Edge magazine rounded up a few racing game developers recently to see what they think the future of the genre might bring. Lead designer Gareth Wilson from Bizarre said the focus for their first Activision-funded game is on creating a “really, really big-selling racing game, something that people will buy over Call of Duty 5.” Wilson worries that racing games might become an extremely niche area, unless they work out a way of making them appeal to a mass market.

Gavin Raeburn, the executive producer at Codemasters, said that according to their research, hardcore sims are selling less and less. “You’ve got to sell stuff that people want to buy into. Damage, crashing, maiming - that’s what people like. It’s hard to sell ‘being a racing driver’,” he said.

PGR4 pretty much mastered the blend between a sim and an arcade racer. So what could be next ? Something that looks and plays as good as PGR4 with good amount of FlatOut type destruction mixed in? Umm, yes please!