As the video game market continues to be saturated with driving games, development teams are looking for ways to make their games stand out from the pack. Milestone Studios' upcoming Xbox racing game, Apex, takes a slightly different approach to the typical racing game formula by essentially placing you in control of a startup concept automobile manufacturer. You'll be faced with tasks such as winning races to show off the performance of your newly manufactured car and securing orders from those interested in purchasing it so that you can continue research on new models.

　　You'll get to start your own concept car company. Most of the gameplay in Apex is centered around the dream mode, in which you enter your factory for the first time and choose one of three concept cars--each of which has its own unique speed, braking, and acceleration capabilities--to manufacture. When the mechanic is done constructing the car, you can make a number of initial modifications to it, including the color of the body, and you can set the driving style to either drift or normal. In addition, you can take the car out on a test track to get a feel for how it handles as well as its top speed and acceleration capabilities. As you progress through the game, you can also tweak a few more options, such as gear setup and downforce.

　　After giving your car an early inspection, you can take it out and race against some opponents, but you'll have to start in the amateur league, which features four races, each varying in complexity. The first track in this particular league is an enormous rectangle with three sharp turns and two minor turns, whereas another track features all sorts of loops and twists. In between races, you may be invited by a newspaper or magazine to participate in a special challenge that will reward you with front-page press for your car if you happen to place first. So you'll have to exhibit some relatively slick driving skills early on in the game, especially since each of these races also requires you to place fourth or better in order to progress to the next league.

　　Apex features some incredibly detailed cars. If you happen to accomplish this feat, your mechanic will open up the production area in the garage where additional models of your car are being manufactured and sold. In addition, you'll see how many cars you've sold as well as the cost for researching a new roadster model or a new sports car. The catch is that researching new cars requires a certain number of existing roadsters to be sold. You'll be able to accomplish this by your performance in a race. Your finishing position in a race actually determines how many cars are sold, so, for example, if you place first, you'll sell 16 cars, but if you finish in fourth place, you'll sell only four. It's an interesting mechanic that functions similarly to grand prix modes in other games, where points are awarded for performance, only with a slight twist.

　　Other modes in Apex are a little more straightforward. There's an arcade racing option that lets you race on any of the tracks you've unlocked in the dream mode. Interestingly, the arcade mode also features a slew of licensed cars from real-world manufacturers, including Toyota, Mercedes, Lotus, Mitsubishi, Ford, Chevrolet, Doge, Aston Martin, and others. In the arcade mode you can also choose to participate in a time attack, where you race around a track by yourself, or in a one-on-one race against another player.

　　The environments in the game are also quite impressive. In terms of gameplay, Apex isn't exactly a hard-core simulation, but you can't drive at breakneck speeds through a course either. Turns require fairly precise brake timing if you want to stay ahead of the pack or just generally avoid colliding into a wall. You also have to learn the ins and outs of a track and discover which turns you can take at a reasonably fast speed. It's worth noting that in the current build of the game the AI can be pretty brutal. They'll push you around the track, slam into the back of you during a turn so that you'll go careening into wall, and leave you in the dust if you make a series of minor mistakes. Of course, you can use the same tactics against the computer opponents, but they seem to recover a little more quickly than you do from bumps or collisions.

　　The graphics in the game are incredibly detailed. All of the vehicles have really high polygon counts and sport some nice special effects, including reflective surfaces that accurately reflect the objects in the environment on the exterior of the car. The texture quality on environmental objects is high, and the draw distance is quite impressive. Currently, the game runs at around 30 frames per second without any sign of slowdown. The game is currently scheduled for release early next year.