Episodes
Join Ross Gowing, Senior Creative Director, and Jon Armstong, Game Designer and real-world rally champion, to discuss EA SPORTS WRC with Thomas Harrison-Lord, covering all the smaller details you may have missed. Are stages 1:1 recreations of the real-world WRC venues? How was the 2017-spec Volkswagen Polo captured? How did the project come about? The first official World Rally Championship games, by Codemasters, hear how the team has worked with Unreal Engine, refined DiRT Rally 2.0's...
Published 09/28/23
For nearly two years now, Rory Alexander aka EERIEISSSS, has been a full-time sim racing content creator, driving Gran Turismo 7 and Assetto Corsa Competizione. It follows his first upload over five years ago. Here, Thomas Harrison-Lord speaks to Rory about the shift to a new job in life, and balancing family with the will to push his YouTube channel forward. How Shorts mixed with live streaming works for him, the motivation behind his process and how to keep the channel financially...
Published 09/21/23
Max Esterson grew up in New York City playing Formula 1 video games, and latterly, iRacing. He didn't kart for a decade. Yet, here's racing, and winning, in GB3 - the UK's premier single-seater championship, on the ladder to Formula 1. He aims to compete in FIA Formula 3 next season and has backing from the sim racing subscription-based platform. If you've seen the Gran Turismo Movie, well Esterson is working the sim-to-real career, but without winning a reality TV show competition. Just...
Published 09/12/23
Join Thomas Harrison-Lord to discuss The Crew Motorsport with Ubisoft Ivory Tower's Stéphane Beley, Senior Creative Director, and Julien Hummer, Content Director. With just days until the multi-platform open-world racing game launches, here you will hear about its four-year gestation (beginning as DLC for The Crew 2), the original game name and the new playlist structure. The team also covers why Hawaii is the ideal location for this new Crew spin-off and the work required to get Toyota...
Published 09/08/23
We’re back with a brand new season of the Traxion Podcast, and we begin with a riveting conversation with Circuit Superstars and Karting Superstars developer Original Fire Games. On this episode of the Traxion Podcast, Thomas Harrison-Lord speaks to Carolina, Alberto and Carlos Mastretta of Original Fire Games about its upcoming title Karting Superstars. The team talk passionately about its newest game, which sees you race in a chase camera perspective using karts in a world familiar to...
Published 09/06/23
In this insightful interview, we discuss the benefits of a sorted car setup in sim racing, how to sell your used equipment and the perfect segue. On this episode of the Traxion Podcast, Thomas Harrison-Lord speaks to David Perel and Steve Worrell about what makes sim racing setup shop Coach Dave Academy tick, how its Delta app is making competitive driving easy, the future of The SimGrid and a new venture, SimTrader. Ferrari GT driver Perel explains how real-world motorsport competition...
Published 07/31/23
A Traxion Podcast interview with Senior Creative Director at Electronic Arts, Codemasters, Lee Mather – who’s responsible for the official Formula 1 game’s direction each year. Mather has worked on the F1 games since 2008, spanning a 15-year stint. We asked him about his time working on the yearly motorsport titles, but also what the thinking was behind the F1 World game mode, if we’ll see more Braking Point in the future and how the new car handling was developed. We also touch upon the...
Published 07/24/23
Oracle Red Bull Racing Esports driver Sebastian Job has tasted virtual success, previously winning the Porsche Esports Supercup world championship on iRacing and he currently competes at the top level of sim racing: ESL R1, F1 and Le Mans Virtual to name but a few are on his CV so far. But where next? The actual Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team, that's where. John Munro spoke to Job at the team's Milton Keynes base to hear what it's like working with an F1 outfit and also the differences...
Published 07/05/23
On this episode of the Traxion Podcast, Thomas Harrison-Lord is joined by Ben 'Rwaggy' McConnell of 505 Games, where he is the Brand Community Manager for Assetto Corsa. They discuss how Assetto Corsa Competizione gets ported to console and why it's so important for 505, Untold Games and KUNOS-Simulazioni. In particular, the date (27th June 2023) for the Version 1.9 physics update, free McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and paid-for 2023 GT World Challenge DLC will be available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox...
Published 06/20/23
Online multiplayer ranking systems, a ladder of esports opportunity, VR support, car classes, beta roll-outs and modding tools. It's all covered, direct from the source, in this latest Traxion Podcast Episode covering the latest Rennsport and ESL R1 updates. How is the tyre model implemented, what will the second season of ESL R1 look like and where will mods be hosted? It's all here, and more, thanks to our recent trip to Rennsport Summit 2 and ESL R1 Spring Major in Munich. Guests on this...
Published 06/06/23
On this episode of the Traxion.GG Podcast, we are joined by Jean-François Chardon, Head of Studio at KW Studios, responsible for RaceRoom Racing Experience. He’s worked at what was formerly SimBin Studios, then Sector3 and now KW Studios since 2009, so this interview is hopefully interesting for those who’d like to know more about RaceRoom’s story and are part of the cognoscenti. We also hear about a prior Unreal engine prototype and how the platform is now in a strong place for the future,...
Published 05/29/23
David Karapetianm, aka Dave Gaming, has over 200,000 YouTube subscribers and 90,000 Twitch followers and primarily creates F1 game content, whether that’s the driving games by EA Sports or the management titles by Frontier Developments. There’s no one better to ask about the current state of Formula 1 gaming, his favourite titles to date and what EA SPORTS F1 23 and F1 Manager 2023 must do in order to succeed. His content is primarily in German, but in this English-language interview,...
Published 05/15/23
Is version 1.9 a step forward? Will ACC continue to receive support? What’s it like creating a sim racing community? Jardier reveals all. On this episode of the Traxion.GG Podcast, Thomas Harrison-Lord speaks to Jaroslav Honzík, aka Jardier, about his sim racing content creator and esports career, but also, crucially, what the future may have in store for Assetto Corsa Competizione. While Jardier does create content about, and stream playing, iRacing, Richard Burns Rally and rFactor 2, he’s...
Published 05/10/23
On this episode of the Traxion.GG Podcast, Thomas Harrison-Lord speaks to The King of Supercross, Jeremy McGrath. The seven-time Supercross champion, and one-time Motorcross champion, is these days an ambassador for the sport, and here he discusses his early days, a career in Supercross and why he decided to get involved with Monster Energy Supercross 6 - The Official Video Game. Working with developers Milestone, McGrath discusses here why games of official motorsport series can help the...
Published 04/20/23
Ever wondered what a racing driver really gets from sim racing? So often all we hear about is being able to learn the tracks, but those in the know realise it can be much more than that. Which is why we spoke to Cooper Webster at Donington Park recently, as the young Aussie motorsport competition prepares for his season ahead. A real-world competitor, he’s also an avid, competition, sim racer. He will be participating for Evans GP in the GB4 championship this year plus the Australian S5000...
Published 04/07/23
On this episode, we are joined by Andrew Jeffreys, aka Repixel8, and Jon Wetherall from CGA Studio to talk Formula Retro Racing: World Tour. So often, we take the racing game and sim racing scene a bit too seriously. Formula Retro Racing: World Tour is a vivid, approachable, retro driving title that harks back to the arcade cabinet. It’s just simple fun, but with contemporary features, such as virtual reality and online leaderboards. With Andrew the solo developer of the 2020 original, he...
Published 04/03/23
In this episode of the Traxion.GG Podcast, we’re going behind the scenes of the upcoming motorcycle simulator, TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 3. To bring you up to speed, this is the official game of the yearly real-world road racing event which is world-renowned for the skill and bravery of the riders and also the 37.73 mile or 60.72km course. This third game is developed by RaceWard Studio, part of NACON Studio Milan, who previously created RiMS Racing – a road motorcycle simulator...
Published 03/30/23
We’re back, with a brand new season, and we have a lot coming up for you so thank you for listening! Join Thomas Harrison-Lord, Editor in Chief of the Traxion.GG website as he speaks to Mark Pierce, Executive Producer and Emmanuel Valdez, Art Director, from developer Visual Concepts South. In this episode, we discuss their brand new driving game, targeted at families: Lego 2K Drive. It’s open world, coming soon to both PC and console, features cross-platform online multiplayer, can be...
Published 03/23/23
A special early episode of the Traxion.GG Podcast before we start our new-for-2023 season, we visited the Alpine F1 Team's home in the Cotswolds to see its ambitious sim racing esports plans for the season ahead. It announced the return of the Alpine Esports series, which anyone can enter via Assetto Corsa Competizione, its new-look F1 Esports Series Pro line-up and a host of new partners that are linking the real and virtual worlds. In this episode, Piers Prior interviewed members of...
Published 02/28/23
Joining Thomas Harrison-Lord today on this episode is Xavier Pieuchot, Product Marketing Manager at Thrustmaster.  It’s been a big month for the gaming and simulation equipment manufacturer, as its first-ever direct drive wheel base – the T818 – was launched and shipped to its first customers. Here at Traxion.GG, we were lucky enough to receive one of the first loan units for review. But, we wanted to get deeper under the skin of the T818 and see why the American-French company chose now as...
Published 01/04/23
On this episode, it’s the festive period, so we hope you are enjoying at least a day off to put your feet up. With this in mind, today’s conversation is a little less formal and a bit more relaxed. Joining Thomas Harrison-Lord to discuss the future of rally games is Autosport and Motorsport.com’s WRC Editor Tom Howard. We regale our experiences with the most recent World Rally Championship game, Generations, then look ahead to what we’d like to see in 2023 when EA Sports’ first official WRC...
Published 12/26/22
We, at Traxion.GG, happen to think Need for Speed Unbound is the best entry in the street-racing series for a generation. So, we decided that it would be a great idea to speak to someone who helped create it. Joining Thomas Harrison-Lord this week is Kieran Crimmins, Criterion Games’, and therefore Unbound's, Creative Director. We discuss why the game isn't on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, where the inspiration for the unique art style came from and how development progressed through...
Published 12/13/22
Join Fanatec CEO Thomas Jackermeier from the SimRacing Expo 2022 to run through the peripheral and equipment manufacturers' past 25 years, its biggest achievements and what's next. He shares some fascinating insights into the supply-chain challenges of the past two years, the launch of more affordable direct drive wheel bases and why it's creating a karting track on the new HQ's roof! Ever wonder what motivates Fanatec to innovate? Listen to this episode to find out as Jackermeier joins...
Published 12/04/22
On this episode of the Traxion.GG Podcast, we’re at the World Finals of the Gran Turismo World Series from Monaco. This is the title-deciding esports event for the world’s quickest Gran Turismo drivers. The weekend incorporated the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GT Cup Grand Final, the Manufacturers Cup final and the Nations Cup final – the one that effectively determines the overall world champion driver. It also included the launch of a brand new Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo car, an opportunity to...
Published 11/29/22