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Over 4.75 Million US Dollars raised! Little over a year has passed since Ian Bell shared his idea with fans on the NoGripRacing.com forums (following Shift 2 support discussions). When reading about a concept for a community sim racing game few could have imagined what we have today. Advances in physics, weather, sounds, and the recent addition of stable multiplayer racing have driven members to increase project funding at record rates over the past 2 months. Both members and staff were ecstatic when the target was met on Sunday 11 November, 2012. Ian's response is below: From the whole team at SMS we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the support you've given us this past year. This is an innovative business model which we are convinced is the way of the future as regards game development. It's been a privilege to learn the ropes as we went along with the help of you all. Now it's time for me to sign an innovative deal to get game out there in style next year. THANK YOU!!!!! - Ian Bell, Head of Studio Andy Garton, Development Director, was all too happy to reward members with 17 leaked screenshots of a new 'Country Road' track currently in development, based in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia. A sneak preview is shown at the top of this page. Unlike similar community-funded games using the KickStarter platform, World of Mass Development (WMD) offers members regular pre-alpha game builds, encourages extensive communication between players and developers, and promises members a share in the profits. The other main difference is that KickStater games are generally of the Indie genre, while Project CARS aims to compete with AAA titles. Sim Racing Heritage SlightlyMad Studios is made up of staff formerly branded as Blimey Games, and going back even further to SimBin, with the release of GTR, GT Legends, and GTR 2. SimBin itself was first formed from a group of modders of F1 2002, an Image Space Incorporated title (makers of rFactor). These now-old sims are still often played thanks to their physics, wheel support, and massive amounts of modded content. A younger (and thinner) Ian Bell at a track-side product demo of GTR (2005) Happy memories indeed. We effectively developed the game "for free", working normal jobs during the day and GTR at night and weekends. Publishers weren't chomping at the bit when we just said "we can do this, honest", but once we had it done it was a different story thankfully. - Andy Garton, SMS Development Director Join the discussion about Project CARS (pCARS) on the forum!

See the Next Top Model here! So you think you know all there is to know about building model cars for video games. You've seen models recycled in sequels, you are familiar with the various LODs used in competing games, and maybe have even borrowed a few models to mod into another game. All this knowledge then enables you to complain when cars end up being resold or when they don't appear as early or as accurate as we'd all like. Wouldn't you just love to have a chat with these developers and watch over their shoulder as they get these models game-ready? Well, that's not as impossible as it sounds. Over at the WMD forums all members with tool packs can view the Vehicles forum and browse through each sub-forum for every licensed car manufacturer. Inside you'll find a locked thread where staff post updates and screenshots for each milestone they hit as they work on building a car model. Then there is a discussion thread where you can ask the developers questions, share feedback, and point out any issues. There are also threads where members gather reference material in one place to help out further. Developers essentially report progress in the WMD forums as if we were their supervisors. So these locked threads where developers report progress; what's in them? I'm glad you asked. Below is a small selection of images from one such thread. You can see one of the developers building the 1980 Group 5 Ford Capri, including mechanical components often omitted in other racing games. The thread is locked simply to keep the staff posts grouped together instead of spread between all the other member posts; there is a separate discussion thread for each car model. And let's not forget about similar threads for other parts of the game. Witness the massive attention to detail to bring the Nordschleife to life, be astounded at updates to the weather system as they are previewed, tested and released, discuss future multiplayer features (and race online with) Senior Producer Andy Garton, watch early pit screw animations, contribute to the grid girls references thread, and have fun in general trying to shape one of the best up-and-coming racing titles with like-minded people from around the world. [gallery size=gallery-thumbnail" itemtag="div" icontag="span" link="file" columns="5] The Ford Capri makes its first appearance in Build 345, released to Team Members on Friday 9 November 2012.