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Head of strategy and business development Jose Rodrigues was at Gamelab Barcelona 2023 to talk about Rennsport, and Rennsport we talked in this video, including its current closed beta, the competitive side of things, the simulation aspects of the game, the wider simracing space, and much more.
"We're in Barcelona for Gamelab 2023, as you can tell by the background.
Conferences and panels are happening behind us and we are here joined by Jose.
And finally, I'm about to talk about Rennsport, which as you guys know, we are big fans of simracing at Gamereactor."
"So we were looking forward to learning more about Rennsport and you know guys, the game, the competition, everything that you guys are developing.
So thank you so much for joining us. Obrigado.
What's the status of the game? You're about to run the closed beta.
Yeah, first of all, thank you for having us here, David."
"Yeah, we started the closed beta actually a couple of weeks ago already.
First with single player access to a group of players.
And we are starting to scale the access to more and more players that we have in our wait list for the closed beta.
Over 60,000 people now are waiting to play the game."
"And last week, actually, we started with the multiplayer aspect of it.
So that you can also go in, race with your friends and help us out to develop the game.
Make sure that everything works as it should.
And we'll continue to scale the access to more and more players over the weeks and months."
"I know a multiplayer is at the heart of Rennsport and competition and with collaboration with ESL, etc.
But before that, tell me about Rennsport, as I introduced, as a sim racing game.
It's a sim racing game, first and foremost.
It's not arcadey. It's being built with simulation in mind. Is that correct?
Absolutely. And if you have the chance to play the beta, you will try it out."
"It is built with simulation in mind.
We want to make sure that we represent the best possible experience that you would have in a real car in a virtual space.
And that is actually one of the reasons why we started the competition so early in the life of the project.
We are using the competition and the drivers that are the best virtual drivers in the world."
"To give us feedback and help us improve exactly that experience.
And how the car feels on the track, on the straight lines, on the curbs, accelerating.
All of those important elements to make the experience as realistic and as simulation as possible.
Most of the big games supported by, for example, console manufacturers, sometimes they flirted in the past with simulation."
"But then, you know, they need to be playable with a controller.
How are you approaching this space in terms of both Gran Turismo and Forza?
It seems like they are not that close to simulation anymore.
But then there are other games. There's Sera Corsa, which are meant to be..."
"You know, you feel good with the racing wheel and pedals.
So what sort of a space are you trying to target here?
And as you said, based on the feedback by sim racers.
So we started with a simulation first and foremost, as you mentioned."
"The idea, once again, is to develop that space as close to reality as we possibly can.
But we also, on the flip side of that, we also want to make sure that our players have a beautiful experience.
And that is the other element that we are bringing to the table in RennSport.
It's not only the most lifelike or realistic simulation, but also from the graphics of it, having a beautiful experience."
"So that's what I can say at the moment about that.
And just think of it that way, that simulation first and foremost, but it also is pleasing to the eyes as some of the games that you mentioned.
On a close bet, can you play with a controller as well?
We support controller."
"You support already racing wheel and pedals as well?
Absolutely. So we currently... You can play pretty much with any input method you want.
With a wheel, with a pedal, with a controller, even with a keyboard if you want to.
Of course, the experience will be very different, as you may imagine."
"But yeah, the idea is, in that sense, to make it accessible for more people.
So if you are a very serious sim racer with a really cool rig, you will have the best experience.
If you have a more simple rig, you will also have a great experience.
If you want to play with a controller, you will also have a good experience."
"That is a bit of the vision there and how to make it more accessible, as you were saying.
You can play with a Guitar Hero controller if you want.
Maybe in the future.
Speaking of that, I think it was during the closed alpha or around that time that you guys ran this survey."
"I think I took part in that survey and you were asking about 3-screen support, VR, how each player sort of enjoyed sim racing the most.
So where are you in terms of additional parts of that rig that you mentioned?
You, for example, have a 3-screen rig, but there's also VR, but optimization for both is tricky."
"So what's your stance as of now?
I think the stance is clear.
We want to make sure that the RennSport is playable with 3 screens with VR and will be part of the development."
"Right now we are focused on making sure that, in the closed beta, that the servers are working properly, that the multiplayer experience is as smooth as it can be.
And then we are going to move into other elements of development.
And that survey that you are referring to is a great input for us to know what do we need to prioritize, what does the community really care about, so that we can make the decisions on, okay, we should focus on this first, this next."
"But for the closed beta it's just single screen?
For now, you can just play with single screen.
There are some tricks and workarounds that I've seen the community coming up with.
But yeah, so for now, single screen just in the start of the closed beta."
"I cannot say yet if it will come further along the line with the closed beta or not.
More to come on that side.
And of course, during this closed beta you're gathering this feedback.
What's the sort of roadmap going forward?
There's Gamescom around the corner."
"Can we expect you guys to be there, I guess?
And then what can we expect, you know, the product to be more finalized?
I can comment on events, except maybe for one that is already announced.
That is Gamers 8."
"We will be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the end of July.
Biggest, I think, prize pool ever in sim racing.
One million dollars on the line for our team, which is a really, really cool thing.
Basically, our ambition is to create this ecosystem where our teams and our partners are successful."
"So that one is happening.
More than that, I cannot disclose yet.
And the other part of the question was around the development, right?
So we are in closed beta right now."
"And I think it's fair to say that we are collecting feedback, improving the stuff that we need to improve.
And then we'll follow a traditional rollout.
There is no specific sort of window as of yet?
Not as of yet, no."
"We are making sure that we want to collect all the feedback and improve everything that we need to improve to give the masses, when we go beyond the closed beta, the best possible experience.
And you guys are competing with a closed beta already.
So the game is ready to be in July in Riyadh for this event."
"What about the rest of the content?
So the game is playable, several tracks.
You can compete with it.
You can put several players on the same track."
"What about what players are asking for in terms of campaign, career, sort of the content?
How are you approaching that?
Or is it a competitive game first and foremost, and then we'll see?
Once again, it's based on what we hear from the community, first and foremost."
"What I can tell you is that we are working really hard to bring additional content to the game.
Right now we have the 4G3 cars, we announced the Praga R1.
I believe Morris, our CEO, mentioned at our last summit that TCR is coming, LMDH is coming.
We'll be bringing new tracks as well to the game."
"And the community knows that we also announced this track in the shape of an 8, the beta track to celebrate their memes.
So that might also be coming to the RennSport soon.
Alright, and then perhaps single player content in a more traditional career."
"We'll see.
We'll see, okay.
Now that you mentioned partners and brands, how do you guys work with both sides?
On the one hand we have brands, car manufacturers, trucks, the real thing."
"And on the other hand, how do you work with simulation partners?
For example, the manufacturers of the racing wheels, the manufacturers of PCs and gaming rigs, movement platforms, etc.
We are working very closely with all these guys."
"On the manufacturer side, we have relationships that go from pure licensing to make sure that we have the rights to use the cars in the game all the way to the close partnerships that we've seen in the SLR1 to have the cars at our summits, to have real life cars at the summit."
"All those kind of cool initiatives.
And from the hardware side of things as well, we have a strong partnership with VRS who sponsors ESLR1 and is seen in game.
We've been using their hardware to test a lot of things, but also other partners as well."
"And I think that as we grow, these kind of relationships will be increasingly a focus of our attention because it's what will give players the best possible experiences if we can involve as many of these stakeholders, as many of these players into one ecosystem even though I don't like the word ecosystem too much but into one ecosystem that will create the ultimate experience for everyone."
"And for this event that you are going to have in July, what can players expect in terms of the format?
I guess during the past few months, you guys have been trying out different approaches in terms of how many players do we want on the track?
How are we sort of arranging the rigs in the space in there?
So what can they expect? How many players?
What sort of rig are they going to be sitting on?
And are you sort of nailing down the best format to play RennSport competitively?
Absolutely, that is part of the whole goal, right?
It's to start trying things out and optimize step by step to create the best possible experience."
"I cannot talk about the format just yet for the Gamers 8 event, but it's what I told you.
We will have the ESLR1 teams present, they will be racing for $1 million and I believe it's public that it will be a course for days in Riyadh.
Anything else you want to tell the audience about the closed beta?
You guys are running this Discord channel, how to learn more about RennSport and how to get hooked with the game before it releases fully?
Yeah, absolutely. So if you are not on Discord, make sure to join our Discord."
"There is a lot of information that our team shares there, but also the community is super active.
They are always talking about what they want to have in the game, what are they liking, what they are not liking, and stuff like that.
So it really is a very strong community that we have there."
"So Discord is definitely the number one place to go for the beta.
If you are not on the waitlist just yet, go on our website, rennsport.gg and make sure to register because we will be continuing to drop keys as we progress.
Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time."
