Atari sends GTR to SimBin

Atari is to publish SimBin's GTR - GIA GT Racing Game next year, one of the first games announced for the company's 2005 line-up.

Currently slated for a February release, the PC title is being developed by Henrik Roos, several times Swedish touring cars champion, and will obviously focus heavily on realism. All courses from the international GT circuit - Hockenhein, Monza, and so on - have apparently been recreated using GPS data.

The road surface will also change, according to the developer, as the race continues, with dirt and rubber deposits affecting handling.

But that's not the best bit.

Players will be able to wear a headset and "look" at rear view mirrors, and flora and fauna as it careers past at 200mph, by actually turning their heads. And before you start thinking that GTR - GIA GT Racing Game will be the preserve of hugely obsessed people given to making car "shells" for their PCs in their living rooms and changing their names the Michelin Ferrari, you'd be wrong. Roos said so.

"We don't only want to appeal to pros," he said, "who spend hours optimally setting up the race car; we also want the occasional players who would like to race a couple of rounds without much effort or prior knowledge."

Right you are, Henrik. Shots here. More soon.