The release of the Xbox 360 marks a major transformation for Microsoft's online gaming service, Xbox Live. With the arrival of their new super-console comes a host of new features promising to enhance our online experience - Gamercards, reputation systems and changing gamertags to name but a few.

But what about Spectator Mode? This feature will equip players with the ability to jump into games already in play on the Xbox Live service and take in all the action from a safe distance. With this feature alone, a whole new world of opportunities has been opened up to developers, and one developer is taking full advantage of that opportunity. They're shaping it into something beyond a mere 'Spectator Mode'. Their name is Bizarre Creations.

At some point during the development of their first Xbox 360 release, "Project Gotham Racing 3", Bizarre said to themselves, "how can we exploit this Spectator Mode"? "How can we make it not just something that people CAN use, but something that people will WANT to use"? Thus, Gotham TV was born.

Imagine logging onto Live on your new Xbox 360, having just loaded up your copy of PGR3. You casually scroll through your friends list, idly noticing that one of your buddies is caught in a battle between his Lamborghini Gallardo and a Saleen S7 for the lead of a race around the streets of Toyko. With a press of a button, you're in the passenger seat of his car, pulling 170 miles per hour a mere two feet from his opponent's rear bumper. A TV style graphic overlay at the bottom of your screen confirms that it's your pal's car in which you're riding shotgun. With another press of a button you're in a stand full of spectators, all cheering as the Gallardo screams by, hot on the tail of the Saleen ahead. The image on screen changes, and you're now viewing all the action from a helicopter, looking down from a height as the Lamborghini climbs all over the back of the S7, looking a for a way past. The two momentarily disappear out of view as they speed into a tunnel, and within the blink of an eye we're watching them approach and then pass us from a broadcast perspective. The shot tracks them as they move out of the tunnel and slide round a corner and out of view. This, is Gotham TV.

But it doesn't just end with your friends. You want to know how the best got to where they are? Don't just settle for statistics and top times. Tune into the Heroes Channel to see the top dogs do their thing on the race circuits of the world. What's more, you too can be classified a PGR3 Hero and be the focus of the Hero's Channel, if you're good enough.

It's at this very point that PGR3 begins to transform online gaming. By exploiting the competitive nature of human behaviour and splicing it with Gotham TV, not only have Bizarre created a totally fresh online experience, they've created a totally online, virtual sport. A place where people will compete to be known as the best by their online counterparts, fighting to earn their spot on the coveted Hall Of Fame Channel. A place where reputations won't be built on ratings or hearsay, but on what people have seen them do. A place where style and skill are what matters, and not how many of the opposition a player can cheaply fish-tail off the circuit.

Gotham TV presents the opportunity for real competition amongst players, and for Bizarre and Mircosoft to make spectacles out of officially organised contests. Races that people will tune in (or rather, log on) to see.

Bizarre leave but one detail to the players upon the launch of Project Gotham Racing 3. They leave the gamer to ask just a few questions of themselves - How would you like to be revered? How would you like to be idolised? How would you like to be a hero?