Colin McRae to Practice for 2004 Race of Champions with Colin McRae Rally 2005

New York (Nov. 18, 2004) – Rally legend Colin McRae is turning to technology as part of his training regime for the 17th Race of Champions on December 4, 2004. In preparation for the event at the Stade de France outside Paris, the Flying Scotsman asked Codemasters, creators of his video game Colin McRae Rally 2005, to install next generation online gaming systems at his Scottish base.

The Colin McRae Rally 2005 game uses online connectivity that enables McRae to compete in virtual rallies, head-to-head against real people over high-speed Internet connections.

Using Colin McRae Rally 2005 and its online racing set up, McRae is ready to take on all comers: "There are people all over the world playing the game online, so I'll be looking for some international competition to help sharpen my reflexes. There are some great players out there on the game so come the Race of Champions itself, I should be well prepared to make sure that I can perform at my peak for the GB team."

For the Race of Champions itself, McRae is teaming up with F1 star David Coulthard as part of Autosport Team GB, and will use the online game as a simulator in preparation for taking on the French, captained by current World Rally Championship leader Sébastien Loeb, and the German team featuring multiple F1 champion Michael Schumacher and works rally driver Armin Schwarz.

The Race of Champions pits the world's greatest rally and racing drivers against each other in fierce competition. Colin is a previous winner of the individual event, and this year will also be part of the GB team entered in the Nations Cup section of the event where 2-car national teams race in a variety of cars on parallel tracks. NASCAR greats Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson will also be competing in the event, alongside 2004 IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan.

McRae has a long association with simulation and computer game technology. He has worked with game designers Codemasters for more than six years creating ever more sophisticated versions of the $7 million-plus selling Colin McRae Rally video game series.

The latest version of his game, the ground breaking Colin McRae Rally 2005 is now available for the Xbox video game system from Microsoft and PC with both versions featuring online racing. Colin McRae Rally 2005 is rated E for Everyone by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and carries a suggested retail price of $29.99 for the Xbox version and $19.99 for the PC version. For more information about the game visit the Colin McRae Rally 2005 web site at www.codemasters.com/colinmcrae2005 .

ABOUT CODEMASTERS

Codemasters is a global interactive entertainment company with offices in New York City, England, France, Spain, Holland and Germany. Founded in the UK in 1986, Codemasters publishes award-winning software for the PC, next generation video game consoles and online gaming. Codemasters develops original titles such as Operation Flashpoint (PC Game-of-the-year) and ToCA Race Driver, as well as games based on top licensed properties including American Idol, MTV Music Generator and IndyCar Series. Additional information about Codemasters and its products can be found at www.codemasters.com .

ABOUT Xbox

Xbox (http://www.xbox.com ) is the video game system from Microsoft that brings people together for the most exhilarating game and entertainment experiences. Xbox delivers an expansive collection of breakthrough games, powerful hardware and the unified Xbox Live online service. The new tagline, "it's good to play together," captures the spirit of Xbox as the social hub of the new digital entertainment lifestyle. Xbox is now available in North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.

ABOUT Xbox Live

Xbox Live, which launched in the United States Nov. 15, 2002, allows gamers to play multiplayer Xbox games with other gamers everywhere via a broadband connection. With a built-in hard drive and Ethernet port, the Xbox console is the only video game system built from the ground up for online gaming, negating the need to buy additional, costly peripherals or upgrades. Xbox Live enables gamers to easily find their friends; talk to other players during game play through the Xbox Communicator headset; download current statistics, new levels and characters to their Xbox hard drive; and play online—all exclusive features to Xbox Live.

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