Cars

This morning, Ubisoft revealed the full car list for Driver: San Francisco, and it includes some schwaeeeet rides.  Or "whips," as the kids say. Included are a full selection of vehicles from around the world, including super-powered foreign cars and weird exotic autos, but the clear focus is on American muscle cars, including famous rides, like the car from Bullit.  Check out the full list, under the "Read More" tag.

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Black Rock Studio, the developer behind excellent racing games Split/Second and Pure, is being closed by Disney.

"Disney Interactive Studios confirms that Black Rock Studios' current project has not been greenlit for further development, consequently the company informed employees yesterday of the intent to enter a consultation process on the proposal to close the studios," wrote Disney in a statement. This news comes months after the studio laid of 40 percent of its work force.

As a huge fan of Black Rock's games, I blame you, the game-buying public, for not purchasing enough copies of these games. You should be ashamed of yourself.  There's video of both games under the "Read More" tag.

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I haven't played the campaign mode of Driver: San Francisco, but E3 2011 gave Dana Vinson and me the chance to play the multiplayer for the game, specifically, the Tag mode. Put simply, this game mode is ridiculously, ludicrously, awesomely fun, because of the "Shift" novelty, where you can fly into any drone-car on the map at will. Here's a taste of our preview:

"The mechanic where you can switch cars with any of the cars on the map transforms the mode to make it more about strategy than pure driving skill. With a correctly timed and well executed Shift, you can take the cup (becoming the “it” car) and deftly out-maneuver the other cars, at least for a time."

Check out the rest of our Driver: San Francisco multiplayer preview.

Forza Motorsport 4 wants to be your racing game, even if you don't particularly like racing games. Or rather, even if the only racing games you like are ones with serial killer clowns, environmental devastation or sweet burnouts. And I have to say from my own perspective, it's got me raising eyebrows. Thankfully, our own Nikole Zivalich kept her hands steady at 10 and 2 during her preview at E3 2011, even if her eyes may have wandered or turned glazed:

"Since most people aren't car people, Turn 10 Studios made an advanced lighting engine and used special rendering techniques to make their cars look as appetizing as possible, and, at times, down right delicious. Seriously, they were so shiny it looked like they were coated with a layer of sugar, and maybe tears. During my demo, there was a constant emphasis on how advanced the lighting engine was. I can't speak for the mechanics of it, but it looked amazing. Again, sugar."

If you want to read more of what Nikole thought - and you do! - be sure to hit up our full Forza 4 E3 2011 preview.

Xbox 360 exclusive racing title Forza Motorsports 4 has a release date. It will be coming out on October 11. The news dropped during Microsoft E3 2011 press conference just moments ago. We already knew the next iteration of the Forza series would feature Kinect-enabled head-tracking, but it will also feature a ton of new community features, ramped up graphics, a new physics engine, guild-like car clubs, and a lot more.

We'll follow this post up with a trailer and more information, so keep yourself glued to G4TV.

I'm going to tell you a lot about Forza Motorsport 4, so get ready. Specifically, I'm going to tell you about the pre-order bonuses you'll be able to indulge in when the game hits this fall.  Ready? Go...

•  Amazon.com- Subaru Impreza WRX STI: The Subaru Impreza WRX STI is the highest standard-edition trim in the Subaru compact car line. The STI is recognized as a speed demon on race tracks, winning first place at Super GT in 2008.

• Best Buy- BMW 1 Series M Coupe: Reaching top speeds of 250 km/h, the 1 Series M Coupe is the high-performance version of the famed BMW 1 Series Coupe. 

• GameStop- Alfa Romeo Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde: The creation of Italian automaker Alfa Romeo and first introduced at the March 2010 Geneva Motor Show, the Giulietta contains an exclusive Quadrifoglio Verde configuration with a 1.7L turbocharged engine that will steer you to victory.

Keep reading for pre-order bonuses.

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Burnout Crash! is the next game in the Burnout series. New details for the game have surfaced thanks to the trusty ESRB. Burnout Crash! will be a more family friendly take on the series from a new angle, top down. Gamers will earn points by creating "traffic pileups." Players will initiate these crashes by driving "cartoony." Their words, not mine. Crash! will be rated 10+ due to crash sounds, small explosions and "vocal encouragement" like "Cool!" If you're worried the game sounds a little watered down, you'll still get to ram your cars into the police as well as, "oversized airplanes, tornados[sic], lobster monsters, and UFOs slide across the screen, destroying any vehicles in their path." Yes, lobster monsters, too.

Burnout Crash! will launch on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

This morning, Electronic Arts announced Need for Speed: The Run, a racing game planned for a release on November 15 on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC and Nintendo DS. Promising a "heart-pounding cross-country race from San Francisco to New York," Need for Speed: The Run aims to "take the action racing genre to new heights with stunning visuals and car physics that hug the road even at top speeds all built around a gripping storyline."

“This is the year that Need for Speed goes to the next level,” said Jason DeLong, Executive Producer at EA. “We think that Need for Speed The Run is going to surprise people with its intense, thrilling story and big action feel. But the game would be nothing without hot cars and crazy-fast chases. So that is what we’re delivering -- explosive racing that will have players flirting with disaster at 200-miles an hour.”  

Below the cut, please enjoy the official description of the game from the press release, a press release that is heavy on in-your-face verbiage.

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We've known since December that the next Forza game, Forza Motorsports 4, will support the Kinect, but now we're hearing rumors of how it will work. If you were fearing Forza would turn into Kinect Joyride, be reassured: That's not the idea.

According to a marketing survey sent to Kotaku, Microsoft is at least considering using the Kinect like this:

"By using Kinect for Xbox 360, racing fans can now use head tracking to peer into a corner or their voice to control the game menus and interface... For more casual players you can enjoy sitting or standing controller free and racing alongside your friends, simply by holding your hands at 10 and 2."

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Way back in December, we brought you word of GT Academy, a contest where Gran Turismo 5 racers could compete online for a chance at driving a real race-car. Today, we bring you word that cheaters/'sploiters have mucked up the contest for everyone.

Apparently, some racers in round two of the contest, found a way to cut corners without being penalized or were "intentionally hitting walls" in order to post impossibly fast lap times. In response Sony has decided to let everyone who competed in round 2 of the contest through to round 3, but the company has also decided it will delay the next round until such time as they fix all these "loopholes." No word on how long it will take.

• RATING: Gran Turismo 5 Video review

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Dirt 3 has a release date. Codemasters' off-road racing title will be out on the 360 and the PS3 on May 24.

Dirt 3 will feature over 50 real-world rally cars, 30 rally stages, real weather effects (rain, snow, ice), night-time effects, as well as improved physics and damage models, YouTube video uploads, and more.  It even has spectators that rush out on the road to take pictures and hopefully get brained by oncoming rally cars.

• VIDEO: Dirt 3 teaser trailer

We really like Dirt 2 -- check out our Dirt 2 review. it's a bit of an underground classic -- so I'll be looking forward to playing this one. What about you guys? Are you Dirt fans?

According to a study conducted by a U.K. tire concern Continental Tires, video game players are really bad drivers, specifically, people who play driving games. They are more likely to crash into stationary objects than non-gamers. They're more likely to speed. They take bigger risks. They're more likely to use the cell while driving. They're twice as likely to have "road rage." They get ticketed more.

2,000 people between the ages of 17 and 39-- half gamers, half not-- were quizzed about their gaming habits and the results were striking. 22 percent of gamers reported being stopped by police, as compared to 13 percent of non-gamers. 30 percent of gamers had made insurance claims, while only 15 percent of non-gamers made claims.

• VIDEO: Gran Turismo 5 video review

The full results are under the cut:

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In spite of long release delays and a somewhat mixed reaction from gamers and reviewers, real-life race driving simulator Gran Turismo 5 sold over 560.5K units in December, according to sales data released by The NPD Group. Healthy, but hardly blockbuster level sales--the game was number 8 on the charts in November, but didn't break the top ten in December.

The game hit U.S. stores on November 24, and since then, according to Sony, 5.5 million units have shipped worldwide with 1.25 million of those shipped to North America.

In the case of GT 5, chart numbers might be a bit deceiving. It's the kind of game that I think we'll see steady sales of over time, as more people buy PS3s. It's not the sort of game that's easily dated... of course, if you check out the video below the cut, you'll see that I'm a total GT5 fanboy, and I make no apologies for it!

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While the name "Thrustmaster" may conjure images of CES's sister-convention the Adult Entertainment Expo, the company creates high-tech steering wheels and racing peripherals for gamers who are serious about racing. They make everything from car-game specific controllers to full-on racing chairs.

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Want to see what's going on at CES at this very minute? The stars of the upcoming Green Hornet movie, Seth Rogen (Green Hornet) Jay Chou (Kato) have joined Sony's Howard Stringer onstage at the Sony keynote speech. That's the Green Hornet's whip, Black Beauty, behind them.

When asked if the movie has anything to do with the environment, Rogen said "Well, this car gets about a half-mile a gallon, and it has a flamethrower. So that can't be good for the environment. Maybe in the sequel we'll make it a hybrid, if we do one."

Hmm... a sequel, eh? Interesting, no?

There's another couple pictures below the "Read More" tag.

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