The first in-depth testing for Formula E’s Gen3 car took place this week in Valencia, just one month away from the start of Season 9 in Mexico City. Across three full days, one simulated race and an added one-hour jaunt on a planned media day, some teams ran nearly 600 laps and over 2,000 kilometers to get a handle on what the new cars are capable of. The week wasn’t without incidents, of course, but Formula E co-founder and chief championship officer Alberto Longo said the sessions were “very successful.”

“The teams and drivers are obviously still learning and integrating the new system,” Longo explained. “We know that [going] from Gen2 to Gen3 is much harder to navigate than from Gen 1 to Gen 2, so it’s great to see that we are already much quicker than where we were with Gen2.”

After this week’s testing in Spain, here are the biggest things we learned about Formula E’s pending Gen3 debut next month.

The Gen3 cars look great on track

I’ll be the first to admit that when Formula E pulled the wraps off the Gen3 car in Monaco last April, I was a bit skeptical of the new, bold look. Once the teams started revealing their final liveries in the lead up to the Valencia test, I started to see the potential. All of the teams have been posting clips this week and Formula E has compiled footage as well, showing that the new cars do indeed look great on track despite their fighter jet-esque design.

The Gen3 car isn’t that much faster than Gen2 yet

When the Gen3 car was first revealed one of the main points Formula E hyped up was how much faster the new trim would be. That included a top speed of up to 200MPH. Of course, speed is dependent on a number of factors, including the circuit, but on paper the new cars should be much quicker than the Gen2 EVs. In the first practice session of the week, Maserati MSG Racing's Maximilian Günther posted the quickest official time of 1:26.096, slower than the fastest lap of Valencia testing last year in the Gen2 car of 1:25.763. The quickest lap this week came when Günther notched a 1:25.127 on the final day.

“When developing a new car, it’s really important to collect as much data as possible and to get a good feel for the car, and I believe that we have achieved this over the past few days,” Günther said. “Now, we just need to refine some aspects of our performance and continue with our preparations ahead of the first race of the season in Mexico."

Maserati MSG Racing

With the Gen3 cars being lighter and more powerful, an added 100kW to be exact, you’d expect the lap times to fall from the previous generation running. However, with limited testing, specifically in regards to the new tires, teams haven’t dialed-in their setups to take full advantage of the new cars just yet. Hankook told The Race that some drivers experienced the new compound “for the first time in their life” during the initial session in Valencia.

The new tires are posing a challenge

For the first eight seasons, Formula E ran Michelin tires. Starting with Season 9, however, the series is making the switch to Hankook. More specifically, it moved to a more sustainable compound that aligns with Formula E’s green initiatives. 30 percent of the new tires are made from environmentally-friendlier materials like natural rubber. The challenge for Hankook is not only does the tire have to be better for the Earth, it also has to work well in both wet and dry conditions since Formula E only runs one compound.

Autosport reports that Hankook tested “maybe even 80 different specs” of tire compounds during the development phase, according to the company’s head of motorsport Manfred Sandbichler. The end result is a tire where the inside is softer and the outside is harder – a combination that could have implications for how teams tackle corners at each circuit.

One thing that’s clear throughout the paddock is that the new Hankook tires are more durable than the final spec of Michelins. McLaren Racing’s Jake Hughes told Engadget recently that the new tires “behave very differently” and that they’re “a bit harder, a bit stiffer.” The harder tire should be more durable than what Formula E ran in the past, according to Hughes, as the degradation on the Michlins would lead to the treaded tire being nearly slick by the end of the race.

“We need to try to understand how we can maximize it,” he explained. “At some point we’re talking in miniscule details to try to find an advantage over the competition.”

Teams are dealing with reliability concerns

Formula E

With limited testing ahead of the official preseason sessions in Valencia, teams are finding issues with their cars. The Race reports that some teams were in such a crunch to make it to Spain that they didn’t have time to shakedown their cars beforehand to make sure the basic systems were functioning properly due to parts that arrived late. According to that report, around-the-clock work shifts were required for some to make it to testing.

During a mock race this week, eight of 22 cars retired before the end of the trial event. One car didn’t make the start due to battery issues and two others had to pit on the first lap. A handful of others had to visit pitlane, which doesn’t happen during a Formula E race unless you have an issue (until the series institutes charging stops at least). The two biggest problems seem to be with the Williams Advanced Engineering battery setups and the brakes, both of which The Race reported teams were having issues with in early November. Formula E is said to be working on a secondary braking system after a number crashes in testing prior to Valencia, but The Race understands that it won’t be available during the first two E-Prix in Mexico City and Diriyah.

Teams expect Gen3 cars to improve quickly and drastically

Maserati MSG Racing

This isn’t exactly a new development, but teams up and down the paddock echoed the sentiment after the handful of test runs. McLaren’s team principal Ian James told Engadget that he expects “a development rather than a complete evolution.”

“As much as we’ll prepare the best we can for Mexico and that first race, undoubtedly there’s going to be a very steep learning curve as we get into the new season,” he explained. “And a fast rate of development as well.”

Drivers are also clear there’s “a lot to learn and plenty of work to do” before the first race, as Maserati’s Edoardo Mortara explained. “This week of testing has been intense but overall positive, and although we’re still understanding the finer points of the Gen3, I think we are in a strong position,” he said. “From here, we will fully analyze our data, debrief and continue to gather simulations from HQ.”

The first race in Mexico City could be… interesting

The issues with batteries and brakes aside, there are a number of elements of a proper Formula E E-Prix that could make the first full race quite an adventure. The new tires pose a challenge on a full street circuit, as opposed to the smooth track in Valencia. Getting the rubber in the proper window for qualifying and managing any degradation over the course of the race will be key.

There are also some unknowns with race format as well, as Formula E plans to test a mandatory Attack Charge stop in certain races in Season 9. Attack Charge will give drivers a temporary power boost much like Attack Mode has in previous seasons. Formula E says the 30-second stop can deliver 4kWh of energy to power an “enhanced” Attack Mode where the power of the Gen3 cars increases from 300kW to 350kW. It’s unclear where the Attack Charge trials will take place as specific races weren’t announced when the updated sporting regulations were revealed last month.

McLaren may be about to embark on its inaugural Formula E season next month, but the legendary racing outfit didn’t have to start from scratch. The company took over Mercedes-EQ operations at the end of last season, bringing an experienced crew along to develop its first papaya-hued EV street racers. Part of that crew was team principal Ian James, who’s now also managing director for McLaren Electric Racing as a whole. As the team prepares for the debut of Formula E’s Gen3 car in Mexico City, we sat down with James as well as drivers Jake Hughes and René Rast for a status update on development and the challenges ahead for Season 9.

“What’s really helped is that the team that’s been together over the past two or three seasons has largely stayed intact,” James said. “So that experience that we built up, we’re carrying forward into Gen3.” James further explained that he hopes that level of continuity will be key to achieving the goals McLaren has set for Season 9. Due to the limited testing opportunities ahead of the first race, the team may need to rely heavily on that experience.

Teams are only permitted to conduct a handful of on-track testing sessions before the first race of the season in mid-January. Because McLaren is a customer team – they’re running Nissan powertrains instead of building their own – they don’t get “the privilege of doing all the test days that the regulations of the championship dictate,” driver Jake Hughes explained.

Before the official preseason test this week in Valencia (six sessions across three days), Hughes and teammate René Rast have only had one proper test day, a shakedown at Bicester Heritage near McLaren HQ and a few low-power runs for media and staff. Formula E did add an additional shakedown session ahead of the official test dates this week and the championship designated a Wednesday time slot for a mock race that will include qualifying and a test of the new ABB rapid chargers. The Race reports that Formula E is also considering adding another session on Thursday on what was originally scheduled as a day off.

Engadget

“We haven’t actually had a lot of on-track running,” Hughes continued. “The simulator has been the bulk of our work.” He argued that the lack of track time won’t make things more difficult for him to prepare for Gen3, even as a Formula E rookie. “It’s going to be challenging no matter what – Formula E is such a difficult championship,” Hughes said. “I'm fully aware of the challenges I have ahead of me and I will do absolutely the best I have with what I have underneath me.”

Hughes arrived in Formula E with experience in both F3 and F2, the junior series that develop talent for Formula 1. Those cars are obviously a lot different, both from a design and a powertrain standpoint. Hughes explained that the “dirty air” aspect of those feeder series and the difficulty with overtaking aren’t part of Formula E. In most races, the races run in a train, nose to tail, and you can pass when you want – so long as you’re willing to spend the extra energy to do so. So for the McLaren rookie, even though he has experience as a Formula E reserve driver, a key challenge is developing new race strategies.

“Strategy is involved in every racing series around the world, but in Formula E, it’s really critical,” he said. “Every decision you make has a huge knock-on effect with how you use your energy later on in the race.”

Rast explained the McLaren duo had probably spent 10 days in the simulator through the end of November with more planned ahead of the Valencia test. “That’s the only thing we can more or less do to prepare ourselves for the car because the testing is very limited and the simulator is the closest you can get,” he said. Simulated running isn’t just for the drivers though, engineers and other parts of the team are also included in those sessions. That will continue throughout the season as simulator work happens before and after every race.

The team is well aware that they’re likely facing “a very steep learning curve” when they arrive at the first E-Prix of Season 9 in Mexico City next month, according to James’ assessment. “I think it’s the teams that deal with that in the most efficient manner are the ones that will come out on top,” he continued. James specifically mentioned the new front powertrain and added regenerative abilities that will change energy management strategies, even for experienced members of the McLaren team. Aside from the updates that a more powerful Gen3 car brings, James said alterations to the race format will “throw a few curveballs in there as well.”

Formula E announced changes to the races last month, getting rid of Fan Boost and replacing Attack Mode with Attack Charge at some races. The new battery technology inside the Gen3 cars allows for quick charging, but while Formula E had planned to bring back pit stops for that purpose, the infrastructure needed to do so isn’t quite race-ready. And on top of the series having to switch things up pretty late in the game, the teams still aren’t entirely sure how the new race format will work, which partially explains the mock race.

McLaren

“Obviously, Attack Mode is still the key ingredient for the race.” Rast said. “But the rest we’re going to see once the season starts.”

James explained that the teams were able to give input on the Gen3 sporting regulations as they were developed by the FIA (Formula E’s governing body). He foresees more excitement in Season 9 due to the increased flexibility in strategy the new format and guidelines will allow. So, in spite of the current unknowns, McLaren’s team principal is optimistic that “the racing this year will be closer than ever.”

“That’s going to make the racing even more exciting,” he continued. “It’s going to be more of a challenge for the engineers, working together with the drivers to make sure that we plan in the right way before the race, but then also to react to changes and the various different situations that can arise.”

And then there are the tires. Formula E is switching from a treaded Michelin tire to a custom-made compound from Hankook for Gen3. Both the old and new tires are designed to be run in both dry and wet conditions, though the Michelin compound would wear down so much on some circuits that it would basically be slick by the end of the race. Hughes explained that the Hankook version “behaves very differently,” and should be more durable.

McLaren

Still, the prospect and challenge of Formula E is as much of a thrill for the drivers as ever. With Gen3, the series has moved from having to change cars during a race to complete the distance to one that will stop for a 30-second charge. It can also hit 200MPH with a 350kW motor and is capable of regenerating 40 percent of its energy. It’s the ability to show off the potential of EVs to people around the world that excites Rast.

“It’s amazingly quick, it’s a proper race car,” he explained. “We try to bring motorsport into the cities to make people aware of what’s actually possible with electrification.”

Hughes agreed, noting that the potential for carryover from technology from Formula E cars to electric road cars is something he’s happy to be part of. “We can basically help develop the future for electric mobility,” he said. “A lot of the stuff we’re developing for Gen3 I wouldn’t be surprised if you see it on road cars within the decade. What we’re doing will have a knock-on effect that even right now we’re not fully aware of.”

Despite the chaos of the offseason prep and limited testing, the work McLaren has put in appears to be heading in the right direction. Hughes was second fastest across both sessions on the first day of testing in Valencia, less than a tenth of a second behind Masterati’s Maximilian Guenther.

Following an unsuccessful first attempt at paid account verification, Twitter will start rolling out its revamped Blue subscription on December 12th, the company announced on Saturday. Twitter originally launched Blue verification for iOS devices in early November for $8 per month, but the company paused the rollout after the platform was overrun by verified trolls. On Saturday, the company also confirmed the service will cost $11 per month when users subscribe directly through its iOS app. On the web, the subscription will cost $8 per month. 

Developing...

In June’s Xbox showcase, Riot Games teased that the company’s biggest titles were heading to Xbox Game Pass — and now we know when. Ahead of tonight’s Game Awards, Riot has announced that League of Legends, Valorant, Legends of Runeterra and other titles (with bonuses) will arrive on Monday, December 12th.

Starting then, Game Pass subscribers can play League of Legends on PC with all 162 champions unlocked (and first-day access to future champions) and a 20 percent XP boost. Meanwhile, Valorant brings all 18 agents (with first-day access to future agents) and a 20 percent XP boost for Battle Pass, Event Pass and active Agent Contract progress. In addition, the strategy card game Legends of Runeterra will include the Foundations Set (the game’s first cards) with your subscription. Finally, Teamfight Tactics unlocks a rotation of Tier One Little Legend avatars on PC and mobile, along with four Arena Skins available until April.

Riot Games

In January, Game Pass subscribers can play League of Legends: Wild Rift on mobile with all 80 champions. Like LoL and Valorant, it also includes day-one access for future champions and a 20 percent XP boost.

Starting on Monday, the Xbox App on PC will offer instructions to link your Riot Account and Xbox Game Pass accounts (or create a Riot account if you don’t yet have one). Additionally, the developer has some perks if you link your accounts before January 1st. These include a Pocket Sage Buddy in Valorant, a Masterwork Chest and Key in League of Legends, a Little Legend Rare Egg in Teamfight Tactics, Random Emote Chest in Wild Rift and Prismatic Chest in Legends of Runeterra.

The next game from Scavengers Studio is something completely different. Scavengers is the Montreal-based indie team behind Darwin Project, the online survival game that was a low-key and short-lived cult hit in 2020. Darwin Project offered a twist on battle royale gameplay, dropping a small group of players onto a shrinking map, and arming them each with just an axe and a bow. It was all about crafting, looting and surviving the elements, while also hunting the other players and watching your own back. Darwin Project went live as a free early access game in 2018, it launched in January 2020, and it was essentially shut down by November that year.

Scavengers' follow-up to Darwin Project is Season: A letter to the future, a single-player bicycle-riding adventure game about exploration and preservation at the end of the world. In Season, a young woman leaves her secluded village for the first time, just as a cataclysmic event is set to destroy everything around her. 

She rides her bike across gorgeous landscapes, meeting new people, observing their rituals and documenting her journey. Players collect sound samples, take photographs and transcribe the habits of the wider world, collecting everything in one place before it all disappears.

Season looks like a slowly unraveling mystery set in a beautiful environment and built for just one player at a time. It's the opposite of Darwin Project, and for that reason it feels like a delicious surprise from a studio that's still hungry to prove itself. 

Season: A letter to the future is coming to PlayStation 4, PS5, the Epic Games Store and Steam on January 31st, 2023. It'll cost $25 on PC and $30 on PlayStation platforms. On PS5, players will use the DualSense's adaptive triggers to pedal their bicycle, with varying resistances as the roads rise and fall, and the controller's haptic feedback will mirror the texture of the path forward.

Construction has forced Formula E to relocate its US race next summer from the Red Hook terminal in Brooklyn to Portland, Oregon. The all-electric racing series filled the final spot in its Season 9 calendar on Wednesday as the 2023 slate of races is set to kick off in Mexico in mid-January. The Portland event will take place on June 24th, sandwiched between doubleheaders in Jakarta (June 3-4) and Rome (July 15-16).

Formula E has held a race in the US every year since it began in 2015, except for the COVID-shortened season in 2020. In addition to New York City, the series has also hosted events in Long Beach and Miami. The move to Portland now means four new cities will have all-electric racing in 2023 as Hyderabad, India; Cape Town, South Africa and Sao Paulo, Brazil were already announced as part of the Season 9 calendar. Formula E also says its hopeful to return to Seoul in Season 10. Construction that the Season 8 venue forced the series to cancel that event in 2023 as it wasn't able to find an alternate location. 

While Formula E didn't offer many details in its announcement, The Race reports that the Portland event will be held at IndyCar road course Portland Raceway. According to the report, some modifications to the circuit will be made for the EV racers, including the possibility of added corners. The Race also reports that Formula E considered hosting the North America race in Toronto next year.

When Season 9 begins next month, Formula E will debut its Gen3 electric race car. In addition to an overall design change to a body style that's more akin to an F-18, the new vehicles pack an electric motor that can deliver 350kW of power (470BHP) to reach top speeds of 200MPH (320 km/h). The cars are also incredibly efficient, converting over 90 percent of their energy to mechanical power. This will be the first Formula car ever with both front and rear powertrains and that setup will be more than double the regenerative abilities of the Gen2. That's significant since about 40 percent of the energy cars will use during an E-Prix will be produced by regenerative braking. While pit stops aren't a thing in Formula E just yet, the series will test 30-second charging breaks during select races. The stops are mandatory and will offer drivers two "enhanced" Attack Mode with extra power for overtaking during the race. 

At its core, Mario Kart is a game about trolling your friends. So what better way to ratchet up the hijinks than by allowing players to decide what power-ups spawn during races? Nintendo has released a free update for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe that adds custom item selection for offline VS races and select online modes. Want to be a monster and force blue shells on all your friends? Go right ahead. It’s even possible to set specific items for each team in team races and battles.

The free update is the latest show of support for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a five-year-old rerelease of a nearly nine-year-old game. At the start of the year, Nintendo announced it would continue to support Mario Kart 8 Deluxe until the end of 2023 with paid DLC. The company plans to release a total of 48 remastered tracks, all of which can be obtained through the $25 Booster Course Pass.

Many Elden Ring fans are hoping to hear news of an expansion for the blockbuster title at The Game Awards this week. Publisher Bandai Namco has jumped the gun a bit by announcing a free multiplayer-focused update, which will go live on Wednesday.

The Colosseum update will open up the titular arenas in Limgrave, Leyndell and Caelid, where players can battle it out in "duels, free-for-alls and team fights," according to a YouTube video description. The colosseums have been in the game since launch, but were inaccessible unless players used mods or other workarounds.

Although Bandai Namco hasn't revealed a ton of details about the update, having dedicated arenas for player-versus-player (PvP) battles should freshen things up for those who like to duke it out against other humans in Elden Ring. The trailer showed off some three vs. three combat as well. The video also includes text stating that players can "join forces to fight for the Elden Ring." That suggests there will be more robust co-op options too, though we'll need to wait until tomorrow for more info.

PvP is one of the main reasons players keep coming back to FromSoftware's games long after they've finished the single-player story, so this update will likely come as welcome news for fans. Still, this announcement doesn't stop From and Bandai Namco from revealing a more substantial expansion at The Game Awards. Elden Ring is nominated for seven awards at Thursday's ceremony, including Game of the Year.

The main thing that has put me off of playing more Valorant over the last couple of years is the length of matches. Riot Games is looking to do something about that with a more compact casual mode that it's starting to test in the game's public build.

Matches in the core competitive and unrated (or unranked) modes typically last around 30-50 minutes. Each round can last up to two minutes or so. As such, it can take a while for one team to win 13 rounds and become the victor. Competitive matches can last even longer if the score reaches 12-12, since teams need to win by at least two rounds in overtime if they vote to keep playing.

The new Swiftplay mode has a similar ruleset to Unrated. However, the first team to win five rounds will emerge triumphant. Attackers and defenders will swap sides after four rounds and there's a sudden-death overtime. Riot says Swiftplay matches should run for around 15 minutes.

There are some tweaks to the economy and how players earn ultimate points to make sure they can still access all the fun stuff in the shorter format. For instance, at the start of each half of a Swiftplay match, you'll get two ultimate points for free. As such, you might be able to use the game's most powerful abilities a bit more often.

Although Valorant has other casual modes that don't last as long as competitive or unrated matches (such as Spike Rush and Deathmatch), Swiftplay brings the ruleset of the core modes into a more condensed format. Riot says it's a frequently requested mode that should make it easier for folks who don't have a ton of free time to play more Valorant. It should help other players to get more reps in too.

The Swiftstep beta is going live with today's 5.12 patch, which also brings in a host of balance changes and tweaks how various abilities interact with each other. Swiftstep will be available on all maps used for the unrated mode and the beta will run until January 10th.

One of the major (and controversial) changes Blizzard made in Overwatch 2 was gating new heroes behind a battle pass. However, it should be a little easier for players to unlock the latest character, Ramattra, in the game's second season. Players who opt for the free track of the battle pass won't need to grind through as many levels before they can use the new tank in all game modes. Making some weekly challenges less of a chore should mean players can level up more quickly too.

"After reviewing data for Season 1, we're moving Ramattra into Tier 45 of the Battle Pass and making a few more weekly challenges easier to complete," Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller wrote on Twitter. "Excited for you all to see everything new in Season 2 starting tomorrow!"

Although Blizzard could again move heroes to higher levels of the battle pass in future seasons, that seems unlikely given the backlash it received in season one. Once the launch issues abated and everyone was able to log in, new players had to reach level 55 of the free battle pass to unlock Kiriko, which took many folks quite a while. Alternatively, they could buy the premium pass, which costs around $10, to instantly add the support to their roster. Players coming over to Overwatch 2 from the original game gained access to Kiriko for free, as well as Junker Queen and Sojourn.

Those who buy the season two premium pass will get access to Ramattra right away as well. I've had a little bit of hands-on time with the new hero, who can shift into different forms and is all about closing the gap between his team and the enemy. Once he gets in close, he can deal devastating damage, especially since his ultimate ability can last indefinitely. Ramattra seems like a powerful (and fun!) addition to the roster, which could prompt more tank players to pay for the premium pass to unlock him as swiftly as possible. 

However, adding a new tank to the mix could make queue times longer for many folks. Not enough players are opting for support heroes, which has led to lengthy waits for tank and damage players to get into a match. Blizzard plans to make supports more fun and rewarding to play, but when rad new characters are introduced to other roles, players may be more likely to want to try them out instead.

Ramattra's far from the only addition in season two. There's a Greek mythology theme and the battle pass includes skins that pay homage to the likes of Zeus and Poseidon. There's also a new map, balance changes for several heroes and a brand-new limited-time mode that will go live in January.