GamerNode: Interviews - RACE 07 game designer Diego Sartori

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"We are reaching out to the new guys. We want as many people to see how cool it is. We have a large hardcore fan base, but we need to accept the new blood that's coming in as well. We want...more people interested in this genre."

While most major game companies seem to be distancing themselves more and more from the rank and file of the gaming community, SimBin has decided to rely heavily on user feedback and suggestions on developing their games.

They constantly monitor their large community of users to sense what they are feeling and what they want in their games. Their users are so loyal that SimBin has had a few of them helping out on the production of RACE 07.

To make the users feel more a part of RACE 07, in addition to the large world community that any fan can access, SimBin decided to put the real names of users into the roster of drivers.

Sartori remarked, "We went to the community and asked, ‘If you want to be in [the game] talk to your teams and join.' The names are real users from our community. It's an awesome way for us to reach out and say thank you..."

I asked if there were any plans to possibly port this racer over to the Xbox 360 or other platforms. He smiled, laughed and said he couldn't really say but that they were working on "plans." While this isn't a yes or no, it's at least a maybe.

Sartori summed up his vision of RACE 07 by saying, "If you want to experience racing, this is the way to do it. You can experience racing on your own terms [and] you're going to be presented with the 'real thing'...that's the concept of the game."

RACE 07 is developed by SimBin and is published by Viva Media in the United States. It is scheduled for release in October 2007; be on the lookout for our review soon.

I'd like to thank Diego Sartori for taking the time to meet with me, and to Nina Ronstadt of Ronstadt & Associates for arranging our meeting with SimBin.

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