Racing games have always been popular because they let players push some of the most expensive cars to their limits in virtual cities. But developers didn't stop at just modeling cars and let their imagination fly off into the future and created sci-fi racers.

Such is the case with the Sony Computer Entertainment Liverpool studio, which is responsible for the very popular WipEout franchise of racers. The team completed some time ago the high definition revamp of the classic game, dubbed WipEout HD, which was released on the PlayStation Store for users to download and enjoy.

But even though the game benefited from lot of critical and commercial success, it wasn't without faults, which will now be resolved through the latest patch released by the developer onto the PlayStation Network. The 1.30 update promises to bring many fresh multiplayer features in order to enhance the whole experience offered by the game.

Among the features announced by Daimion Pinnock, one of the producers at Sony Computer Entertainment America, is the introduction of an online ranking system with over 50 ranks to progress through. The finishing position, speed class and the rank of the opponents will all play a part in how many points you get through your journey from WipEout Trainee to a WipEout Legend.

A brand new podium screen coupled with online badges will also make the title much more fun for its participants, as the 33 badges will be awarded depending on the events that occurred during the race. Also, an invite system has been introduced in this path in order to streamline the process of racing with your friends online. Players will be informed if their friends are in an active online game when they start it up.

The feature of watching races in progress as a spectator will be brought by this patch, as you will be able to choose the camera angles and which ship to watch in the spectator mode. Once the race is completed, you will join the other players in the lobby and be able to enter the next race.

Here are the rest of the options that you can manipulate when creating an online race:

HUD Weapon Hints on/off
Opponents - Choose to create a Public, Friends-only or Invite-only game
Barrel Rolls on/off
Pilot Assist Allowed on/off
Number of laps (max 20).

All in all, a very sturdy patch that will certainly make the multiplayer mode of WipEout HD much more interesting. You will be prompted to download it the next time you start the game.