Hey all,

It's been a busy few weeks - development is going well, and I wanted to share some of the progress along with an update on release targets. I'm on schedule to finish core development by the end of the month, though sadly can't confirm everything will be ready for release in August. With issues raised so far during testing, and also some unexpected real-life difficulties, it seems wise to take another week or two so as not to rush these final steps. I've updated the target release month to September for now, and will try to confirm a specific date after the results of testing next week. I'm sorry to disappoint anyone who's been waiting for release in August - I promise I'm going as quickly as I'm able. I can at least keep you updated on how things are going, so here's an overview of what I've been working on.

For the first time since 2022 I've been working on new vehicles: a rally hatchback, designed for dirt trails, and a GT3-style sports car, for higher speed and traction. Both are still WIP, so you'll only get these views from afar for now, but they're complete enough that I can confirm they'll be included in version 1. Like the existing vehicles, these will each have customisations available, both for style and tuning.

I've also altered the handling physics slightly for better control, especially when sliding/drifting on the off-road tracks. You can get a feel for this in the latest demo update, though be aware the Coupe isn't the best off-roader...

Besides vehicles, I've been working on a handful of UI and quality-of-life features, including:

• Finishing the music player for playing from local files or radio streams

• Profile statistics for distance travelled under different contexts

• Milestone achievements

• A non-slip steering option for easier driving

• An option for distance interval notifications

• Extra controls for graphics settings, including disabling all foliage

• Individual gear-select mappings to support shifters

• Improved UX for controllers

Finally, many kind volunteers have graciously offered to help with localisation, and thanks to them translation is underway for a number of languages. I can't yet confirm which languages those will be, but will likely include Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, and French, at least. I'll be updating the Steam page as new languages are finalised, so you'll be able to check there for confirmation nearer to release day.

The demo has been updated with a handful of changes to the engine, physics, and UI features. The same limitations are in place as before, but with a new road and a few extra tuning options for the Coupe. Full changes:

• Altered the road generation algorithm (meaning the demo road has changed)

• Altered steering/handling physics to improve feel and reduce loss of control

• Added a "non-slip steering" option which limits steer angle to help you retain traction

• Added gear-select input mapping, to support shifters - though multi-controller support is still in development

• Altered the audio system to hopefully reduce some of the crackling issues

• Added a "distance notification" feature to ping you after passing certain distance intervals (disabled by default)

• Added extra tuning settings for the Coupe

• Added extra graphics settings, including the ability to disable foliage

• Improved headlight shape/brightness, and the switch between high/low beams

• Improved UI audio a little

• Minor bug fixes and UI improvements

• Removed reference to some features that have been pushed to later updates, such as Fast Roads

Give it a try and let me know how it feels. If you're interested in testing future beta versions, you can switch the demo to the "staged" branch in the game properties on Steam, which is where the pre-release betas are tested. Join the Discord or post in the Steam forums to let me know your thoughts!

Thanks for reading, and apologies for pushing the date once more. Game dev is tough, especially as a solo developer, and the final tasks leading up to release somehow seem to never end. But they will end, and soon - I'll do my best to confirm the release date in the next news post.

See you there,

Anslo

Hey all,

The next location - a coastal road inspired by California's Pacific Coast Highway - is nearly finished, and release is looking set for August. I'll detail the roadmap for release at the end of the post - first, a preview of the new scenery and vehicles.

After spending years building the environment engine, I've finally been able to reap the fruit and refocus on the core goal of the project: making locations. This is the first true location I've worked on since initial release in 2022, and I'm really happy with how it's turning out. All that work preparing the engine to be flexible paid off; it's taken only a month of effort, with the broad strokes taking just a few days. The bulk of the time was spent developing the unique foliage systems needed for having brush coverage that looks naturally distributed and works at all view ranges. The trees also had some bespoke elements in their system design to streamline handling of the different variants - Coast Live Oaks, Jeffrey Pines, and a California Fan Palm. All of the foliage textures (besides the bark) are hand-drawn, and despite the time pressure it's been a joy to finally work on art again after so long.

The landscape is designed to mimic the California coast, with green mountains dividing ocean and desert. Foliage is richer and more lush closer to the water and in the valleys, but occasionally the road will wind up into the drier hills. The seed will determine whether you're heading "north" or "south", with an equal chance for either. Like with the other locations, there will also be options for off-road trails and single-lane roads. Those elements are still in development, but the goal is to capture the feel of an area like the roads through Tuna Canyon.

Overall, development for the Coast location went as smoothly as I could hope, and it gives me a lot of confidence for the locations that will be coming next. It's hard to choose which those will be, but the goal will be variety - something more mountainous or forested is likely. In any case, I can't wait to get back to work on it after release.

Like the Coupe, the existing Coach and Bike have had a revamp, with each receiving mirrors and getting rigged for customisation and tuning. In the next few days I'll be working on a couple of new vehicle models intended for the initial release, and will hope to show those off in the next post.

At the end of next week I'll be pausing work on new content and switching to focus on the final steps to release later in August. The temptation to keep adding new features to version 1.0 is strong, and I've been weak to it for the past few months, but with all these new features now sitting ready it's becoming hard to justify further delays. So, here's where I'm drawing the line - the last tasks before initial release will come down to this:

• Finalisation of the vehicles and US location

• Finalisation of the music player feature

• Profiles, stats, and achievements

• UI/UX polish and upgrades, especially for controllers

• Localisation

• Stability, testing, and polish

It feels really close now, and I'll be working as hard as I can to work through this list ASAP. I can't specify an exact release day just yet, but will confirm that in the next news post, along with pricing details.

While I have to set a boundary for version 1.0, development won't be stopping anytime soon - once the release is dealt with I'll be continuing through the list as usual, returning to a regular update schedule. The list is long, and priorities shift often, but currently the top items are:

• Day/night cycle support

• Rain and dynamic weather effects

• Highway variants of the existing locations (aka Fast Roads)

• New locations and landscapes

• Workshop support

Some of these had been targeted for the initial release, and I'm sorry to have to push them back, but rest assured I'm just as eager to develop them as you are to play them. This is the "fun stuff" I've been looking forward to all this time, and once the pressure of release is cleared, I'll be right back to work. And yes, these would all be free content updates added to the core game.

Thanks for reading, and thanks also to all who tried the demo so far and gave feedback - it's massively helped to get things in place for the full release. Despite the delays I'm feeling really happy with how development is going, and I can't wait to share the new stuff.

Not long now,

Anslo