Coming Attractions: Racing

Ferrari Challenge

System 3's new racing game is coming to PS3, Wii and DS (though not Xbox 360, for reasons they don't like to talk about) this March. A PS2 version is set to follow at some point later in the year.

Ferrari Challenge will feature lots of Ferraris, including the FXX, the F360 Modena, the F250 LM and the F250 GTO. You can expect 16 tracks and online racing for up to 16 players, plus some sort of Sixaxis nonsense if you're a PS3 owner.

The game "isn't crap", says Pat. In fact, he'd go so far as to suggest it's "actually enjoyable". High praise indeed from someone who's generally racist against racing games.

Pro evo: Racing driver Bruno Senna has been involved with the development of Ferrari Challenge since the beginning. His late uncle Ayrton once said, "If you think I'm good, just wait until you see my nephew."

Race Driver: GRID

"We want to make racing exciting again," says Ralph Fulton, chief designer on Race Driver: GRID. Forget fiddling about with suspension settings and painting cars purple, this game's all about what happens on the track - i.e. lots of really fast driving.

The European portion of the game will feature familiar tracks and official cars such as Koenigsegg and Pagani. Head over to the US and you'll be able to compete in street races in San Francisco, Washington DC and Detroit. Then it's off to Japan for drift and night races, complete with lots of neon.

The game is being developed using Codemasters' in-house engine, EGO. It's an evolution of the engine used to create the rather excellent Colin McRae: DiRT.

Race Driver: GRID is out on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer.

Coming soon: We'll shortly be shipping a Secret Man off to see GRID first-hand, so watch out for a preview. I've made him a nice packed lunch and sewn his name inside his pants, don't worry.

WipEout HD

A PlayStation Store exclusive, WipEout HD is set to "redefine anti-gravity combat racing", according to Sony. About time. The game will run in 1080p at 60 fps, and you'll be able to steer ships by waggling the Sixaxis about. We are less excited by one of these facts than the others.

WipEout fans will recognise circuits from previous games, even though they've been "meticulously crafted and fully reworked from the ground-up". New track features will include mag-strips, which temporarily lock ships down, loops and vertical drops. There are also three new weapons - the Repulser, Shuriken and Leach Beam.

All manner of exciting online features are promised including races for up to eight players, downloadable content and global stat tracking. Plus you can store snapshots of your performance on the PS3's hard drive and upload them to the WipEout website.

There's no word on a release date yet, but in the meantime you can see the game in action over on Eurogamer TV.

Retro fit: In the late nineties, a Eurogamer staff member spent five hours in a Sheffield nightclub playing the WipEout pod at the corner of the dancefloor. Astonishingly, this did not attract many prospective sexual mates.

SBK-08 Superbike World Championship

Two wheels good, four wheels bad. Or so Black Bean would have it in their eagerness to sell the world SBK-08 Superbike World Championship.

Due out on PC, PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 this May, the game is said to feature "brand new features and enhancements". They aren't saying what these are yet, but rest assured the game is "compelling and immersive".

SBK-08 is the follow-up, you'll find it easy to believe, to SBK-07. Mr Melville rather liked the PS2 version of that game, despite the "strange Eurovision-style presentation, clumsy menus, slow loading times and overly complex qualifying and race structure". Here's hoping they've sorted those issues out for this year's effort.

Biker grove: Look at Spuggie now!

And there you have it, racing fans. There's not much else to get excited about - so far. Who knows what they'll announce later in the year? Apart from new Need for Speed and MotoGP titles? Could be interesting...