Rennsport isn’t the only new contender hoping to steal the sim racing crown.
Last year, former Slightly Mad Studios CEO Ian Bell announced that GTR is making a triumphant comeback with GTR Revival after Project CARS was unceremoniously cancelled by EA.
Now, Bell has provided new insight into the direction planned for GTR Revival as well as some bold claims about its modding support.
GTR Revival will have "the best mod support ever”
In a series of Tweets, Bell promises GTR Revival will have "the best mod support ever" and “the most moddable Auto platform ever.”
Established sim racers like Assetto Corsa Competizione already offer extensive modding support, but every aspect of GTR Revival will be moddable including environments, cars, audio even physics.
Creators will also be able to sell mods in an online marketplace, which sounds similar to Competition Company’s plans for Rennsport. Selected mods will also be sold as packs on consoles.
Memory limitations will affect the size of the environments, but Bell assures that a track the size of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy will fit.
Bell also teased the possibility of racing different car types instead of bikes at the Snaefell Mountain Course – something that’s never been done in a racing game before.
A different direction
Whereas the original GTR focused exclusively on FIA GT racing, Bell confirmed that GTR Revival’s car roster will be inspired by Project CARS 2 with multiple car types and “anything we find interesting.”
An early work-in-progress screenshot shows a vintage Ford Escort Mk2 rally car being put through its paces.
Road cars will also feature as Bell is considering putting his Aston Martin DBS in the game. He’s also considering offering it as a reward to a random player who buys into GTR Revival’s early access program.
Like Project CARS, will get to influence the direction of GTR Revival in a new version of Bell’s World of Mass Development initiative.
Ben Collins is back on board
After serving as a handling consultant for Project CARS 2, Ben Collins is seemingly helping develop GTR Revival to make the car handling as authentic as possible.
The former Stig sounded impressed with what he saw, praising Bell for “being always ahead of the curve on where the ball will be, rather than where it is now.”
It’s too early to tell if GTR Revival can live up to the hype, but there’s plenty of racing game talent on the team at Straight4Studios including former SimBin developers Stephen Viljoen, Andy Garton, Stephen Baysted, Henrik Roos, Johan Roos, and Vik Klomiets who worked on GTR 2.
As for a release date, GTR Revival is targeting a Q4 2024 release window for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.