On December 24th Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that Gran Turismo HD Concept would be available as a free download at the PS Store. The Concept game gives the player the chance to try out the new Gran Turismo game. A new course and a selection of ten cars from Ferrari, Infiniti, Lotus, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Suzuki to name a few.

“Gran Turismo HD Concept provides PS3 and automotive fans a glimpse into the future of Gran Turismo,” states Kazunori Yamauchi, creator of the Gran Turismo franchise in the press release.

The cars available in the demo:

• Suzuki Cappucino
• Mazda Eunos Roadster
• Honda Integra TYPE R
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV GSR
• Infiniti G35 Coupe
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX GSR
• Lotus Elise 111R
• Nissan SKYLINE GT-R Vspec II
• Toyota Celica GT-FOUR Rally Car
• Ferrari 599

In “Time Trial” mode, the player selects a car and must complete the Eiger Nordwand course within the target time indicated at the top of the screen. Each time the player beats the target time, a new car is unlocked and made available for selection. As stated, upon unlocking all of the cars, the player can access tuned cars, along with the option to race Eiger Nordwand in the opposite direction.

In “Drift Trial” mode, the players drifting technique is tested, rather than their lap time. The player earns drift points based on their drift angles, racing lines, and speeds within evaluation zones located at various turns on the course. For each evaluation zone, the results are based on the number of flags and a numerical figure. The point total from all zones determines the players drift points for the lap and is counted toward the rankings.

The following settings are available during gameplay: 1) Transmission the player can select either Manual or Automatic. 2) Stability Management (SM) the player can turn this ON or OFF during gameplay. ASM is designed to prevent vehicle skidding by controlling each of the four wheel brakes independently. 3) Traction Control (TC) Level the player can set the TCS level, which senses drive-wheel slip and prevents wheel spin. 4) Tires the player can select front and rear tires from nine types of brands.

On the 16th of February Wii owners will be able to get their hans on the first Nintendo developed racing game for the console. Excite Truck promises easy pick-up-and-play racing with innovative control mechanism thanks to the tiltable Wii remote controller.

By holding the remote on its side the players can then tilt left and right like a steering wheel. The player also needs to control the landing of the trucks after the big jumps by tilting backwards or forwards to align the wheels properly to the ground with a perfect landing resulting in a speed boost.

Excite Truck is the first Wii game to make use of the console’s SD card slot, allowing users to customise the in-game sound. Players can select their favourite MP3s from a selection on their SD Card and replace the game’s music with those tracks.

Just look at the picture below to see what fun we could be having in February.

Sony has had the licence for the Formula 1 World Championship for quite a long time now, much to the dismay of fans of Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix games like myself. For the PlayStation 3 Sony Studio Liverpool (formerly known as Psygnosis for the retro gamers out there) are developing a game with the working title Formula One Championship Edition.

Since it’s an official game we get all the drivers and the new teams from the 2006 F1 season: Scuderia Torro Rosso, Super Aguri and Midland. Apart from next-gen graphics the game now introduces safety car situations for the first time which will add a little bit of extra strategy to an ongoing race.

If this isn’t a reason to buy a PS3, then I don’t know what is.

Oxygen Games are now announcing SnoCross2: Featuring Blair Morgan. It’s probably a sequel to SnoCross1 but Slipstreaming must have missed that game.

Anyways… it’s all about adrenaline and racing snowmobiles on snow. With thirty tracks, career mode, multiplayer and quick races you could be in for a snow racing treat. And without the freezing of body parts as a bonus.

In March 2007 (when we’re pretty fed up with snow in the Northern parts of the world) it will be out for PlayStation 2.

Oh, and what’s wrong with the “W” in snow? Not extreme enough?

The next installment of the successful Burnout series, Burnout Dominator, will be released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.

In Dominator you will face off against rivals in lots of tests of your driving and drifting skills while dodging the head-on traffic. The game which is going back to its PS2 roots is being developed by Electronic Arts’ UK studio and will be released in 2007.