Test Drive is one of the oldest and longest running driving game series to date and with not many places left that the series hasn’t explored yet, the next logical step was to give the MMO world a try. Test Drive Unlimited is their foray into the MMO market and they are doing it in a big way. Although touted as an MOOR (Massively Open Online Racing), players will be able to square off against hundreds of other players in a real time street racing environment.

Test Drive Unlimited gives players thousands of miles to explore on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, with absolutely beautiful verdant scenery and seemingly endless expanses of paved, weaving blacktops. Players will be able to see the sights of it all in hundreds of licensed cars that are available ranging from the classic powerhouses like the Ford GT to the extremely expensive and mouth watering Ferrari’s and even on the back of motor bikes. All the while you are driving around the enormous island, you can challenge other players to do what cars do best, race. Challenging other players takes nothing more than either bumping into them on the road or looking them up on a ranking list which shows you all the players that are online at the time. Not only will the list show you who is online, but you will be able to view a map of Oahu and see where each players is. A race can only have up to 8 drivers involved at one time but the larger the races, the larger the rewards. When a race is agreed upon, it will start where you are and the finish line can be set wherever you want it to be, making the race as long or as short as you choose.

You and other players aren’t the only ones roaming around the island. There will also be police officers that are present and are more than willing to hand out fines when you are caught speeding, causing damage or doing other mischievous activities. However, the only time that police will be on the look out for you, is while you are not racing and are just roaming around. Thankfully unlike other games I won’t mention, the police will leave you alone during the race as to not interfere and allow you to fight to the finish line with your driving skills and need not to worry about outside influences tripping you up. The graphics found in the 360 version I was shown, were simply a thing of beauty. Light reflections that appear on every inch of the cars, gave superb visuals and detail and the surrounding, lush environments was as equally impressive. When you are driving, which you will be doing a whole lot, and you happen to ding another player or an object roadside, the cars will inflict realistic damage on themselves and they all show it very well. Dented fenders, bent hoods and more damage than you can shake a stick at, actually make you not want to get into accidents, since seeing your baby get a scratch on it makes your heart break, of course on the flipside, seeing just how much damage you can inflict would be something someone like myself would like to play with.

Since driving around constantly can get a little on the tedious side, Test Drive Unlimited gives you the opportunity to branch out your activities. Players will be allowed to buy real estate on the island in the form of garages to house your cars and even houses around the island. Not to stop there, players are also able to create custom clothing and can even set up shop and sell it to other players. Although it wasn’t quite clear how houses would work, I was shown that you would be able to enter them and use them to change your outfits and presumably set up races with other players. This feature gives players something to do with the coin they earn to take a break from the usual buying and upgrading of cars like. This features also gives you a reason to drive somewhat responsibly so that all your hard earned cash doesn’t end up in the pockets of the law leaving you high and dry. Test Drive Unlimited will be making its way into homes across various platforms, including the Ps2, PSP, PC and the Xbox 360 and as of right now, is aiming for a September 2006 release. Test Drive Unlimited is looking to put a fresh new spin on the racing game genre and it just might be in position to grab first place with racing fans everywhere.