Now for what sounds to me like the most exciting gameplay change for FIFA 14: realistic ball physics. EA Vancouver has researched the way footballs drag, curve and spin, and found FIFA 13 had it all wrong. The drag coefficient, apparently, was too linear, which means there was linear deceleration - that is, the ball didn't move much at all. The flight of the ball was dull.
In real life, of course, the ball moves all over the place - think a Ronaldo freekick that dips and swerves before crashing into the net. FIFA 14 hopes to simulate this with a non-linear drag coefficient.
In gameplay terms, players can now strike the ball harder and put more spin on passes and shots. You can now perform curling lofted through balls - a surprising first for the series. When it comes to finishing, you might get a low-rising shot - Steven Gerrard's speciality, a turbulent shot that moves in the air, or perhaps a dipping shot - Gareth Bale's trademark. There are no input commands for these shots. They are emergent, governed by the simulation and the context of the shot and designed to make players "feel the motion of scoring great goals".
"It's fundamentally just how you kick the ball," Channon tells us. "It's not a forced thing. Because the drag was wrong on the ball, we were getting a very flat trajectory. The ball wasn't spinning very much. As soon as you start adding spin you get that. It's a natural behaviour."
We've heard the likes of "real ball physics" before from game makers in the run up to the release of new entries in annual sports series, of course, and I'm mildly concerned that the new ball physics could result in hilarity in much the same way the Player Impact Engine did when that was first introduced, but its addition is coming from the right place: the desire to make goals more interesting and realistic.
