The closure of Project Gotham Racing and Blur developer Bizarre Creations was a cruel blow for fans of things what drive fast. If that wound has healed now, here, jab at the scar by watching prototype footage of a new engine and new racer Bizarre was working on when Activision shut the studio down, shared by former art director Chris Davie.
Though Davie doesn't say what the game was, it does look quite a bit Blur-y. The first video he shared is from a prototype built with tech and assets from the arcade racer, showing off some experimental exaggerated effects and a revamped version of a Blur power-up.
The second video is jolly exciting, from later in development and showing off a level set in the streets--and on the buildings of--Dubai.
"We were using a whole new engine at this point that had been developed internally, it was really nice tech that we sadly never got to ship a game with," Davie explained. "When we were told the project was being canned and that the studio was facing closer, I bloody mindedly decided to keep working on the art on this track, so much work had gone into the game already, it seemed a shame that nobody would get to play a finished track, even the dev team, so my goal was to get this Dubai track as close to final as I could before the lights went out for good."
Sadly, the track wasn't quite finished before Bizarre shut its doors. Davie added, "It's a shame this thing will never be played, but at least it still lives on in some way in these videos."
Several months after closing Bizarre, Activision commented, "The decision had as much to do with our assessment of what was happening to the racing genre as it had to do with anything specific to Bizarre. We just didn't think that was the best place for us to put our competitive energies. The racing genre had shrunk, pretty precipitously." Boo.