Cars

If you loathe electronic music, I will save you the ten minutes of your lifespan it would take to read this article and let you go about your business. However, if the pulse of ambient, layered synths is music to your ear, then by all means, hang out for a bit and experience what is in my humble opinion one of the best electronic albums of the past year, which also happens to be the official soundtrack album for Forza Motorsport 3. Smooth curves, chill breaks and sample tuneage ahead.

Let's get this out of the way. Nope, I haven't touched Forza 3. Do I intend to? No again, simply because my driving game skills are horrible. So, that said, if you aren't playing it either, (Warning Sign: Watch for Bad Puns) don't let that stop you from taking this album for a spin, especially if you love electronic beats. Released by Sumthing Else Music Works last month, the Forza 3 album features a dozen songs that stand alone and sequence perfectly as a linear listening experience. The music is composed by Lance Hayes, better known as DJ Drunken Master (or DJDM if you will). The really unique thing about this release is that all the music here comes from the game's User Interface. Yep, an album made up of menu music that is utterly amazing. Surprised the heck out of me, too.

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Polyphony Digital keeps the Gran Turismo brand in tune with it's trademark luxury sports cars with the promise of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG coming to Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3.

You dig?

Explosions, cruise ship collisions, and all around mayhem: Not what you'd expect from a racing game. Split/Second, the upcoming racing game from Disney Interactive Studios and Black Rock Studios, has a new trailer, and it's shiny.

Split/Second was the winner of the Game Critics Awards for Best Racing game at E3 2009. The game takes a unique spin on the racing genre, as the trailer clearly shows. Rather than being based on simple competition, Split/Second revolves around a reality television series, so the courses are lined with explosives, crashes and towering structures just waiting to make you go splat. If this trailer is any indication, look forward to an action-packed game in 2010.

Split/Second will be released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC.

Many people don't have the means necessary to purchase a high performance sports car. Of course, TheFeed has that kind of change between its couch cushions, so we own a BMW, a Porsche, 37 Audis and a 1996 Pontiac Transport Minivan just for good measure.

But, for everyone with only 36 Audis in the garage, there's Forza Motorsport 3, exclusively for the Xbox 360. TheFeed's Brian Leahy (himself the proud owner of 45 Audis, 2 Alfa Romeos and a Razor Scooter) has the review:

"Forza Motorsport 3 improves upon Forza 2 in almost every way. It doesn't redefine the genre, but it adds enough to be a solid upgrade for car lovers and simulation enthusiasts. New features like Rewind and Quick Upgrade help lower the barrier of entry for casual players and the new cockpit cam is a much-needed franchise addition."

Click here to read the rest of the review and see the game's score!

Before there was an internet, you might never have heard of Cupcake Cars. Created by Bay Area artist Lisa Pongrace, these babies feature a 24-volt electric motor and boast a top speed of 7 miles per hour. Your very own custom Cupcake can be yours for a mere $25,000. Neiman Marcus is offering them up for sale.

I suggest we get 2,500 people to put in a ten-spot each. I will keep the car, but in exchange for your 10 dollar donation, I promise to ride my cupcake car everywhere I go until the day I die. Deal?

What We Know: Gran Turismo 5 has been in development for what seems like an eternity, and eons after its demo version - Gran Turismo 5: Prologue – was released, it seems like Polyphony Digital is finally getting the game together for a March 2010 release in North America, Japan, and Europe.

What’s New At TGS: The new build of Gran Turismo 5 showed off a new course – Tokyo R249 – a track that’s actually built in the same neighborhood as Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. While the physics model seems to have been updated since we played the game at GamesCom, the promised damage modeling doesn’t seem much improved. The gameplay is still solid, and actually, while I usually think racing games are more difficult to play with a wheel, I loved it even more with the wheel when I got my hands on it at Polyphony Digital. Granted, it also helped to play with the wheel inside a slick racing rig, as well.

see our photos from the Polyphony Digital studio tour

However, the big news is that we finally have game details. Gran Turismo 5 will feature 900 cars, 20 locations, 70 variations of tracks, a new physics model, and promised damage that will affect not only the physical appearance of the cars and affect performance, but for race cars, parts will see physical damage, and also get completely torn off the vehicle. Lose a fender or door, and it will lay in the track – damaging other cars that run into it. It’s about time Polyphony!

Gran Turismo 5 will also support many of the modes seen in Prologue including arcade and online modes, a beefed up Gran Turismo TV, as well as the ability to export recorded video to both YouTube and your PSP. Series creator Kazunori Yamauchi says that there will be even more features in the game revealed later, including PlayStation Eye camera support. Sweet!

What We Want To See: The game finally come out! There were rumors that Gran Turismo 5 might make it out before the end of the year, but sadly that won’t be the case as Polyphony confirmed that the game will make it out in March 2010. Better late than never, right? 
 

Forza Motorsport 3 for the 360 is coming out on October 23rd. Along with over 100 more cars and a ton of new tracks, Microsoft's racer aims to extend the realism of the previous Forza 2, offering more realistic damage, roll-over damage, in-car view and tons of other improvements. The game's multiplayer architecture aims to compete with top-tier FPS out there.

Of course the customization has been beefed up too. "There's a huge amount of car customization," Bill Giese, Senior Game Designer, said."As players go through the game, and they're really good photographers or tuners, but who maybe aren't the best racers, can become known in the community as the best painters."

"The attention to detail has been ramped up. The interiors are going to be a big win for us because they look so beautiful. Seeing someone race an R-8 at 60 frames a second, in cockpit, is nuts," Giese said.  

PAX debuts a new behind-the-scenes video detailing the different ways you can destroy your opponents in Activision and Bizzare Creations' Blur. 

This ain't your grandpas spiked blue turtle shell.

Patrick Klepek is hanging out at PAX 2009, rocking a mighty afro and playing all kinds of soon-to-be-released game. One of which, Blur, combines Mario Kart style play with Project Gotham style realism. Hmmm...interesting mix, but does it work overall? Here's the Klepek-preview:

Bizarre Creations' realistic take on Mario Kart didn't have a good showing at E3. When I showed up to Activision's pre-PAX event to check the latest build of the studio's debut at Activision, I wasn't optimistic. Last time I saw Blur, the frame rate was rough, the art was blurry and without a producer in sight, five minutes spent with the game provided little clarity on what was supposed to be happening on screen. Just a few months from launch, however, Blur may be coming together...

 To read the rest of the review, click here.

Gran Turismo 5 is a huge game in Europe, so it's a little peculiar that the title was not mentioned during Sony's presentation at GamesCom 2009. It was playable at the show, but no info was made available during the press event.

Apparently, though, Sony handed out a pamphlet indicating a 4th quarter of 2009 release date for the racing simulation, leading to speculation that Sony is planning on revealing a lot of info on Gran Turismo 5 at the Tokyo Game show in October.

According to the GamesCom info, GT5 will more than double Forza 3's number of cars -- 1000 vehicles, 20 tracks in 60 different layouts, custom soundtrack support, and a damage model for certain car manufacturers. All very interesting, sure, but I personally can't wait until Tokyo, where I hope gamers the world over will get an in-depth peek at the car racing game. It is, of course, a PlayStation 3 exclusive.

So, if you like racing games, are you a Gran Turismo guy or a Forza guy?

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The joke starts, winning an argument on the internet is like winning an event at the Special Olympics... and I think you know how it ends. However, that's not always the case, as evidenced by the recent war of the words over on FilmDrunk.com between a woman who's husband owns a custom Neverending Story van and the site's completely awesome commenters. Go check it out, and let us know what you think. And if that's not enough, enjoy the other six links you'll find below, including some epic tattoos and a return trip to the Capital Wasteland.

• When you date a girl from the l33t family, you better not be a n00b in the ways of love. [CollegeHumor]

• Lady who drives a Neverending Story mural painted van vs. FilmDrunk's commenters. Take a wild guess who wins. [FilmDrunk]

• 50 cool things you can and should do in the capital wasteland of Fallout 3. [Crispy Gamer]

• Will gaming ever have it's Citizen Kane? Maybe it already has. [Destructoid]

• I guess you can't put your tattoo in a word document and run a spell check. Here's the 25 funniest mispelled tattoos of all time. [Manofest]

• From Cast Away to King Kong, six of the best tropical adventures Hollywood's ever produced. [CraveOnline]

• Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to G4TV.com's own Frank Meyer, who's band Angus Khan just dropped their first official music video. [YouTube]

EA ramps up the authenticity of their newest racer Need for Speed: Shift by infusing real-racing experience from professionals across the board. Starting tomorrow EA will take over Youtube's front page with all things racing and Need for Speed: Shift. The teaser released below reveals the video tie-in series that will help to give the new installment some real simulation cred.

This ain't your daddy's NFS apparently.

Recently, neurosurgeons have been studying a rash of cases of young people suffering head injuries from falling off moving cars. Kids call it car surfing, or "Ghost Riding The Whip." While the study's authors blame this "trend" partially on the relentless, unending stupidity of young people, according to the study, video games, TV and YouTube are part of the problem as well.

According to the report, car surfing is most popular in California, Florida and Texas, and doctors saw a steady rise in accident rates starting in 1998, then rates went up in 2004 and 2005, corresponding to the release of GTA: San Andreas, the popularity of Jackass and the rise of youtube videos depicting car surfing:

"The first major rise in fatalities in 1998–1999 overlapped with the release of the first 2 editions of the Grand Theft Auto video games. A second major rise in fatalities between 2000 and 2002 occurred with the release of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Jackass the television series (2000–2002), and the premiere of Jackass: The Movie in 2002. Coinciding with the introduction of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in late 2004 and YouTube in early 2005, there was a third peak in the fatality rate between 2004 and 2005. During the years in which no new edition of Grand Theft Auto was released and Jackass was not aired, there was a coincident drop in car-surfing fatalities."

I blame Teen Wolf and its enticing image of a werewolf-ed out Michael J. Fox riding on a roof and singing "Surfing U.S.A...." But seriously, usually, when a study tries to link disparate elements in the culture (IE: Video games to crime), I question the methodology of the study, because a correlation isn't necessarily causal, but these neurologists might be on to something with the car-surfing thing. Car-surfing isn't a huge part of GTA and Jackass, but I could totally see that the combination of stupidity and YouTube resulting in a "trend" like car surfing. Anyone dumb enough to not understand the dangers of riding a car-roof would similarly not be able to think of original, dumb things to do so might turn to YouTube for ideas.

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If you see tremendous, 18-foot-tall flowers sprouting up in a city center near you, do not be alarmed: This is not M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening coming true. Like all good things in life, it's a marketing campaign. Toyota is installing the 18-foot tall fake-plants to promote the 2010 Toyota Prius, but they are more than just an eyesore. The flowers are charging stations. free Wi-Fi hotspots and comfy benches as well.

The partially-solar powered monstrosities have already seen action in Boston's Prudential Plaza, and will soon be moving to  New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, so keep your eye out and get ready to enjoy some free power and internet.

Does this ad campaign make you want to buy a Prius? I like the Toyota Prius myself, but I'm so happy with my late-model Saab hatchback that I'm going to drive it until it dies. Then I might think about a hybrid. How about you guys? What kind of car do you drive? If you could own any car, what would you pick?

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The future has finally arrived: Genuine flying-cars are available for pre-order from ParaJet. The ParaJet SkyCar is street-legal, and can accelerate to 62mph in just 4.2 seconds. Plus, it can frickin' fly. It works by way of a parachute style wing and a big fan. Sure, it's a far cry from George Jetson's sweet whip, but hey, flying car fans will take what they can get.

According to ParaJet:

"It will be easier and safer to fly than any other aircraft, as it has no pitch control and therefore impossible to stall or dive. Should the engine fail, the pilot would simply glide down into the nearest field or strip of sandy desert.

In the unlikely event of catastrophic wing failure, car connection system failure or mid-air collision, an emergency ballistic reserve parachute can be deployed."

What could possibly go wrong? Anyway, to get your own flying car, you'll need to plunk down £10,000 ($16,381) now and pay the remaining £50,000 ($81,905) just before its scheduled shipping window in "late 2010."  Sounds good, but the lack of any video of the car in action on ParaJet's website sets off my "vapor-ware" alarm. Oops. There's a video right here! But I still think you'd have to be insane to drive around in a dune-buggy with a parachute attached to the back.

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