Kylotonn Racing Games and Bigben Interactive released a new developer diary for the upcoming WRC 8: FIA World Rally Championship, which is due to drop on home consoles and PC starting September 5th, 2019.

The developer diary covers some of the design techniques utilized by the artists and environment teams, discussing how they use satellite data to capture 1:1 layouts for each of the tracks featured in the game.

They then generate an environmental layout that can extend up to 30×30 kilometers. Unfortunately this means that the tracks don’t accurately span the entire length of the track the way they would in real life, and instead Kylotonn opted for shorter legs per stage, but it’s still representative of what the tracks look like in real life, for the most part.

I was a little shocked that they didn’t utilize Codemasters or Milestone’s technique of using drones to laserscan the track and then rely on photogrammetry to map out the base topographical mesh.

One of the things that they do is provide the level designers with tools based on accurate topography of the terrain, which allows them to design the levels with an intricate level of detail.

In addition to the grid layout for the tracks, they also discuss the dynamic weather endemic to each location. You’re not going to see magically fall out of the sky while racing under the torrid heat of the sun in Mexico, but you will have to deal with weather conditions oftentimes found on Mexican dirt tracks. Meanwhile places like Monte Carlo or Sweden will have weather more natural to their climate, including snow, rain, and wet surfaces.

You can look for WRC 8 to launch on the Xbox One, PS4, and on the Epic Games Store starting September 5th. The game will launch on the Nintendo Switch starting in October. Unfortunately gamers won’t be able to play the game on Steam until 2020 due to an exclusivity deal with Epic Games.