Virtual Villeneuve Unveiled in Montreal

Canadian Formula One Jacques Villeneuve unveiled a new video game being marketed under his name today, touting realistic championship performance with the notable exception that the "virtual Villeneuve" may have a better chance of scoring some points.
While the real-world Jacques Villeneuve has struggled to mount a points paying finish in the 2002 Formula One season, the computer game–to be named in a contest–offers players numerous chances to try again.
The game, by Ubi Soft Entertainment and WEG Management, the game takes place in the streets of the world’s most beautiful cities. The game’s creators say that it offers players graphic and technological innovations offer an exceptionally powerful and unique driving experience.
Additionally, the game’s online capabilities will enable the selection of the best pilots who will face Jacques Villeneuve in a virtual championship.
The game is due out on PC in Canada in September and on next generation consoles during the Fall. Involved in the project for the past two years, Jacques Villeneuve worked closely with the Ubi Soft development team to provide players with a new racing challenge featuring an emphasis on driver performance.
“We wanted a game with innovative and futuristic features that would create a vision of the automobile race of tomorrow as imagined by champion Jacques Villeneuve,” commented Sbastien Delen, the game’s producer. “Players will be delighted by functions they’ve never before seen in a video game, such as autopilot and autoreforming of cars.”
“I’m very proud of the outcome of this game which comes straight from my imagination. Integrating innovative driving sensations and advanced settings options, I’m convinced it will thrill gamers, from beginners to advanced,” said Jacques Villeneuve.
The game offers the following features:
– A choice of six customizable state-of-the-art super-powered cars;
– Ground-breaking game features: autopilot, autoreform, HUD vision system, etc.;
– 11 realistic courses based on real routes through some of the world’s great cities;
– Multi-player Internet mode.
The name of the game will be chosen following a contest with auto racing game fans in the month of June. For further information, check the site www.jvracingvision.com