Gotham 3: Huge Video Interview Feature

Kikizo's latest massive video feature hooks up with the guys from Bizarre Creations for a 25-minute in-depth feature interview on PGR3, complete with new footage.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Project Gotham Racing 3 is one of the most exciting titles in Xbox 360's significant portfolio of launch software. The fourth in the much celebrated series (if you include Metropolis Street Racer), PGR3 is another huge leap forward for the series in terms of cutting-edge detail, unprecedented community features and innovative new ideas.

The series' esteemed developer, Liverpool, UK-based Bizarre Creations, surely knows it's onto yet another winner with Gotham 3. Following our recent hands-on with a near-final version of the game, we sat down with two prominent members of the Bizarre team - Design Manager, Gareth Wilson and Web Developer, Ben Ward - to get even more Gotham 3.

Gareth Wilson - Design Manager, Gotham Team (right)
and Ben Ward, Web Developer, Bizarre Creations

Bizarre's incredibly knowledgeable and all-round nice-guys offer up tonnes of fresh detail on the fantastic racing title. We've got everything you need, as this list shows:

THE BASICS
•   Main improvements over PGR2
•   New details on the game structure, front-end, modes
•   The deal with Solo Career Mode & Online Career Mode
•   Getting concept cars and unlocking secret cars
•   Playtime - custom racing, split-screen, link-up, Live, Eliminator, Capture the Track...


THE CITIES
•   The cities! Everything you need to know
•   900,000 routes through the game's cities
•   Rebuilding the cities from Gotham 1?
•   First time using digital cameras - wah?!
•   An 'instances' code system to save on 512' memory
•   OMG - is that one of the photographer's reflection on a texture in the game?
•   Why the original three cities and not new ones like PGR2? Why not all of them?
•   Two years to build Tokyo
•   Las Vegas - hooray!
•   How fast can you reach down Vegas' straight?
•   The challenge with licensing - "can we use your shopfront?"


THE CROWDS
•   The story behind the realistic crowd/spectator system
•   Crowd - men, women, children - permission to use likeness!
•   Thousands of spectators, localised in each country


THE CARS
•   Detail in the car - 80,000 polys (or is it, heh...)
•   Mapping the world onto the car, position of the sun
•   Why only the high-end cars?
•   Difference in performance between cars
•   Work on interiors versus bodywork on cars - wowzers...
•   In-car view - what happened to the secret mode in PGR2?!
•   Complexities of making the in-car view perfect


GOTHAM TV AND CAMERA MODE
•   Gotham TV - how does it all work? Hmm?
•   The cameras used in TV mode - ultra-realism - motion blur, depth of field, etc.
•   How to show off all this insane detail?
•   Camera mode - fan demand, how it came to be, how it works, etc
•   The best screenshot of the day
•   How Gotham TV works using an API from Microsoft and an LSP Server! Sounds complicated!
•   If there's something Live won't do then Microsoft builds an API for it...

AND FINALLY...
•   PGR4... Matchmaking, TrueSkill, other possible stuff
•   Frame. Rate.
•   Launch. Date.

In fact, just about the ONLY thing we weren't able to talk about was Nurburgring, the legendary German circuit previously seen in Gran Turismo 4. Bizarre wasn't talking about Nürburgring at the time we did the interview and is still keeping its cards close to the chest. Having said that, they weren't ready to talk about Vegas either, but an old-fashioned bribe ensured some satisfying bean-spillage.

Gotham's new in-car view shows off dirty windscreens with lighting and reflections that hit the glass and glare back into the camera, with the sensation of a true-to-life 'bumpy ride' you can almost feel... you can look out of your side windows, see the driver's hands as he steers and shifts gear, the full detail of the speedometers and dials... the level of visual realism is quite staggering.

Gotham 3's in-car view absolutely reeks of sex

Bizarre has deliberately chosen different parts of each respective city than you would have found when the flagship locations appeared in the previous PGR instalments, so you won't see places like Times Square or Leicester Square. But nonetheless, there are hundreds (of thousands!) of routes across miles of cityscape, and new areas such as New York's famous bridges are also included, and looking sensational.

We have a sneaky suspicion that PGR3 has now gone gold, and is now being reproduced in some manufacturing plant full of green-liquid pipes and rippling steamy bubbles or something. However, when we last checked (a few hours ago today), Bizarre still isn't revealing on record whether the game is actually finished or not! But assuming it is, then expect to be playing it in two weeks' time on your shiny new Xbox 360 (maybe add an extra week or two for Europe).

The Day After Tomorrow, PGR3-stylee

In a launch line-up mixed with anticipation and uncertainties, Gotham 3 stands out as a title guaranteed to be awesome.

This latest 'feature-length' Kikizo video includes tonnes of game footage, cool stuff, and music from the newest musical talent working with Kikizo, 'Gunstar Heroes', courtesy of Johnny Minkley. We'll see everyone in Vegas on Xbox Live.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com

Click here for Kikizo's interview archive.