Codemasters Reveals Its Most Ambitious Racing Game to Date
Featuring the world’s most complete motor sports experience, Race Driver
2 to ship Spring 2004 for Xbox and PC
Dec. 11, 2003 – Codemasters, a global interactive entertainment
company renowned for its portfolio of motor sport video games, announced today
its most ambitious motor sports project to date, Race Driver 2: The Ultimate
Racing Simulator. Slated for release in Spring 2004 for the Xbox® video
game system from Microsoft and the PC, Race Driver 2 will provide gamers the
most diverse and thrilling range of motor sports ever seen in one game. Designed
as the definitive racing experience, the game will feature complete head to
head Xbox® Live and PC online functionality.
“The depth of Race Driver 2 is unparalleled,†said Steven Lux,
senior vice president of U.S. marketing for Codemasters. “The game features
a completely new physics model, deformation system, and graphics engine. Couple
these with Xbox® Live, and Race Driver 2 delivers the ultimate online racing
experience.â€
Race Driver 2 boasts an incredible variety of motor sports, including Street
Racing, Stock Car, Open Wheel Grand Prix, Truck Racing, GT Sports Car Racing,
Rally, DTM, V8 Supercars, Global GT Lights, Rally Cross, Formula Ford, Classic
Car Racing, and more.
“Visually, Race Driver 2 is going to be stunning,†said Gavin Raeburn,
head of Codemasters’ racing development studio. “Our new rendering
engine features complex dynamic lighting, perspective mapped shadows, multipass
textures, procedural standing grass, and a host of post production techniques
including true motion blur, depth of field, and iris effects – all at
a rock steady 60fps.
“Race Driver 2 also features our most advanced and intuitive handling
model to date,†continued Raeburn. “Every physical nuance of each
vehicle type is accurately modeled, from tire deformation when cornering to
the centrifugal engine forces and complex aerodynamics.â€
Race Driver 2 will feature officially licensed tracks and championships as
well as some of the world’s most powerful racing and street cars, including
Ford (Mustang Cobra R, Ford GT, GT90, Falcon BA, F150 Lightning Pickup), Aston
Martin (V12 Vanquish, DB7, DB5), Jaguar (XJ220, XKR, and E-Type), Mitsubishi
(3000 GT, EVO 7), Subaru Impreza WRX, ABT-Audi TT-R, AMG-Mercedes CLK, and more.
The game will feature 52 racing circuits including Texas Motor Speedway, Pikes
Peak International Raceway, Laguna Seca, Surfers Paradise, Euro Speedway, Donington
Park, Kyalami, and Road America.
Race Driver 2 will continue the pioneering use of cinematic plot in racing
games with the narrative being played out completely from the first person perspective.
The player will see what the lead character sees, and will be able to create
his own history. A “reality style†eliminator story will capture
the competitive intrigue of 12 drivers battling their way to win the ultimate
racing experience: a drive as a Masters Grand Prix professional. Visually, the
cinematics will triple the detail of Pro Race Driver with characters now created
from over 12,000 polygons.
Race Driver 2’s core development team began work on the title in summer
2002 and now includes over 40 of Codemasters’ finest motor sport game
engineers. Gamers can register for development and game updates online at www.codemasters.com.
About CODEMASTERS
Codemasters is a global interactive entertainment company with offices in New
York City, England, France, Spain, Holland and Germany. Founded in the UK in
1986, Codemasters publishes award-winning software for the PC, next generation
video game consoles and online gaming. Codemasters develops original titles
such as Operation Flashpoint (PC Game-of-the-year) and Pro Race Driver, as well
as games based on top licensed properties including American Idol, MTV Music
Generator and IndyCar Series. Additional information about Codemasters and its
products can be found at www.codemasters.com.
About Xbox Live
Xbox Live, which launched in the United States Nov. 15, 2002, allows gamers
to play multiplayer Xbox games with other gamers everywhere via a broadband
connection. With a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port, the Xbox console is
the only video game system built from the ground up for online gaming, negating
the need to buy additional, costly peripherals or upgrades. Xbox Live enables
gamers to easily find their friends; talk to other players during game play
through the Xbox Communicator headset; download current statistics, new levels
and characters to their Xbox hard drive; and play online—all exclusive
features to Xbox Live.
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