Check out the new deformation technology SEGA has implemented within their racing game

Sep 17, 2007 12:05 GMT  ·  By

Log on to Xbox Live Marketplace right this instant 'cause the free demo of SEGA Rally is up for grabs as of now! The demo features two quick race tracks: the steep sided Canyon and the downright dirty Tropical track. Two great tracks should go nice with two great cars, right? Right. The two cars you'll be able to choose from are the Mitsubishi Evo IX FQ3 and the Subaru Impreza STi Spec C type RA.

The demo has actually been released for the sole purpose of SEGA showing off what they've accomplished with their new and unique deformation technology, which we'll be commenting further on. SEGA Rally is set for release across Europe for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PC on September the 28th, 2007.

According to an early report from SEGA, in single player mode, the new SEGA Rally is about racing successive laps of the track against a number of opponents. Now, as players race each successive lap in the game, they and their competitors churn and wear the track leaving a scrubbed or rutted track surface behind. They boldly reveal that "unlike other games which have tricked players into believing they're cutting up the track with visual trickery, SEGA Rally really is deforming the surface and this will affect the gameplay in a number of ways."

Basically, players will start to see, hear and feel nuances in taking one racing line or another. But what makes it really appealing as a racing title is this:

Most games use a 1-meter polygon grid to drive upon, but that was never going to work for the level of details aimed for in SEGA Rally. Because of this, the entire drivable surface of every track within SEGA Rally is modeled at the massively high detail of 6 centimeters for every single polygon. That's 17 times more detail, meaning that each tyre of each Rally car interacts with up to 12 polygons at any time.

Convinced that the game is a must-have? We thought so too and that's why we're currently giving it a go ourselves. How's that download gauge doing?