Race supercars online and in front of thousands of community spectators - that's the alluring prospect that gamers have got to look forward to in the absolutely splendid-looking Xbox 360 racer Project Gotham Racing 3.

The game's developer, Bizarre Creations, has incorporated a feature called GothamTV, which will be used as a medium to proactively link PGR3 with the online community.

GothamTV will feature six channels, each one providing the player with a different service, enabling you to view such things as replays, highlights and classic moments from archived races.

Most impressively though, GothamTV will let gamers watch - in realtime - their friends or high ranked players competing in races, with a ticker-tape newsfeed providing details and links to events as they happen.

Gotham 3's associate producer (known as The Boy) has provided an enthusiastic insight into GothamTV's potential on the , where he describes an imaginary scenario.

"You and your friends go online for some head-to-head action. Jumping into your McLarens, Lambos and Ferraris, you pick a New York track and start the race. At this point GothamTV pops up. It informs you that this race, right now, is being broadcast. Live. To the world.

"Now, every player in the game and online sees your names along the news ticker telling them about the race, with a quick link to take them straight to the action. No longer is this just any old online race, now it's a televised online race being watched by thousands of players around the world as the action happens."

We can't wait.

Project Gotham Racing 3 will be released for Xbox 360 later this year