The Need for Speed series has been slinging cars around tracks for nearly 15 years, and now EA is finally bringing the experience into the real world with Need for Speed Live. Announced today at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, Need for Speed Live is a celebration of car culture designed for fans of exotic cars and drift racing. The event will serve as a showcase for video games, exotic cars, music, and if I know anything about car shows, women in skimpy clothing laying across hoods.

Need for Speed is all about the racing, however, and EA will be inviting the top drifters and time attack cars from all over the world to compete in an international race battle, along with a manufacturer time attack exhibition.

The event will be open to the public, and is penciled in for the Brands Hatch Circuit near London, though negotiations are still underway. Hit the jump for more details, or visit www.needforspeedlive.com, where I am certain they will eventually catch up with the press release.

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I've been playing some Midnight Club LA over the past few days and it's had me thinking about the racer debate of sim versus arcade driving and tuning styles. Unless you are a Gran Turismo or Forza, at some point you are making a choice to plant yourself on a scale somewhere between the extremes (placing the likes of Daytona firmly up the arcade end of the spectrum -- zero car tuning or choice, just slam peddles pedals and steer like hell).

Ignoring the frustrations of AI that almost never crashes, and certainly never makes a wrong turn (I largely agree with the US review, though more weight given to the 'love' column -- really enjoying the game, but it can get frustrating when a single mistake can often cost you a race), it is clear that Rockstar has targeted a very balanced position in the arcade-sim spectrum. Tuning vehicles is quite easy, but as funds trickle into your garage you do want to carefully choose which upgrades to buy and when to buy them -- getting the right performance enhancement with that spare $600 can definitely help win your next race when the competition is tough. But you can also auto upgrade and leave the next choice up to the system.

The best part of what MC LA has achieved is that you can feel the difference in vehicles when you drive them, and that is something that has often only been found in the sims. The tweaks may be simple, but you can appreciate that you have upgraded the car you are driving, and that is where you actually feel rewarded.

Any racing fans out there with their preferred position on the curve? If the tuning system is 'dumbed down', would you prefer it wasn't there at all? Or are true racing sims dead to you?

Very nice chase video promo for the upcoming Need for Speed Undercover. Hot cars, great look. Of course, all those camera angles make for more style than substance of what the game will really feel like, but let's say something out loud and hope EA hears it -- a replay mode that features a sexy AI cameraman to zoom around a chase like this would be HOT.

Here's the latest trailer for Midnight Club LA and the police chase action you can expect to find. Or does a police chase find you?

Just announced at a Sony press event is the Australian street date for Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. For those eager to rev up some engines in the jungle. November 13, kids. Hope you're not also a WoW freak -- that's shaping up to be a big weekend.

Still not having a publisher for The Conduit doesn't mean High Voltage can't work on other things, such as the above High Voltage Hot Rod Show a WiiWare title due out sometime before the end of the year. Crazy action, don't-give-a-shit physics and a Dukes of Hazzard air horn make this look good for a few laughs among friends. You can have up to four races simultaneous in split-screen mode. Let's see Mr. 36-Man Warcraft dude take on that.

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This trailer for Midnight Club Los Angeles shows off the return of special abilities: Zone, Agro, and Roar are back in the game, and the 'all-new EMP' to send out a disabling shockwave. Nice. Have to say, when I play arcade racers I very much like it when I get to weaponize!

GTbyCITROËN has been unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, and it's an interesting spot of marketing fun. Citroen partnered with Kazunori Yamauchi from Polyphony Digital to design an ultimate fuel cell concept car, and then engineered the beast as a driveable concept vehicle for the Motor Show. The car is now available as a downloadable addition to Gran Turismo 5 Prologue so anyone can take it for a spin. Naturally, they claim the car's in-game and on-road performance are true to form, but how many of us will get the chance to test that theory? Full release after the jump.

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When you think Disney you don't typically think off-road racing. Which is probably why Disney Interactive bought up Black Rock Studios, a developer known for their off-road racing titles, including their work on the ATV Offroad Fury and MotoGP franchises. This time around the studio created Pure, a brand new franchise for Disney that focuses more on the exhilaration of speed and tricks than on the nitty-gritty of realism and detail.

Can Disney break into an already saturated genre, taking on BAJA: Edge of Control and MotorStorm: Pacific Rift with an ATV trick title? Lets see.

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Most of us out there who have played a racing game for any period time have fantasized about being in the game while we're driving real cars, but the important thing is that we don't act on such fantasies. Tell that to NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, who attempted to defeat rival and two-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson by...purposefully bouncing his car off a concrete wall.

"I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn't plan on the wall slowing me down that much," Edwards said. "In video games, you can just run into the wall and run it wide open. That's what I did, but it didn't quite work out the same as the video game."

*rubs temples* Oh my head. How are we supposed to keep our children from setting people on fire when their role-models decide that driving at top speeds on a crowded raceway is a good time to see how accurate the physics in GRID are?

Johnson wins, Edwards hits wall on purpose [HamptonRoads.com]