “World’s Fastest Gamer” to uncover new driving talent.

We have been hosting major tournaments in the Project CARS franchise since 2016, awarding We are also working to fnal- €25,000 in prizes in that inaugural year alone, and €25,000 in 2017. This was funded by both the ise the sponsorship arrange- series’ sponsors, and by franchise publisher, Bandai . There are approximately 35,000 active ments for the 2018 edition of eSports gamers in Project CARS, of which 4,000 are pro-level drivers, spread across 1,200 teams. our major series, the SMS-R This brings authenticity and a competitive edge to the game. Most of the top teams are European, Championship, which will see with France being the most successful country to date. We have also held live races in bespoke last year’s champions, BAM eSports arenas: in 2015 in the ESL Arena in Paris, and in 2017 in the ESL Arena in Cologne. esport return to defend their title against The 2017 major series, known as the “SMS-R the rest of the Championship”, featured studio broadcasts by €15,000 was won by the G2 eSports world’s fast- ESL, one of the world’s largest eSports produc- est eSports tion companies. The 10-round championship team, which is owned by two-time F1 sim-racers. We concluded in the World Finals at gamescom, the world champion, Fernando Alonso are also work- world’s largest gaming convention, and approx- ing on con- imately 120,000 people watched the series via cepts for ad- Facebook and Twitch live streaming. ditional manufacturer eSports championships with our auto- In 2018 we are continuing to demonstrate our commitment to eSports with several new competi- motive partners. More details tions. The frst was the “A1 eSports League” in the spring of this year. Austrian telecoms giant A1 will be announced later this funded its own eSports tournament in partnership with ESL. The competition featured just two year as negotiations progress. games; eSports juggernaut League of Legends, and a Rallycross competition in Project CARS 2. In our segment, €15,000 was awarded to the top players, and the competition was even- Subscribe to tually won by the G2 eSports team, which is owned by two-time F1 world champion, our Newsletter 12 Fernando Alonso. here