Head-to-head racing with Blur, Need for Speed: Shift, Split/Second, and Forza 3

Are racing games the new first-person shooter? Revving up for release and shown off at E3 with tires smoking were Disney's Split/Second, Blur from Activision, Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 3, and EA's Need for Speed: Shift. They range from hyper-realistic to arcadey, so chances are you'll find something that's right up your alley among these four. But which one will you choose? We spoke to all four developers and asked them the same questions to see how they'd stack up, and you can check out the results after the break.

Here's who we spoke to, and who answered the questions on behalf of the game. Extreme bonus points to Forza's Dan Greenawalt for giving us very brief, soundbite-sized answers. That's rare for a developer at a trade show.

Blur: Ami Langton, Studio Communications, Bizarre Creations
Split/Second: Paul Glancey, Design Director, Black Rock Studio
Forza Motorsport 3: Dan Greenawalt, Game Director, Turn 10
Need for Speed: Shift: Andy Tutor, Lead Designer, Slightly Mad Studios

What's the hook? What makes your game stand out above the others?

• Blur: "It's just totally different, especially from anything we've done in the past. We have 20 cars on-track which is insane. You can create your own games both online and offline. We're giving all of the options to the player, and we're not slaves to reality and we're not hating the gamer anymore.
• Split/Second: "So, Split/Second is obviously an arcade racing game, but the difference is that our environment is totally interactive. In a lot of racing games when you drive skillfully you earn power, and in our game that power can be used to trigger environmental special events around the track. All of our "Power Plays" are designed to look like action movie moments, but they're not just eye candy, they're the way to win the race.
• Forza 3: "It gives you everything, and it gives it to you this October."
• Need for Speed: Shift: "All of our competitors would say we've got great physics, we've got great cars, it has gorgeous graphics, we've got loads of tracks and all that, and we can say the same about them. But we've got loads of stuff on top of that. What's the cool thing with Rock Band? You feel like a rock god, right? So what's the cool thing with a racing game? It's what we're calling first-person driving. That's the thing. We've gone back to basics with Shift, like film has been rebooting with Batman Begins and such, and defining what makes racing cool."

How many cars are in the game? Are they licensed?

• Blur: "We have over 60 licensed cars in the game, although this is still pre-alpha, so that could change."
• Split/Second: "The kind of crazy stuff we want to do to our cars is probably impossible with licensed vehicles right now. Our cars are ones that you wouldn't be surprised to see driving down the street, certainly in U.S. We're still working out the number that we'll have, and cars are also used as rewards in the game."
• Forza 3: "We have over 400 cars in the game from over 50 manufacturers, and each one has cockpit, damage, rollover and so on. That's like three times the car content from any of those other games. What I really want to know is if you combine all of the cars in the other games, do we still have more? [Note: yes, they do, and we told him so ... unless Disney sticks 260 cars into Split/Second, they win that contest]
• Need for Speed: Shift: "We have over 70 licensed cars, which is a significant amount, and we have plans for more via DLC, including some content that will make Need for Speed fans very happy. Something that hasn't been in the series for a long time that is going to make a return."

Can you damage the cars? Some manufacturers get testy about the level of destruction they allow.

• Blur: "Totally. You really can. Free from the confines of the PGR series, we have approved damage models in this time around. You can blast the hell out of each other on track, and we even have a photo mode in-game, so you can capture those moments and share them."
• Split/Second: "Our visual bar for damage is pretty high. We're still working on it right now, but we want to push it as far as we can. They have to look pretty tough, because they're driving through some hostile environments."
• Forza 3: "You can absolutely total out a car in our game. It all has to do with the difficulty setting. If you have it set to our easy mode, then it will do the cosmetic damage, but it won't smoke or have a performance impact. But If you have it on simulation and you do some of those collisions, the car will be completely disabled. We always show the cosmetic damage in the game."
• Need for Speed: Shift: "Of all the 80 cars in the game, we've got full damage on every single car. The damage looks visually correct, and it affects handling as well, but we don't want it to affect it so much that you can't get a podium position. Also a lot of people don't want damage on at all, so there's the option to turn it off. It'll still look good, like the hood will blow off, but it won't affect the handling."
  

What's the coolest car in the game?

• Blur: "That is very difficult ... I would probably say the Viper. I love the handling of it, it's a really cool car. We worked closely with the manufacturers to modify the cars to be in tune with certain car cultures, so all the tools are there for you."
• Split/Second: "I kind of like them all, actually. I know that's sort of a developer copout answer. The car I've played the most looks like a heavy U.S. muscle car. It's got a nice rear end ... a nice spoiler on it. We've put our HUD with the power bar on the back of cars, and that gives it a bit of extra screen jewelry. All of cars kind of look cool because of that."
• Forza 3: "Oh wow, that's really hard for me. We have over 400 cars in the game. If I started racing every car now until the time we shipped, I think I'd only get a third of the way through the list. If I'm trying to relax at the end of the day, I usually take the '99 Viper ACR and try to drift the Guna Seca. Becuase if I can do it, it feels like I've really proven myself. Usually I can't ... it's a real handful of a car."
• Need for Speed: Shift: "Well, one of the things in the game is that you can drive showroom models of the cars, and you can actually race convert a lower-end car. My favorite is the Renault Mégane RS. It's a new car, and you get it early in the game, but you can race convert that car so it's competitive with the Veyrons andKoenigseggs and stuff. Man, it looks awesome when you trick it out: strip out the interior and add a rollcage in there, put a great big spoiler on the back -- you're shaving seconds off your time with all of that."

Have you played any of the competition at the show?

• Blur: "I hear there's a lot of good racers here, but as of yet I've not checked them out yet. Hopefully I'll have a look around later on."
• Split/Second: "I have, just this morning I managed to look in on those three guys. They all look like they're going to be stiff competition ... they never disappoint, do they? But the thing they don't have is exploding airports and crashing planes, so we're pushing it somewhere different, and no one has really done that in the racing space to this degree."
• Forza 3: "I haven't been out of this room."
• Need for Speed: Shift: "Yes, absolutely. Now, I don't know how much I can say about this, but one of our arcadey competitors was absolutely awesome and put a smile on our faces."