Bugbear update Next Car Game and decide to give it the  proper name of Wreckfest.
Loading up the Steam client this evening came with a nice surprise, Next Car Game has been updated and there’s major additions. First of all there’s the name change, and Bugbear has settled on Wreckfest, which sums up the racing well.
The biggest news this evening is the launch of multiplayer which supports up to 18 players in the include Racing and Destruction Derby game modes. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch has also been added.
The plan now is to push that 18 player limit up to 24 players by optimising the game’s network code which according to Bugbear will “take a bit longer”.
This is a big update for the game with a new car, track, game modes and now multiplayer. Bugbear has been a little quiet so these new additions should entice more players to fire the game up to race and smash stuff up. It’s worth noting that the new multiplayer mode is still a little temperamental and connection performance will depend on the hosts connection. It’s not been easy getting into a game this evening.
The full list of additions and updates are as follows.
Physics:
- Improved tire load calculation
- Tire forces scaled by sprung/unsprung mass ratio to correct accelerations
- Corrected assumed load when calculating tire stiffness values
- New differential implementation (supports open, spool, LSD & viscous differentials)
- Added spring rate, damper rate & maximum deflection for tire dynamics
- Added toe in for steering settings
- Implemented SAE 950311 relaxation for slip angle & ratio
- Changed “magic” damping force to use ground contact normal
- Fixed torque from tires to use correctly roll center, wheel center & attach points
- Added suspension lateral attach point (affects YAW from longitudinal forces)
- Implemented loose/solid surface modes
- Improved body torques from wheel assembly when tire is in air.
- Implemented torque feedback scaling
- Fixed lateral position of suspension forces
- Disabled optimal shift point usage from player when using automatic transmission
- Changed steering limits during drifting (drift lock enables more anti-steering during drift)
- Added digital steering delay and fixed digital/analog controller selection
Controls:
- Added speed sensitivity slider to options – controls how much steering is limited in higher speeds to prevent spinning
- Accelerator and brake sensitivity sliders: 0% = cubic, 50% = linear and 100% = cubic root response
- Initial mouse steering implementation: bind mouse to left/right in the settings menu
- Basic XInput gamepad rumble
Gameplay:
- Two new derby game modes: Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch
- Time difference to winner and best lap times displayed in race results
- Last lap time display in HUD for a few seconds when starting a new lap
- Best lap time displayed in HUD during races
- Best lap times for tracks are saved and displayed in event selection
- Score displayed in derby results
- Car reset will attempt to place the car away from the busiest racing line
- Improve AI’s ability to recover when stuck
- Fixed AI’s ability to reset car when e.g. out of track
- Fixed AI considering wrecks as potential derby targets
- AI cars now only reset when not seen by the Player.
- Players only drive the current lap to its end after the first car has crossed the finish line (like in real life races)
Cameras:
- New cinematic track side camera
- Automatic look back camera after a short while when reversing
- Can be disabled and adjusted from settings
- User configurable FOV offset
- Hood/bumper look back cameras moved to the back of the car
- Allow more zoom in photo mode / replay lens effects
- General car camera tweaking
Cars:
- New European car
Tracks:
- New race track: Speedway
- Route variants: Oval and Figure 8
- Added track side cameras to all tracks
- Increased impact speeds required to break objects, e.g. concrete barriers now require 100km/h (62mph) impact to get damaged
- Decreased friction on concrete barriers to prevent them from sucking cars in
- Improved start positions in Figure 8 track
- Fixed holes in Derby Stadium
- DetailMap texture for Sandpit1
- Tarmac memory optimizations
User Interface:
- Access main menu and options in respawn screen, lobby etc.
- Really fixed car selector with large resolutions
- Fixed car selector car class display
- Show all cars’ performance index in car selector and lobby
- Display current results during race with TAB
- Display Steam avatars in MP lobby
- Several remap menu bug fixes
- Scroll scrollbars and sliders with mouse wheel
- Misc fixes and tweaks
Multiplayer:
- Internet games through Steam (You need to forward some ports to be able to host if you sit behind a NAT router)
- Upgrades work
- Client side prediction to combat lag
- Kicking
- Searching for servers with Steam friends
- Faster search
- Configurable max player count 2-18
- Configurable server update frequency
- Password protected lobbies
- Random starting positions
- Games are also displayed in Steam’s own server browser
- LAN networking goes also through Steam if it’s not in offline mode
- Improved chat with line wrapping
- Ability to join a lobby when the race is in progress
- Allow all LAN IP ranges: 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16
- Bandwidth optimizations
Effects:
- Reimplemented backfire and window smash effects
- Particles toggle in launcher changed to particle quality slider
- Updates to existing effects
- Improved skid marks
Sounds:
- More different engine sounds
- Improved tire slip sounds
