Have you ever hoped you could get back to the glorious days of Demolition Derby and FlatOut, climb behind the wheel of your banged-up ride and once again wreck your way to the finish line and show who’s the boss? You’re not the only one. Over the years, we’ve been asked thousands of times when are we going to get back to our roots and make another racing game that would capture the same spirit of over-the-top action and reckless racing.

Next Car Game is going to bring those unforgettable moments up-to-date, throw in the mix vehicle upgrading and spice it all up with massive online races where players can battle it out with their tricked out bangers.

Bugbear's Next Car Game is all about fun, breakneck racing and over-the-top crashes. We don’t shy away from contact, and indeed, our in-house engine is all about what happens when cars collide with each other and the world around them at reckless speeds.

It’s motorsport, but not just any motorsport. It’s motorsport with attitude.

Expect epic crashes and tight, neck-to-neck fights over the finish line on run-down racing tracks. Expect proper, big demolition derbies. Expect brand new ways for metal to bend and the defining once-in-the-lifetime moments that can be achieved only with true-to-life physics simulation.

Bugbear has launched the latest update for Next Car Game is available on Steam!

The definite highlights of the update include the brand new Figure 8 derby race event and the classic American Sedan car, but the updayte also contains major new features like varying weathers for events and a variety of upgrade parts for all cars. There’s also a hefty amount of other improvements and bug fixes.

The latest update also included a new cinematic camera, designed for taking snazzy screenshots of the game. Our creative community members have already been busy, embracing the new feature to capture the best of our game. To be honest, they’re doing a much better job than us! To see a selection of their amazing work as well as read what’s been going on at our studio this week, read our latest weekly report on our blog.

Tracks:
* New Figure 8 derby race event.
* All race tracks now have a reverse layout as well.
* Lap and AI counts are now fully customizable for each event.
* Tarmac track: start area rehauled, tarmac textures reworked, last sector redecorated.
* Gravel track: textures reworked, track surface visuals updated.
* New birches for both tarmac and gravel track.
* General polishing and bug fixing.

Weathers:
* Three new weathers: bright day, cold morning and warm sunset.
* A random weather is selected to an event at startup.

Dynamic environment objects:
* Tire stacks now have more weight to them for added realism.
* Reduced concrete barrier friction to prevent the car from spinning.

Vehicles & Upgrading:
* New car: American Sedan (no high detail dashboard yet).
* Steering wheels now rotate in cockpit camera.
* Texture/model improvements and bug fixes.
* Increased European hatchback engine power.
* Reworked European hatchback handling.
* New engine backfire effect.
* Improved differential simulation.
* New gearbox, drivetrain, suspension and brake upgrade parts.
* New paint jobs for cars to choose from.
* Driving model improvements.

Driving assists:
* Assists now have three levels of strength: ‘Off’, ‘Half’ and ‘Full’, with ‘Off’ and ‘Half’ being the same as earlier ‘Off’ and ‘On’ and ‘Full’ offering an even more assisted driving experience.

Cameras:
* New screenshot camera mode with zoom factor and yaw, pitch and roll parameters, designed for taking screenshots with free camera and hidden HUD. In the screenshot mode, it’s possible to rotate the camera as well as adjust the field-of-view, and by accessing Effect Mode, you can adjust the Depth-of-Field (DOF) parameters to your liking. There’s no dedicated button for taking a screenshot yet, so you need to use an external application or PrintScreen button.
* Brought back spherical camera from the technology demo, it’s available only in camera mode at least for now.
* Implemented another chase camera further back according to the feedback.
* Tweaked European hatchback chase camera.

Damage:
* Fixed engine component damage calculation in HUD so that the engine icon will better represent the actual damage.
* Removed red damage direction indicators from HUD based on a general request.
* Fixed an issue with gameplay damage not being calculated correctly when near death.
* Further balancing of gameplay damage and visual damage – a completely reworked system will be introduced in the future.

Garage:
* Reworked many textures.
* Added some nice decorative elements.
* Tweaked interior and yard decoration.
* Tweaked lighting.

Gameplay:
* Derby AI: tactical reverse mode now considers engine location more efficiently.
* Removed speed sensitive steering when using a steering wheel.
* Implemented further balancing tweaks to AI profiles and handling.
* Implemented start position randomization (for player as well).

User interface:
* Binding the Logitech G27 button 7 etc. will no longer result in exiting the settings menu.
* Loading screen will now show a background based on the event you’re playing instead of a generic one.
* Game is now paused and input suspended while Steam overlay is active.

Input:
* DirectInput gamepads should now work and are also remappable.
* Improved controller settings to reduce steering lag.

Render:
* Fixed a bug where VSync was not able to recover back to 60 fps when temporarily dipping to 30 fps.

Audio:
* Engine damage sound effect is now linked to actual engine damage instead of car health.