(click to enlarge) I appreciate your time reading my post. This is the only forum I am going to post this on as I believe the quality of modding, game development, etc knowledge here is unsurpassed. First, I have been on iRacing for years, my sim racing background goes back to the 90's (IndyCar racing, NASCAR Racing, etc). I absolutely LOVE BeamNG and have over 1500 hours on it, just crashing cars.. But for a very long time, I day dream about developing a mid-90's stock car racing game, that features NASCAR stock cars from that era. No NASCAR branding or anything, but the stock cars would basically be an exact replica of that year of NASCAR. I would call this standalone sim something like SCAR (Stock Car Auto Racing). Here are some image examples for reference: Im thinking the 'structure' of this game would be like a modern, highly polished version of NASCAR 2003, at least in terms of the interface, menu system, paint booth for individual cars and carsets, etc. Basically an offline game that you can spend hours racing on. However, at least initially, you can only make solo runs on a track since have a 42-car field would be highly stressful on even the best gaming system out there right now. But the real special element of the sim is a fully dynamic soft body crash physics model, which is something that I feel that only BeamNG can do. No other game even comes close in this area. Respectfully, I do think the graphics of other sims are much better, and the graphics would have to be exceptional for a sim like this. I know that graphics are not the point or purpose of BeamNG, and I respect that. Just thinking out loud here, respectfully. For example, a car getting sideways at 200+ MPH, the wind getting underneath the car and creating lift, throwing the car into the catch fence, etc (here is an example: ) So, in my vision for this sim, Id imagine it would be a mix of: BeamNG Days of Thunder NR2003 iRacing Spintires (hey, it has great physics) Also, a very critical aspect of this sim would be the sound engine. How do you even capture the sound of a mid-90's stock car appropriately? Even if you made it sound great while the RPM's are climbing, how to make it sound great during the transitional periods (clutch in, clutch out, powershifting, idle-to-RPM climb, etc). Here is a decent video showing how special these old pushrod V8 NASCAR motors sound: Also, stuff like the aero and aero physics, tire model, component temperature, smoke, fire, V8 engine model mechanics, etc, etc would all be a very big deal in this sim. So, in my brainstorming about how to develop this game, I have come to the conclusion that even if you had a ton of money to throw at this sim, that doesn't guarantee success. The right gaming engine, and the right development team around you is more important. You could, in theory, spend alot of money in a hurry and not come close to what you are trying to achieve. Or, you could spend less money (and have the right team), and get much closer. If someone were to start this project, would be the rational first steps? Should a basic stock car model be designed for BeamNG, and start testing it as a mod in BeamNG? Perhaps build a basic oval track for testing this car, just to get the ball rolling? Or should this project start from scratch? Would you want to start with the Torque3D engine (is licensing possible?) UE4? NVIDIA PhysX? Lets say you have a large budget (I certainly don't!). How would you initiate development of a project like this? Would you go to the staff of BeamNG? Talk to iRacing and poach a few developers? (I kid, I kid). Would you go out and hire UE4 developers with sim racing background? Id imagine the right graphics engine for this is critical, and you would want something with future scalability as well. Anyways, I appreciate your time for reading this. I would love to hear any ideas or suggestions for this future 'dream' PC simulator/game. Also, my long term vision for this is I'd like this game to be free for use, with community-modding potential. The point is, this is a dream idea and not really a money making project. Thank you for your time.
Unreal Engine 4 can do amazing things if you know how to use it. It is a VERY powerful game engine that is more than capable of handling a simulation game. Look up Ace Combat 7's graphics. That game uses UE4.
If you want to create a game, then you would need quite bit of skills. You could of course go to BeamNG team with bags full of money and I'm sure they could have capability to arrange something, but 10 million might not be enough. Best place to start might be school, where game development is taught.
if this turns into a real game I would buy it immediately, likely by the time something starts physics will be better optimized and hardware will be far more powerful, a half or full field may be possible in another 10 years or so
i believe it, Unreal Engine and Blender Makes a Great Choice. BTW Unreal has A free online Learning, wich helps you make your dream game come true. I'll help you on the development. and Maybe, start a kickstarter and launch this game on PS4, since UE4 has a Multi-Platform Development.
I wish we could have a game like this. If this isn't a DoA like most "I want to make this game" threads are, I'd suggest the late 90s NASCAR models (see image) as well. I'm pretty sure you can also get NASCAR branding in the game as long as you don't plan on making any money from it. (However, I am not a legal expert).
