E3 2001 Hands-onSupercar Street Challenge

Activision's new driving game is out on the show floor, and to our surprise, it's much farther along than initially expected. Supercar Street Challenge features at least nine cars licensed from some of the top car manufacturers in the world, such as Lotus, Bertone, and Callaway. In addition to all the included cars, Supercar Street Challenge features an extensive car editor in which you can buy different parts for your car, such as mirrors and spoilers, but you can also buy entire portions as well. When you buy the car portions, you can stretch them or compress them, which changes their shape and enhances aerodynamics. There are 10 different pieces for both the front and rear of your car, as well as nine different sets of wheels. But the developers at Exakt have designed Supercar Street Challenge to be more of an arcade racer rather than a simulation, so you won't have to worry about the finer points of automobile customization to win a race.

Though only the Rome track is on display, Activision says that the game will ship with several different tracks--and a total of 25 courses--located in different cities around the world. In addition to Rome, there are tracks in Munich, Los Angeles, London, and Monaco. Each track is modeled as accurately as possible to look like the actual city. For example, the Coliseum, as well as other famous landmarks in Rome, are clearly visible when you're racing on the Rome track.

Visually, the game looks solid. The cars have a decent amount of detail, and the environments are immediately recognizable. However, there are still some issues with the frame rate, which Activision says will be fixed before the Supercars' final release. As far as controls are concerned, the cars seem to handle really well, but there are some occasions in which it becomes difficult to gauge the turning sensitivity on the cars. But again, Activision and Exakt plan to iron out most of Supercar Street Challenge's minor problems before it reaches stores this fall.