Interviews Alan Boiston Interview’s Sir Stirling Moss

With the release of Forza Motorsport 2 VVV’s Alan Boiston was given the privileged opportunity to interview F1 legend Sir Stirling moss about the game and his career in Motor Sport, this is merely an edited version from that shown on TV but covers some of his impressions of the game. Suffice to say that gaming still has a long way to go to actually feel real but with the power of the 360 hardware this is a definite step forward for the genre.

 VVV: “50 years, where did it all begin? How did you get into it all in the first place?”

SM: “Over 60 years actually, I hate to tell you yes, just about that much. My father was a dentist and he raced himself my father raced at Brooklins and he went to Indianapolis. My mother was an ambulance driver in the First World War so I was brought up with cars so I learnt to drive on my fathers farm and went into competition in competitive motoring in 1947, and in 48 went to single seaters and sports cars, that lead on to Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3 and so on right through so that’s how it all evolved.”

VVV: “Well obviously you’ve been around a long time in real motor racing, have you ever tried any of the video games before?”

SM: “I have tried one a long time ago, not nearly as sophisticated as this the graphics of this are fantastic, the steering where is not quite the way I remember cars no.”

VVV: “No it still takes a bit of tuning to find the right setting, do any other racing drivers talk about video games or play games?”

SM: “Oh I think Lewis Hamilton certainly, and they have a £30 million computer down at McLaren where you can get on, a really amazing piece of kit! I haven’t seen it but I heard Mikka Hakkinen was driving it and thought he would try touching a curb and see what happens and it damn nearly broke his arm.“

VVV: “Wow!”

SM: “I mean it is a real feeling, it’s not a game.”

(VVV) “So its physically weighted wheel set-up?”

SM: “Absolutely!“

(VVV) “What do you think is the most striking aspect of the game you’ve seen so far?”

SM: “Frankly the quality of the way its done, the visual look of it is quite remarkable.”

(VVV) “Do you think it can involve real racing enthusiasts, really getting more of them into the genre?”

SM: “I think there certainly are people around who can get an idea of what’s its like, I mean you get far more out of this than any other product like this I seen? It’s not the same as driving obviously but it is a step towards it.”

VVV: “I think that’s an interesting point because a lot of video game teams now race online and work hard to gain official sponsors, but because of the lack of physical endurance do you think it’ll ever be taken seriously in motor racing circles?”

SM: “Oh I wouldn’t think so no, I mean a big part of racing is of the course is the physical exertion, the concentration, of course you need concentration in this too but the difference is until you get it tuned the way I understand from you it can be tuned it just doesn’t feel real, there’s too much oversteer.”

VVV: “Yeah there is a lot to tinker with and tune on the cars, now you’ve had a go on Laguna Seca, tried that in real life, how’d you find the in-game representation?”

SM: “I can tell you this, the graphics of it were absolutely stunning, I do know the circuit and I can tell you where I was and I could see it all as I remember it when I was racing there. Though I found it a lot easier to drive in real life than on the game because I kept going off (chuckles) but I would be interested to try it round the Norschelife if they have one.”

VVV: Have you raced at Laguna Seca competitively?

SM: Oh yes, I raced there competitively in my career and I still race there today sometimes, but I first went there in the early 50’s.

VVV: “Well you’ve played online and that’s one of your first times playing online, do you think it fires up the competitive juices, I mean if you were on the pace and you got good at it, do you think it would suck you in?”

SM: (chuckles) “If I got as you’ve lead me to believe some people can get with the same feel and so on then I would at the moment I’m too much of an amateur I don’t know enough and therefore it isn’t within my scope.”

VVV: “No, well I’m sure we can help you with that one, finally racing games are developing all the time, you’ve seen them developing all the time and they’re getting better and better. What would you like to see in racing games?”

SM: “Well what I would like to see is a better connection to the car because at the moment it just feels like there’s a time lag, it’s difficult to drive on the screen as you would in real life. So that’s the key aspect I would like to see them improve.”

VVV: “So better tuned handling with the wheel from the off, but overall Forza Motorsport 2 gets a thumbs up from you?”

SM: “It’s the best one I’ve seen yes, a definite step in the right direction.”

VVV: “Excellent, well Sir Stirling Moss on behalf of everyone at VVV, thank you very much for your time.”

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