Enthusia Professional Racing E3 2004 Preshow Impressions

Earlier today, at its pre-E3 2004 press conference, Konami announced its upcoming driving simulation game Enthusia Professional Racing. The creator of the game was on hand to give a demonstration of the game's impressive driving physics and otherwise highly touted visuals.

After a brief trailer that displayed some highly polished (though most likely not in-game) car models, the demonstration moved to a scene-by-scene comparison of a real-life car speeding around a course full of cones and an in-game version of the exact same car speeding around the same course. This demonstration was specifically designed to show just how much the live version of the car compares to the game version of the car. With each turn and skid on the real-life video, the game version of the car matched move for move with startling accuracy. Though many recent racing titles have shown off similarly impressive driving physics, we were still quite floored by how well the game version of the car emulated the real car.

After that, the demo moved into a real in-game racing session. The only camera angle that was shown during the couple of races we saw was an on-the-hood view, so we never actually got a look at the in-game car models. However, we were still able to get a sense of the look of the game's tracks, as well as some of the HUD capabilities. The couple of tracks we saw included a nighttime race on a tarmac-covered course, surrounded by plenty of urban set pieces and bright, shiny lights. The other was a more foliage-covered, outdoorsy track, set in a more out-of-the-way area. Both included rain effects, which looked quite nice, such as reflective water on the track and rain droplets hitting the screen. Another desert track was shown during the trailer, which included some more off-road-like racing, but we didn't get much more than a glimpse of it.

The game's HUD includes several unique features. Konami is heavily promoting the game's Visual Gravity System, which is essentially the official title for the game's physics model. Whether you're turning sharply or braking subtly, you will see an indicator at the bottom of the screen that shows arrows pointing north, south, east, and west, ranging from one to several, depending on the level of G-force that is being put on a specific car. So, for example, if you're making a sharp left turn, the right-pointing arrows will shoot up to indicate where the force is located, whereas if you come to a sudden halt, the front arrows will activate, indicating as if you were lurching forward in your seat. How exactly all of this comes into play during the game was not made especially clear, but it definitely seems as though the meter will need to be watched to make sure you're not overloading G-force.

Other visual effects on the HUD include pressure-sensitive gas and brake meters, which show just how much force you're giving on both pedals, and a VGS icon that appears over the G-force meter whenever a powerslide can be performed. The game will also include some interesting non-HUD visual effects when you're racing, such as a slight blurring effect on the edges of the screen, seemingly to help give you a better sense of speed, as well as a very cool slow-motion flash effect that appears right as you're about to be sent smashing into a nearby wall or barrier.

Konami claims that Enthusia will be able to support up to six cars on the track at once and will include more than 100 cars from 40 different manufacturers. Online play was discussed, though it's said to be unlikely to make it into the game. Currently, Enthusia Professional Racing is set for release in 2005 exclusively for the PlayStation 2. We'll have more on the game from the E3 show floor.