Former rFactor 2 lead teases Richard Burns Rally spiritual successor

During a solo talk at the recent Sim Formula Europe event in Maastricht, The Netherlands,  former Managing Director of Studio 397 and rFactor 2 Marcel Offermans described how his The Last Garage project aims to work with real-world car manufacturers to improve its physics simulation.

Citing a recent tie-in with British sportscar manufacturer BAC and a future collaboration with sim equipment manufacturer Heusinkveld on Donkervoort’s new car, Offermans hopes that by working with ambitious brands his TLG simulation will make great strides in the coming years.

Offermans also revealed in the same presentation that he is currently working on providing a rally-style simulation to use as a platform for the upcoming eROC (eRace of Champions) esports event, using TLG as its basis.

But perhaps the most surprising element of his speech, as witnessed by Traxion contributor Ewan O’Leary, was Offermans’ interest in creating a spiritual successor to acclaimed rally simulator Richard Burns Rally:

“I guess since Richard Burns Rally we haven’t had a good rally simulator, so it’s about time that we start working on one I would say,” he stated.

eROC

“One event that’s coming up and that we’re doing together with our partners from Sim-Department is going to be in Sydney, Australia, in the stadium where the Race of Champions will be held in March,” he continues, referring to the virtual equivalent of the Race of Champions competition, eROC.

“We’ll be running the finals of that [eROC] on the new racing simulation [The Last Garage], so that will be an event where you can see us do some other cars and other tracks,” he explains.

“They’ll be rally-like cars. We’ll do a rally stage here in the Netherlands, so that will be the first opportunity to see that publicly,” he continued.

“I do think there’s a lot of work to be done before you can build a full rally simulation. Most of that work is in driving on a lot of surfaces and more loose surfaces. I know a lot of sims do it already, but I’m not 100% convinced they have a good model,” said Offermans, hinting that many modern-day sims lack off-road tactility, a barb possibly aimed at the likes of iRacing, Automobilista 2 and EA SPORTS WRC.

Physics

“From a physics point of view, it’s completely different to driving on asphalt. In that case, the asphalt more or less does not deform, it’s quite solid. It’s the tyre that deforms while it’s driving on the road. If you’re driving on sand, gravel, those kinds of surfaces, it’s almost the other way around. 

“It’s definitely an interesting area I want to go into because I think a rally sim is interesting and we should be building something in that direction as well. So, it will come,” he claimed, which is no doubt music to the ears of rally sim aficionados the world over.

Offermans later stated in an interview with Traxion contributor Pranav Kalavala that former WRC driver Kevin Abbring recently provided handling feedback for TLG. Although this was mainly focused on the project’s BAC Mono car, it perhaps gives credence to the idea of TLG incorporating authentic rally sim elements in future.

Rally sim fan

Offermans also went on to explain another intriguing facet of his plans to create a rally simulator, where a cockpit would incorporate a seat for a co-driver as well as the driver.

“We’re building a rally simulator that as far as I know will be the first time that we will have a simulator where you have a co-driver sitting next to you… so he can see where you’re driving and can shout the pacenotes at the driver in real-time,” said Offermans, describing a situation that will be best showcased during eROC; where the virtual competition could mimic the real-world version’s high-speed passenger rides.

Richard Burns Rally is for many still the finest rally simulator to this day. Thanks to the work of talented and passionate modders, RBR now looks, drives and sounds better than it ever has, with communities like Rallysimfans helping build the sim’s popularity. For a comprehensive look at modern-day RBR check out our companion article celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Finally, Offermans leaves fans of his superlative work on rFactor 2’s physics model and The Last Garage with a message:

“There might be more stuff coming this year but I can’t talk about that yet”. 

Intriguing.

Would you like to see a Marcel Offermans-created spiritual sequel to Richard Burns Rally? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.