GC 2006: Need for Speed Carbon Chat
Producer Michael Mann pops the hood on EA's latest street racer.
by Alex Simmons

UK, August 24, 2006 - Need for Speed Carbon was taken out for a spin during Electronic Arts' press conference at the Leipzig GC, with developer Black Box showing how the next-gen street racer will spew exhaust fumes in the face of its rivals when it rolls onto the tarmac this winter. A brief downhill race -- or canyon duel as they're known in the game -- demonstrated the advanced car physics and hyper-realistic graphics employed in NFS Carbon, but when the public viewing came to an end, IGN was invited for a beneath-the-bonnet look by Michael Mann, producer at Black Box.

IGN: Let's start by talking about the cars...

Michael Mann: There are over 50 licensed cars and all are completely customizable. There are specific parts for each of the three car factions, so the type of ride a player chooses determines the car parts they have access to. We've also introduced a new physics system that's specific to each type of car, so a modded Mustang will handle very differently from a custom Golf.

The cars are broken into three categories which are tied to a curve progression. So you'll start in different areas of the map depending on whether you choose a muscle, tuner or exotic car. There's rivalry between crews too and you need to build up your team before you can send them out to race against other crews and attempt to take their turf.

Certain tracks suit certain cars, which is why the player must use his crew and choice of cars to make the best decision. A car that doesn't handle so good will be hard to race on the canyon tracks, so players will have to customize their cars to suit the tracks they're racing on.

IGN: After a player has picked their car how much can they customize it?

Mann: When Need for Speed Underground came out it was at the forefront of car customization -- there were hundreds of different car parts and ways to use them together. So over the last two years we thought about what we could do to take it to the next level and what we came up with were "morphable" body parts -- sections of the cars that can be pulled, pushed and twisted to create an almost limitless number of ways to customize a car. Each car is broken into ten zones that can be changed, so a player can alter the size and shape of anything, from adjusting the size, depth and angle of spoilers down to small details like changing the number of spokes on the rims. At the moment these modifications are purely visual, they don't affect the handling or performance of the car, but we are looking into how we could incorporate it.

IGN: It's not just body shaping that's been improved either, right?

Mann: We've also introduced vector-scoping for Carbon, which allows the player to put decals on any part of the car, not just certain sections. They can be scaled, rotated and merged together, plus there are over 900 to choose from, as well as 90,000 paint combinations, so a player really can create any look they want.
 

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