TGS 2005: Earlier today, during a meeting with Bizarre Creations, we had an opportunity to check out the latest work-in-progress version of Project Gotham Racing 3. Currently scheduled for release shortly after the Xbox 360 launch in November, Project Gotham Racing 3 promises to improve upon its popular predecessor through the addition of numerous new modes, more realistic gameplay, and, of course, much-improved visuals. The first thing we got to see during our demonstration was the game's main menu screen, which includes Gotham career, playtime, and Gotham TV options--all of which we got to see in action.

　　Project Gotham Racing 3's career mode will be quite different from that in PGR2, largely because the game no longer features class-based racing. In fact, all of the game's 180 vehicles fall into the same class--that being super-desirable sports cars capable of over 170 miles per hour. At the start of your career, you'll be given a budget with which to buy your first motor, and although it's unlikely you'll have enough money to choose from all 180 cars (each car costs the same in-game as it would in real life), those available to you from day one won't necessarily be inferior in terms of performance; they just won't be as prestigious. Each of the cars is made up of around 80,000 polygons, half of which are used to model accurate interiors.

　　Your Project Gotham Racing 3 career will span both single-player and online competitions and will incorporate a number of new race types in addition to those found in PGR2. Checkpoint-based "breakthrough" races will give the game an arcade feel at times, as will the "time vs. kudos" events in which you're required to complete races against a time limit that's impossible to beat unless you pause the timer by sliding your car and earning kudos points as often as possible. The solo career mode will feature a total of 23 championships, and as your career progresses you'll visit four different cities, including London and Tokyo.

　　The fact that there are only four cities in Project Gotham Racing 3 might initially sound disappointing for fans of the series, but it's worth noting that the areas of the cities that have been accurately re-created are some three times larger than those in PGR2. Having seen a couple of Tokyo tracks in action, we can also report that the level of detail is nothing short of remarkable this time around. Every single building has been modeled individually with textures based on photographs, and although you won't really appreciate just how good they look when you're racing past and marvelling at the sensation of speed created by some sublime motion blur effects, if you take the time to check them out, we promise you won't be disappointed.

　　Another thing you might not notice during a regular eight-car race is just how detailed the crowds of people watching it are. Every person in the crowd is modeled in full 3D and boasts motion-captured animations, and, at least along the stretch of road where we were invited to check them out, no two of them looked the same. We were mighty impressed when it was pointed out to us that the vast majority of the crowd lining the Tokyo circuit were Japanese, and we were more impressed still when we noticed their dynamic behavior. If the race is exciting and you're doing well, for example, the crowd will cheer. If you hit a barrier that has people behind it, they'll jump backward in shock, and if you slow down alongside a crowd for any reason, you'll notice some of them taking photos.

Plays Well With Others

　　Slowing down will rarely be a good option in Project Gotham Racing 3, of course, although it's conceivable that it might become a popular tactic in some of the new team-based gameplay modes that appear in the game's "playtime" menu. Playtime events won't count toward your career in any way but have instead been designed to appeal to those of you who enjoyed PGR2's Xbox Live play--particularly to those of you who took part in player-created online race modes such as cat and mouse. Team games will be contested by red and blue teams and will include street races, eliminator events (the last-place car is eliminated at the end of each lap), and an intriguing "capture the track" mode, in which you'll be tasked with capturing segments of the circuit for your team by recording the fastest split times during a race.

　　Project Gotham Racing 3's playtime menu is also where you'll find the track creation option, with which it'll purportedly be possible to create any of more than 2 million different circuit configurations to race against either AI opponents or online friends. We got to see the track creation system in action and are pleased to report that it really couldn't be simpler to use. You'll be presented with an overhead map of your chosen city, and scattered throughout the city will be nodes that you can simply join together by clicking on them in the sequence that you'd like to race through them. You'll be able to create both circuit and point-to-point tracks using the system, although figure-of-eight routes will be possible only where there are bridges, since Bizarre Creations has no desire to turn its street races into demolition derbies at this time. Those of you who don't enjoy connect the dots or are just too lazy to try the system out will be pleased to hear that a random course generator option is also included.

　　With that said, all of the licensed (and beautifully re-created) cars in Project Gotham Racing 3 will feature realistic (although only cosmetic) damage. We didn't get to see just how much damage the cars are able to sustain on this occasion, but after a couple of eventful laps around Tokyo, the Maclaren F1 we were watching had cracked headlights, a busted wing mirror, a dented rear bumper, and a lopsided rear spoiler. The level of detail on the cars is such that you can actually make out individual nuts and bolts, and although that stuff will almost certainly go unnoticed during regular gameplay, it's certainly impressive in the all-new Gran Turismo 4-style photo mode.

　　You'll be able to take a photo of your current vehicle during any single-player event in Project Gotham Racing 3, simply by pausing the game, entering photo mode, and repositioning the camera anywhere you want. Other camera options available to you will include manual or automatic focusing, tilt, zoom, shutter speed, aperture, exposure, contrast, color, brightness, and a sepia effect. As in Gran Turismo 4, the cars look even better in photos than they do in-game, and you'll be able to store all of your photos in a virtual album. We were also told during our presentation that you'll be able to share your car photos with online friends via a photo-sharing application planned for the Xbox 360 sometime postlaunch.

　　Online tournament functionality is another of Project Gotham Racing 3's options that won't be available from day one, although all of the requisite online leaderboards and such will be. Complementing the online rankings perfectly will be Gotham TV--an option that will let you switch between TV-style channels dedicated to friends or heroes (top players in the world) and watch them playing the game live. Bizarre Creations claims that up to 30,000 players will be able to tune in to Gotham TV simultaneously, and if you happen to be one of the players involved in a featured race a message will flash up on your screen to let you know that your performance is being broadcast. Another neat feature of Gotham TV is a news ticker on the bottom of the screen that will keep you updated on the performances and car purchases of your friends, record lap times, and such.

　　In case you haven't guessed yet, Project Gotham Racing 3 really impressed us in Tokyo today, and we look forward to bringing you more information on the game just as soon as we're able to get hands-on with it.