As part of the road-burning excitement, gamers will also be able to join the Upshift online community for some serious networking. Boasting an array of features more commonly associated with popular social networking sites, players can create their own clubs and personalized web pages, post pictures, upload movies and music, write and share blogs and create forums to talk about their races, cars and the mayhem of their latest StrikeRacing match.

Upshift StrikeRacer’s client download will be available at no cost – and players are not charged a monthly subscription fee like those found in other online games. In addition, many of the vehicles, body kits, accessory kits, weapons, finishes and special items can be bought only with the Reputation Points generated by StrikeRacing.

“Upshift StrikeRacer blends high-octane racing with the carnal pleasure of blowing stuff up for a quick, intense and gratifying online experience – all for free,” said John Young, vice president and producer, Gala-Net. “Players can customize and equip their cars and claim reputation for destroying other players’ vehicles and winning races. Upshift StrikeRacer then takes the online experience off of the speedway and extends it to an online community unlike no other in PC gaming in its depth and tools for player interaction.”

In Upshift StrikeRacer players assume the identities of StrikeRacers, Triumph City’s free people focused on enlightenment through high-octane car combat. Throughout the city streets and the metropolis’s surrounding countryside, StrikeRacers form teams or go head-to-head against other drivers in fast-paced, intense and destructive street races. From sleek and sexy sports cars to hulking SUVs and cute little minis, StrikeRacers have a wide-array of customizable cars available in order to inflict real-time damage on their competition with guided rockets, fast-firing machine guns, high-explosive mines and other menacing weapons.

Either racing alone or with friends, Upshift StrikeRacer offers the choice of multiple game modes for single-player and multi-player game play. StrikeRacers will find Time Attack for the solo racer to test their driving skills against other racer’s times, Racing mode that places up to eight drivers against each other to see who the best racer is and no-holds barred StrikeRacing for players to pit their driving skills – and their arsenal – against each other.

The free Upshift StrikeRacer download will be available in August 2007.