Sega Rally 2006 coming to PlayStation 2

It seems that Sega Rally 2005 will not be coming out as originally planned, or at least it's been renamed. The game was wiped from the latest PlayStation 2 release list provided by Famitsu, and instead, the magazine featured a report on Sega Rally 2006, which is slated for release on the PS2 in January.

Screenshots of Sega Rally 2006 show the same blue Subaru Impreza from former images released of Sega Rally 2005, suggesting that this "new" game is simply a renaming of Sega Rally 2005, a change perhaps made when the game's release date slipped outside of its titular year. The game seems to have gone through a minor face-lift in terms of the screen displays, however, with Sega Rally 2006 having sleeker speedometers and other indicators.

Sega Rally 2006 will be the first time that a new version of the racing game series has debuted on a console instead of in arcades. As a result, the game was designed with a career mode in mind to give it more longevity than its arcade counterparts, which were meant for a few minutes of playing at a time. The player's objective in career mode is to go from amateur racer to professional driver, racking up rally wins in a number of different regions along the way. Aside from the career mode, the game features the standard arcade mode and time attack mode.

Development of Sega Rally 2006 is currently 90 percent complete. The game will be available for play at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. Stay tuned to GameSpot for impressions from the show.