I’ve been out of the loop with this upcoming release. It looks like Initial D is making the next-gen leap to PS3 on July 3rd. A trailer for the game was recently released.

According to Play-Asia.com, here is what we can expect from the title…

Fans of this virtual racer have been waiting for five long years since Sega released Initial D Special Stage on PlayStation2. To justify this long wait, Sega upgraded this installment by making use of the advanced graphical capabilities of the PlayStation3 console, the visions of familiar cars and mountain regions are recreated with striking resemblances to reality, making the game play more exciting than ever.

The event scenes and characters are drawn with water color shading techniques similar to the style of the comic artist Shuichi Shigeno so players can experience a full absorption into the world of Initial D.

The old courses in the Gunma prefecture and characters as featured in the arcade games are included in this new installment. In addition to that, the developers put in new characters like the pro-racer Tomoyuki Tachi whom Takumi regards as his eternal rival and new courses in Happogahara.

The twenty eight race courses in the game are from the hilly regions of Akina and Myogi etc. There are twenty three cars and twenty six drivers to choose from and to beat. Collect points and customize your car, connect to the network and take on racers from all over the country and aim for the highest place in the National Time Attack rankings.

National Time Attack ranking records the data of the players who raced under the Time Attack mode. Download the ghost car data of the top racer in this chart and launch the Time Attack mode in the game. Make use of PlayStation3’s networking facilities and visit the PlayStation Store to download more cars’ data, avatars, music etc.