News

Next Car Game Update Adds American Sedan car, Figure 8 track, Cinematic Camera + More

4 Comments

Bugbear Entertainment announced that the latest update for Next Car Game is available on Steam. According to the company, this new update includes the brand new Figure 8 derby race event and the classic American Sedan car, as well as major new features like varying weathers for events and a variety of upgrade parts for all cars.

Moreover, Bugbear Entertainment claimed that there’s also a hefty amount of other improvements and bug fixes.

Last but not least, the latest update also included a new cinematic camera, designed for taking snazzy screenshots of the game.

Here is the complete changelog for Next Car Game’s latest update:

Tracks:
* New Figure 8 derby race event.
* All race tracks now have a reverse layout as well.
* Lap and AI counts are now fully customizable for each event.
* Tarmac track: start area rehauled, tarmac textures reworked, last sector redecorated.
* Gravel track: textures reworked, track surface visuals updated.
* New birches for both tarmac and gravel track.
* General polishing and bug fixing.

Weathers:
* Three new weathers: bright day, cold morning and warm sunset.
* A random weather is selected to an event at startup.

Dynamic environment objects:
* Tire stacks now have more weight to them for added realism.
* Reduced concrete barrier friction to prevent the car from spinning.

Vehicles & Upgrading:
* New car: American Sedan (no high detail dashboard yet).
* Steering wheels now rotate in cockpit camera.
* Texture/model improvements and bug fixes.
* Increased European hatchback engine power.
* Reworked European hatchback handling.
* New engine backfire effect.
* Improved differential simulation.
* New gearbox, drivetrain, suspension and brake upgrade parts.
* New paint jobs for cars to choose from.
* Driving model improvements.

Driving assists:
* Assists now have three levels of strength: ‘Off’, ‘Half’ and ‘Full’, with ‘Off’ and ‘Half’ being the same as earlier ‘Off’ and ‘On’ and ‘Full’ offering an even more assisted driving experience.

Cameras:
* New screenshot camera mode with zoom factor and yaw, pitch and roll parameters, designed for taking screenshots with free camera and hidden HUD. In the screenshot mode, it’s possible to rotate the camera as well as adjust the field-of-view, and by accessing Effect Mode, you can adjust the Depth-of-Field (DOF) parameters to your liking. There’s no dedicated button for taking a screenshot yet, so you need to use an external application or PrintScreen button.
* Brought back spherical camera from the technology demo, it’s available only in camera mode at least for now.
* Implemented another chase camera further back according to the feedback.
* Tweaked European hatchback chase camera.

Damage:
* Fixed engine component damage calculation in HUD so that the engine icon will better represent the actual damage.
* Removed red damage direction indicators from HUD based on a general request.
* Fixed an issue with gameplay damage not being calculated correctly when near death.
* Further balancing of gameplay damage and visual damage – a completely reworked system will be introduced in the future.

Garage:
* Reworked many textures.
* Added some nice decorative elements.
* Tweaked interior and yard decoration.
* Tweaked lighting.

Gameplay:
* Derby AI: tactical reverse mode now considers engine location more efficiently.
* Removed speed sensitive steering when using a steering wheel.
* Implemented further balancing tweaks to AI profiles and handling.
* Implemented start position randomization (for player as well).

User interface:
* Binding the Logitech G27 button 7 etc. will no longer result in exiting the settings menu.
* Loading screen will now show a background based on the event you’re playing instead of a generic one.
* Game is now paused and input suspended while Steam overlay is active.

Input:
* DirectInput gamepads should now work and are also remappable.
* Improved controller settings to reduce steering lag.

Render:
* Fixed a bug where VSync was not able to recover back to 60 fps when temporarily dipping to 30 fps.

Audio:
* Engine damage sound effect is now linked to actual engine damage instead of car health.