The majority of these releases really won't be seeing the light of day until the spring season, so maybe in a way, I'm using the term "upcoming" a bit loosely. Actually, this section is made up of the racing games that seem to have a rather solid and firm release schedule. In other words, the developer gave a date of release. Now, as you may know, games DO get delayed (the sad truth of GT4 thus far), so these release dates should not be taken as the gospel. So, without any further delay, let's get into the games!

FlatOut

Publisher : Vivendi Universal
Platform : Xbox , PS2
Racing Type : Arcade
Release Date : June

FlatOut seems to have been in development forever. I remember seeing previews of the game in the late 2002 issues of Game Informer, so this game seems like a long time coming. FlatOut looks to be like Burnout meets Destruction Derby, and as long as there are good course designs and a good game design, that sounds more than fine by me. And hopefully it will be much better than the mundane Test Drive : Eve Of Destruction.

Ford Racing 3

Publisher : GlobalStar Software
Platform : Xbox, PS2
Racing Type : Street / Arcade
Release Date : February / March

Well, another Ford Racing title is about to be released at a budget price of $14.99, but is anyone really going to care? The past two FR titles really haven't been welcomed with critical success, and I can't imagine the developers of the third installment are really even going to care about the quality of the product this time around. Ford certainly has a history of vehicles (including the Mercury and Lincoln brands) that could make the premise of a decent racer, but unless GlobalStar (and the developers behind the title) want to actually put forth the effort, we won't see that. I'd welcome them to prove me wrong.

Top Gear RPM Tuning

Publisher : Kemco
Platform : Xbox, PS2
Racing Type : Street / Arcade
Release Date : Whenever the hell Kemco decides to release the game

It's been almost five years since Kemco decided to use the Top Gear name for a racing game. I'm not sure why they haven't decided to make a next-gen version of it's classic SNES arcade racer, or update the Top Gear Rally franchise, but Kemco is bring the Top Gear name back, in the form of a cheap NFSU-like knockoff. The screenshots look unimpressive, and I can't imagine how great this game could be, especially when they won't even license cars. We'll see what exactally $19.99 gets you when this game finally ships.

I need petrol for me lorrie!