The Cities of Project Gotham 2 Part 3

With the release of Project Gotham Racing 2 fast approaching, we bring you a final look at the cities in the game. Executive producer Brian Woodhouse of Bizarre Creations offer some insight into the cities included in the Xbox-Live enabled racer due next week.

Nurburgring

Developer Notes: As the game is primarily concerned with offering a superb driving experience for Xbox owners, the original Nurburgring (Nordshleife) was an essential inclusion to the track list. The Nurburgring Nordshleife in reality is the ultimate driving experience--nowhere on earth will you find such a mix of bends, gradients, camber changes, and long straights. For 13 miles and 73 bends, the track twists its way through dramatic mountainous countryside, testing car and driver. It's a tarmac-coated roller coaster that well deserves its nickname "The Green Hell," and it certainly belongs in PGR2.

Edinburgh

Developer Notes: How many cities have ancient streets leading to a mountain with a castle on the top? It is one of a kind and world-famous, especially on Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year. Everybody has seen the pictures of the castle at midnight on New Year's Eve, with fireworks shooting out the top. The castle makes a great centerpiece. The combination of old, twisty cobbled sections together with modern, fast straights that surround the castle makes for some of the best streets in the world to race around.

Florence

Developer Notes: Florence was chosen for its stunning old architecture and narrow twisting streets--a real contrast to the modern cities also included in the game. The sounds are also very different as you play, with a constant rumble from the cobbles and the engine noise reverberating off the close building walls. This makes for a claustrophobic and intense driving experience. Florence also has its major landmarks close together--excellent for stringing routes together and making the most out of the city. Florence has a river running through it and a rather large cathedral, which add a nice contrast and a bit of relief from the tight roads. It also has a number of nice open squares, which are great to zoom into from the narrow streets. All in all, Florence seemed to present a nice little package that seemed right for the type of game experience we were looking for.

Barcelona

Developer Notes: The popularity of Barcelona as a tourist destination and the spectacular beauty of its architecture make it one of the most striking and best-loved cities in Europe. Barcelona (the principal city of Catalonia) is over 2,000 years old. You'll see the Roman city walls and the gothic architecture of the old quarter, and scream down the broad tree-lined avenue of La Rambla and the seafront Passeig de Colom, where the statue of Christopher Columbus points to the New World. The opportunity to hit 120mph on the sunbaked streets of Barcelona is one not to be missed.

Moscow

Developer Notes: Apart from being the capital of one of the world's largest nations, Moscow boasts both stunning and historically varied architecture, making it an ideal candidate for Project Gotham Racing 2. There's nothing better than speeding through the Kremlin, counting the kudos around St Basil's Cathedral, and racing past the Moscow River. Moscow's mix of wide "raceable" streets, sweeping corners, technically demanding hairpins, and narrow side streets means it was an obvious choice. Moscow's tumultuous social history also gives it character and a kind of cult status in that even though it is more open to tourism and the West, it is still a dangerously exotic place to visit, and to be able to race the actual streets, which 20 years ago would have been impossible, has got to be a real buzz.

Chicago

Developer Notes: We felt that it was important to include US cities. We had already done New York and San Francisco in Project Gotham Racing, and so we looked for two others that were striking and yet offered something different. Just about every major US city has a grid-based layout. Therefore, we had to accept that although this may not offer the best racing environment, we should choose two cities that offered something that the rest of the cities did not. Chicago was chosen for its distinctive features: a river running through the heart of the city, spanned by several bridges, and an elevated train running between some of the world's tallest buildings. In fact, Chicago is known as the home of the skyscraper.