Tag: Racing

‘Gran Turismo 6’ is Speeding Onto the PS3 This Holiday.

by Josh Jackson

After much speculation and rumors floating around about a new Gran Turismo title, a recent tweet by series creator Kazunori Yamauchi finally confirmed it.

“I’d like to announce today that we are developing GT 6 for the holiday season this year on the PlayStation 3,”

Gran Turismo 6 is promising to bring back the tracks and cars from GT 5 on top of the obvious new additions, all powered by a new graphics engine to make the races look even more photorealistic. But with the Playstation 4 so close to release, GT 6 would be a great way to bring in early adopters. Will it be making an appearance on the PS4? Possibly according to Yamauchi, once all of the planned monthly DLC is released on the PS3 so the game can take advantage of the larger install base.

Excited for the new racing simulator? Check out the reveal trailer and rev your engines as Gran Turismo 6 races onto the PS3 this holiday.

Watch A New Old Trailer For ‘Project C.A.R.S.’

by Derek Kraneveldt

Project C.A.R.S. looks ridiculous.

A new promotional video for the game/simulator has been released, showing off nothing but pre-alpha footage from older builds of the title. Really, it’s hard to believe that a video game can look this realistic. The lighting alone in this trailer is heads and shoulders above anything we’ve seen from a racing game before.

Check out the trailer below, and let us know when you pick your jaw up off the floor. Again, this is pre-alpha footage.

Project C.A.R.S. is set for release on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and PC on November 28.

Carmageddon Smashes Its Way Onto iOS App Store: Free For 24 Hours!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Whether you live in LA, or are just a fan of video games, you’ve likely heard the term Carmageddon. The former of course (I hear), is a crappy closure on a huge highway that TONS of people take daily. The latter was a well received (and highly controversial) racing game from 1997.  Here we’re talking about the one that sounds more fun.

You may have also heard news this past year that Carmageddon developer Stainless Games had plans to reboot the series. A successful Kickstarter was launched back in May, and the company will now be bringing a new vision of the series to modern machines. One of the cool bonuses for the crowd-funding going so well: an iOS port of the original title.

The game launched in the App Store (iTunes link to the game) just a couple of hours ago, and as a thank you to everyone who helped out, the game will be FREE for its first 24 hours of availability.

I never had an opportunity to play the game when it originally released (I was 7 and Mario Kart 64 was the only racing game I cared about), but from what I’ve read, the game is a rather faithful port of the 1997 title. Stainless Games did a fantastic job a supporting all of what iOS has to offer too: the game features full support for the newly released iPhone 5, will sync saves automatically via iCloud (THANK YOU), and more!

If you were a fan of the game, or are just looking for a neat piece of nostalgia (or want to see what all the bloody controversy that caused the game to be banned from many countries) was about! The price is right, and the port is excellent (though again, the game is from 1997, so feels rather clunky today).

Return to The Streets With GRiD 2

by Shane O'Hare

Today we got a tease. A tasty, tasty tease from CodeMasters. Today we get the announcement that they will be releasing a sequel to the crazy popular arcade racer, GRiD. Check out the brief, yet satisfying trailer below.

No other info has been released yet, but what I could find is that GRiD 2 will mark the release of the EGO 2.0 engine, which is a combination of the engine used in DiRT (Neon) and Operation Flashpoint (PhyreEngine). Which will allow CodeMasters to render high detailed damage models.

Now people speculate, one of them being myself, that this sudden teaser is a response to Turn 10’s Forza Horizon, which is a more arcade style racer than the heavy simulation of the other Forza games. Which game will rise to the top? Only time will tell. But any racing fan should be excited to see what comes out of this.

Geekscape Games Geek Peek Review: ‘Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends’

by MoreLikeAndy

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends wants to take you for a ride in some exotic cars and to give players a history lesson of the Ferrari brand. What I ended up getting was a lesson in bland and missed potential.

Coming off the successful Need for Speed: Shift and Shift 2: Unlimited, I was ready for Slightly Mad Games to bring the exceptional stylings put into those titles to Ferrari Racing Legends. Right away you get a bare bones menu system. Nothing but the video that was in the announcement trailer and two button prompts greet you when the game loads up. Jumping into the campaign, things were too monotonous. From the bland scenery to driving the same track over and over ad nauseum, I never wanted to fall asleep more than I did while at the wheel of Ferrari Racing Legends.

Even with all the driving aids turned on, the controls were so damn touchy that any mistake made meant starting the race over from the beginning. Having the A.I. in the game make all the turns perfectly on the lowest difficulty setting was a good way of mocking my inabilities to control the same cars they were driving. The one thing I was going to praise about the game was how in your face the engine sounds were. The sounds left an impression that this is what it would really sound like racing one of these fantastic exotic machines. That impression turned into that bothersome feeling you get when a bug is buzzing in your ear after an hour of playing.

Test Drive as a series never quite hit home for me. With most of the titles in the series, you could see something of a good racing game forming but the muck and grime of poor controls, bland environments and not enough diversity makes Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends stall before leaving the show floor.

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends Shows You What It’s Like To Drive Something You Can’t Afford, Ever

by MoreLikeAndy

Being a Lamborghini fan myself, I can’t deny that I had a Ferrari Testarossa poster taped to my wall in the late ’80s. With Atari’s Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends, I am curious as to my loyalty for Lamborghini and how it holds up today.

With 52 vehicles and a campaign mode that spans the whole history of Ferrari’s legacy, that should be more than an adequate ‘test’ of my loyalty.

 

Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends releases July 3rd, 2012 on PC, Xbox 360 & PS3

Geekscape Games Reviews Joy Ride Turbo

by jake108

We got our first glimpse of Joy Ride Xbox Live Arcade title a little over two years ago. At the time, it was a free-to-play title incorporating the use of our Avatars in an arcade-based racing world. Soon after, Microsoft revamped the title for Kinect use. Now, a year later, a controller-based port has arrived to the Xbox Live Arcade with an 800 Microsoft Point price tag. Is this joy ride worth the price?

Graphically, Joy Ride Turbo is a treat. Playing through each track was entertaining thanks to a few key components. Each race track comes with a variety of shortcuts leading to new portions of the track altogether. Gamers will also be treated to hidden collectables around the track, usually found in the shortcuts themselves. When racing on a map for the first time, it’s easy to overlook your competitors and instead focus on the track’s surroundings while performing back flips and barrel rolls with your vehicle.

Joy Ride Turbo comes with both single-player and multiplayer modes. While the modes aren’t plentiful, they are what is expected from an arcade racing title. Off the Main Menu, you’ll find:

Championship Series – Players choose from 100 HP to 300HP in an assortment of tracks that are mostly class-restricted.

Stunt Park – Players choose from 100 HP to 300 HP in an attempt to find every hidden car part and trophy, while collecting coins.

Aside from those, you also have the standard Quick Race option. On Xbox LIVE, you’ll find the options to race and visit stunt parks. My major gripe about this arcade title is the way matchmaking is set up. Unfortunately, when you enter a lobby, you are not able to invite any friends. Instead, you are forced to create a private match. This may prove to be a bit of a hassle, especially if you just want to invite one friend.

Joy Ride Turbo’s gameplay is solid. Players can drift, perform mid-air tricks, all of which goes towards your ability to boost. Just as in Mario Kart, players will also have the opportunity to  gain weapons and power-ups to use on the race track. With friends, these modes can be quite fun. Joy Ride Turbo supports up to 4-player split-screen, and up to 8 racers on Xbox Live.

Car customization only goes as far as changing the color. However, seeing your avatar racing is pretty great. If you’re into kart racing titles, definitely check out Joy Ride Turbo.

Joy Ride Turbo is available now for the Xbox Live Arcade!