Street Racing Syndicate E3 2003 Preshow Report

3DO will be exhibiting its upcoming racing game, Street Racing Syndicate, at this year's E3. Developed by Eutechnyx, the creators of racing games like F1 World Grand Prix 2000, Street Racing Syndicate lets you immerse yourself in the world of underground street racing, a pastime popularized by films like The Fast and the Furious.

The game will feature more than 24 licensed cars, each of which is customizable in almost every imaginable way using dozens of licensed, aftermarket parts that appear on the car models in the game when you equip them. The developers at Eutechnyx are promising true-to-life physics, as well as an advanced damage modeling system that affects not only your car's handling characteristics, but the appearance of your car in the game as you take damage. As you race, you'll not only have to deal with road hazards and other competitors, but the ever-present danger of the police, whom you can try to outrace or outsmart. Street Racing Syndicate will include three different cities to race in: Philadelphia, Miami, and Los Angeles.

You'll enter some illegal and some officially sanctioned events, and bet on races for cash, cars, or women. Yes, in addition to other officially licensed elements, Street Racing Syndicate will have the likenesses of 18 real-life import models, including Tila Nguyen, Sasha Singleton, Natasha Yi, Aiko Tanaka, Kaila Yu, and Cheri Roberts. Depending on how well you do in races, the women in the game will dance for you or even become your girlfriend. It's also possible to "win" other racers' girlfriends in wagers, or even put your own girlfriend up as collateral if you're short on cash.

Street Racing Syndicate is due out this summer for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. We'll have more information on the game as it becomes available.