One thing that Nintendo consoles have sorely missed over the past few years is a racing title to rival anything that Sony or Microsoft’s is machines have offered up. However, developer System 3 hopes to change all that very soon, after acquiring a license from Ferrari to feature the company’s vehicles in their upcoming Wii game, reports Aussie-Nintendo. In fact, the firm up hopes the goods they come up with will be enough to claim the title of the ‘Gran Turismo’ og Nintendo’s latest console.

CEO and System 3 founder, Mark Cale explained the following to Nintendo Gamer:

“The advantage we’ve got with the Wii is there aren’t any great racing games on there.. Of course, on other consoles it’s a harder challenge. But rest assured that what we want to do is create the Gran Turismo for the Wii,” he said. “I can confidently say that the [DS version] is graphically and technically better than any other racing game.”

That’s right, the game will also be appearing on the Nintendo DS as well as the Sony PlayStation 3 and Sony PlayStation Portable, but Cale is confident that the control schemes the studio has come up with will be suited to each platform specifically, as the System 3 boss explained in relation to the Nintendo Wii version:

“We are looking at the option of putting an accelerator and proper steering wheel in for the Wii version, because that’s one of the problems of the Nintendo controller - you either have a very loose system that’s very forgiving but unrealistic, or if you have it realistic and you suddenly flinch or something it could affect the performance. We feel we’ve come up with a very good solution to that.”

Does the Wii and System 3 have what it takes to compete with GT?

Cale described the upcoming venture as a cross between an arcade racer and something a lot more serious, reassuring gamers that their experience would not be overly ridiculous, taking a swipe at the attempts of the other developers in the past: “I think it’s ridiculous when you drift and you’re going around corners at 180 miles an hour - that is not what Ferrari’s going to be about. That’s not an experience I enjoy,” he added.

Concluding the interview, Cale promised that while he expects his team to produce a game as high in calibre as Gran Turismo, he is not going to compromise the eventual product will by rushing development:

“We have to aim our quality towards that title to ensure that we’re in a position to be comparable to GT. But racing against the clock is not the direction that I think the market is going to go in the future. It’s not our philosophy to sell something just because Ferrari is the most desirable brand for a racing videogame.”

So far, racing titles on the Nintendo Wii have not been brilliant across the board. In fact, other than Nintendo’s own Excite Truck, every other effort at using the Wii remote in an innovative way to re-create the excitement of bombing about behind the wheel of a powerful motor has been hit and miss to say the least – GT Pro, we’re looking at you.

Let’s hope System 3 manages to pull off something worthy of our attention both for the Nintendo Wii and DS. After all, it would be a shame to see that Ferrari license going to waste.