1-on-1 With Eutechnyx’s Gregg Baker
With the announcement of NASCAR 2011: The Game coming a few weeks ago, a lot of fans have questions about the much-anticipated NASCAR video game.
Fortunately, being a NASCAR blogger as well as a former competitor in an online racing league, I have some connections. Thanks to my friend, Nuff Racing League’s Brandon Butler, I was able to ask Gregg Baker, Community Manager of the game’s developer, Eutechnyx, to answer some burning questions about the game:
1. How many players can play on one console?
“Two players can play at once during offline modes using split screen. This feature will not be available on the Wii.”
Update: It has now been brought to my attention that split-screen mode will indeed be available on the Wii.
2. What sort of control does the player have? Can he/she control the car in the pits and under caution or just during green flag racing?
“Players will only have full control of the car under green flag conditions.”
3. How many players can participate in an online race?
“16 players will be able to race online at once.”
4. Will there be some sort of Paint Booth or use of custom cars available in multi-player?
“NASCAR The Game 2011 features a fantastic level of customisation. We have included a paint booth feature which will allow you to completely design the look of your car. You can also take this car online.”
5. Is there going to be a cover athlete or will there be cover art?
“We have still not come to a final decision on our Cover for the game. This is something we are currently looking at.”
6. What sort of features have been added to make the game feel more realistic?
“We have added a number of features to really enhance the simulation feel of the game. We have an amazing damage and wreck system which provides some of the most realistic crashes ever seen in a racing game.
“We also have an in depth tuning option so users can tune their cars for ultimate performance. However, for those who are slightly intimidated by this we provide a more simplistic option using sliders, so if you feel your car is too loose you can just adjust a slider.
“There are also countless assists in the game, so you can go for a truly authentic experience without any assists, or if you rather play with assists as you learn the handling and game its there as an option.
“We have so many more features that really bring home the realism of the game, but we will have to save those for another day!”
7. Did you get the rights to the alcohol sponsors(Budweiser, Miller, etc.) or is it more of a family-friendly game?
“Licensee restrictions prevent the use of alcohol sponsors in game. Most of the alcohol sponsors are actually uncomfortable exposing their brand to younger gamers so its not something we can really change.”
8. Now, I’ve received alot of questions about this particular feature that was in alot of previous NASCAR games. Will there be any split-screen gameplay?
“Yes, Split-screen will be available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.”
A big thanks to Gregg for answering our questions! For those of you who simply can’t wait for NASCAR 2011: The Game to be released, maybe this will tide you over: