SEGA Rally Revo: Deformable surfaces and screenshots

 

A lot of racing games have been hitting next-gen consoles and each one has been trying to innovate the genre. SEGA Rally Revo is no exception with their introduction of deformable surfaces on the race track, promising to bring a whole new level of realism to the game.

So what are deformable surfaces and how will it affect the game? It’s a known fact that racing tracks in most games are static and any damage that is inflicted to the track is simply cosmetic. SEGA Rally Revo introduces deformable surfaces in its tracks which actually models the wear-and tear on the track surface as the race goes on.

According to the press release, “players will start to see, hear and feel nuances in taking one racing line or another.” A good example of this is being able to see a contour made by another car through some gravel. Now if the players decides to follow this contour, it will help them gain speed. On the flip side, taking a fresh route through the gravel has the potential to slow the player down.

SEGA Rally Revo doesn’t look to appeal to a casual gamer, but to the more serious racing enthusiast. If you’re interested in picking up the game, it will be released this autumn for the Xbox 360, PS3, and the PC. Check out the screenshots to see the game in action.

Click on the full article to read more about the implementation and for more screenshots.

 

A lot of racing games have been hitting next-gen consoles and each one has been trying to innovate the genre. SEGA Rally Revo is no exception with their introduction of deformable surfaces on the race track, promising to bring a whole new level of realism to the game.

So what are deformable surfaces and how will it affect the game? It’s a known fact that racing tracks in most games are static and any damage that is inflicted to the track is simply cosmetic. SEGA Rally Revo introduces deformable surfaces in its tracks which actually models the wear-and tear on the track surface as the race goes on.

According to the press release, “players will start to see, hear and feel nuances in taking one racing line or another.” A good example of this is being able to see a contour made by another car through some gravel. Now if the players decides to follow this contour, it will help them gain speed. On the flip side, taking a fresh route through the gravel has the potential to slow the player down.

So how is it being implemented? SEGA Europe Ltd. said that most racing games use a one metre polygon grid to drive upon. This poses a problem considering the level of track detail that SEGA Rally is aiming for. It has been announced that the entire drivable surface of every track is being run at high detail of six centimetres for every single polygon. This is pretty impressive considering it provides 17 times more detail than other games with each tire interacting with up to 12 polygons at any given time.

With all of these happening at once, you can imagine the amount of complexity of the in-game physics engine. The way it detects all the changes and implements the effects is actually rather complex. Every racing surface on the track has a number of variables which consist of normal static and dynamic slip components, modelled wear rate, and how ruts form for every polygon, friction modelling, and debris profiles. This data gives the physics engine a good amount of information which it then models.

What all of that essentially means is that the game is expected to be very realistic. A fine example of this is the implementation of Tarmac and the higher grip levels expected on it. Serious racers will find that real live racing lines form and that added level of realism really reflects how real-world racing is handled.

SEGA Rally Revo doesn’t look to appeal to a casual gamer, but to the more serious racing enthusiast. If you’re interested in picking up the game, it will be released this autumn for the Xbox 360, PS3, and the PC. Check out the screenshots to see the game in action.