Dev log #2: Let’s talk about cars

As we mentioned recently, it's time to talk about the game itself again, rather than the events where we promote it (although, coincidentally, you'll find us again this upcoming weekend at Tor Poznań during the Polish Racing Car Championships).

Today, we're going to discuss a fundamental matter: cars. After all, that's why we're here, right?

During conversations with players, we often hear questions not only about which models will be in the game (it's still too early to provide a specific list), but also whether we'll even have licensed vehicles. This is a very interesting topic — and not as obvious as it might seem.

While the final decision on this matter has not yet been made, at this moment we are leaning towards using unlicensed cars in the game. Two main factors are driving this decision: money (duh!) and creative freedom.

The first is self-explanatory: car manufacturers charge a fee for using their trademarks. The money we'd pay them couldn't then be invested, for example, in the work of programmers, which could result in a better driving model or more diverse gameplay.

And creative freedom? You might not realize it, but rights holders sometimes have objections to what happens with their properties in games. In the context of racing games, this primarily concerns vehicle damage — manufacturers generally don't want their cars depicted as smoking wrecks. Since amateur racing frequently involves cars turning into smoking wrecks, we don't want to lose the freedom to smash them into pieces. Don't expect a destruction system as spectacular as in BeamNG.drive or the Wreckfest series (after all, damage is the essence of those games and requires a huge amount of work from entire teams), but crashes in Track Day will still sting. On a side note: it's no coincidence that games I mentioned only feature fictional vehicles.

And to avoid misunderstandings: just because our cars won't be licensed doesn't mean they won't be authentic. We are, after all, creating a simulator, so we want to reproduce individual vehicles as realistically as possible. We'll achieve this by scanning them and refining their handling with the involvement of people who race them (we have such contacts thanks to the support of the Automobile Club of Greater Poland, for example). The only things missing will be the specific brand names and logos. But surely, we can live without that, right? And anyone interested will likely still know what car it is:

Share your thoughts on this in the comments!

(BTW, a friendly reminder in case you missed our previous announcement: you can find Track Day on Patreon! By supporting our game you can get some exclusive mods for Assetto Corsa, starting with Tor Poznań 2025. More content to follow very soon!)