World Rally Championship screeches onto PSP

The PlayStation 2's World Rally Championship series is making its way to the PSP under the name WRC: FIA World Rally Championship. The latest issue of Famitsu revealed the first details of the game, which is slated for release in Japan this March.

The biggest difference in WRC: FIA World Rally Championship for the PSP is that the game allows multiplayer games. The racer will allow up to eight players to simultaneously compete with each other via wireless connection in ad hoc mode.

Like previous releases, WRC: FIA World Rally Championship is officially licensed from the FIA international racing league and includes all the machines that raced in 2005, as well as six concept cars. The game features 16 stages based on real courses from the World Rally Championship's 2005 season, including tracks in Spain, Mexico, New Zealand, Greece, Great Britain, Turkey, Argentina, Cyprus, France, and Japan.

Realistic weather and time of day will affect not only the game's visuals, but also each car's handling--for example, driving will be a lot tougher when there's rain or snow covering the road. Cars in the game are modeled after their real-life counterparts and will take and show damage when they crash.