With numerous marquee racing games on the horizon for this fall, the racing genre is "back on the radar," according to PlayStation 4 racing game Driveclub director Paul Rustchynsky. Speaking with MCV, he says he looks forward to the challenge of going up against major games like Forza Horizon 2, The Crew, F1 2014, and Project Cars.

　　"It is a good thing for the genre that racing is back on the radar," Rustchynsky said. "We're looking at other people's games and that pushes us harder, because we want to be the best. Everyone is quite unique as well, so I don't think we are cannibalizing each other's sales."

　　"This Christmas is going to be a crazy time for driving games," he added.

　　Driveclub could have faced even more competition this fall had it not been for Electronic Arts' decision to not release a new Need for Speed game this year. This was a significant and surprising announcement, as EA had released a new Need for Speed game every year since 2001. Notably, Driveclub was originally scheduled to launch back in 2013.

　　Rustchynsky also said that he's optimistic about Driveclub's social features and connected game worlds, which he sees as a trend that is growing in popularity in the current generation of consoles.

　　"It's even happening in quite hardcore games like Dark Souls, where players invaded your world. Or Watch Dogs, where somebody just jumps into your game and you have to react to that," Rustchynsky said. "Whereas with the last generation it was all pretty much competitive multiplayer, with you shooting or racing against someone. As an industry we are coming up with new and exciting ways to connect players."

　　Driveclub launches October 7 exclusively for PS4. A "free" version of the game for PlayStation Plus subscribers will also be available at launch, and you can read about what it contains in this post. For more on Driveclub, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

　　Fall 2014 Racing Games:

　　Forza Horizon 2 (Xbox 360, Xbox One) - September 30Driveclub (PS4) - October 7F1 2014 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) - October 21The Crew (Xbox One, PS4, PC) - November 11Project Cars (Xbox One, PS4, PC) - November [Wii U version coming in 2015]