High Speed VR Racing: Hands On With Radial-G

When I tried to see Radial-G at Rezzed it was impossible to get anywhere near the booth. While I was fairly certain the VR version of this F-Zero like racer would cause my motion sickness to flip out, the developers, Tammeka Games, reached out over Twitter to tell me I’d be fine. However, every time I tried to get near the booth the next day I was met by a large queue, or large by Rezzed standards anyway. Having played the game now, it’s clear why.

The basic premise of Radial-G is high speed hover racing around tubes that twist and turn far more than your average race track would. While it seems a simple idea at first, the sheer complexity of the tracks counters that notion quickly, and the 3D nature of the track forces you to reevaluate much of what you know about how to race.

Finding the racing line is no longer just about taking a corner correctly, it’s about finding exactly which side of the tube the corner’s on. I found myself trying to look ahead far more often than I do in ordinary racers, prepping myself to spin around to the other side of the course to take the corner properly.

There’s also boost pads to be taken into consideration as your wind your way through Radial-G’s courses, as well as blockers that will ruin your high speed runs. The game doesn’t feature weapons of any form though, and I’m glad for that. As Mario Kart so ably demonstrates, weapon pickups are incredibly difficult to balance, and move a game away from being a simple test of skill.

However, there is a rather neat mechanic with shields. While weapons might not be part of the game, collisions with the aforementioned blockers and other racers very much are, so you’ll want your shields available to you. What’s smart about the system is the fact you can trade it in for boost. If you find yourself lagging behind your fellow racers then all that’s required is the tap of button and you’ll find yourself surging forwards, sacrificing your shields in the process.

There are areas where you can recharge your shields, but the question is can you get there before you’re shields are completely depleted and you’re wiped out? The system adds a mild tactical layer to the affair, much like deciding when the best time to take a pit stop is, and it’s a feature I frequently used to my advantage.

What really sets Radial-G apart though is its use of VR. You can certainly play the game on a monitor if you haven’t managed to get your hands on an Oculus Rift just yet, but it’s very clear that the game is designed to be played with a VR headset. Although the latest update to the Steam Early Access version of the game will let you play from a third person viewpoint on a monitor, if you head into VR then the game locks you into the cockpit, and it’s all the better for it.

Although I’ve played a few things on the Oculus Rift before playing Radial-G, I’d never played anything that sat you inside a fully realised cockpit before. The immersion it brings is fabulous, with the headset’s head tracking doing wonders to keep the game’s reality firmly locked in place. It’s the little things like looking down at your legs or being able to glance out of the side window to check for opponents that makes all the difference.

The cockpit view is one of several things that Tammeka Games have done to mitigate any motion sickness, and I’m happy to say that it works remarkably well. To be clear, I get motion sick incredibly easily (funfair teacups have utterly defeated me multiple times), yet after about a minute or so of getting myself reorientated to the game’s new world there wasn’t any hint of dizziness or a flutter in my stomach as it voiced its displeasure.

I talked to the game’s producer, Sam Watts, about this element of the game’s design, and he gave me a quick overview of what they’ve done to try and stop any hint of motion sickness, with the cockpit view being at the top of the list.

He pointed out some markings on the ship’s canopy that essentially frame our view of the world. While they’re nicely contextualised, they’re also designed to give you something in the foreground to focus on at all times, with their design almost mimicking an artificial horizon. It has to be an artificial one, as the game tries to eschew real horizons as part of its war on motion sickness.

As for how it plays in VR, it’s a complete joy. It’s by far the best way to play the game, not just from an aesthetic point but also from a gameplay perspective. It certainly looks wonderful in VR, and there’s a real feeling of exhilaration that comes from seeing the track flying under you at break neck speeds.

It’s also incredibly useful to be able to look around and see where the track is heading next. Even though I only played the game in VR for a short period, I already found myself making use of the head tracking to get a look at what was coming up next.

In terms of modes, the game has the standard online and local play that you’d expect, and races are set up with speed class settings that are similar to Mario Kart. There’s both normal races and time trials, as well as elimination races. There’s also death races, where all shield recharging is disabled; use it up and you’re done for.

If you’ve got a gaming PC and are a fan of F-Zero or WipEout then it’s more than worth checking out the Steam Early Access version of Radial-G right now, particularly if you’ve splashed out on an Oculus headset.

On the other hand, if you’re a console only gamer than Tammeka Games are planning on getting the game onto the Xbox One and PS4 sometime in late 2015. As for Sony’s Morpheus headset, it’s something that’s currently being investigated, although no formal plans have been made yet.