Black Bean Games has revealed the first details about its new World Rally Championship game, which will be based on the 2010 season and released in a few months. The game is said to include all 13 rounds featured in the real championship as well as a rendered co-pilot, career mode and online modes. The first image of the game in action was also released today:

Sega has released a brand new trailer of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing today. The new video reveals that the game will have twenty four different tracks and shows the Crazy Taxi car in action for the first time. There’s also a reminder that the Sumo Digital developed game will be arriving next month.

Sony has announced that it is delaying the release of Gran Turismo 5 – but only in Japan. The game was originally scheduled to be released there in March, and now moves back to the familiar territory of not having a release date at all.

The company has told Eurogamer that the delay is only applicable to Japan, but that’s more likely because the game has never had a European or North American release date since it was first announced.

Turn 10 has revealed that Autoweek will be lending its name to the next wave of Forza Motorsport 3 DLC, which is due to be released on January 12th. Once again the contents are cars only, but there seems to be a nice variety of vehicles on offer:

• 2010 Aston Martin One-77
• 2009 Audi R8 LMS
• 2009 Audi RS 6
• 2010 BMW Motorsport M6 Coupe
• 2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport
• 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500
• 2010 Saleen S5S Raptor
• 2009 Lotus 2-Eleven
• 2010 Pagani Zonda R
• 2010 Porsche Boxster S

The pack will sell for 400 Microsoft Points, and a few images of the new content have been released:

Sony appears to be sticking to its word that Gran Turismo 5 will finally arrive this year, today supplying the game’s boxart for all to see. Like a lot of people, they’re betting that the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG will be the most significant car of this year and have decided that a partial wireframe image of it is the best way to sell their game.

There are also a bunch of new images of the vehicle in-game to view today:

Full boxart image after the jump.

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Just as Xbox 360 players will be able to race as their avatar in Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, those who buy the Wii version will get the chance to race as their Mii. The “All-Star” move is the same as was shown last month, and involves a bunch of friends coming to your rescue and lifting the car off the track. New images below:

When Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing releases early next year, the cast of Sega characters in the Xbox 360 version will be backed up by a few others. Most notably, Rare’s Banjo & Kazooie will appear (as a single playable duo) in their Nuts & Bolts vehicle, probably ready to blast all of the small fries like Tails out of the way.

Additionally, you’ll also be able to play as one of Rare’s other creations – your Xbox Live avatar.  Once you’re on the circuit in the thoughtfully named “Avacar”, you can call in the avatars of your Live friends to help if you fall too far behind.

After what can only be described as a mammoth development race, the PSP version of Gran Turismo has finally made it to the Weigh Bridge. The game is available now on both UMD and digitally from the PlayStation Store and features hundreds of cars alongside a ton of tracks. But is sheer quantity enough to justify the five year wait for this title?

Gamespot (75%) – “While it lacks a number of the features that the series was built on, Gran Turismo still has a lot to offer anyone who’s ever had a poster of a car up on his wall or dreamed of taking a supercar for a test drive. Gran Turismo is a game that’s likely to keep you coming back for more time and time again.”

EDGE Magazine (70%) - “Gran Turismo PSP offers little more coherency between events than the single race option that has always been present in the series. Far from being liberating, this bespoke arrangement feels like an anaemic reproduction of the Gran Turismo experience”

Eurogamer (70%) – “You could argue that you’re getting all the content you could possibly want and are then invited to explore it without restriction, and it’s certainly possible to enjoy the game like this. But…relying on players to make their own fun is either lazy or foolhardy. Coupled with archaic AI and the isolating absence of PlayStation Network support, this makes for a game that feels unfocused and regressive, despite its considerable technical and mechanical accomplishments.”

All of the reviews that I have read so far mention the game’s lack of a career mode negatively. Several also state that the four car limit that exists in every race is far too restrictive. If you can put up with that while on your travels then it looks like you will be rewarded with a faithful reproduction of the series as well as some of the best visuals ever delivered on a handheld.

Codemasters has confirmed to Chequered Pad that F1 2009 will have full support for Nintendo’s Gamecube controller when it is released for Wii in November. Despite being bundled with an F1-style “Wii Wheel” accessory, the game will support a multitude of options, including using the remote on its own, using the remote and nunchuk combo as well as the Classic and Gamecube controllers.

F1 2009 will not be the first game to be released with motion controls, however. Sony Liverpool experimented with this in F1 Championship Edition on PlayStation 3, and the option exists for users of both Dual Shock and Sixaxis controllers.

Codemasters is continuing its trend of releasing images of each circuit on the F1 calendar as the circus makes its way there in real life, and this weekend it’s the turn of Suzuka. The track is famous worldwide for hosting the Japanese Grand Prix and apart from a couple of years off in 2007 and 2008, it has done so every season in recent memory. It’s held in high regard by all drivers and is the only one on the calendar to feature a figure-of-eight layout. Check out the game screenshots and trailer featuring the track below: