Will Ubisoft's The Crew become the next big racing game franchise? (hands-on preview)

Ubisoft hopes to take on the kings of driving games with its open-world street racing title, The Crew. The game really feels like you can just go driving across the entire United States, with more than 5,000 miles of roads.

That huge set of places to drive is one way the company hopes to become competitive with a new brand in a cutthroat category of games that includes Sony’s Gran Turismo and Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed. The Ubisoft title seems like a simulated open world, but it has some cool features that make it extremely easy for friends to gather together and race against each other or with strangers. It is aimed at the next-generation of consoles, as Ubisoft believes that the best time  to enter a new area of gaming is at a time when new consoles arrive and gamers are more willing to experiment. Ubisoft wants to set itself apart by making racing games more social.