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News Brundle ‘McLaren are looking good’

The 2012 Formula 1 season edges ever closer and next week I’ll be putting together my season preview, looking at all of the new cars, the new drivers, the early tests and casting an historical eye over what all of this can mean for the races ahead. Of course in the UK the big news […]

News Barrichello signs for KV Racing

Former Williams's Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello has announced he will be competing in the 2012 Indycar season for KV Racing. Racing alongside team mates Tony Kannan with EJ Viso completing the 3 car 2012 line up. Brazilian Tony Kanaan has been long-time friends with Rubens commenting at the launch "If Rubens didn't believe that […]

Features Going for an Outrun

With the recent release of Outrun Online Arcade I felt it would be a good opportunity to look back at the heritage of the series and the aspects of this title that continue made it a classic loved by fans of the genre to this day, besides my own personal and reflective take. Outrun was […]

Features A brief history of Polyphony Digital

Gran Turismo is now the world’s most famous automotive video game brand, a game more than 14 years in the making, but the journey to Gran Turismo 5 has not always been straight forward for its designer Kazunori Yamauchi and his company Polyphony Digital, a developer which first came to notable fame during the release […]

Features GT Academy Hits Silverstone

Are driving games anything like the real thing? Can a talented player really translate their skill from the virtual world? As a passionate racing fan myself, it would be a life dream to have the opportunity to race a real car in a professional season. Indeed on my first visit to Silverstone in the mid […]

Features Can Forza 3 make you a better driver?

Earlier this week VVV were invited along to the historic Silverstone race track where we’d get the opportunity to race Forza 3, then go onto the circuit and see how our skills had improved. As a racing fan this is always a wonderful opportunity to view behind the scenes; in this case a nose around […]

Features Autosport International 2010

With all of the recent snow I was pleased to see it thaw enough for me to make my way to the NEC in Birmingham, arriving early I expected the trade day to be somewhat quiet, a clam before the storm, but on arriving it was an altogether different experience. Bustling with the movers and […]

Reviews Trials HD Review

Released in the latter half of 2009, Trials HD caused quite a stir in the world of Xbox Live Arcade, part of a new generation of titles with a larger file size giving the options for far more detailed gaming experiences, while still buried within the simplistic nature expected of the XBLA environment. Though despite […]

Reviews Supercar Challenge Review

As I write this the Formula 1 season approaches its climax and this weekend brings us the Belgian Grand Prix, for me the Spa circuit has always been one of the highlights of the F1 calendar and after a few laps around it on Supercar Challenge you’ll begin to see why, high speed and low-speed […]

Reviews Need For Speed Shift Review

All things come to those who wait, unfortunately, though our review for NFS Shift has come later than hoped it gave us the time to thoroughly test it out and have our usual rummage beneath the bonnet. As we already discovered in our feature Needing More Speed, this represents 15 years of an ever-growing franchise […]

Reviews Need For Speed Undercover Review

Every year when we see the regular raft of EA franchises making their annual appearance and of course no Christmas charts would ever be complete without the inclusion of a Need For Speed title. Entitled Need For Speed Underground, you take the role of an undercover cop working his way into the street syndicates of […]

Reviews Moto GP 09/10 review

It’s been 18 months since Moto GP’s last video game outing and in that time the racing genre has moved on considerably with significant strides in graphical performance, but with a long-term goal to building more Western-focused franchises it’s reassuring to see that Moto GP 09/10 certainly hasn’t had any corners cut in its production. […]

Reviews Moto GP 2008 Review

It’s interesting to see Capcom publishing Moto GP 2008, not a product we would automatically associate with this Japanese developer but it does show how the publisher is expanding its awareness of the western markets and looking for new IP’s with which to build a regular base. A first toe in the water perhaps but […]

Reviews Hang On Replay Review

We’ve seen the recent release of Moto GP and its good to see the biking genre is still being supported but for some reason, two wheels never seem to appear as popular to the games playing public as four-wheel racers? Of course, things haven’t always been like that and from time to time a title […]

Reviews Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Replay Review

In 2010 the most long-awaited driving game ever will appear on the Playstation 3, that being the iniquitous Gran Turismo 5, indeed it’s interesting when you look back at just how big the franchise has grown, its corporate power and importance now being unmatched in the automotive gaming scene. So with the recent release of […]

Reviews Gran Turismo 4 Replay Review

With Gran Turismo 5 nearing its eventual and long-awaited release, it seems like an appropriate time to look at the last full iteration of the series and discuss the elements that make this a great title while analyzing its core failings in this quickly developing market. Indeed that review was written on the Japanese release […]

Reviews Forza Motorsport 3 Review

The wait is finally over and Forza Motorsport 3 is about to land, another enormous development period is coming to its close for Turn 10 studio’s and VVV were fortunate to be among the first within press circles to gain a copy. Though despite this we’ve taken our time about the review, its an important […]

Reviews F Zero Replay Review

Every month at VVV we intend to look back on an old great, not just of the racing genre but video games that defined and shaped what we see today. While we’ll also have features taking you through the histories of the major series we’ll also focus on the aspects that made these titles special […]

Reviews Colin McRae Dirt 2 Review

Its 11 years since the first iteration of the Colin McRae Rally franchise and 2009’s Colin McRae Dirt 2 represents the 3rd generation of hardware for this ever-evolving series. Dirt released in 2007 moved the standard WRC focus into a bigger bolder world, taking into account a range of different vehicle types and environments. Alas, […]

Reviews Outrun Online Arcade Review

Originally launched in the arcade back in 2003, Outrun 2 came as a refreshing surprise, it represented a brief respite to the failing arcade scene giving a new lease of life while taking a classic title and putting its simplistic gameplay values back in vogue. As for the gaming community, well let’s just say everyone […]

Reviews Race Pro Review

As we all know the racing genre is ever expanding in its importance to any modern console. Strange then that it’s taken over 3 years of the Xbox 360’s life before we finally see a racing simulator that directly appeals to the hardcore market. A whole section of the said market which has been missed […]

Features VVV visit Mclaren for the launch of the MP4-12C

It's amazing how things can come out of the blue, Wednesday saw the launch of Codemasters F1 while today in appropriate mood I'm visiting Mclaren for the launch of their new high speed production sports car. Arriving on a beautiful spring morning, what better time would there be to see this fantastic facility, the Mclaren […]

Features Racing Games that shaped a decade

10 years have flown by but with them we've seen some fantastic evolution in the racing sector, and this period represents an era where home consoles have finally been able to do the genre justice. Looking back on personal experience, the hardware available1980's was incredibly limiting but it was a time when we simply didn't […]

Features Beat the Heat: Are you faster than the cops?

Last Thursday VVV Gamer were invited to The Fuzz & The Furious, an event set at Santa Pod Drag Strip where members of the public were given the opportunity to race against the US Police Force in the form of Lt Tom Brown, while also supporting the launch of Fast & Furious on DVD and […]

Features A Silverstone Pillion Ride Experience

Being a journalist gives some wonderful experiences many will never have the opportunity to see or do, one of those is being thrown round Silverstone pillion in the back of an Yamaha R1 Superbike. The location would be the newly revamped Stowe circuit, this is situated within the south part of Silverstone while surrounded by […]

Reviews Super Mario Kart – Replay Review

When news first emerged that Nintendo was to make a racing game using their most well-known characters it was met with some skepticism. Could there really be a decent game hidden in there or was it just a gimmick, a cheap marketing ploy, had Nintendo run out of creativity? The ideas on the table and […]

Reviews Gran Turismo PSP Review

The term “extended development time” is now synonymous with the Gran Turismo series, not perhaps the term Polyphony have fought for but certainly one they can’t avoid. If you want perfection you need to give it time and in game development circles there are very few developers who get all the time they need, but […]

Reviews Superstars V8 Next Challenge – Review

Racing is a competitive and often expensive market to enter, indeed you would think that all bases had been covered. But in reality, many games follow the same path, trying to break ground but in effect falling into a very similar trap. Misunderstanding their market and aiming for a casual gamer as their core rather […]

Reviews Split Second: Velocity – Review

Back in 2006 racing games were going through a tough patch, developers and publishers were clearly at a position where they felt the genre had to change. That driving was no longer enough to interest the common gamer; designers were given the mission to produce something new, something to reinvigorate the genre. Whether this was […]

Reviews SBK-X Review

In 2009 I wrote a Replay Review of successful 1980’s arcade title Hang-On, a game that signified a point in the history of motorbike games where the genre met its 4 wheeled rivals blow for blow. But throughout the recent history of gaming, the biking genre appeared to fall behind, whether it be misunderstood it’s […]

News New NASCAR Screenshots Released

New screenshots have been released by Eutechnyx from their upcoming title NASCAR The Game 2011. The screens show great driving action from the Phoenix, Charlotte & Darlington circuits, some detailed car interiors and also a nice shot of some night-time racing.

News Red Bull Super Car Revealed

As well as re-mastered tracks and new meteorological effects, several new and rather impressive vehicles were also revealed at TGS. The finished game will include over 1000 cars, some regular classics and others updated from previous models, although some shown at TGS weren't your run of the mill racers… One such car was the X1 […]

Reviews MotorStorm Apocalypse Review

Over the course of four iterations, the MotorStorm franchise has established itself as the quintessential PS3-exclusive racer, thanks to its winning formula of rough and rugged off-road racing. From its initial controversial CGI trailer in 2005, the series still lives on today having taken us for a reckless ride through the Monumental Valley desert, the […]

Interviews VVV Interview SBK-X Director: Michele Caletti

In writing this interview I decided to keep many of his enthusiastic explanations and "Italian-'isms" (as I like to call them). Michele is nothing but positive, and his passion for the biking scene is clear to see. VVV: Thanks for sparing the time today, when you finish SBK 09 where do you start when you […]

News Fanatec introduces Porsche 911 GT3 RS V2 for PS3 and PC

Fanatec® introduces Porsche 911 GT3 RS V2 for PS3 and PC FANATEC® INTRODUCES PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS V2 FOR PLAYSTATION 3 AND PC (Landshut, Germany) – June 8th, 2010 – Fanatec®, a leading brand of high-end input devices for game consoles and PCs, today announced a major upgrade on it’s Porsche 911 GT3 RS racing […]

Interviews VVV interviews Bradley Smith

Over the last 4 years, a new British Moto GP star has risen in the form of Bradley Smith. currently competing in the 125cc Class, he's managed an impressive fourteen podium finishes, backed up with two wins and six pole positions. Now moving into the world of 250cc racing, Bradley is on the ascent, so […]

Interviews VVV Interview NFS World Developers

This week the much anticipated Need For Speed World finally hit PC screens everywhere, the daring EA MMO racer that's had everyone talking. If you haven't seen it yet jump on over to the official site and get downloading now, remember it's free to download the initial starter pack and get an early taster of […]

Previews VVV visit Milestone and roadtest WRC

2010 has been a big year for motorsport and that's reflected by the level of interest generated by the gaming industry, there is now more variety within the racing genre than ever before and all competing for your hard earned cash. Indeed WRC has seen some big names sign up for the 2010 season, including […]

News Thrustmaster Unveil Official Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit

With Gran Turismo 5 and Formula 1 due later in the year there's never been a more important time for the burgeoning PS3 console wheel market. Today's press release comes out of the blue as Thrustmaster reveal the rather excellent looking 'Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit 430 Scuderia Edition', complete with F1 styling, certainly looking the […]

Reviews Ridge Racer DS: Replay Review

Ridge Racer DS is the realisation of the classic NAMCO arcade racing game, released on the Nintendo DS back in June of 2005, and is thus a light-hearted look back at how this transition ported over to the worlds number 1 selling handheld. Start up, and you immediately get that RR feel, with the techno soundtrack […]

Previews Preview – Blur Hands-On

With just a just two short weeks to go be fore the release of Bizarre Creations' much anticipated Blur, VVV were invited along for a glimpse of the final code and give an impression as to what players will be looking forward to on May 28th. There are always two schools of thought when it comes […]

Interviews VVV Interview SBK Legend: Carl Fogarty

With the recent announcement that biking legend Carl Fogarty would make his gaming debut in the forthcoming SBK-X, VVV took a time-out to interview the man and find out a little more about his background besides further insight into the up's and downs from an amazing, successful, and eventful biking career. VVV: Hi Carl, I'm […]

Features Discovering a Passion for Biking: Part 1

Thinking back, I remember a parents’ evening when I was 11 years old (Year 7, to be precise) – a teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I was older, and I said I wanted to race superbikes. My teacher and mum both laughed it off and that was the end of that […]

Features VVV visits Britstol Italian Auto Festival

April 24th saw part of Bristol’s city centre roads closed to make way for hundreds of Italian vehicles. It was a warm sunny day, and the area was absolutely packed with car fans, with the street lined with a selection of Ferrari’s and Maserati’s almost impassible. Down some quieter side streets, selections of rare Italian […]

Features Preparing to Enter the Racing World

So here I am, now fully decided that I will be racing a full-ish season in 2010 with God’s Grace. Racing in the rookie 600 Open class (which, in a nutshell is a class where everyone is on 600cc Supersports motorbikes such Yamaha R6, Suzuki GSXR’s, Kawasaki Ninjas, etc) and everyone is in their first season […]

Features Dscovering a Passion for Biking: Part 2

Continued from Discovering A Passion For Biking: Part 1 To get an ACU license first, though, you have to join a racing club, with biggest UK racing clubs are BMCRC, New Era or Thundersport GB. I found out that BMCRC (otherwise known as “Bemsee”) were holding an open day in December at Brands Hatch, where you could get […]

Previews Preview – SBK-X Hands-On

It's certainly been a period of ups and downs for biking fans with the anticipation for Moto GP being so high, it came as a big disappointment to many who were looking for something slightly more realistic. So, what better time than for Black Bean to pick up the baton. 2010 is proving to be […]

Features Formula One 2010: Season Preview

It’s been 4 weeks since our last F1 Round Up, and in that time I’ve had a good look at the new teams and their potential for the season ahead. Rather than report each launch, we’re taking a wider look at the teams and their progress in order to provide you with a general overview. With anticipation […]

Previews Preview – V8 Superstars Next Challenge Hands-On

Barely 6 months after the prequel and we see V8 Superstars Next Challenge racing its way to a games shop near you. It's surprising just how soon this has come about, but it indicates the rush into getting V8 out before titles such as Forza 3 and Shift. Of course, this means some stuff had […]

Features F1 2009 Season Review

As I embark on writing about this season, it scares me just how much has taken place – it’s been an epic year for the sport! There have been mixes covering every aspect and, to coin a phrase from the great man Murray Walker himself,“anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does!”. Wise words indeed, […]

News VVV attends the London Games Conference

It's certainly been a busy week for the UK Gaming Industry, with yet another major annual event to attend. This time, though, it was the annual London Games Conference. As it happened, this was featured in the same location as the F1 presentation, so following a brief blagging opportunity I got in as one of the […]

Interviews VVV Interview Brawn GP’s Anthony Davidson

So, moving onto the presentation and we see a demonstration of the growth in UK TV viewing figures as Lewis Hamilton came on the seen, now the peak with Jenson Button's recent success. Its all very positive for the sport and gives Codemasters the best possible platform to kick start the franchise. That inaugural […]

Features VVV attends the UK Forza Launch Party

The wait has been agony, but we’re now at the final countdown to the launch of Forza Motorsport 3. You’ve read our extensive coverage, you’ve seen our youtube videos and with more to come in the form of guides and ongoing activity, there’s lots to look forward to. So, as we prepare and the factories get […]

Interviews VVV interviews Dan Greenawalt

When a racing title the size and quality of the Forza Motorsport franchise comes along, it's a relief that it's in the hands of the right people, and that these people have been given the opportunity and control they need to make it happen. It's also interesting to see how Microsoft as a company are […]

Features VVV’s First 5 Days of Forza 3

Though they offer us gamers a means of finding out what a game is like, a review is only a small part of the story – often the journey is in discovering what it’s like for yourself. As I write my Forza Motorsport 3 review, I thought I would take the time to share my […]

Features VVV attends Trax 2009

If Silverstone isn’t called a windy circuit, it certainly should be! That said, it always has bags of atmosphere and character, soand was the perfect example for perhaps the UK’s No.1 event for car modding fans, ‘Trax’. For those who are new to the automotive world, Trax is one of the major family car events of the UK calendar. […]

Interviews VVV interviews Ken Block at Silverstone

With just a week until the launch of 'Colin McRae Dirt 2', Codemasters is pulling out all of the stops with regards to gaining maximum exposure for its upcoming racing title. You'll have seen our initial hands-on and latest in-game videos, with lots more to follow, but now is the opportunity to meet the new man taking over this […]

Interviews A day with Tiff Needell

With the upcoming release of Supercar Challenge and the involvement of tame racing driver Tiff Needell, we took the opportunity to meet the man and find out a little bit more about what makes him tick. Of course I've been a long term fan of Tiff since the early 1990's, seeing him on Top Gear […]

Interviews VVV interview Need for Speed Producer Jesse Abney

The Need For Speed is a long-term stable of EA’s core franchises but its testament to the creative drive of the developer that they continue to push the series into new directions. Earlier this year EA surprised the gaming community yet again with the announcement of Need For Speed Shift. This taking the franchise away […]

Previews Preview – SuperCar Challenge Hands-On

2009 is fast becoming one of the greatest ever years for racing fans, but surely it's now an unenviable time for publishers and developers as development costs rise and rivals eat up potential market share? In particular on the PS3, we have the looming cloud of Gran Turismo 5 hovering over the horizon, and it's […]

Previews Preview – Dirt 2 Hands-On

I feel like a broken record this year – every time a new bit of racing info comes ou,t I go on about how competitive this scene is becoming! And now, one of the front runners has now shown its hand: Colin McRae Dirt 2. The successor to the succesfull and acclaimed 'Colin McRae DiRT', […]

Previews Preview – Forza Motorsport 3 Hands-On

Yesterday, I finally got a long awaited and much anticipated opportunity to have a decent and uninterrupted hands-on at Forza Motorsport 3. I have to admit, I've been pretty excited about this game, but at the same time not entirely convinced that the package had moved forward. Like all aspects of technology and gaming, the […]

Interviews VVV interview Race Pro’s Henrik Roos

Running up to the release of Race Pro earlier this year we welcomed a new racing developer taking on the competitive console market in the form of Simbin Studio’s, but these guys aren’t exactly new the new to the genre so VVV Gamer thought it would capture this opportunity to take a closer look at […]

Features Needing More Speed

The Need for Speed first released the 3DO console is still fondly remembered by many who played it as one of the greatest driving experiences ever offered by a console format. Now 14 years after this original release we see the latest vision of this franchise success story. So how has it changed in its […]

Interviews Alan Boiston Interview’s Sir Stirling Moss

With the release of Forza Motorsport 2 VVV’s Alan Boiston was given the privileged opportunity to interview F1 legend Sir Stirling moss about the game and his career in Motor Sport, this is merely an edited version from that shown on TV but covers some of his impressions of the game. Suffice to say that […]

Features ‘The Year of the Racer’: E3 2009 Report

The Electronic Entertainment Expo E2009 has drawn to a close, and now we can finally see the line-up of titles we’ll be playing well into 2010. This year really is the greatest selection of racing titles ever witnessed and it’s good to see the genre getting the support it deserves after a few years where […]

Interviews Alan Boiston Interviews Gianni Morbidelli

Recently we saw the release of Black Bean’s Superstars V8 Next Challenge, currently growing in Europe, the series is now attracting ex Formula 1 talent in the form of Gianni Morbidelli and Johnny Herbert. VVV were privileged to be given the opportunity to quiz Gianni on his epic motorsports career and delver into some of […]

Previews Preview – NFS Shift: First Hands-on

Editor's Note: The handling model was changed between the time we tested this pre-release version and the finished game. As a result, our comments on the way the cars drive isn't representative of the version you could buy in the shops. I have to admit, I didn’t really know what to expect of Need For […]

Interviews Alan Boiston Interviews GRID Producer Clive Moody

It’s a not so sunny day in Warwickshire, however when VVV were invited along to see final code of Race Driver Grid, we simply couldn’t resist. There are some developers who have so much experience within a genre that when they bring out a new title, the industry takes note and when Codemasters move into […]

Interviews Alan Boiston Interviews Mark Cale

Originally slated for release in the latter half of 2007 Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli (not to be confused with the AM2 Dreamcast title) abruptly vanished off the radar and with System 3 giving little information there were obvious fears the game may never see the light of day, however those fears were dispelled as Mark […]

Features A philosophical first look at WRC

When we first heard the announcement Black Bean would be bringing the WRC license back to life it was met with a somewhat mixed reception. Did they have the financial power to build a product that effectively captured such an expansive sport? That’s a question I’ll leave to the review but one thing is for […]