A few days ago, I posted a first story on the Ferrari download pack coming to Need for Speed Shift. Now, EA has officially announced the pack, giving us first previews of the prancing horses in Shift to enjoy.

The pack will bring ten Ferrari sports cars to Shift, including the Ferrari FXX, the California,  the 599 GTB Fiorano, the F50 GT and the F430 both as GTC and Spyder version. Furthermore, the pack will add the Ferrari World Tour to the game’s career mode.

Unfortunately, all of this will be limited to the Xbox 360 version of Shift as the DLC won’t be available for the PC and Playstation 3 versions. The Ferrari Racing Series pack will be available starting February 18th and will sell fo $9.99.

 

Following the first preview screenshot released earlier this week, Black Bean Games has released a first video of their official World Rally Championship title.

The video does not contain any gameplay scenes but interviews with the developers at Milestone, showing us how their stage-creation process works.

World Rally Championship will be bringing all the action of the WRC to the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the PC. The game will feature all 13 rally events from the 2010 schedule and extensive online features as players will be able to compete against the real WRC stars thanks to iOpener’s GPS technology. World Rally Championship is planned to be released in September 2010.

Alongside working on their Formula Ford mod, Global Motorsport Technologies is also working on bringing the British Ginetta G50 Cup to rFactor.

Below is a first preview video of the mod, showing a full field of Ginetta racing cars at Silverstone.

Launched in 2008, the cup uses racing versions of the Ginetta G50, powered by a 3.5l Ford V6 engine that puts out 304hp. Aside from its own cup, the car is also eligible to compete in the FIA GT4 Championship and other national GT series.

RMT’s Wix has finished the template for World Super GT 2’s Honda HSV 010 model, showing the Super GT race car in the carbon paint scheme that was used during the car’s testing debut.

The HSV 010 will make it’s Super GT debut in 2010, replacing Honda’s aging NSX model in their fight against Nissan and Lexus for the series title. The car is powered by a 3.4 liter V8 engine, putting out about 500hp and 400nm of torque. Unlike other Super GT cars, the HSV 010 is not based on a road-going model but a pure purpose-built prototype race car.

Successor to World Super GT for GTR 2, World Super GT 2 will bring some of of the most legendary GT cars of the 90s as well as Super GT GT500 class machinery to rFactor 2.

 

Via BSR

Julien Regnard has released a new version of his much-discussed Sharp Tires Mod for Need for Speed Shift, aiming to further improve Shift’s tire physics.

Version 2.0 reverts some of the changes made in the initial release as the grip multiplier and other settings have been changed back to the default value. The new version comes with various improvements in several areas, including:

- tyre stiffness (long, lat, cornering)
- tyre damping
- tyre speed sensitivity
- Matt’s brake mod
- Adjusted brake pressure for all cars.

The mod requires the latest version of Need for Speed Shift (1.02) to be installed, it works both with packed and unpacked versions of the game. Make sure to check out the mod’s readme file for more info and recommended settings to make most of the new tire behaviour.

Download Need for Speed Shift Sharp Tires Mod 2.0 Here

Global Motorsport Technologies, creators of such popular tracks as Vanport and Putnam Park, are working on a Formula Ford mod for rFactor.

Below are two preview videos, showing the entry-level formula racers in action at Vanport.

Established in the 60s, Formula Ford cars are used in the several national series around the world, aiming to provide young drivers with a cheap base to start racing. Formula Ford cars are powered by 1.6 liter engines and use steel space-frame chassis without any aerodynamic parts to create downforce.

MMG has released new version of the MMG SimRDispXX Manager software, extending the compatibility of their range of sim racing data display to include the popular Richard Burns Rally simulation.

MMG’s displays are now supported by 12 simulation titles including all Simbin simulations, rFactor, iRacing and Live for Speed. The new version also includes several other changes which are listed below.

Changelog:

- Richard Burns Rally Game Compatibility added
- UAC (Run as Admin) not required anymore
- Prerequisites installer added (.NET Framework, DirectX, Drivers)
- Simbin Games, LFS plugins completely re-programmed for optimization
- Faster Opening and Closing
- Open Sim/Game capability added
- Auto support ticket system added

 

Download MMG SimRDispXX Manager 1.5 Here

After being busy with other track projects for quite a while, Com8 has released some new previews of a very much anticipated track for rFactor – The Nürburgring Nordschleife 2009.

Based on the original Simbin version, Com8’s 2009 version will contain many changes such as new textures & shaders, remodelled curbs, the removal of all fictional advertisement boards and lots of trackside objects.

New features include the layout used for the Nürburgring 24 Hour race as well as new bumps and shadows. The track will be available both for GTR Evolution and rFactor, the latter version will come with a GTR Evolution DVD check to make it comply with Simbin’s community rules.

 

A week ago, I posted a first story about the Gran Turismo 5 demo that is playable at the Mercedes-Benz museum, allowing players to complete a full lap on the 16-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Now, first quality footage of that demo has surfaced as we get to check out a full lap around the green hell in the Mercedes SLS AMG. Adding to the good video quality is the fact that someone with normal skills is driving, resulting in a pretty clean lap instead of the crashing and banging that can be seen in many other Gran Turismo preview videos.

Gran Turismo 5 will be bringing 1000 cars and over 60 tracks to the Playstation 3, including new features such as damage, weather and day/night effects. There’s no date for either the release of the Japanese or the International versions yet.

Via GTPlanet

Later tonight, iRacingwill be offering their first-ever live broadcast in co-operation with PSRTV, streaming the World Cup of iRacing finals for everyone to enjoy.

The event starts at 2:45 p.m. EST (19:45 GMT) on PSRTV.com and will feature iRacing’s top oval and road course drivers.

While the 35 best oval drivers will be having their final in the Chevrolet Impala SS NASCAR at Michigan, the 35 road racing experts will go head to head at Road America, driving the IRL Dallara.

The stream will be offered both via Microsoft Silverlight and as external Windows Media Player stream. More info on the event can be found on InRacingNews, those who have problems with the stream should head to PSRTV’s troubleshooting page.

After announcing several car download packs for Forza Motorsport 3, Turn 10 has now revealed the first additional track for their Xbox 360 racer as the Nürburgring Grand Prix track will be available starting February 9th.

The pack will include the Nürburgring Grand Prix track both as full layout and in the shorter sprint version. With the Nordschleife already available in Forza 3 since the initial release, players can now get their full Nürburgring fix. The pack will be available on Xbox LIVE, selling for 400 Microsoft Points.

The Grand Prix track is 5.1 kilometers in length and was opened in 1984 when the legendary Nordschleife became too dangerous to race on for several series. Today, the track hosts Germany’s Formula One Grand Prix, the Nürburgring 1000km race, an annual DTM round and other high-profile events. Below are four preview shots and a short video for you to enjoy.

 

Following the cockpit-previews released earlier today, Team RMT has released a new preview video that lets us ride in World Super GT 2’s Toyota GT-One around Le Mans.

Powered by a 3.6 litre bi-turbo V8 engine, the GT-One competed in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1998 and 1999. The car came ultimately close to win the prestigious event in 1999, only stopped by a high speed puncture in the closing hours of the race.

Successor to World Super GT for GTR 2, World Super GT 2 will bring some of of the most legendary GT cars of the 90s as well as Super GT GT500 class machinery to rFactor 2.

Via BSR

A month ago, the Official Playstation Magazine featured a much-discussed article on the upcoming Gran Turismo 5 title for the Playstation 3.

One of the article’s exclusive scoops was that GT5 would not just contain the Indianapolis Motors Speedway but also the Indycar Dallara’s to go with it. Now, the magazine has issued a statement revoking that part of the article as the IRL series will not be part of Gran Turismo 5.

Other exclusive news in that article included the confirmation of dynamic wheater and day-night cycles for endurance races, both of which have not been revoked. Still, this article is the newest in a series of news that have been stealing GT5’s thunder during the past weeks.

Gran Turismo 5 will be bringing 1000 cars and over 60 tracks to the Playstation 3, including new features such as damage, weather and day/night effects. There’s no date for either the release of the Japanese or the International versions yet.

The Pits are working on bringing the Jacksonville Road Course to rFactor, adding one of the United State’s most popular tracks to the simulation.

Hiding behind the fictional Jacksonville name is of course Daytona International Speedway. It’s road course hosts the annual Rolex 24 Hour race, one of the world’s most important endurance event.

Plenty of previews of the five-kilometer roval track can be checked out below, including working night-lighting for proper endurance racing feeling.