Do you think people make too much of a big deal of the 30/60 fps thing? Alex Grimbley: There are techniques you can do know that you couldn’t in the past that make the difference a lot less noticeable. The next generation consoles really let you mask over that. The motion blur for instance has been taken to such a level that it smoothes the whole screen. Like I say, we’re delighted with how Dirt looks.
Tell us about the dirt in Dirt. Just how dirty is it? Alex Grimbley: For a start we’ve got a fantastic particle system which is part of our new engine, Neon. We’ve got so many different types of kick-up depending on what type of surface you’re on, it all has it’s own physics, and it’s even affected by the wind in the environment. You’ll see dust clouds billowing in the wind for example. Everything you crash into emits some kind of dirt. It’ll get on your windshield and you’ll have to use your wipers to get it off. It’ll build up on your bodywork and you can even wash your car at the end of the stage if you want to. Basically we’ve got loads of systems just to muddy cars up!
Are there dynamic weather effects? Alex Grimbley: The weather will change from stage to stage, as will the time of day. That gives a really nice feeling of progression as the day goes by or you move from country to country. Rain will, of course, make the dirt wet, and we’ve got loads of different types of mud. Wet mud, dry mud, gravel mud...
So how many different types of dirt are there in Dirt? Loads – we have over 65 distinct surface variations throughout the game.
We understand Dirt’s Xbox Live mode is very different to other racing games. Tell us about why it’s unique and why it’s cool... Alex Grimbley: We looked at doing the standard race-against-each-other-on-track Xbox Live modes but since we’re doing so many different things with Dirt we wanted to try something new and see how people liked it. So what we’ve done is give you a 100 player race on hill climb and point-to-point tracks. Not all 100 are on the track with you, but there’s a leaderboard on the right of the screen that shows your time in relation to everyone else’s. It changes really quickly and it gets really tense because you know one little error will see you drop down the list, but if you really nail a bend then you’ll see yourself jump up a few places. It’s really instantly rewarding. And because there’s 100 players racing against you there’s a real sense of achievement if you do well and make a podium place. Another cool thing is that there’s no cheating. No one will bully you off into a wall or drive the wrong way around the track, and if you wreck your car you’ve only got yourself to blame.
How do you think people will react to such a different style of Xbox Live racing? Alex Grimbley: We know it’s very different, but we think people really need to get in and give it a go to really see for themselves how much fun it is. One of the important things for us was to make it instant and easily accessible, even for people who had never been online before. We’re not forcing them to compete directly against hardcore competitors, because you can have your own little battles with the drivers around you rather than falling half-a-lap behind another four or five cars.