ModNation Racers Gets Explained, Beta on the Way

We haven't heard a lot about Sony's ModNation Racers, but we do know that the game will be part of the "Play, Create, Share" general heading, so it will mainly focus on track editors and creation tools and let players put any weird design they have in their head down not on paper, but in the game. That's not a lot to go on, and even less to generate any sort of attention for the title, so game designer Mat Thomas decided to have a little walk with us through it, and look on some of its aspects and concepts.

"When we started working on ModNation Racers we knew we couldn't simply create a basic physics system to deliver our core race experience," Thomas said. "We were also weary of the fact that unlike many racers, the player in ModNation Racers will also be focused on weapon play." So, one thing we learn right from the start is that ModNation will most likely not be a simulator, and a lot more of an arcade racer.

Thomas further added that, "Very early on in development we experimented with extremely tight handling (akin to driving on rails) and a much more physical race experience. What we soon realized is that when the handling model is tight, there is not much fun in the race experience, it was essentially too easy and likewise when the user is spending a lot of time concentrating on just keeping the vehicle on the track with a more complex handling model then this doesn't leave any mental power to experiment and use weapons."

While the "mental power" thing almost makes it look like he's looking down on gamers, you have to admit that a hardcore simulator doesn't really leave room for multitasking, and just worrying about control and the manual gearbox alone is enough to make you afraid to think about what's for dinner. "So as you may expect we ended up with something in the middle," Thomas continued, "which offered us the physicality and emergent feel that for us makes this feel like a true next generation karting title. What we found is that this made the handling very much pick up and play, and easy to understand but at the same time offering depth you'd expect in other racers."

Gamers will be able to get a hands-on experience with ModNation Racers in early 2010, when a localized European beta for the PS3 will be delivered by its developers.