Support NeoGAF

[Vennt]

It looks like David Kaemmer has reappeared, and not only that, but he has teamed up with Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry to buy back the GPL/NASCAR Racing Series source code from Vivendi Universal - Oh hell YEAH! (Reported in this months PC Gamer)

There was also this exciting snippet:

What makes this deal particularly exciting is that the new developer no longer has to answer to corporate suits, or worse, dumb down it's simulations to appeal to the fast-twitch gamepad crowd.

Can you say GPL2?

Happy Happy Joy Joy.

Freeburn.

 

[Mustang]

Excellent news!

I hope so.

 

[pilonv1]

I want a modern day F1 sim from Papyrus, but I would settle for anything from them.

 

[Vennt]

I'd like to see GPL2, Legends of '76

Oh man, driving against Niki Lauder, James Hunt & Jody Sheckter would ROCK immensely.



Freeburn.

 

[Dave Long]

This could be the biggest news of the year for me. Period.

 

[Vennt]

Yep, same here, megat0n proportions too

If I recall correctly David Kaemmer left Papyrus quite a while ago, and was actually contracted in to assist with the development of NRS2003.

If he had a 2 year no-compete, then appearing now makes a lot of sense, and if true his early departure from Papyrus was a clever move. (Lessening the time between Papyrus disbanding & DK & crew from reforming)

After waiting forever for the West Brothers (WSC, RL) I can wait 18-24 Months for a new Kaemmer sim. SBDT's GTR should keep me going in the meantime.

And I'm still playing GPL, not bad for a game released in '98


Freeburn.

 

[dskillzhtown]

I want a modern day F1 sim from Papyrus, but I would settle for anything from them.

Any idea how long the exclusive Sony contract lasts? Are the F1 games selling well in Europe?

 

[Ferrarisimo]

What makes this deal particularly exciting is that the new developer no longer has to answer to corporate suits...

It'll be at least three years before you see this game, if it comes out at all.

 

[Vennt]

It'll be at least three years before you see this game, if it comes out at all.

18-24 months or 3 years, makes little difference to me. DK has a history that includes me playing his sims on the Amiga back in the 80's right up to sims on the PC present day.

Self-publishing for niché titles is the future, and the only future in a climate where publishers are not wiling to take risks, some without financial backing will admittedly fall by the wayside (West Brothers *cough*) - Some manage just fine (Live or Speed, X-Plane), given the heavy-weight financial backing mentioned in the original post I think David & Co will do just fine.

(BTW: To those of you that wonder if this has anything to do with Project Wildfirs closing down of downloads/modding - yes it has, PWF (or at least parts of it) are confirmed as being part of the team)

Freeburn.

 

[Vennt]

Well, looks like it's possibly a shorter wait than I thought

Not only that, but it's going to be an open-wheeler series that many Papyrus fans have been hoping for., there had been rumours of a Papyrus Champ Car sim before the breakup, todays revelations add fuel to these rumours.

July 6th 2004: Today autoracing1.com is reporting that former Papyrus employees are doing a Champcar Sim for release in 2005. Autoracing1 is a membership site which reports on the Open Wheel Racing split, here are the reports from autoracing1.com:

7/2/04 - Paul Gentilozzi said today in Cleveland that because their buyout of the series happened so late, they do not have a full merchandising program in place for 2004. They are working on several fronts for 2005 - putting all their old races (since 1979) on DVD for sale to the public, more merchandising for all drivers and a new video game by SE Games that will be available on all platforms - PC, Playstation, Xbox, etc..

7/6/04 - More merchandise for Champ Car in 2005 UPDATE According to this Global Racing News website, some details have been leaked on the upcoming Champ Car video game. It will be on store shelves in early 2005, it started development in early 2003. It will put all other racing games to shame. It appears to feature both arcade and hard-core simulation modes. Furthermore, it will be released on the PC, XBOX, and Playstation 2. The game is being made by a small firm by the name of SE Games, they were in Cleveland this past weekend working on the development of the game itself. We have also learned that the game will attract some new companies to the Champ Car series. Another possibility that has come into play is that SE Games is being headed-up by ex-Papyrus employees. Papyrus developed the original Champ Car video game. If its true that these guys are ex-Papyrus employees then Champ Car has done the best possible thing it can do. Papyrus are the king of racing sims. They also created the NASCAR series of games....and brought NASCAR a huge worldwide audience.

Freeburn.

 

[Mustang]

I would not want todays F1.

The AI would have to be programmed that Schumacher won all the time.

What fun would that be?

I would go for the turbo era and from about 1985 to 1995.

Anything latter is sucktacular.

 

[Vennt]

Well, IIRC David has hinted previously that if he were to do another F1 it would either be:


* Early 70's to Mid 70's (Rumours that GPL '73 has been a 'pet project' for David have appeared a number of times over the years.)

* Ground Effect Era (Late 70's to Early 80's)

* Turbo Era (Early to Mid 80's)


Never has he been linked with Modern F1 simulation, and has a number of times dismissed interest in doing such a title.

Any of the above eras would be good for me, although the mid 70's ('76 in particular) would have me forming the Church of David, and become the worlds first ordained minister of said church.


Freeburn.

 

[dskillzhtown]

I would not want todays F1.

The AI would have to be programmed that Schumacher won all the time.

What fun would that be?

I would go for the turbo era and from about 1985 to 1995.

Anything latter is sucktacular.

Isn't that the truth. I thought F1 had a serious chance in the US when they had the US Grand Prix on ABC and Speed was pumping it up big time. But when the same driver wins every week, it kind of kills the casual interest.

 

[golem]

wow.. awesome news!

 

[Dave Long]

Man, you just know Champ Car will fold before the game gets done and then it'll all be for naught.

That is if it's true the former Papyrus people are working on it...

 

[Vennt]

Wouldn't surprise me one bit, but development of an open-wheeler series wouldn't be wasted (physics & rendering wise at least, art/graphics assets etc. are another matter) - Papy spent far too long on those left-turning tanks

They are supposed to be going with a modular technology that allows them to plug in various series without too much fudge-work.

Bah, now I've got myself all worked up, I'm off to run a few laps of the 'Ring in the Eagle


Freeburn

 

[MattCoz]

GLORIOUS!!

 

[isamu]

And I'm still playing GPL, not bad for a game released in '98


Freeburn.

You should give the *65 Mod* a whirl! It rocks! Not to mention the 60fps patch coming out by the same team later this year!

Oh and you tried tyhe Slotcar and Amiga Stuntcar tracks? They're BLOODY fun!

 

[Vennt]

You think I haven't? Think again. (And yeah, that includes Madcowies tracks )

The only thing I have not done over the years with GPL is get a negative GPLRank.

(And never will, Mexico & Monaco are a bitch for me.)


Freeburn.