Updated 23 May, 2012, 6:39 pm IST

Streets of Mumbai Interview

15 Apr, 2008, 2:00 pm IST | by Avinash Bali

An exclusive interview with Trine Studios gives us the lowdown on illegal street racing... in Mumbai!

How many times have you played a racer and thought it would be really cool if it took place in your own city so you could drive past familiar locations? Well, someone at Trine studios has been thinking of just this, and their next game is a racer that takes place on the streets of Mumbai. It's called, uh, Streets of Mumbai (SoM).

Today we scored an exclusive interview with Trine’s Managing Director Somil Gupta, who gave us the lowdown on illegal street racing in Mumbai. Exclusive screenshots and information ensue...

For starters, why don't you tell us how Streets of Mumbai was born?
When we formed Trine we started looking into the market as to which genres were most popular in India, and as expected they turned out to be Racing, Strategy (RTS) and First Person shooters (FPS). But racing was by far the most popular of all, so we were like "why not make a racing game based on and within India"? And since we are based out of Mumbai, why not zero in on the streets of amchi Mumbai?

So you guys went around Mumbai clicking pictures of various landmarks/hotspots?
Yes. First we mapped out all the roads we would be covering using Google maps, and then our team hit the streets clicking pictures of all the major landmarks and popular infrastructure. We’ve also included major landmarks that are still under construction, such as the Bandra-Worli sealink.

Sweet! So I'll actually be able to drive past my house if I stay in a prominent area like Marine Drive or Bandra?
Yup, you sure will.

What kind of vehicles can we expect in the game? Can we expect vehicular damage in SoM?
We have designed our own cars that do look pretty similar to the cars you see on the streets of Mumbai. Expect luxury cars, SUVs, sports cars etc. As and when you crash, you’ll see the body getting damaged, but it will not affect performance since we wanted to keep this game arcadish.

What engine have you used for this game?
SoM is based on our own proprietary technology called "TRI3D". We’ve been working on this technology for over three years now.

Can this be used in, say, an action game or an FPS as well?
The graphic and sound engine can be used in any category, but the AI and Physics would need to be tweaked depending on the game.

People are going to draw comparisons between Streets of Mumbai and the Need for Speed series. What according to you is the one distinguishing factor between them?
Well, in Streets of Mumbai you feel like you're at home; you know, driving through crazy traffic where no one follows the rules and animals like dogs and cows freely roam the streets!

So will I be able to run these animals over at high speeds?
Yes, if you’re lucky, because the engine is designed in such a way that these animals run away as and when they see a car coming towards them.

Nice. No need to have Maneka Gandhi giving you grief, eh?
Yeah.