No Memes Allowed: Ridge Racer Beta

Vroom-vroom! Vrrrrrr, rrrrrr, squeeeeeeeeeeech! Kkkkkkrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaannnnng, kablooom! That's the sound of me racing along the motorway of news, using videogame physics to slow myself by scraping along the scenery, and finally sceeching to a halt in the park space marked "Ridge Racer: Drifttopia and the closed beta now live on Steam". Yes, that's a thing which you can strap yourself in for here. The eventual full release will be free to play, though details are scarce on precisely what that will entail. That's the question for 2013, isn't it? What kind of free are we talking about?

Regardless, there's a very pretty light show of a trailer just down past 42nd street, through the roundabout's third exit and under the cut.

Obnoxious use of numbers over reliable words aside, the only thing more obvious than my lack of driving knowledge is this arcade racer definitely has the flash down. Barest glimpses of car packs, repair kits and special powers make suggestion of how you'll be able to trade cash for advantages or prettier colours. Paying for that kind of thing does rather seem like you're getting taken for a ride, though.