Xbox world has had a great, in depth chat with Heiko tom Felde the Director of Mercedes Benz : World Racing coming soon from TDK MediaActive

Hi Tom, Thanks for having a chat with us about your upcoming game.

XBW : Where did the idea to purely make a racing game featuring Mercedes Benz cars come from? They aren't as common in other parts of the world as they are in Germany, for example we don't use them as taxis or police cars! Where did the initial inspiration come from?

TOM : There was more than one reason why Mercedes Benz in the focus in the game…

First : My first job was as an automotive mechanic…on Mercedes Benz. This was before my studies.

Second : Only Mercedes Benz has a more than 100 years of racing and manufacturing history.

Third : I really love the cars from the 30/40/50/60's and the new Mercedes models as well… I could bring one of my dreams to life and share this with many other gamers.

Fourth : Mercedes Benz wanted a driving simulator. Something boring to drive around pylons and slow to train newbies in driving. I said clearly we don't want to waste our time with something like this, we are doing games in Sim mode. Real racing is fascinating like nothing else and shows the real performance and history of the brand. Finally the agreed… They did not want the damage model in the beginning but agreed after some arguments it would be negative for the brand not to have it. We felt that no damage would be unrealistic because the driver needs feedback about how badly he may be driving, just like in real life.

XBW : How receptive were Mercedes Benz when the idea was first presented to them?

TOM : The overall working relationship with Mercedes Benz was very impressive, very open and they gave all the cars we wanted except cars not released yet like the SLR.

Some people in the first meeting did not like the idea of a game at all, they wanted a sightseeing slow driving thing. But, Mercedes had no influence over how we did the game. We just needed to take care not to damage the brand by driving over people or such things. No manufacturer would allow this. By the way, we started the development 6 month before the license was cleared. I always believed in Mercedes Benz to get them into the boat.

XBW : With 109 cars in the game, all with cockpit views, how long did all the artwork and modeling take to complete for the game and how involved were the Mercedes Benz guys?

TOM : Deeply. They opened us the museum in Stuttgart, we got historical information about the tech details, we got CAD data for the newer models and 2 people were always available for us if we need something. They did not allow us to drive the old cars but supplied us with original videos in extreme situations to see the behavior of the cars.

Each car needs around 3-4 weeks until finished but you can not do this in one go. We started the SLK first and it was completed incl. driving model until January this year.

Problem was the brand management… they have a 3 pound book how to use the brand and logos! After I created an information overflow by giving them EVERYTHING to approve they came back to normal.

XBW : How long are the tracks? What length are some of the longer lap times we can expect to see?

TOM :Some tracks later in the game are more than 20 KM long. It takes around 5-10 minutes to complete…depending on the car and how good you are.

The longer tracks really demand your full attention because you just can not remember all the curves and how the track goes. This will separate good and not so good racers. The coordination of eye, recognition and action on the thumb-stick finally in combination with soft controlling makes the best lap.

Did I mention we try to build an Australian track, the 12 apostels beach? At least a look-a-like.

XBW : How many tracks are in the game and what countries will we see in our travels while we play the game?

TOM : We have 117 tracks in the game. But, this is relative. As we have a landscape engine we can lead the race from A to B like in normal environments and roads. Some are round courses, some are not. We also have missions on top 48 with extra tracks off road and on the test center. If you than take the possibility into account of driving wherever you want it gets even more tracks. Total we have around 40 - 50 KM per landscape.

• Australia
• Nevada USA
• Japan around Mt Fuji
• Alps (Swiss, Austria & Germany look a like)
• Mexico Yucatan area
• A look a like New York
• Mercedes Benz Test Centre incl off road track, high curve speed track, etc.

XBW : How is the driving style handled in the game. You are able to set the controls to either a more arcade style of control or a full 'sim' style. Is it as simple as a 'slider' with arcade at one end and sim at the other or is it more in depth with hundreds of options for settings like suspension, gears and other tuning?

TOM : No, it is simply a slider. Please find below the parameters below that will change :

1.) Torque

2.) Wind resistance

3.) Road Grip

4.) Tyre slip

5.) Centre of gravity

1.) Torque:

At 100% sim the cars display the original torque from Mercedes-Benz.

At 100% arcade these are increased by 20% An A210 EVO at 100% sim can travel at approx. 204 km/h (203 km/h original) and at 100% arcade 255 km/h(!). Instead of the reality of achieving 100 km/h in 8.8 seconds, in arcade mode this can be achieved in just 6.3 seconds.

2.) Wind resistance:

You experience the original wind resistance at 100% sim, but this is reduced to 0 in 100% arcade. In between, the wind resitance is reduced accordingly.

3.) Road Grip:

At 100% sim the original transverse acceleration is used plus approx. 10%. At 100% arcade this value is raised to a maximum of a factor of 2.5. The A210 EVO would then have the grip of a CLK GTR.

4.) Tyre Slip:

The tyre slip is responsible for the wheels sliding in the corners and this therefore has a direct relation to the grip. If you set the game to 100% arcade, it´s like driving the G model with low profile, sports tyres. The response is therefore better, but the margin for error is lower.

5.) Centre of Gravity

This is clearly lower in 100% arcade mode than in sim, but I don´t have the values to mind. Again the response is therefore better and the margin for error is lowered.

All things considered, the sim mode is easier at the beginning, than in the other levels, due to the more even handling. Later on, with the faster cars, you won´t notice the difference so clearly. For people who break on the corners, the ABS is a must. Racing game fanatics, however, should probably turn it off, as they are used to breaking before the corner, so that they can better "prepare" the car for drifting.

Our ASR controls the grip even in the curves. Therefore it more like it is combined with an ESP. So anyone who drifts too often in the cars, should leave the ASR on. Obviously despite this the cars still slide, but they don´t suffer an additional push from the engine.

The very slow cars at the beginning should help you to get used to the driving style. However in the professional mode there are more powerful cars. Your learning curve will gradually enable you to master the 300PS and higher monsters. The first mission with the rear wheel drive motor will show you what I mean.

I always set it to 50/50, so that the cars are simply a little more agile. You will quickly get used to the handling so that you can precisely control your drifts and under steering.

So how should you set the driving physics, more toward simulation or arcade?

That´s up to you! You can even change the driving options within the game and thereby find the best possible setting for you. At the beginning we recommend that you keep ABS and ASR so that the cars are less likely to spin out if you break on the corners. But if you really want to get to know a track then you should avoid using the break assistance option.

XBW : Are the cars customizable in any way? Can gamers create their own license plates, put paint jobs and decals on the cars?

TOM : Sure you can create your own license plate. You put your name or whatever you like on it. The paint jobs are from Mercedes and you can select your preferred color as standard but you can change just before racing by pressing the yellow button and close or open the convertibles roof if you realize it may rain during the race. Who wants to drive an open SLK if it is raining :=)

XBW : What game modes make up the game?

TOM : We have the following modes :

• Single race
• Mission races : waypoints, off road, speed tests, head to head, etc.
• Championships ( 12 plus bonus)
• Single races
• Cruising mode
• Training with ideal line to drive for optimal result

There is a roleplay element build into the game… the AI checks you and the opponent drivers for behavior in terms of fairness, driving style, damage, shortcuts, experience, etc. Just to be the first in a race does not make you the “Driver Number 1” = the target of the game. You can be second but good in other things and still become driver number one. If you never win it just takes longer… It is a very complicated system to check and identify all this objectives during the race and compare your driving with the AI and put out the result plus controlling the opponent AI if you set your opponents on dynamic…

We have two modes for the opponents

Dynamic : they wait for you to catch up after a driving mistake AND check your performance as an average during 3 races and makes the opponents stronger if you always win to challenge you again each race.

Fixed : The opponents are not waiting just doing their race but YOU need to define the % of power they shall have. If you always win it is too low.

Some missions are so tough that you might need to reduce the opponent power or tune the game to arcade to not get frustrated. This game shall be for casual AND hard core-gamers and everyone should have fun with it.

Before I forget : There is a 4 player splitscreen mode… this is heaps of fun and we play it during the break times in the office.

Features like full use of the Memory Card for storage let you play at home and come back together with your friends to play in multiplayer. The game supports 16:9 TV = bigger than 4:3, DD 5.1 support ( without the center speaker because it does not make sense )

XBW : Are there any features that take advantage of the unique features of the Xbox, for example, custom soundtrack, system link or any advanced graphical features?

TOM : We use all graphic features but no link cable or XBL. You can use your own music and the music does not stop just because the race is over…this is a nice feature people say.

XBW : Do you see Xbox Live becoming a feature that racing game fans request in future racers? Do you think that the ability to race online is as important as in other genres?

TOM : I believe it is a must for all new racing titles. You can have an AI as good as you want but nothing compares with real players in the race. For MBWR it was just too late to implement it and I am very sorry for this.

Our Conan the barbarian will support XBL. This is new for a 3rd action adventure…

XBW : Australians would say that the history of our Holden's is as rich and as exciting as the world of Mercedes Benz. What do you think our chances are of seeing a sequel featuring our own home grown machines?

TOM : I had a look at that link you gave me and saw the nice cars they have built… Maybe there is a chance for a PC title with a car creator. For Xbox it is unlikely to get it in. It takes around 3-4 weeks to make a car like the cars in MBWR, then there's the fine tuning to get the controls and everything else right!

XBW : What would you say is the top reason that you feel Mercedes Benz : World Racing is the best racing game yet on Xbox? There's plenty to choose from so what will make your one stand out from the pack when it's released here soon?

TOM : I never ever like to say our game is the best of all racers, this is too subjective and not fair to other good racers like PGR or Lamborghini.

What we tried to do is create something new and bring some of the best ever built cars into a game in a fascinating environment and allow Arcade and Simulation in one game. No game has off road, vintage cars, new cars, concept cars, standard cars, racing cars and missions in all together with 300 KM of road. No other game has cars with minimum 17.000 polygons per car and no game has the look around cheat :-)

Hope this does not sound too proud but getting the feedback from gamers after 2.5 years of hard work is nice.

Personally, of all the racers I have worked on ( MB Truck Racing, Nice 1+2, Breakneck, Carmageddon ) Mercedes Benz Worldracing is the most loved racer and for me the best.

Thanks for taking the time out to chat Tom, we cant wait to give World Racing a good solid thrashing!