For many speed demons, racing games are best played with other people, not the predictable algorithms of your computer or console. It is for them that Englandâs Slightly Mad Studios are making World of Speed, an upcoming racing game published by My.com that will let you compete online against drivers from across the globe.
But as we learned when we got some hands-on time with the game at the Circuit Park Zandvoort race track outside Amsterdam, as well as a moment to chat with the gameâs Creative Director, Andy Tudor, thereâs more to this upcoming driving game than what you normally find in a racing gameâs multiplayer modes.
YOU GOT AN MMO IN MY RACING GAME
Taking cues from such massively multiplayer games as World of Warcraft and League of Legends â and not just by having the word âofâ in itâs name â World of Speed will feature many gameplay elements normally reserved for games in which you and your online pals fight dragons in dungeons. âIâm a big MMO player,â Tudor admits, âso Iâve played World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Star Trek Online. World of Speed has aspects of all of those games, as well as such things as World of Tanks.â
 Not only will you be able to fully customize your cars â of which there will be fifty when the game launches later this year â but youâll also be able to converse, and thus possibly befriend, other racers in the game (though Tudor did assure us that no, there will not be talking cars like in a bad Pixar movie). There will also be a leveling up system that will allow to unlock new cars and other items. Though itâs here that World of Speed cribs from a different kind of online game: first-person shooters such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Halo, which not only give you upgrade points for killing enemies or completing objectives, but for doing such skillful things as saving a teammate or getting revenge on someone who killed you as well. Except that in Speed, you get points for, say, overtaking five opponents or to take every short cut.
YOU GOT A RACING GAME IN MY MMO
While it may borrow liberally from MMOs, World of Speed is still, at its core, a racing game. Specifically, one thatâs not as arcade-like as Ridge Racer, but is also not as realistic and thus as sensitive as Gran Turismo or other racing sims. As a result, the game will feel familiar to those who play a lot of Need for Speed or, more accurately, Forza Motorsport 4 or 5 if youâve turned on the steering and braking assists. Or at least it did when we played it. âWeâre still fine tuning the handling,â Tudor admits, âbecause we want this to be more of an arcade-y action experience. Weâre looking at such games as Burnout Paradise and Project Gotham Racing.â
Which is good because, if it remains Forza-esque, World of Speed will end up being a bit schizophrenic because it also includes elements traditionally reserved for arcade racing games. Not only are there numerous shortcuts to be found, but you can also use nitro for a brief burst of speed. You can even, if you get into a bad accident or fail to take a turn correctly, hit the reset button, which will drop you back on the track. âThough in our game,â Tudor points out, âthe reset button wonât just dump you back onto the track at a full stop like they do in most racing games, itâll actually gives you a rolling start so you can get right back into the race.â
TEAM BUILDING EXERCISES
As youâd expect, you can play World of Speed on your own, jumping into numerous races with your favorite cars. But in a nod to MMOs, where you often have to team up to beat certain dungeons, Speed will have numerous events that can only be played when youâre part of a car club. âItâs just one aspect of the game,â Tudor says, âbut itâs the one that hasnât really been done in a game before, and is the one that has the most possibilities to provide a cool, new experience.â
These events arenât just made for teamwork, though, they basically require it by giving your team mid-race objectives beyond being faster than everyone else. âOne might be, âDrift For Five Thousand Meters,ââ Tudor notes, âbut everyone on your team can drift for a little bit until it adds up.â There are even times when these added objectives will conflict with other ones. âIn the same race where one objective may be to âTrade Paint With All Of Your Opponents,ââ Tudor notes, âanother in the same race will be, âDonât Take Any Damage.ââ
In fact, winning a race doesnât guarantee youâll win the event. âIf your team doesnât finish first, or even first and second,â he explains, âbut they complete all the other objectives, that could completely flip the results.â
There will also be scheduled team events in a mode called âTerritory Wars,â in which car clubs will compete against each other for control of certain areas. And if your club wins, youâll not only be able to decorate these areas with your team logo, youâll get exclusive bonuses, such as double XP for week or such aesthetic items as gold rims that are not otherwise available. âYou may even have to recruit other playersâ Tudor says, âso that you have a well-balanced team. Like if your team doesnât have someone whoâs good at drifting.â
GREAT BIG WIDE WORLD
In keeping with its name, World of Speed will feature tracks from all over this big blue marble we call home (though at the event they only mentioned England, Monaco, and Moscow). The game will also features real race tracks as well as closed roads, something they illustrated by letting us drive both the blocked off streets of London (specifically, a track they referred to as âSt. James Loopâ) and on Brands Hutch, a professional course in Kent thatâs about forty miles outside London.
But the team didnât just make these tracks by downloading pictures off the Internet and consulting Wikipedia. They actually lived in these places for weeks, taking pictures of the buildings as well as measurements of the roads. Which isnât to say that, when you drive past Buckingham Palace in London, youâll see the Queen walking her beloved corgis, but you will notice that the nearby buildings do resemble the real ones, while the streets are laid out correctly as well.