Matt Webster, the head of Star Wars: Galactic Racer developer Fuse Games, has said that the Netflix series Drive to Survive was an inspiration for the game right from the start.
The Netflix series follows the trials and tribulations of Formula 1 drivers across a season of the F1 World Championship. “The intrigue and the excitement off track is as compelling as it is on track,” Webster told GamesIndustry.biz. “I think it’s been a little bit sanitised recently, but those rivalries… You want people to like each other, but you also really want people to not like each other as well.”
He says that Fuse wanted to capture the same feelings in Galactic Racer. The game features sequences where the player interacts with various characters in the racing paddock of each track. “The paddock was incredibly important for us, because the paddock is where we immerse players in Star Wars and they get up close with the Star Wars characters,” said Webster, adding that it’s also important for the game’s pacing.
“Perhaps most importantly, it’s a lower intensity space to offset the higher intensity racing,” he said. “Because there’s only so much time you can spend with your eyes on stalks at super high speed. You’ve got to have that light and shade.”
The full GamesIndustry.biz interview with Webster, which took place at Game Republic New Horizons, is available here.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer launched on October 6 on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, and it is also available on Amazon’s Luna streaming service. The game has landed well with critics, and is currently sitting on a Metacritic score of 88 for the PS5 version.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz earlier this year, Webster explained why he thought there was a gap in the market for Galactic Racer, the first Star Wars racing game since 2002. “Genres are cyclical in many cases. And of course, we went through a phase of shooters eating the world, but that’s clearly not the only genre. And as more and more people play video games, even the tiniest of niches find a bigger audience.”