Hi Renato
first, tell us more about you, your "modder" career and your new project called Reiza Studios.

R: I am a 30 year old brazilian living in Londrina, with a wife and a baby boy. From a very early age I was a big autoracing fan, and that passion led me to racing sims, beginning with the classics like Indy 500 and F1 GP, going through pretty much all the main titles over the years. During the height of ISI´s F1 Challenge´s popularity I began experiencing with the physics files, trying to extract a little more from it relative to the stuff that was coming out at the time. That continued on after Rfactor came out, and as my knowledge and understanding of vehicle dynamics and the physics engine itself evolved, I became involved with a few projects, the biggest of which was the Grand Prix 1979 mod for rFactor, which was being developed by a group led by a nice italian known as Shutt1e. This group became Grand Prix Classics, and we delivered the mod in stages from the middle of 2006 all the way to the final version towards the end of 2007.
This project sort of led to me being hired by SimBin, where I stayed for little over 20 months, contributing to the physics development of their Race series, before moving on to start Reiza Studios.

Why you have created this project? The business is the first reason?

R: I knew that I wanted to continue making sims for a living, and I had an idea of how that could work out in terms of creating a sustainable business model in what is a very niche market. There were a few favourable conditions which together presented an opportunity, and that motivated me to go for it.

Click qui per l'immagine in alta risoluzione

Now you are a software house: your attention for a real "hardcore" simulation is the same, or you want to meet also the simul-arcade virtual drivers?

R: We are a simulator software developer first and foremost, and a branch of the business actually targets development of simulator tools for real racing teams and drivers. From a driving dynamics perspective we don´t aim to change or make compromises to our normal professional approach, in order to appeal to a broader segment of the gaming market. We´re in the business of recreating real vehicles and simulating their behavior in the computer, and I feel that has plenty of entertainment potential for the segment of the market we´re aiming for.
It is true however that sims have a steeper learning curve than most other game genres, and it would only make sense for a developer which aims to survive not to restrict itself too much, and actually explore and introduce ways to allow the casual gamer who likes racing games, to be able to be also able to play and enjoy more sophisticated products. It´s certainly important to try to make the sim accessible to the more casual player, but it doesnt in my view require tampering with the physics model. Introducing features and even different game modes to bring the sim to this crowd I think is the correct approach, rather than limiting or "dumbing down" the experience to the more hardcore players. I believe it´s possible to attend one crowd without alienating the other.

What's the finals goals for the Reiza Studios? After this project, you have others ideas and simulations that you want to make ?

R: There are goals, though they can never be final! Certainly a few ideas and plans, but we need to see how things evolve. They don´t always do according to the plan :)

From your experience, what's the main differences from a passion modding work and an "official" software house work?

R: From a development perspective, the big advantage with modding is not having to attend a production schedule like you usually have to in a commercial venture. You can work at it until you´re happy with the results, even if it takes years.
In terms of achieving the best end results however, that´s all the advantage one will have with modding. You can and often have brilliant results coming from the modding scene, but in terms of putting together a complete package which provides a really life-like experience, the potential results from a staff of high level professionals, with at least some R&D budget and often access to data and reference material relevant to the vehicle and/or series you´re developing are that much better. It´s probably the main motivation for going professional, the fact that the potential results can move to a whole new level of excellence and accuracy. It doesnt always happen that way, but the potential is certainly there to do things at a higher level.

Nowadays it has become in someway easier to develop a sim thanks to the gMotor engine: we saw many team using it and your first video really looked like rFactor engine. Can you give us any hint about the technology you are using?

R: At this stage our main focus is on content development, and we have ISI as our current platform of choice. It´s a proven, reliable platform with good potential, and perspective of getting even better. ISI in turn already has a structure to attend clients looking to licence their engine, which comes together as a good foundation for the kind of business we are doing.
Naturally there are things of our own that we´d like to have and we´re also working in that direction so that we can, to some extent at least, include some features that we find to be important. We´re looking into being able to have more programming firepower of our own, but that is not the initial priority, as we have the possibility to outsource that to our partners, and thus minimize our initial risks and financial demands.

Il primo video di anteprima del progetto

One of the biggest problem for a new sofware house are licenses: you can't realize a commercial product without paying the copyright owner. In your preview video we could see a (sort of) F1 car: how did you manage to realize this? Can you elaborate if you plan a commercial product or if you think to release free mods too?

R: Licencing can be indeed a big challenge. It has a significant impact into the product´s market appeal, and thus it´s one of the first and decisive elements in the equation when developing a product of this nature.
But other than developing our own products, we are open to develop content upon request for private clients, content which can be licenced for whatever use they have in mind for it. These projects might include licenced content or not. A race car is a race car, you dont necessarily need to use its associated trademarks to provide a compelling simulated version of it. We have seen and still see developers creating fictional content in sims to great effect. It might limit its market appeal somewhat, but the worth of the simulation itself is not dependent on the use of trademarks. If a client comes to us with an interesting concept we can develop it, and I believe that might be what you are seeing here.

Reading the name of the members in the team makes grow a big smile in every rFactor fan. how did you get in touch with each other?

R: We just got in touch with the people that we felt were the most suitable for their position, and fortunately it turned out to be something they were also available for, and enthusiastic about. It was one of the factors that contributed to the whole initiative working out, the fact that we managed to put together a strong development team that we believed would be able to deliver the goods as we wanted. That faith is paying off big time - they are all aces at what they do.
We´ve had some more good and experienced people coming onboard since, and we are always keeping an eye for the guys with the right talent - and the right attitude - to join us in the future.

Did you already have a good idea of what serie to realize or were there different views on which car/series would have fit better to your first project?

R: There are several elements to that equation beyond personal preference. For the first sim we had to look for something that hit the right balance for us in terms of licencing requirements, market appeal and production scale.

Considering the upcoming realease of the new engine from ISI are you considering the idea to develop your new title with it ?

R: Naturally it´s being considered, but we consider many things :)

The simulation in WIP in your studios can be buy on internet ?

R: It´s most likely that the internet will be the main distribution channel.

For the type of market where you operate who are your main contenderes?

R: Any racing sim developer for the PC with a substantial market share :)

What is the dream license or championship that you would love create ?

R: There are very few series I would personally not enjoy doing, or that I dont believe would make a good sim. Race cars are almost invariably fun, and most series have their own unique charm and appeal to it. However one is always biased to the era of the sport in which you fell in love with it, and to me that is the Senna era.

Do you have some partnership with real racing teams / constructors?

R: We are negotiating with several teams and drivers to supply them with simulation tools, and have had them test and contribute with development of our material regularly.

What about the online racing, do you have planned a different method from standard isi netcode?

R: A web-based system to organize and stimulate online competition is planned.

A major absence felt by min and many other lovers of simulation is the lack of mechanical breakdowns of the engine, gearbox, but mainly from suspension for use indeviduo shortcuts. The team you have something in mind for this type of simulation? The FF of your mortgage will be at the same level as the FF one NKP, Historic GT RFactor or IRacing?

R: Mechanical wear and tear is a component to real racing so it´s definetly something we look into reproducing with accuracy, but I dont see us doing something revolutionary on that front just yet.
Regarding Force Feedback, I certainly dont think we´ll be owing anything to other titles on that front.

Many thanks to Renato and good work to all Reiza Studios ;-)

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A cura di Nicola "Velocipede" Trivilino

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