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2021 was a busy year for Motorsport Games. The Florida-based video game developer and publisher released “NASCAR 21: Ignition” and “NASCAR Heat: Ultimate Edition+” while also announcing a new IndyCar video game. There were some high moments, as well as some hiccups, but the company’s decision-makers have expressed excitement about building upon a new foundation for future racing games.
Dmitry Kozko, CEO of Motorsport Games, sat down with Heavy prior to the end of 2021 to discuss the year’s biggest stories. He explained how 2021 was a “foundational year” that will help the company make improvements to “NASCAR 21: Ignition” while also examining how to continue creating products for the Nintendo Switch. Though the primary focus is ensuring that future NASCAR games do not go live on systems with technical issues.
“We have to do a whole lot better, right? I think we missed our own expectation bar that we set for ourselves, and mainly for some of the bugs that people in a pre-release window were experiencing,” Kozko told Heavy. “That’s unacceptable. So that was the theme, I would say. Everybody has got to get a lot better on this.
“And then going really forensic on seeing what exactly caused this. How does this slip through our cracks, Sony’s cracks, and our external Q&A partners’ cracks. And to make sure that this never happens, again, we needed to get really forensic on this. Which we did. We’re glad to have seen that a lot of the community have stepped up in their feedback. And, of course, the initial ones were around the bugs.”
Kozko added that there have been many discussions about “NASCAR 21: Ignition” having fewer features than the “NASCAR Heat” series that it replaced. He said that this is a product of the team creating a new product and focusing on the foundation. Kozko said that now Motorsport Games can “scale” the product and begin adding more features. He did not share what all of these changes will be but added that the ability to drive from the garage to the track is something being considered.
The Community’s Paint Schemes Were a Highlight
A point of emphasis for Motorsport Games heading toward the release of “NASCAR 21: Ignition” was the addition of the expanded paint booth. The company stated that there would be even more options for the players to create their dream schemes before taking them out on the track.
Kozko and the Motorsport Games team have paid close attention to the schemes created by the customer-base and shared on Twitter. There are several accounts that draw their attention due to the accuracy and level of details, but Kozko specifically mentioned a creator named Nick Weaver.
“Unbelievable work. Unbelievable,” Kozko said about the schemes. “I’ve seen quite a few. I’ve seen the Hot Wheels one he’s done. So many cool ones. Every single one is like a pleasure to open. I actually look forward to his notifications on Twitter every time.”
Weaver is only one of the many examples of creators using the paint booth look back at NASCAR history. Some have recreated designs from Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Kyle Petty. Others have focused on adding new companies to NASCAR that would not have previously sponsored a driver. The result is a wide array of intricate designs that required hours of work.
IndyCar Remains a Priority for Motorsport Games
While there is still work taking place regarding “NASCAR 21: Ignition”, the team at Motorsport Games has another project in the works. The company announced on July 15 a partnership with the NTT IndyCar Series, which involved a future video game set for a 2023 release.
The team continues to work on the title with the goal of providing some glimpses in the future. This remains a very in-depth process considering that Motorsport Games has to scan all of the tracks and street courses that will feature some of the series’ biggest names. Certain tracks — such as Texas Motor Speedway, World Wide Technology Raceway, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway — are already in the system, but there are others that require some work.
The IndyCar Series season features multiple temporary tracks on the streets of major cities. Nashville featured a street course race, as did St. Petersburg. The Motorsport Games team can’t simply head to these cities on a free week to scan. They have to work with IndyCar and set aside time to work.
“It makes the timeline of laser scanning much, much finer,” Kozko said. “The good thing is we don’t have to start from scratch. There is definitely some some starting baseline. But when the track is built, we do need maybe 30 minutes or so on there and get those millimeter accuracy.
“…So we want to make sure that every track is laser scanned properly. And when it’s in a city, I mean, that just makes us prepare for more. Then when it comes to execution of actually capturing, we just need to do it much faster.”
The IndyCar title is currently early in the process. Part of the team is working on figuring out what is the proper feature set while another part has started the actual development process. There are still several months before any assets see the light of day, but potential customers can rest assured that they will be able to run races at every course on the IndyCar schedule.
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