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Slightly VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 1 | YEAR 2019 MAD W rld BEN COLLINS: PROJECT CARS PRO: OVERCOMING FEAR (PAGE 3) THE ESSENTIAL SOFTWARE SOLUTION FOR LOCATION-BASED ENTERTAINMENT PROJECT CARS PRO: Project CARS Pro is the new professional software SOLUTION FOR BUSINESS (PAGE 4) developed by ioTech Studios and targeted directly to the location-based entertainment industry, and companies and individuals seeking to create a peerless experience for their public venues, events, PROJECT CARS 2: and product launches. DEBUTS IN SHANGHAI THEME PARK (PAGE 6) The software has been created to offer business solutions to both the location-based entertainment industry and the automotive industry—everyone AUTOMOBILISTA 2: from arcade game and esports operators to product- LICENSED MADNESS (PAGE 7) launches for new cars and even academic researchers. Since the release of Project CARS, Slightly Mad MELINDA NEIL: Studios and subsidiary ioTech have been actively LICENSING MADNESS (PAGE 8) engaged in creating bespoke versions of the “ultimate driver journey” for customers’ business needs. Everyone from Porsche—who used a tailor- made version for the launch of the new Porsche PROJECT CARS ESPORTS: 911 Carrera S at the LA Auto Show—to track-based RACING THE BEST (PAGE 10) experience centres and more. With Project CARS Pro, these needs have now been met with a professional product of the world’s most beloved racing franchise, either off the rack or fully-customized. INSIDE AUTOMOBILISTA 2: READ ON THE NEW GAME FROM REIZA USING THE MADNESS ENGINE Reiza Studios began life as a modding outfit helmed by the prodigious talents of Brazilian Renato Simioni before, in 2011, releasing their first stand-alone game, Game Stock Car, which met with great reviews across the board. Reiza followed up with Game Stock Car 2012, Formula Truck 2013, Game Stock Car 2013, and then hit gold with their highly-acclaimed Automobilista racer in 2016. Automobilista 2 is one of the more anticipated sims coming in 2019, helped in part by the announcement that it would be powered by the state-of-the-art MADNESS Engine. Renato Simioni explains the rewards of using Slightly Mad Studios’ home- grown engine … READ ON Stay Safe & Stay Back With Ben Collins Slightly Mad Studios handling consultant, former “Stig” from Top Gear, and Hollywood stuntdriver Ben Collins has offered his considerable energy and talents to Highways England, the government-run entity responsible for England’s motorways and major A-roads, in order to educate drivers on the dangers of tailgating. Image courtesy of Lionsgate UK “I discovered the dangers of tailgating at a very early age—in an overly enthusiastic game of musical chairs,” Ben told the media at the unveiling of this new safety campaign. “The music stopped and so did the kid in front of me. But I didn’t. I face-planted the back of his head instead. Following the vehicle in front too closely reduces your vision to zero, along with your time to react to danger. Stay safe, stay back and look ahead.” READ ON SLIGHTLY MAD NEWS SLIGHTLY MAD NEWS FROM AROUND THE FROM AROUND THE GLOBE GLOBE EGX REZZED Pay it Forward SMS-SPONSORED MILLA SJÖSTRAND GETS A TV DEBUT IN SWEDEN We asked Project CARS fans to send in a selfie-video about Eleven-year-old Milla Sjöstrand is slowly working her way up to why they enjoyed Project CARS the big time in regional kart racing in Sweden, with the National 2, with the winning entries Championships in the summer being her number one goal. taking home three Fanatec sim-racing setups worth over The Tobacco Dock in London With sponsorship from Slightly Mad Studios, the young hopeful €700. played host to 2019’s EGX kart racer is beginning a new season, and her drive and push Rezzed show, a videogame for the top has seen her make some waves culminating with an Entries to the competition event that has, through the interview on state-run Swedish TV, broadcast on both local and came from around the world, years, become a de facto “best regional news. and the creativity made of British” talent display. choosing a winner a seriously The sports program for kids and teens named Lilla Sportspegeln difficult job. One of the highlghts of the has shown interest to run a longer version of the interview in its show, according to media TV show later this year. Enjoy the top two winning outlet VRFocus, was at entries. the Porsche stand where, She was filmed testing her kart around her local Södertälje track the website notes, “racing during pre-season training, and she noted that, “only rookies let simulator specialist Vesaro other drivers past. I’m not like that.” Determination meets drive! was displaying one of its Commercial VR simulators You can watch the interview here. with full pneumatics and Oculus Rift headset—which has a retail price starting from £20,000 GBP—where players could race on Project CARS Pro title Porsche 911 VR-Racing Experience built specifically for the car manufacturer by Slightly Mad Studios.” You can read more here. Play the Game With Melinda Neil An affinity for organization and a love of all things automotive brought Melinda Neil to Slightly Mad Studios. Armed with a diverse background—studying Fine Arts at Concordia University, putting on art events, and years in bar management—Melinda’s first taste of the world of games development was at Rockstar Games which led on to the marketing and business development departments at EA working on the Need For Speed franchise and special projects like Speedhunters. During all of this she continued to put on car shows, art shows, events, and getting her hands dirty on the rebuild of her 1963 Ford Falcon and learning to race. Now at SMS, she handles the licensing of top-brands like she does the wheel of her ’63 Falcon ... Find out more here 2 BEN COLLINS - OVERCOMING FEAR “You gotta learn to drive with the fear—and there ain’t nothin’ more god-damn frightnin’ than drivin’ with a live cougar in the car.” —Ricky Bobby Sr., ‘Talladega Nights’. Since Project Cars 2 released, I’ve experienced the game, or sim, in action at events all over the world. The advances in hardware are bringing ever-higher levels of immersion and realism to the genre, and unlocking the deep potential within the MADNESS engine. Feeling the fabric of the tyres at your fingertips as the virtual rubber stretches and gnaws at the virtual tarmac is what kept the engineers at Slightly Mad Studios up for many all-nighters, At this stage both my team and sponsors expressed their and is the racers delight. But some forces and emotions are more unwillingness to continue unless I stopped wrecking stuff. You subtle. They can’t always be reproduced. don’t fear getting hurt when you love what you do. But the idea that my racing career could end put the fear of God into me. As a late starter on the racing ladder at the ripe old age of 19, I adopted the simple adage that to “finish first, you must first I was about to learn all about forces and emotion when I had learn to finish” and landed a string of podium results followed my racing baptism. I found myself at the sharp end of the grid, by my first win. surrounded by veterans of a similar age but who actually knew what they were doing. They say it’s hard to describe these Fear is an essential element of control in racing because it forces moments but I’ll never forget that first race. you to calculate risk in order to achieve results. That’s why competing online or in an official Esports race with Project Cars The officials cruelly give the competitors a thirty-second warning is virtually no different to the real thing. When you really want board prior to the starting lights going live. Thanks to the to win, it draws out exactly the same emotions and you have to gargantuan forces of gravity affecting your intestines, these learn to control them. An Esports racer will face fear in the same seconds pass like decades. Ratchet-strapped into your rocket way as a Formula One driver when the stakes of failure are high. and sweating from unusual places, you wish you’d gone for one That’s what I love about the growth of Sim racing globally both more piss (trip to the bathroom) while you still had the chance. professionally and for casual gamers. Your heart has taken its own queue and is trying to noisily leave The only aspect of real racing that we cannot recreate is gravity the building. You still control your lungs though, and take the and we should leave it well alone. Simulator rigs that lift and roll opportunity to heave in enough oxygen to perform multiple root the car around in an attempt to replicate gravity fail on every canals. It’s not enough. Just when you think your chest will burst level other than inducing motion sickness. In this last year, open like Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’, they show you the five-second however, I’ve noticed a more subtle approach with rigs being board. tuned to move only as much as the springs of the car compress. So you feel the effect of bumps, braking and acceleration and The pulse hardens further as you await the light. Finally the red the rest is handled visually with VR. light fills your retinas, and instinct takes over. Now that I’ve got the Cougar in the car with me I don’t crash so My first races took me by surprise because I didn’t win them, often.