Hello Timeless Racers!

We’ve worked hard these last few months to be able to release the Alpha 0.0.4 update, improving what was in the Alpha 0.0.3 version thanks to your valuable feedback, while also adding new features!

Let’s discover this update!

Improvements

• Steering has been adjusted to have a better feel.
• The RWD drivetrain has been adjusted so it can better be driven. It is still the most challenging drivetrain to master, but it should be less frustrating than before.
• Automatic acceleration calculation has been changed for cars that cannot go up to 100 km/h. Instead of a time that simulates an “infinite” last gear until 100 km/h, the acceleration time will be from 0 to the max speed. For the other cars, the acceleration time is still from 0 to 100 km/h.
• Sound volume has been adjusted overall, you won’t become deaf anymore.
• Engine sound has been changed to correspond just a bit better to the real Dacia Duster. This, of course, will be further improved in future updates.
• Respawn behaviour has been improved overall, and made more responsive. If you’re completely stuck you can still reload the map via the main menu.
• Chase camera has been revamped and is now way more dynamic, giving a better impression of speed, even with a slow car like the Dacia Duster. If you improve the stats of the car, it will feel even faster!
• Improved general day/night lighting. Now, night time is way darker so you should be more aware of where you drive.

New features

• Car damage has been added. It is visual, but also “mechanical”; cars now have “Health Points” depending on their weight. A heavier car has more HP and can crash a lot more than a light car. As a reminder though, heavy cars steer and brake less as well; so it will be up to you to choose durability over performance, or the opposite.
• Racing Life is now… a proper racing game! While you’re still the only active driver on the map (for now!) you’ll be able to test your skills around the DevMap in a time trial game mode. A medal will be given depending on your performance; feel free to share us your best times! Medals don’t unlock anything for now. Be aware of your driving, because if you crash too often, your car will be destroyed and you will have to retry the race! There are 6 races in total; for most of them you’ll need to select a specific car to be able to participate.
• An experimental saving system has been implemented. Be aware, with every update the save will be deleted!!! We do it because we might want to save different things in the game from one update to another, this will avoid problems when you’ll switch versions. Saving is automatic, and the file is stored in “AppData/LocalLow/Racing Life Dev/Racing Life/gameSave.json”; delete this file if you want to start over. This currently keeps track of your best times for each time trial, as well as the color you’ve selected for each vehicle. Wait… “Each” vehicle?!
• Yes, you’ve read it properly. For the very first time since Racing Life’s first version back in 2019, you can now drive another car! And what better car to represent Racing Life than the 1908 Ford Model T? With only 20 horsepower, it is a VERY slow car; but it is very representative of the performance of the cars of that time. Unless we change our minds, this will be your very first car in the carreer mode, when you’ll arrive on the island in the 1910’s. So it is a good idea to try and master it, especially in the new time trials!
• Having a second car is nice, but you have to select it somehow, right? We didn’t want to make a classic menu where you’d choose a car in a list. We rather wanted you to feel the kind of experience we want to offer in Racing Life. This is why we’ve implemented the “garage mode”; by going into the main menu you can change your car by walking in a (placeholder) garage, and look at the cars a bit closer than usual. Once you’ve settled on the car you want to drive, look at it and confirm your choice with the left click! Walk with WASD on the keyboard and look around by moving the mouse.

We hope you will enjoy trying to get all gold medals in this version!