RipTen Videogame Blog » Cars

Forza 4 “American Le Mans Series Pack” Available Today

Sam Naylor — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:30:49 +0000

A new DLC pack for Forza 4, the “American Le Mans Series Pack”, is available from today.

The car pack focuses- as you might expect- on Le Mans cars, but there are some others in the mix too. A modified luxury car, an “E3 award winner,” and some proper old fashioned muscle are also in the lineup:

·         2011 #2 Audi Sport North America R18 TDI: Featuring a closed cockpit design (the first such Audi Le Mans car fielded in more than 10 years), the R18 is a marvel of modern racing design. Featuring a lighter materials and a premium on aerodynamic efficiency, it’s little wonder the R18 TDI brought home top honors during the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans.
·         2011 Panoz #050 Panoz Racing Abruzzi: A five hundred horsepower engine that will feel right at home tearing down the straights of Le Mans, the Panoz Racing Abruzzi’s tusk-like front end marries unique styling with impressive performance.
·         2010 Dodge Quinton “Rampage” Jackson Challenger SRT8: Owned by UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, this 2010 Dodge Challenger SRT8 is one of the most aggressive-looking cars ever seen in the Forza Motorsport series. With red and black rims that need to be seen to be believed, this Challenger will turn heads in Forza 4 the moment the race begins.
·         1991 Mazda #55 Team Mazdaspeed 787B: One of the most unique sounding cars in Forza 4, the Wankel rotary engine-equipped 787B is also legendary for its performance. It won the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans race and the model was soon retired after FIA rules changes subsequently banned the use of Wankel-type rotary engines.
·         2011 Bentley Platinum Motorsports Continental GT: This Bentley Continental GT features a widebody construction that was custom created by Los Angeles-based Platinum Motorsports. The Continental GT looks great and features some serious power underneath the hood—two factors that contributed it to being selected as Forza Motorsport’s “E3 2011 Car of Show”.
·         1986 #2 Audi Sport quattro S1: Introduced in 1985 as a Group B rally entrant, this was the car that put Audi’s rallying program on the map. One of the most powerful Group B cars ever made, the quattro S1 held multiple hill climb world records in its day and is still widely regarded as one of the most incredible race cars Audi has produced.
·         1992 Alfa Romeo 155 Q4: A “compact executive” with the heart of a touring car, the 155 Q4 features a 2.0 liter turbocharged engine capable of 187 horsepower and an all-wheel drive drivetrain.
·         1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R: Long sought after by Forza’s Mustang fans, the 1995 Ford Mustang Cobra R is big and beefy American muscle at its finest. Its SVT-modified 5.8 liter Windsor V8 pumps out 300 horsepower and plenty of torque. The car’s legendary status is further enhanced by its rarity—just 250 Cobra R models were produced.
·         2011 Holden HSV GTS: More power, better handling, and new technology are all hallmarks of Holden’s 2011 HSV GTS. The car’s MRC suspension brings a responsive ride in the corners that, when coupled with the 6.2 liter V8, makes the GTS a joy to drive.
·         2011 Volkswagen Polo GTI: A great-looking hatchback with surprising grit underneath the hood, the 2011 Polo GTI packs a 1.4 liter twin charged engine combining both a turbocharger and a supercharger, belting out an impressive 177 horsepower in a compact size.

The pack is available from Xbox Live for 560 Microsoft Points.

Twisted Metal Proves to be Twisted Fun (Hands On)

Todd Schlickbernd — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:00:12 +0000

Twisted Metal is the oldest Sony-exclusive franchise in all of Sony-exclusive franchise history and yet it hasn’t properly graced the cirsp Blu-ray diskiness of the PlayStation 3. Well clearly Eat Sleep Play has merely been biding its time until the climate was perfect for a new Twisted Metal because this one feels like the car combat game everyone has been waiting for. Vehicles defy reality, twisting and drifting to the player’s whim, combat is fast-paced and intense, and the destruction and mayhem is absolutely top notch. There are some minor hiccups, some of which are probably more of an issue to Twisted Metal fans than those who have never played a Twisted Metal game, but overall this is a game to keep your eye on.

Ever since humans first dreamt they could drive large blocks of metal, they wished they could smash them into other blocks of metal, or perhaps blow them up with all sorts of weaponry, but feared the social impact of having so many deaths on a daily basis. In comes video games, gateway to awesome things unattainable in real life, and with it, the car combat genre. Somehow this genre is one of the most difficult things to make work. You’d think it’d be super easy, like… cars + bombs = win, right? Not right. There’s a million ways to implement the idea of car combat, some use racing, some use deathmatch, some are top-down view, and some… are Twisted Metal. Twisted Metal has always been the epitome of a car combat game, the game other car combat games base themselves off of, and this iteration is no different.

Traditionally Twisted Metal has been an arena-style car combat game and it still is. However, in the past each car had a character attached to it (along with a car-unique special weapon) and everybody had to fight over which character they were going to play, though “everybody” only extended to four human players and bots. This time around, there’s a rather robust multiplayer mode which supports up to 16 players and the game has changed to accommodate this. Now, there are several factions to choose from, four of which are available in the demo, along with any vehicle and basic weapon combination when preparing to play a game of Twisted Metal. While each vehicle still has a unique special, multiple players can pick the same vehicle now, which is super cool. Last of the real big gameplay changes is the inclusion of the helicopter vehicle which freely flies about the sky wreaking mayhem and being generally difficult to target, but short to stay alive.

The demo itself has both a single player experience with bots and two online modes including Deathmatch, a timed kill-everybody-athon, and Nuke, a team based capture-the-flag plus sort of deal. Fearing my Twisted Metal skills were suspect after not having played since Twisted Metal: Black (like nine years ago), I opted to play some single player first. The initial controls completely eluded me, but thankfully there are plenty of control styles because just about every button on the controller is used in this game. After figuring out what button does what, I settled in and quickly started to enjoy myself.

Cars are fast, even slow cars are pretty fast, especially with turbo, and yet a sort of “break reality drift” button allows cars to take ridiculous turns and operate with the precision necessary to even dream of hitting anybody with the myriad of projectile death-causers in this game. That mechanic is really the anchor to this game that makes it playable, enjoyable and not the slightest bit frustrating or difficult to play. The gameplay strategy of weaving in and out of battles still exists, taking time to stock up on weapons and entering battles when it’s feasible. Demoltion derby or not, there’s still strategy to this game. The only time the core mechanics get in the way of themselves is targeting, without a way to manually target or switch targets (as far as I found) sometimes the game locks on to the wrong target and that Reaper (fragile motorcycle) gets away with no health while you target that Darkside (beefy semi) and she laughs at you. While that can be frustrating, those issues only exist with the homing weapons, and there are plenty of non-homing weapons to use.

On that subject, the available arsenal is pretty fantastic. The addition of passenger-used weapons like the sniper rifle and shotgun are awesome. Both are special-case weapons (polar opposites in range) but they can be very useful for securing kills both in and out of the mayhem. The traditional weapons return with the power missiles, swarmers, homing and fire missiles, and they’re all super fun to use and remain a staple in every combat situation. There are a couple items including a remote bomb and RC-C4 Car which use a pop-up cam when fired off into the distance to monitor if there are enemies in its blast radius. User interface-wise, weapons with areas of effect do different are qualified when the damage notification pops up, saying “Napalm Close: 30 Damage” versus “Napalm Far: 10 Damage”, same with shotguns etc. While not crucial to gameplay, it does help give the player an idea of how they need to lead their target and judge space within the universe.

Game mode wise, every mode was super awesome fun times, but each had a bit of a hiccup that was a tad frustrating. The single player mode in the demo is elimination style and, while totally fine in theory, can be frustrating because like most games with cars the AI makes a habit of making sure it’s around you at all times. Most every game I finished (after dying and losing) I have taken a significantly greater amount of damage than my AI opponents, having healed so much trying to evade their incredibly tenacious chases. That’s no fun. It’s no fun to be hunted down and forcibly removed from a demo experience. It’s one thing to be killed because, well, it’s a game about killing each other, but it’s annoying when consecutive matches end with receiving way too much AI attention.

The two online modes, Deathmatch and Nuke, were far less hiccupy. Deathmatch pits up to sixteen players against each other in a giant clusterfuck on a massive map (the same map available in all modes) and gives players points for kills and assists. Before hiccups, it should be noted that this game might be the only game to get freaking assists right. Why is it so hard to credit players for assists in first person shooters? No idea. But in Twisted Metal you get varying levels of points based on how much damage you contributed to the death of any player ranging from soft to hard assist. Hard assist is much like the Halo assist in that it is essentially a “kill steal”. Beyond that, gameplay is frenetic and filled with all sorts of explosions and people driving through and off of buildings, leading to immense satisfaction in victory and in loss. My only qualm is with the often-unobserved Twisted Metal powers including the mine, shield and freeze. While the first two are totally fine, freeze lasts way too long; with sixteen players blowing the shit out of each other constantly, getting frozen is pretty much guaranteed death unless you’re Darkside.

Nuke is a team mode where players alternate offensive and defensive roles, with the offense team attempting to capture faction leaders, sacrifice them to nuke firing devices, then guide a nuclear missile into the other team’s statue. Awesome in theory, awesome in practice. This take on capture the flag is really fun, and takes full advantage of the all of the game’s features, giving fast vehicles a dedicated role and tanky vehicles a dedicated role as well, allowing mid-ranged vehicles to play the field. The strategy here is really under-the-radar, but man can a good strategy just dominate. Unfortunately, the biggest strategy I’ve seen so far is to have the helicopter capture the faction leader, fly a million miles into the sky then go deliver it safely. The helicopters are far too difficult to target, but they’re not that fast or durable so it’s plenty easy to counter this strategy, but it is frustrating nonetheless.

Twisted Metal is absolutely back, though it has changed in more ways than one. Just about every change to the core mechanics of this game has been to accommodate the current generation and is ultimately welcome, this coming from a massive Twisted Metal fan. Combat was fast, frenetic, and even when hunting for weapons I couldn’t escape the violence for long. Destroying the level, finding weapon caches and entering and leaving combat at the right times remain the key to victory and fun, and no game with cars does it better. This game must be demo’d, everyone should try it, even if you’re not a racing fan because it’s more about using a car as a giant weapon than driving an actual car, and any lover of shooting things or BSU needs to play this.

Twisted Metal is out on PS3 exclusively on Valentine’s day, February 14; blow up your significant other then hand them flowers. Then blow those up.

Pre-Orders Open for Indie Car Company Sim ‘Automation’

Sam Naylor — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:53 +0000

If you’re a car enthusiast and want to actually build cars rather than just race them, you could do worse than pre-ordering Automation.

The game, developed by two man team Camshaft Software, aims to simulate the process of building a car company from the ground up, including intricate design of your own cars as well as selling them on a global market. As the indie developers explain in the video below, there really isn’t anything like it on the market today:

The game has been of interest to me since I spotted it a while back, but it’s great news that the game is now up for pre-order: it might actually be released! The pre-order money received will go directly into the cost of developing the game, meaning it can come out faster, so put down your money if you’re interested. It’s always good to support indie developers, right?

The best way to get a hold of how interesting this game is to proper car enthusiasts is to watch the video below:

You can pre-order here. Here’s the details on what you get for your money:

Preordering allows you to not only save $10 off the final price of the game, but also grants access to extra content once the demo is released. All games and preorders will be distributed by digital download.

We will be releasing the car and engine design aspect as a demo ahead of the game for our community to tinker with and get a taste of what Automation is all about. Allowing people to design, build and share their car designs before the game is complete.

The demo will be restricted in content (to only 4-cylinder hatchbacks) whereas if you have preordered you will get access to all content as we complete it. As more content is added(for example V8 engines, or convertibles) the preorder price will incrementally be raised until it reaches the final sale price of $30 once the game is completed.

I’m really behind these guys as I’ve been looking for exactly this game- I’m just grateful they are going to the lengths of making the bloody thing.

Shift 2 DLC Brings Some Old Favourites

Sam Naylor — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:07:19 +0000

A new DLC pack for Need for Speed: Shift 2: Unleashed has been announced, which includes a handful of classic race cars.

The list, if you’re a car fan, is a superb collection of metal from the ’60s and ’70s. There’s even a Ford Capri in there, a car only really popular in the UK (it was sold as the Mercury Capri in the US). The full list:

Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA (1965)

Austin Mini Cooper S (1965)

BMW 3.0 CSL Gr. 5 (1975)

Ford Capri RS3100 Gr.4 (1974)

Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600 (1971)

Ford GT40 Mk.I (1965)

Ford Lotus Cortina (1963)

Jaguar E-Type Lightweight (1963)

Nissan Fairlady 240ZG (S30) (1971)

Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R (C10) (1972)

Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 (1974)

Porsche 914/6 GT (1970)

SHELBY COBRA “DAYTONA” COUPE® (1965)

Team Need For Speed Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0

There’s some classic old race tracks, too- as they were in the old days: Dijon-Prenois (1972), Hockenheim (1982), Monza (1958), Rouen-Les-Essarts GP (1966), Rouen-Les-Essarts Short (1952), and Silverstone (1975).

The pack, available April 26, will set you back $10 on PlayStation Network or 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live. As a big fan of these old cars, I’m tempted to get the entire game just to play with them. Well played, EA, well played.

Five of the Most Iconic Cars in Gaming

Sam Naylor — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:44:01 +0000

Film writers get to have all the fun sometimes. Films, especially the ones from the golden era in the seventies, are littered with these beautiful lumps of metal, and the web is littered with top ten lists of the best chases, cars and crashes. Well, I want to prove to the world that games are capable of so much more- letting you actually be the one driving.

You’ve probably noticed that this isn’t exactly a top “ten”. More a top “half of that”. Let’s all just pretend for the duration that it’s because it allows more detail rather than that there are barely any iconic cars from games.

OutRun: Ferrari Testarossa

Another great thing about OutRun: 200 Kph traffic.

It makes sense to start where cars started getting recognisable in games, so why not start with OutRun? Obviously, we won’t be telling Ferrari about this one, since Sega didn’t have the official license when OutRun was released in arcades in 1986. Of course, that doesn’t matter when you sit down in the proper cabinet version of OutRun behind the wheel.

The sound is almost as over the top as the visuals of the game, screeching and roaring in the way only an ’80s arcade machine can. OutRun 2 is still probably the best arcade driving cabinet you’ll find today, which just goes to show how far you can go with a plastic Ferrari to sit in and a digital Ferrari to bomb down the tropical coast in.

Sega Rally Championship: Toyota Celica (Castrol Livery)

That dust looks more realistic than real dust.

Another arcade staple, Sega Rally Championship also happens to be one of the most recognisable rally games of all time. It’s for this reason that the Toyota Celica that features so prominently is such a gaming icon. The (much cooler) Lancia Delta was also a Sega Rally icon, but it’s the Castrol-sponsored Celica that brings memories of days spent racing strangers in the arcade more than anything else.

The most significant thing about racing with the Celica was that feeling of different road surfaces in Sega Rally Championship. For the first time, you would have to adjust your input to suit what you were driving on. There wouldn’t have been a DiRT 3 without SRC’s Toyota Celica.

A special mention here should really be made to Colin McRae’s Ford Focus from Colin McRae Rally 2.0, probably the best rally game ever made. It doesn’t manage to get its own entry in this list, however, as the car wasn’t quite as important to the gaming world as it was to the real one.

Driver: Generic ’70s Muscle Car (you know, the one from the Miami level)

A common sight from Driver: roadblock ahead.

You can’t have a list of the best car films without including something from the 1970s, so why should this list be any different? Driver was an all-out homage to the golden era of car chase films, and it shows through- the first car you come across, and therefore the most iconic, is in itself an homage to just about every great muscle car of the era.

There’s a bit of Camaro in there, a dash of Gran Torino, Challenger, and of course the rear-wheel drive and massive engine noise that no all-American brawler could go without. The game didn’t disappoint in making the car feel like it should, either- there was a dedicated button to spin the back wheels and hit top speed as fast as possible, as well as completely awful and impossible handling. It couldn’t be any more realistic if it tried.

More than anything else, though, the car has become iconic because of the very first mission- the driving test. Mimicking the brilliant scene from the brilliant film The Driver, this mission had you blasting around a tiny car park attempting to do a huge list of stunts in just 60 seconds. With the aforementioned slippery handling this was a mammoth task, and probably cause about 90% of all screams heard in living rooms in 1999. The other 10%? Me with yo momma.

Twisted Metal: Sweet Tooth’s Ice Cream Van

Jaffe: "That van is not an icon!" ... "Actually I lied, it is."

Go on, admit it. Twisted Metal was never a truly good game, and neither was Vigilante 8. Car combat always sucks, because both the driving and combat are compromised in the process. The thing is, nobody cares. The fun of smashing up and destroying your friends’ car will never go away, and that’s why Sweet Tooth’s van will be an icon of driving games forever.

It’s not that Sweet Tooth’s van was the fastest, or the strongest, or the best in any way. No, the reason why it’s so iconic is that it’s pink, and being beaten by a clown driving a pink ice cream van will cause a man shame to last through to old age. Likewise, winning in the van will cast glory upon your family for a thousand generations.

Of course, it also happens to be the only memorable character or car from the entire series. The only others I can remember offhand are the big truck and police car (and the vagueness of my description gives away how memorable those were). Think of Twisted Metal, and you think of Sweet Tooth. Think of Sweet Tooth, and you think of that pink ice cream van.

Burnout 2: Point of Impact: Honda Civic (Well, sort of)

A rare view of the Custom Coupé not smashed to pieces.

Another one we probably shouldn’t be pointing out to Honda, seeing as Burnout 2: Point of Impact had no officially licensed cars. This one was called the “Custom Coupé” in-game, but we can all tell it’s based on a 2000 Honda Civic with a garish paint job and a huge spoiler. A boy racer’s wet dream, perhaps, but to a lot of gamers this was the defining car of the best game in the Burnout series.

I must admit, actually, that I love Burnout Paradise, but out of all the original formula Burnout games, Burnout 2 is the one where everything came together in an orgasmic crescendo of burnt rubber and crunched metal. Of course, the bright green Custom Coupé was the car on the front of the box, but it wasn’t just that which got it onto this list.

Actually, that’s a lie- it’s exactly why. The car, despite being a huge part of the game’s marketing, was unlocked really rather late into the main game. At some points players are left wondering if the car is even in the game in the first place- I know I was. Then, of course, you get that unlock message and take her for a drive round Interstate 88. My, it was glorious.

Then you hit a wall and you see the most spectacular crash you will ever see, cementing this car into gaming stardom.

So, there they are, five of the most iconic cars in gaming. Got more for me? My inbox at Editors@RipTen.com awaits.

Sony Giving Out Free Gran Turismo 5 Christmas Holiday Bonus Cars

Garrett Hartman — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:24:11 +0000

As a gift in the Holiday Spirit, Gran Turismo 5 owners can look forward to three free downloadable cars: the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 640, the BMW M3 Coupe, and the Jaguar-XJ13. These cars have seen design arrangements by Polyphony and fall under the “Chrome Line” series.

The cars will be distributed through the PlayStation Store from December 24 through January 31. Anyone owning GT5 will be able to make the download free.

Happy Holidays!

Blood Drive Launch Trailer Promises VehSickular Combat

Dave Oshry — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:29:42 +0000

Activision’s Blood Drive roars out tomorrow, and here’s a brand new trailer to go with it.

Blood Drive will be available tomorrow for $49.99.

Amazon France Dates Gran Turismo 5 for December 8th – Legit?

Garrett Hartman — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:49:10 +0000

Amazon France has set a release date of December 8th for the often delayed Gran Turismo 5. What’s notable about December 8th is that it is a Wednesday as was the previous date of November 3rd and the date falls before Sony’s promised Christmas 2010 release window.

Unfortunately, Amazon France has not had the best track record of late. Last week, Uncharted 3 was listed and later proved a fake.

Hopefully, Sony and Polyphony Digital get their act together and release Gran Turismo 5 soon.

Blood Drive’s Death Dealing HD Debut Trailer

Garrett Hartman — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:22:03 +0000

Heard of Blood Drive? Well you will soon. It’s like Twisted Metal in a zombie apocalypse. Designers describe a land full of “undead frat boys, cops, strippers and bachelorette partiers” in which players drive cars fully equipped in dealing zombie death like it’s going out of business.

Blood Drive will be available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this November.

Check out the trailer below:

Full Car List for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Revealed

Sam Naylor — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:44:02 +0000

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is looking like it may be the best Need for Speed game ever made, and may even rival Burnout for the most adrenaline-fueled game on the market. That’s not all, however- there are also licensed cars.

Playfront have revealed the full list of them, and it reads like a list of all the most desirable modern supercars. The Bugatti Veyron, Koenigsegg CCX, Aston Martin DBS, and even the mythical McLaren F1 are on the list. Anyone with any interest in cars at all will surely be able to find something they love on this list, although there’s a distinct lack of Lotus cars, which is a shame. Still, the police Veyron is the coolest thing in the world, so it’s forgivable.

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
Alfa Romeo 8C Spyder
Aston Martin DBS
Aston Martin DBS Volante
Aston Martin One-77
Aston Martin V12 Vantage
Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro
Audi R8 Spyder 5.2 FSI quattro
Audi TT RS Coupé
Bentley Continental Supersports
BMW M3 E92
BMW M6 Convertible
BMW Z4 sDrive35is
Bugatti Veyron 16.4
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport
Carbon Motors E7
Chevrolet Camaro SS
Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
Dodge Challenger SRT8
Dodge Charger SRT8
Dodge Viper SRT10
Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor
Ford GT
Ford Police Interceptor Concept
Ford Shelby GT500
Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake
Jaguar XKR
Koenigsegg Agera
Koenigsegg CCX
Koenigsegg CCXR Edition
Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder
Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera
Lamborghini Murciélago LP 640-4
Lamborghini Murciélago LP 670-4 SV
Lamborghini Reventón
Lamborghini Reventón Roadster
Maserati GranCabrio
Maserati GranTurismo S Automatic
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S
Mazda RX-8
McLaren F1
McLaren MP4-12C
Mercedes-Benz SL65 Black Series
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition
Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
Mitsubishi Lancer EVOLUTION X
Nissan 370Z Coupe
Nissan 370Z Roadster
Nissan GT-R SpecV (R35)
Pagani Zonda Cinque
Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster
Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Porsche 911 Targa 4S
Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet
Porsche 918 Spyder (Concept Study)
Porsche Boxster Spyder
Porsche Carrera GT
Porsche Cayman S
Porsche Panamera Turbo
Subaru Impreza WRX STI

Via GoNintendo

Gran Turismo 5 in time for Christmas 2009?

Sam Naylor — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:52:20 +0000

GTPlanet report that Sony’s chief executive in Southern Europe, James Armstrong, has stated that the release of Gran Turismo 5, the latest installment of the acclaimed series, is set for Christmas ’09. In a statement to Spainish newspaper El Financiero, Armstrong said that he is in the process of developing “the new version of Gran Turismo, which will arrive at Christmas [2009].” He also mentions a new “thriller” game, adding “the player may be designing their own history.” A little early to speculate on that, perhaps.

Either way, it looks like Gran Turismo 5 is set for next winter, in time for the Christmas rush. Makes sense; it is one of the PlayStation’s bigger franchises, after all. The prestige around the series means that GT5 is certain to be highly realistic and a treat for fans of the series, so whenever it comes out, I’m sure plenty of people will be happy. Any thoughts? Will you be buying the game on release? Let us know in the comments.

Criterion Announces Carson Hotrod for Burnout Paradise

Sam Naylor — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:45:24 +0000

It’s Friday, and of course this means that Criterion have announced another awesome addition for its acclaimed racer Burnout Paradise. This time it’s the Carson Hotrod- Criterion say “it’s the fastest car in Paradise City – a stripped down, ultra low, overpowered straight line monster.” Not content with that, they also explain that “it handles more intuitively and drifts more realistically than any other car,” adding that it will be the first of two cars to revamp the boosting system in the game. No details as to how, but it certainly seems that this is a car Burnout fans are going to have a lot of fun with. Hit the jump for the another image.

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue Update Brings Three New Cars

Sam Naylor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:26:28 +0000

The Playstation blog reports that a Gran Turismo 5: Prologue update has been released, ready for download right now. The update brings some performance updates as well as three shiny new cars. While the cars cost up to a million credits in-game, for those of us in real life the update is completely free. Hit the jump for details on the four-wheeled boxes of metal.

Firstly, the “GT by Citroen”. Based on a collaborative effort between Polyphony Digital, the folks who make Gran Turismo, and Citroen, the French car manufacturer. It’ll cost a million credits.

The Ferrari California is the second new motor vehicle. Now that’s what I call red. This one’s just 300,000 credits.

Lastly, the Lotus Evora, pictured at the top of the page. My personal favourite, so I’m glad it’s only 100,000 credits.

Here’s the list of gameplay tweaks:

Changes to the penalty system; specifically, during Time Trial events, speed penalties have been removed, and instead incurring such a penalty now invalidates the lap time for that particular lap. Race events are also being updated, with tweaked difficulty levels and increased earnings for winning a top spot. Additionally, improved responsiveness when using the wireless controller, and improved sound volume balance for sound effects and music for a better racing experience. Drift Trial races have also been changed to feature a rolling start.