The roar of Tom Burt's Tesla |
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The roar of Tom Burt's Tesla
Microsoft exec Tom Burt in his Roadster.
Tech geeks who love cars and video games will get a kick out of this. Microsoft executive Tom Burt -- the proud owner of a Tesla Roadster for the past eight months -- put his new sports car to the test last month "all in the interests of better gaming experiences for the masses." Tough assignment, huh?
Not for Burt, a self-described "car guy" who competes in the Sports Car Club of America.
The corporate vice president and deputy general counsel at Microsoft was asked if he would be interested in spending a day in his Roadster providing some of the sounds for upcoming driving games for Microsoft Game Studios. Burt said he jumped at the chance to offers some tire skids, squeals and engine noises to games such as Forza and Project Gotham Racing.
Burt wrote about the experience in this blog post at Tesla Motors. Here's an excerpt, and make sure to listen to the audio clips (here and here) which sound kind of like a jet taking off.
"We did tight circles just fast enough to keep the tires howling continuously for 30 seconds or so. The team then asked for very faint continuous squeals that they could use in games and simulators to audibly indicate when the edge of adhesion was approaching. More tight circles, with just a bit less [what — Throttle? No. Accelerator? Awkward. Right foot?] did the trick. The Roadster handled very predictably in these skid pad exercises. It was easy to use the … right foot… to make minor adjustments to the turning radius while keeping a consistent tire squeal. More right foot and the stock front tires – before pushing out of the turn – would eventually yield a loud “shudder” while squealing that the sound team really liked and had not heard before."
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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