At last year's E3, developer Eutechnyx announced they were working in conjunction with 3DO on a realistic underground racing game called Street Racing Syndicate (SRS). The game promised to be a high thrill, high stakes racing game set in the exciting world of street racing. Having recently seen the latest build of the game, the game looks to be shaping up to be a very interesting and solid racer.

I'm assuming most people are like me and don't know much about underground street racing. The little bit I do know I saw on a Discovery Channel documentary... nothing wrong with that, you watch it too! What I did learn was people gather late at night (a big problem in Canada, apparently), bet high stakes, and race really "souped-up" cars. Watching the documentary, there were always hot girls hanging out with these guys and the occasional cop would come and chase the racers and fans away. Sound like fun? SRS delivers all that and more.

SRS, due out this fall for PS2 and Xbox, is set to deliver a game that captures the attitude and action of street racing. Player will be able to choose from, and customize, twenty licensed cars. Each car is said to handle with true-to-life physics as players speed through the streets of Philadelphia, Miami or Los Angeles. Each car is fully upgradable with over fifteen aftermarket parts manufacturers. The cars can also be visually upgraded with literally hundreds of auto upgrades. All of that makes for a very customizable experience. Add that to the fact that up to four players can play online and the game's appeal grows.

Each car will incur real damage as you race through the city street. The damage is authentic based on what you hit, meaning if you rub a car with your door, the door will dent... not your hood. These damage features will become most apparent as you attempt to flee a "busted race" and outrun the police.

All of the above seems pretty standard for a racing game these days, but SRS has two things that may set it apart from the competition: betting and women. Both of these features may prove to make this game a big success or failure.

The idea is simple: players can put anything on the line for a bet. Cars, money and women can all be won in a street race. Winning money helps you upgrade your car and fix damage that is incurred in previous races. Winning a woman's affection will prove to be much more exciting...

SRS features 18 top models straight from the racing world. Winning a woman's affection will unlock a full motion video of that particular model. Doing what? We're not sure yet... but we promise it can't be bad. Although the idea is a great one, it could also come across "gimmicky" and hurt the game rather than help.

So far the game is shaping up to be an action-packed racer with a ton of features and upgrades. Throw in the fact that you can watch full motion videos of beautiful women and we may have a really great racer on our hands. We'll definitely bring you more when we cover it at next month's E3.