The MCV Awards tend to focus on the industry side of gaming, with awards for the top specialist retailers, games publishers and distributors, or marketing and PR teams. But in amongst the finalists, there are a couple of mentions for F1 2010 as the lone representative of the racing genre. It's listed in the finalists for 'Best Use of Social Media' - up against the likes of … [Read more...]
General sim racing news and reports on the industry, covering games studios, industry moves, and anything not directly related to a specific game title or product
Gran Turismo 5 reaches 6.3 million copies worldwide
It's proving popular, as Gran Turismo 5 reaches 6.3 million copies worldwide in figures released by developers Polyphony Digital (it's not clear whether those figures are for units sent to shops, or actually sold to customers). The figures cover December 2010, following the launch in November... Interestingly, there is a geographic breakdown, which shows how big GT5 is for … [Read more...]
Farewell video for Bizarre Creations
UK developer Bizarre Creations was officially closed on Friday, after 17 years and games including Metropolis Street Racer, Project Gotham Racing 1-4 and Blur. It was original put up for sale by owners Activision, but no deal was forthcoming and the decision was made to close the studio on February 18th, 2011. Bizarre's video editor, Eamon Urtone released this emotional … [Read more...]
Racing Games recognised in BAFTA nominations
The nominees have been announced for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, and there are two of the top racers amongst the 44 titles included. The racing nominees are: Multiplayer: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Development Team: Electronic Arts/Criterion Games. Sport: Gran Turismo 5: Sony Computer Entertainment/Polyphony Digital. Game of the Year Award … [Read more...]
Ridge Racer Type 4 coming to PS3 and PSP
Ridge Racer Type 4 will be re-released on the PlayStation Network in March, meaning it will be available for the PS3 and PSP for the first time, and just before the release of two new Ridge Racer games - Ridge Racer 3D (for the Nintendo 3DS), and Ridge Racer Unbounded (PS3, Xbox 360 and PC - trailer here). Ridge Racer Type 4 (Also known as R4) was originally released in 1999 … [Read more...]
Disney announce Cars 2: The Video Game
If you're a parent as well as a racing fan, you'll understand why we're writing about the announcement that Cars 2: The Video Game will be released this summer for PC, Xbox 360, PS3,Wii, and DS. But just in case you haven't seen it upwards of 100 times, as I have, then all you need to know is that the original Cars film was a Disney animated adventure which followed the story … [Read more...]
Game-killing GT5 bug to be fixed on February 18, 2011
An extremely serious bug has been discovered in Gran Turismo 5 which means that your save file will become unusable once it becomes a certain size - luckily it appears that the bug will be fixed in the next GT5 update, which will be released on February 18th, 2011. The bug occurs when your save file reaches 4165KB in size. When that happens, a number of players have reported … [Read more...]
Download-only Sega Rally Online Arcade en route
Sega has announced a new rally title, Sega Rally Online Arcade will be available on Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network sometime in 2011. It will feature 13 rally cars, the familiar Championship Battle and Time Attack, plus, to quote the press release: 'a collection of new features, including the ability for gamers to race their friends online!' The radical idea of … [Read more...]
Ridge Racer Unbounded announced for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC
The Ridge Racer franchise is set to return with the announcement of Ridge Racer Unbounded by Namco Bandai Games Europe, due to appear for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Windows PC, and seemingly influenced by the likes of Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, Burnout, Split/Second and Blur, although the press release obviously doesn't reference the work of Criterion, or the unfortunate … [Read more...]
Gran Turismo 5: Prologue servers to shut on June 30, 2011
With the recent release of Gran Turismo 5, the curtain is set to fall on Gran Turismo 5: Prologue Spec 3 on June 30, 2011, when the servers for the online elements of the game will be switched off. The date was revealed by Polyphony Digital, and means that Prologue will end almost 3 years after being released on October 3, 2008. It sold 5.09 million copies since launch making … [Read more...]
Do racing games make us bad drivers?
Apparently games like Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto make us more likely to crash, run red lights, try risky overtakes and suffer from road rage, according to research by Continental Tyres. The research was quoted in UK free newspaper Metro, and unfortunately there's no sign of the article, or any further information, on either the Metro or Continental Tyres website, but … [Read more...]
OnlineRaceDriver.com celebrates it’s first birthday
Having been a gamer for roughly 28 years, and a journalist for over 10, I'd thought about starting videogame sites for a long time - in fact my first paid freelance work was for the Official Dreamcast Magazine a long time ago. But it was just over a year ago I finally put some of my ideas into practice and got together with a few people to launch OnlineRaceDriver.com. The … [Read more...]
Bizarre Creations set to close
It looks as if Liverpool-based developer Bizarre Creations will close, following a recommendation of closure by owners Activision. It was announced in November that Activision were looking to part company with Bizarre, and immediately there were reports of multiple parties interested in buying the company, which developed the racing games Blur, Metropolis Street Racer, and the … [Read more...]
Forza Motorsport 4 confirmed – Fall 2011 release
The team at Turn 10 have officially confirmed that Forza Motorsport 4 is in development and will be released in fall 2010 for the Xbox 360. The confirmation details also include the news that it will feature support for Kinect, in addition to the classic Forza controls. The news was accompanied by an announcement trailer, which you can see here, plus four images, which at this … [Read more...]
1 million Youtube views unlock NfS: Hot Pursuit cars
A new video recently uploaded to Youtube showcases three convertible cars which will be made available for free to anyone with the game. So here's the video showcasing the three cars, which are the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, the Lamborghini Murciélago LP 650-4 Roadster , and the Dodge Viper SRT10 Convertible Final Edition: And how do these cars … [Read more...]