Launching a new video game has never felt more precarious. It doesn’t matter if it’s received prime placement in a major awards show, has journeyed through early access, or is a sequel to a genre-leading sensation, things can always go a bit off the rails. That’s what happened to Rennsport, a sim racer with a fair bit of promise as it went through public testing, but where changing plans and reality set in at launch.
Marco Ujhasi co-founder and co-CEO of Competition Company admitted that “Of course you want to to deliver great product, want to get applause everywhere, and so on, but I learned a very, very, very important lesson in motorsport and I’m very grateful that an experienced colleague told me that when I was thrown into that, and he said, “The most important thing is that you and your team judge the performance you did, and then you look at the officially visible result and the comments on it.” This helped me in racing and this was also something I said to the guys when we got the reviews. This is not a product which should be judged only on the race, but maybe in 10 or 15 years.”
So where did it go wrong? The game arrived at launch with two main problems: a low number of cars and tracks compared to rivals in relation to the price tag, and with some truly shonky AI drivers that barely knew how to get around corners.
“At a certain point, you have to release, and we said, ‘okay, the idea is game as a service, which means we [can] release.’ So that was a plan, but then we saw the opportunity with the console, and console not only means [meeting] the technical capabilities, but you cannot release on console without singleplayer.
“But this was a few months of development to have the championships in the current state, also with the AI, all of what we talked about today. So, yeah, at the end, now, I would say we were not ready. […] It was maybe a bit of a misjudgement about what was needed, and especially when you put a price tag on it which was too high for what you deliver. It’s minus and minus. This doesn’t work.”
The positive here is that Competition Company is in the place where they can keep on pushing ahead and build on the technical basis and driving model that they already have.
“A cross platform, online multiplayer game is the most complex thing you can do. And especially in racing, it is maybe even more complex because the other genres do not operate on such a demanding physics. So to be capable to develop that is premium for a team, and on top of that, enabling such close racing between all the platforms where we need to sync everything and so on? This is an achievement. This is nothing that you can sell, but this is technically so demanding and this is what we delivered, and this is the part where we can be proud.”
As has now been outlined, there’s a lot happening for Rennsport through 2026. The first step is a major price adjustment to bring value better in line with content – unrelated to this, the publishing partnership with Nacon that helped to bring the game to consoles has been terminated and it will now be self-published. March will see the first batch of paid DLC, free content and game updates, and this will be followed month-by-month with more.
“It’s not just about the content, but also giving more reason to play. If you play on your own, if you virtually or on demand race against others, if you have something with your friends or if you go into the into the online multiplayer, we offer you a path if you want to walk through and develop, but we also give you the choice to just jump in. This is one part and giving you a reason also means, okay, why should I spend time in there?
“So this is why we why we changed the system of the [single player] championships. You also saw that we will integrate some one make series for manufacturers, so there’s a purpose of racing on our service as well.
“Step by step, we will hopefully get enough interesting stuff, maybe also some funny stuff at a certain point. So, yeah, why should we be there? I guess it’s fun and serious at the same time.”
Placing obstacles or making A-to-B races could be the foundations for new gameplay mods.
Some of that fun stuff will come from the plans to release modding tools, starting with track modding through the second half of 2026 – see more about that here – but another key lynchpin to this will be the redeveloped AI. We’ve seen a number of different approaches to this over the years, with machine learning having been used by some titles, abstracted player avatars, even drivers with names and distinct personalities. I was curious about Rennsport’s new approach.
“So in general, in racing, and this is then also the baseline for the AI thinking, the ruleset is pretty clear. What is the ruleset? You have tyre limits, you have to operate within those track limits – more or less at least – and in between those track limits, there is an ideal line and something can force you to not be on the ideal line. So, in general, this is racing. And when you do one lap in that case or from A to B in the shortest possible time, you win.
“You can describe it more complicated, but at the end it is exactly like this. And what would a classical machine learning system do within that?
“For the principle functionality, you don’t need that because the pattern is clear, no pattern needs to be identified, nothing. Where it’s getting interesting, because this you can programme, […] is that we are really simulating driver inputs to stay within those boundaries. And this enables us then, like [Lead Gameplay Programmer Rikard Häggström] also described, over time to make that part more flexible, more human, or whatever the right description is.”
“With those variables in, I think we have a pretty good idea, also with my background. What are the variables? A human being is dealing with. So somebody is more good in this, more good in that, more skilled in this. So one is breaking later than the other, for example. So in those parameters, if you first of all, have them separated, that you can tune them separated.”
“And on top of that, when you have that separation, then a bit of the machine learning comes in because then you can observe what’s specific people are doing, and you can try to imitate that.”
It’s certainly an interesting for the specific AI approach to be discussed in this detail, and stronger AI will make for a much stronger single player experience. Of course, it’s obviously worth remembering that so much of Rennsport’s initial plan and expectations for the future will remain with the online multiplayer, paths it can provide to pro esports racing, and embracing the modding community. The next few months will be key to getting Rennsport back on track, but the ambition here and the long-term plans are exciting and optimistic for what’s possible.
