Formula One 06 pits PSP and PlayStation 2 head-to-head

This summer will see PSP and PlayStation 2 gamers able to challenge each other in the same multiplayer races, thanks to Sony's just-announced Formula One 06.

Alas, the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship – which started promisingly last weekend in Bahrain – will be halfway over by the time its official game arrives. But gamers who want to prevent the surely inevitable return to victory by Michael Schumacher will find all the official cars, teams, circuits and rules in the PSP incarnation.

But it's the potential competition between PSP and PlayStation 2 players that's truly exciting. Sony claims you'll be able to compete online with owners of either machine over an entire 18-race season (an ambitious aim anyway, if bad losers dropping out of Mario Kart in the middle of a single race, let alone a season, are anything to go by).

Racing a friend on their PlayStation 2 whilst you catch a bus sounds fantastic, almost science-fiction. However the game's creators (Sony's experienced Studio Liverpool team) will need to ensure both games play in exactly the same way, for sporting as well as technical reasons. If it's easier to win on either PSP or PlayStation 2 because of some quirk in how the cars handle on the different formats, the whole concept will hit the crash barriers at speed.

Other features of the game include: racing aids for new drivers; classic Formula One cars from history to unlock and play; realistic 'mistakes and collisions' (hopefully not too realistic – we bruise easily!); and, for true purists, the curious opportunity to play as a chief engineer, rather than a driver.

Formula One games are often considered to have lost their way since their late '90s glory days, rather like the sport itself. But at Pocket Gamer we never judge a game until we've played it: watch for our Formula One 06 review just ahead of its retail release in June. And watch out for Team Pocket Gamer, PlayStation 2 owners!