Bengt Lemne talks with The Crew's creative director, Julian Gerighty, at this year's Gamescom and finds out more about what will keep players coming back to the open-world racer. On of the most interesting elements proposed in The Crew, is the RPG elements that'll play a huge part in people's experiences with the game. Gerighty explained just how this will manifest itself in the game: "There are two aspects to that [the RPG elements], one is that we have different classes. The classes are the different types of vehicles and kits that you use to explore the different terrains in the game." The creative director went on to list the different classes: "So you've got Street; very fast, very handleable and very enjoyable. And Performance; super fast, but a little bit less on the handling side, so it's more about just pure straights. Off-road we've Dirt for dirt tracks, and Raid for completely off-road. The fifth class we haven't shown, we're waiting for it a little bit later on, but that's the circuit based racing. And that's the first element for the RPG." "Next is that every single vehicle in any class is actually composed of 19 pieces, a 19-piece puzzle that you can customise exactly how you want," Gerighty continued. "That's not just the aesthetics, because aesthetics is a big thing for an MMO; you want to stand out, you want to be different from everybody else, but it's also the performance parts." These RPG elements, coupled with the size of the map (players will be able drive coast to coast across North America), should ensure that players have plenty to do: "All of the systems we're currently talking about, they're the systems that'll get people playing long term, 30-40 hours. To unlock all of the USA, to see all the sights, pick up all the collectibles, visit all the landmarks, all of that is a long-term engagement. And this RPG system feeds into that." Gerighty also goes on to explain how they're ensuring that different players, with different play styles, will be able to enjoy the game in different ways: "The science of fun is getting the game in people's hands and seeing how they play. And sometimes, as a creator, it's horrible because you want to step in and say "no no no, you should be playing like that". But no, they're telling you how they want to play it." "So it's not just ten people in a room, we're not focus testing, we're play testing, which means hundreds and hundreds of people and learning from their experience, and adapting the game; making it more open, more free, more fun, giving fast travel as an option for example. People who want to join their friends fast, let them do it. It doesn't cost me anything. I'm not breaking an internal rule "no, I'm a creator, you can't do that". It's something that makes the game experience better for everybody." The Crew is heading to PC and next-gen consoles early next year. www.gamereactor.tv Join us @ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Gamereactor

• published: 10 Oct 2013
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