Ridge Racer 6 Hands-On

Earlier this evening, at a Namco press event in San Francisco, we had an opportunity to get our hands on the latest work-in-progress version of Ridge Racer 6. Previously, our Ridge Racer 6 test-drives have been limited to single-car, single-circuit demos, but on this occasion we were able to race against 13 opponents on an all-new circuit, titled Surfside Resort. We also managed to hit up one of the Namco representatives at the event for more information on the game.

Ridge Racer 6 will boast a total of around 30 tracks and no fewer than 130 cars (including at least eight "special machines"), most of which you'll need to unlock in the game's single-player "World Xplorer" mode. Each race in this mode will be represented by a hexagon on a large, irregularly shaped map, and you'll be able to choose your own route through the game as you progress. This means, of course, that you'll be able to bypass a large number of events if you wish, but you'll be discouraged from doing so by the presence of unlockable bonus items (including cars, tracks, and more) that become available to you once you've won all the races that surround the bonus icons on the map.

Standard races in Ridge Racer 6 will feature a total of 14 cars although, as in previous games, you can also expect to be going up against particularly challenging opponents head-to-head on occasion. The World Xplorer race that we competed in (and won, we might add) was a 14-car affair that pitted us against Class 1 cars of various shapes and sizes. Class 1 will be the slowest of four classes in Ridge Racer 6, and although the pace was quite sedate, there was a good sense of speed, thanks in part, no doubt, to the game's solid frame rate of 60 frames per second. The sense of speed was particularly noticeable when we took advantage of our car's nitrous system, which, like that in the PSP version of Ridge Racer, is accumulated by performing spectacular slides around corners. At the end of the race we were treated to a superb replay of the event that showed off our most spectacular skids and slides to great effect using all manner of camera angles.

Other gameplay modes in Ridge Racer 6 will largely focus on online competition and will include head-to-head online races, as well as a global time attack mode that will let you compare your best race times against those of players from all over the world using a leaderboard system. You'll also be able to download and race against ghosts posted by other players. Many of Ridge Racer 6's Xbox Live features haven't been finalized at this time, but we're told the game will support at least 10 players simultaneously, and that new content will be available to download via the Xbox Live Marketplace system.

Ridge Racer 6 for the Xbox 360 is currently scheduled for release in November. We'll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available.