Evolution Studios’ Paul Hollywood revels in the job title of Creative Lead. A shaven-headed extrovert, he could, frankly, talk for England, so it’s always a pleasure to interview him. We managed to grab him at the recent PlayStation Day, and here are the insights into the forthcoming MotorStorm: Pacific Rift that he delivered.

Q: What’s new in MotorStorm: Pacific Rift?

PH: Well, we’ve kept all the fun bits, and added to it. We didn’t want to break the core and, obviously, with MotorStorm, we were working for the PlayStation 3 launch, so there were going to be a few things we didn’t manage to get into the game. Like split-screen racing.

Q: Which I can see you have, with two players on the left and right of the screen?

PH: And we’ve got four-player split-screen, although we’re not showing it today. Split-screen racing is great, and I’ve got aspirations to make it a really good party mode.

Q: Another new feature which stood out was the influence of the vegetation and the environment. As you’ve made a virtual island, rather than recreated Monument Valley this time, did you find that liberating?

PH: It was a bit but, to be honest, we didn’t really create Monument Valley – it was still a MotorStorm track with a beautiful, iconic background. Pacific Rift is quintessentially Hawaii, but we’ve taken all the best bits and shoved away the things that we didn’t want like hula and Elvis. In any MotorStorm environment, we have a large amount of creative freedom to do what we want to do – to create the unique multi-route tracks that define the game.

Q: What’s the starting-point when you design a new track? Obviously, MotorStorm’s trademark is having tracks with very different characteristics.

PH: That’s right: we’ve elaborated on that even further. The first thing we wanted to do was put in a new location – Monument Valley was a bit of a passive location; it was just red rock. Which was good for us on a launch title, but now we think we can do so much more. So, in Pacific Rift, we’ve got 16 tracks, and those tracks have got loads of tension between them. You’ve got water tracks, vegetation tracks, high-altitude tracks and you’ve got volcanic ones. They’re not mutually exclusive – there are elements that are in all the tracks. As a starting-point, we picked an area when we went on the reference trip to Hawaii that we earmarked as ideal. We use that as our backdrop, then we start generating the different mechanics that the track is going to throw back at us, like the vegetation or the water. Then we start crafting our multi-route gameplay. That process takes months to get the balance right. A MotorStorm track is not just one track – it’s eight tracks in one.

Q: And, of course, it’s about the vehicle classes, with the bikes up top and the trucks down below. But now you’ve got monster trucks: what do they bring to the game?

PH: Monster trucks are cool, because you can completely destroy other vehicles by driving over them and crushing them.

Q: Can you drive over trucks in them?

PH: No, you can’t – the unstoppable big rig is still unstoppable. Each vehicle class has positive and negative characteristics – for example, the bike is fast but vulnerable. The monster truck is good in a straight line, not so good at taking the corners, but it’s really good at taking out other vehicles.

Q: And there are twice as many tracks in Pacific Rift?

PH: Yeah. We listened to the community and people said that there weren’t enough tracks in the first MotorStorm. Through downloadable content, we created 12 tracks for MotorStorm but, still, it was a console launch title, and we would have liked to have made more tracks. Starting on Pacific Rift we said: “Right, let’s have twice as many.” There are black volcanic tracks, deep jungle tracks and even a track set in an old abandoned sugar refinery – it’s like a first-person shooter.

Q: And presumably the physics engine will be in even fuller effect this time around?

PH: Oh yes – we give Havok a run for its money. We’ve improved every aspect: there are brand-new rag-dolls, brand-new physics collision stuff, improved driving models and a lot more destructible objects on the trucks. Those destructible objects help create danger and unpredictability.

Q: We saw in the demo a tower falling down on drivers.

PH: As you’re driving, we’ll fire a vehicle into the tower’s support, and it will come down across the track, so you’ll have to negotiate the debris. I don’t want to give too much away, but we also have an unexploded sea-mine on the beach, and as you drive past, we’ll fire one of the vehicles into it, so it explodes. If you’re driving past too close, you’ll get taken out.

Q: What’s the best aspect of making the second version of the game, given that you’ve got to grips with the technology and aren’t struggling to finish it in time for the PS3’s launch?

PH: It helps building on something that you already have. But I’ll tell you, when we started building MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, the first thing we wanted was split-screen racing. But our technology was all based on single-viewport, so we had to break everything to get the split-screen working. We learned our craft with MotorStorm, and now we’re perfecting it with MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.

Q: Will we see any new online modes?

PH: Yes.

Q: Any hints as to what they will be?

PH: Not yet – we’re keeping our powder dry at the moment.

Q: But Pacific Rift will be ready for Christmas?

PH: Yes. We are launching in Autumn 2008