“Fast & Furious Crossroads” is now expected August 2020. Image: courtesy of Slightly Mad Studios/Bandai Namco/Universal Games /YouTube via AFP Relaxnews
The studio behind intensely realistic racing simulator series “Project CARS” is lining up “Fast & Furious Crossroads” for an August 2020 release — though don’t expect grounded tire physics to form the main attraction.
Once anticipated for May, opposite the movie theater debut of “F9”, the video game is now anticipated for later in the year.
That puts it en route to the film’s own delayed arrival in April 2021.
As its latest trailer shows, “Fast & Furious Crossroads” promises a new storyline with familiar characters at the wheel.
Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Tyrese Gibson are voicing franchise counterparts Dom, Letty and Roman.
Sonequa Martin-Green from “The Walking Dead” and “Star Trek: Discovery” as well as Asia Kate Dillon from “John Wick 3” and “Billions” are joining them in new roles.
According to this latest preview, players can expect to face off against an armored hovercraft, all-terrain turbo tank, desert canyon rock slide, open-pit excavation machine, and even, it would appear, a space rocket.
Slightly Mad Studios appears to have resurrected some elements from 2010’s “Split/Second” and the 2001-08 “Burnout” franchise, as created by fellow British developers Black Rock (now defunct) and Criterion (for a while transformed into a “Need for Speed”, “Battlefront” and “Battlefield” support studio).
Whether it can live up to those two games’ legacies — much less the blockbuster “Fast” saga — remains to be seen.
Initial public reaction to this latest trailer indicated that “Crossroads” could benefit from some visual polish.
When it lands in August, “Fast & Furious Crossroads” will be slightly ahead of rally motorsport sim “Dirt 5”, from Slightly Mad’s parent company Codemasters, and Milestone’s motorbike circuit racer “Ride 4”, both due October.
Perhaps most relevant for the movie tie-in, there’s the spiritual successor to “Burnout Paradise”, “Dangerous Driving 2”, on the horizon, announced for late 2020 across all three consoles.
Slightly Mad has its own “Project Cars 3” and mobile spin-off “Project Cars Go” in development, though both await release date announcements. IB
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