Shop sim racing equipment
- Project Motor Racing’s user-generated content portal for mods will be across PC, PlayStation and Xbox
- Cars, tracks and liveries
- All mods for the UGC portal run through an approval process, not just for legalities, but quality control, including physics implementation
- Some cars will be licenced, others fictional – PC mods can still be hosted outside of the official system
- Unique approach to brand licencing in the works
The sim racing modding scene is vibrant, popular, fun and also… a bit of a grey area.
Dig beneath the surface, and it’s riddled with branded content that is rarely licenced, cars that may or may not have been ripped from other games and generally, vehicles that look incredible, but don’t always drive as well as they should.
That’s not true of all mods – far from it. But these examples exist alright, and bubbling away behind the scenes is a growing discontent from some licensors. This, in turn, has created a legal challenge for any new games coming to market, having seen the popularity of PC modding and looking for a slice of the action.
Upcoming title Project Motor Racing, by Straight 4 Studios and GIANTS Software, aims to tackle these concerns by taking a leaf out of the latter’s Farming Simulator series.
In the virtual agricultural world, there is a native, in-game, user-generated content portal for community-created ‘mods’. Thanks to licencing partnerships and a tight approval process, it also means this additional content is available not just on PC, but also on PlayStation and Xbox.
“When we talk about our user-generated content (UGC) portal, or ‘mod hub’, we’re talking about an ecosystem that’s in game and we’re also talking about it being curated with quality control,” explains Straight4 Studios Chief Operating Officer, Ryan Hoey, to Traxion.
“Everything that goes on there, our developers will pass, and that includes the physics as well. Not just the visuals – it’s a lot of work.”
As previously confirmed by Traxion, some of these mods will also be licenced. Generally, that means the car manufacturer and the developer have a contract allowing content creation using the automotive brand’s intellectual property, and in most instances, the game developer pays for the rights to do so.
Licencing isn’t unheard of in sim racing modding, but Project Motor Racing’s plans sound like the most extensive implementation to date.
“We will work with brands to make sure that there’s nothing that’s being completely ripped off,” continues Hoey.
“We’re working with car brands and OEMs to try and secure some brand licenses. So, rather than the typical way of licensing where there is a fee per car to the game developer, we want to try and get some overall deals.
“We may pay a little bit more upfront, but you’re obviously getting a lot more content in the long run, and that content that we want to curate and give to our players.”
“For example, with the Praga Bohema [which was confirmed to Traxion as the first licenced UGC item, main article image] we spoke to them and we got the license before putting in the car.
“That’s the whole ethos behind it. It’s not the Wild West. It’s curated. It’s quality-controlled. It’s licenced when it needs to be.”
Tracks and liveries will also be part of the mix, although naturally, Hoey admits that the circuits “at the start will be fictional.”
There will still be space, however, for unlicensed content that is fictional within the UGC portal. Crucially, the approved mod area won’t be the only place to acquire community-made content, too.
“Would we limit creators to only putting mods on the UGC marketplace? No, but where will you get visibility, especially in the early days? It’s our marketplace,” he clarifies.
“We’re not pushing people into one set way of doing things. We’re working along with modders and we’re in early talks with some of the bigger mod teams.”
Multiplayer modes and features are yet to be discussed by the Project Motor Racing team in any real detail. That remains the case, although the conversation about user-generated content and modding possibly hints at lofty ambitions.
“The user-generated content portal could open the gate for people to do their own esports competitions,” theorises Straight4’s Senior Social Media Manager, Fernando Moutinho.
“I believe there will be interest from competitive organisations who will want to tweak things to their liking, and that will be possible.”
Ultimately, this is about adding further content to a game, thanks to the community, but with a series of checks and balances to make sure items are both legal and reach a quality bar.
Through all of this, we must not forget that mods are about individualised fun.
As someone once offhandedly said to Traxion: “We don’t care if someone wants to drive on the moon, that’s their choice.”
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Wholeheartedly support their approach to the mod community. As much as I’ve used and appreciate the wild west mod environment of titles like AC, sorting the good from the bad, the high from the low effort mods can be a task. Beyond the high quality paid mods from outfits like RSS and VRC, the free stuff leaves a lot of question marks where the physics and driving experience is concerned.
I will be curious to see if mods under the “Darche” and “Ferrenzo” type not-quite real brands will pass muster or if they will be very strict about controlling content replicating brands they do not have the licensing rights to. From the sounds of it, independent modding outside of the curated official in-game marketplace will still be supported, so there will still be something for those who do not care for the curation and third-party quality control.
Overall sounds similar to Kunos’ initial modding comments for ACE. Developers and publisher acting as agents or mediators on behalf of the modding community and aiding in procuring licensing rights. Should be interesting to see how this novel approach plays out long term. Has the potential to supercharge the quality of modded content we can get our hands on.
I will be keeping a close watch on the possibilities of the modding in this game as it may be a way to finally get some sort of BTCC game with all the current and super tourer cars .