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Anyone that has searched for a wheel and pedal setup for use with their racing/driving games has undoubtedly stumbled on Playseat. Makers of gaming chairs that look and feel like the real deal, we dropped by the Playseat booth at the E3 show to see what the guys were up to for the coming year.

The company offers products that range in price from $250 to over a grand, as standalone seats to use with your existing wheels, pedals and shifters, or bundled with Logitech hardware. Currently, all of the wheel/pedal setups on sale are for the existing systems, though we're certain that both Xbox One and Playstation 4 will have supporting peripherals when they launch.

We were actually most intrigued by Playseat's entry-level Challenge model (seen above), which looks a bit like a racy camp chair with a wheel strapped to the front. The seat is sturdier than it looks, however, supporting gamers up to 270 pounds, and offering easy ingress/egress with a swing-arm design. Perhaps most appealing though, is the very high will-my-wife-let-me-buy-this factor; at $250 for the seat and with the ability to fold up and stuff into a closet or under a sofa, you (we?) won't need to dedicate space just for a racing chair.

Of course, Playseat is working on new branded models to support both Forza Motorsport 5 and Gran Turismo 6, for the ultimate fanboys. Deep-pocketed gamers might also look at the top-end Grand Prix and F1 seats, which offer a racecar-correct deeply reclined driving position and tremendous stability for about $1,200 and up.

The guys were also pretty proud of the futuristic looking prototype seen here. Not a racing chair, this concept model has built-in Logitech speakers as well as vibration from the back, bottom and sides. More of a general-purpose gaming chair, the model would offer an immersive gaming experience with less of a "video-game-y" design aesthetic. We're excited to see if it gets the go-ahead for production.

According to a report from CNNMoney, BMW has been hit with a lawsuit from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after revised criminal background check policies resulted in the dismissal of 88 contractors, 70 of whom (that's about 80 percent) were black. A total of 645 contractors were required to submit to background checks at BMW's facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina after BMW switched contract companies at its plant.

Though the 88 persons who were not rehired by the new contractor all had criminal records, that may not necessarily be a legal way to screen applicants, as the EEOC counters: "BMW's policy has no time limit with regard to convictions. The policy is a blanket exclusion without any individualized assessment of the nature and gravity of the crimes, the ages of the convictions, or the nature of the claimants' respective positions."

BMW's actions were in violation of the Civic Rights Act of 1964, according to the EEOC, because they utilized "a criminal conviction policy that disproportionately screened out African-Americans." A recent bulletin offering guidance from the EEOC on the Civil Rights Act can be found here, but the EEOC's stance on the issue has been the same for years: "Since issuing its first written policy guidance in the 1980s regarding the use of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions, the EEOC has advised employers that under certain circumstances, their use of that information to deny employment opportunities could be at odds with Title VII."

BMW argues that background checks are legal, a fact that the EEOC concedes, and it "believes that it has complied with the letter and spirit of the law and will defend itself against the EEOC's allegations of race discrimination." The automaker adds, "The BMW plant in South Carolina employs thousands of people and providing a safe work environment is one of the Company's highest priorities."

Sounds like the company and the EEOC are in for a long legal battle...

Veteran NASCAR driver Jason Leffler was killed in a race accident Wednesday night, during a sprint car event at the Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey. Having raced at many levels of NASCAR as well as IndyCar, Yahoo! Sports says that the 37-year-old racer spent this year racing on dirt tracks in a sprint car.

The report says that his car flipped over during the "Night of Wings" event, and he was airlifted to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. According to ESPN, this marks at least the fourth fatal crash at a dirt track this year, including two people killed at a sprint car event at Marysville Raceway Park in Northern California.

Leffler had most recently run in the Sprint Cup race last weekend at Pocono, but spent most of his 12-year NASCAR career in the Nationwide Series where he visited victory lane twice. He also won a race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and finished 17th at the 2000 Indianapolis 500. A single father, Leffler is survived by his 5-year-old son.

Land Rover is expected to introduce a new diesel hybrid powertrain for use on the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this year, and while our report last week indicated that these models wouldn't be sold here, Edmunds is reporting otherwise.

The stricter Euro 6 emissions regulations will be closer to what is required from diesel engines here in the US, which means that automakers will no longer have to develop a US-specific engine. Furthermore, Edmunds also says that sales of diesel cars and SUVs grew by 24 percent from 2010 to 2012, so this increased popularity could also play a big role in these vehicles being offered here. For Land Rover, it would pair its 3.0-liter diesel V6 with a version of the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission that uses an integrated electric motor.

According to Automotive News, automakers are expected to manufacture 16 million light vehicles in North America in 2013. That's up 500,000 units from last year and marks the largest number since 2002. The prediction comes courtesy of LMC Automotive and IHS Automotive, which point to the improving US economy as a bellwether for total production. LMC Automotive says North America will produce 16 million vehicles while IHS has a slightly more optimistic forecast of 16.1 million units. A total of seven automakers are slated to increase production on the continent this year. Nissan is set to see the largest jump at 20 percent over last year.

Volkswagen, meanwhile, is one of the only manufacturers predicted to scale back production. Analysts expect the German company's output to fall by 23 percent to 170,000 units, thanks in part to slow demand for the Volkswagen Passat and Jetta.

Let's get the most pressing bits of this story out of the way right off the bat: What we see here appears to be a new compact crossover from Buick. According to the spy photographer, this machine may be a little bit smaller on the outside than the current Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain 'utes, which makes sense since recent rumors suggest GM's small crossovers will migrate to a new platform that will mark a convergence between the automaker's Delta (Chevy Cruze, Buick Verano) and Theta (Equinox, Terrain) platforms. This Buick would likely use this new D2UX platform.

We've been expecting Buick to unleash a crossover to slot between the very small Encore and the very large Enclave, and various rumors have indicated that the model may be known as either the Anthem or Envision. It's worth mentioning that Buick had planned, back in 2009, to release a vehicle in the compact CUV market, but abandoned those plans after a particularly poor reception.

And now for something completely different... Take another look at the spy shots above, and pay special attention to the cylindrical device mounted to the vehicle's roof. We can't say for sure what it is, but our spy photographer opines that it looks quite a bit like the 360-degree Lidar camera equipment used by Google for its autonomous cars. Is General Motors working with Google on autonomous car technology? We don't know, but you can definitely consider us intrigued.

The gaming world is abuzz with early love for the Playstation 4, if the water-cooler talk around the 2013 E3 conference are anything to go by. Much of this has to do with the vast potential of the new Sony hardware, though the announced price of $399 caught a lot of folks off guard in a nice way, and lots of potential Xbox One customers have been turned off by that system's always-on Internet connection and its lack of support for used games. If we look simply at the here and now of driving games, however, with no Gran Turismo 6 announced yet for PS4, the new system will rely heavily on DriveClub as it's opening salvo for racing gamers.

We sat down for a few quick laps of DriveClub, and came away mildly entertained, but without feeling as though we had a real grasp of what the title will deliver at launch.

As with all of the new-system games, DriveClub is lovely to look at, with flowing and detailed environments surrounding accurately architectured vehicles. After watching the initial teaser trailers for the game, we expected something closer to real-life fidelity in terms of style, however – our demo included games that were stickered up and wearing game-branded liveries. Questionable digital paint jobs aren't a deal-breaker, to be sure, but they did speak to a game that was slightly more arcade-racery than we'd expected.

The physics behind the Audi R8 that we selected to drive were convincing, even if they didn't live up to those we tasted in both GT6 and the newest Forza. Instead, DriveClub seems poised to make its way with expanded options for social and networked racing. Huge numbers of racers will be supported simultaneously, and the Playstation 4 camera will allow you to upload your own pictures with which to tag your cars. (In our demo, this meant a sort of digital Polaroid hanging off the rear bumper of competitor cars, but we're hoping for more advanced options, as well.)

All in, the gameplay was entertaining, but didn't blow our minds for a completely new title. We'll reserve our judgment for playing the full version, however, as DriveClub does seem poised to do it's best work in a sort of massively multi-player environment.

Today's automotive windshields are commonly made with two layers of tempered glass sandwiching a sheet of optically clear polyvinyl butyral (PVB), a plastic layer that holds everything in place even when the glass is broken. While the basic design works very well (credit Henry Ford with introducing laminated glass in 1919), scratches and chips in the glass weaken the material to the point where it may eventually crack and require replacement.

But those headaches may disappear if Corning's Gorilla Glass becomes an industry standard. Gorilla Glass is the registered name for the durable and scratch resistant glass that covers the face of more than 1.5 billion consumer electronic devices. Whether the maker of your smartphone, tablet or PDA admits it or not, chances are good that you've got the material close at hand.

Having a windshield that is scratch and chip resistant is a big improvement, but there are other advantages to Gorilla Glass, says Corning. The company's senior vice president, Jeffrey Evenson, told MIT Technology Review that the glass is lighter than what is used today, and it provides a better acoustic barrier from outside noise.

As is often the case with innovative technologies, Gorilla Glass doesn't come cheap. Even so, Evenson predicts that at least one unnamed high-end automaker will introduce a vehicle with Gorilla Glass within the year. Any guesses on whom it will be?

We're not even sure they've got a blade of Kentucky Bluegrass to cut, but the folks at Top Gear have gone ahead and started building what will become, if they're successful, the world's fastest lawn mower. Actually, it appears Top Gear is not doing much of the design and assembly work at all, instead having solicited help from experts at Honda and Team Dynamics, which oversees the automaker's touring car efforts.

What the three are working on is a riding lawnmower with a 110-hp engine that can reach 60 miles per hour in four seconds and trim turf at speeds up to 130 mph. If they succeed, such a maximum velocity would put them well ahead of the current record for the world's fastest lawnmower, which is 96.529 mph set by Bobby Cleveland and his Snapper race mower at the Bonneville Salt Flats in September of 2010. Top Gear hasn't said whether or not it will officially go after Cleveland's record, but the build will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Top Gear magazine and is scheduled to be completed by June 17, so we may learn what this maniacal mower's true purpose is then.

According to TG's report on how the build is going, as well as the video of it being fired up (literally) for the first time below, there aren't many actual mower parts left on this machine. What started out as a Honda HF2620 mower now sports wheels and tires from a racing quad, a back axle from a go-kart, a steering rack from a Morris Minor and a 1000cc engine from a Honda VTR1000F sport bike. All that remains from the original mower are the pedals and body panels; even the steel cutting deck has been replaced with a lighter fiberglass version. And blades? This mower will be bladeless, instead using two electric motors to spin lengths of brake cable like a weed whacker.

Need For Speed Rivals, the newest instantiation in a long-running franchise, has made plenty of news in and around this year's E3 show. We first heard about the game and its availability on both Xbox One and Playstation 4 some weeks ago, and the Hollywood media machine has pumped out plenty of news regarding the upcoming Need For Speed movie, as well. Hell, we even got a detailed look at the NFS version of the Shelby GT500 a few days ago. To the respective PR departments of Electronic Arts and Dreamworks Studios, we salute you.

Of course, as racing-gamers, we were most excited to sample Rivals for the first time here in Los Angeles. Electronic Arts was kind enough to give us a short walkthrough and backgrounder about the game, before turning us loose on the pre-alpha version of the software.

Need For Speed Rivals lives in the same basic universe as its forbearers – street racers, cops, loads of cars and ultra fast-paced action – but for the first time ever offers two separate-but-related playing modes. Gamers can choose to drive as street racers, running from the police, or as the police themselves, hunting down the law-breaking racers. Both sides have "weapons" of a sort to aid in their capturing/running causes, including EMP-firing guns, spike strips, turbo boosts and more. The guys from Ghost Games, the studio-within-a-studio inside of EA, told us that there will be lots more weapons to choose from and upgrade when the game is finished.

Looks like Britain is not an outlier. Last month, we learned that around 6,000 people in the UK had let BMW know they were interested in the upcoming i3 electric vehicle (also available as a plug-in hybrid). Not a small number, and the overall picture looks good for BMW's first real plug-in vehicle offering (after the Mini E and ActiveE pilot programs). We have now learned from BMW's Ian Robertson that there are 100,000 people around the world who have made reservations for the i3, and a "significant number" of them have made deposits.

The comments come from Robertson's interview with Automotive News Europe, which reports Robertson saying, "We are confident that with the i3 and i8 we will shift the [customer demand] needle because we will shape some of this technology." 100,000 interested buyers and plug-in confidence from BMW? Quite a different tone from last year, when BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer said that governments need to pony up more plug-in vehicle support or EVs just won't be popular.

One of the reasons that Robertson is now singing a positive tone about EVs is because he's proud of what his company has accomplished so far and because future developments will bring even more progress. "In the next three to four years we'll see more development of the batteries than we have in the last 100," he told ANE.

We will finally get to see the production version of the i3 at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September. The car goes on sale in Europe at the end of the year.

While watching Apple introduce iOS in the Car during its WWDC keynote on Monday, we wondered how automakers, even the 14 who've already signed up to integrate this new in-car functionality of iOS 7, will feel about having the Cupertino company's mobile operating system supplant their own in-car systems. After all, some OEMs like Ford, General Motors and many luxury automakers have sunk millions of dollars into developing their own advanced infotainment, navigation and communication platforms like MyFord Touch, CUE and older systems like iDrive.

One automaker has now spoken up. A BMW spokeperson was interviewed by someone in the news department of British auto dealer group Arnold Clark and confirmed that the company would not be getting in line to integrate iOS in the Car anytime soon. The reason, as we suspected, is that BMW believes its own products developed over the last decade are both plenty good and already so deeply integrated with other systems of the car that, as told to Arnold Clark, "it would not be that straightforward to start changing all of the architecture of a car as has been implied [by Apple]."

While BMW isn't interested in spending more money to integrate Apple's services and functionality over its own, it has spent a good bit already to integrate iPhone functionality in its cars, including the relatively rare ability to support iPod Out and display Apple's own interface on Mini models with the optional Mini Connected feature, as well as committing to integrate Siri 'Eyes Free' functionality.

The BMW spokesperson also told Arnold Clark that the company would be surprised if such a system as Apple's became ubiquitous in the industry considering how much time and money automakers invest in their own media, navigation and communication solutions, but that such a system could become popular with those manufacturers who haven't made those same investments. While certainly possible, iOS in the Car, according to what we know at this point, will still rely on there being a 3G/4G-equipped iOS device present and connected to the car's system. Unless automakers want to give out free iPhones, or Apple begins licensing the user interface to automakers directly for use without an iOS device, iOS in the Car won't be an automaker's sole offering in this regard anytime soon.

UPDATE: BMW has contacted Autoblog to clarify its position. The company says it's in close contact with Apple and currently investigating the technical challenges required to integrate iOS in the Car, but since a final decision had not been made, it was not a part of Apple's announcement. Thus, according to BMW, integration of iOS in the Car in its cars has not been ruled out at all.

The Act And The Exclamation



The 2013 BMW M6 is a rolling obscenity – one that begins with the capital letter "F." It is both the act and the exclamation, the curse and the encouragement. It courts no logic. It is all want and no need, and it is unbecoming of the BMW roundel. Whereas the brand's products once strove to unite man and machine in a duet of blissful performance, the M6 seems built solely to stand between the driver and the road. You are very clearly in its way every second you're behind the wheel, slowing it down and generally being the Monday morning to its two-day trance festival. It's clear this car is very fast, but it has no interest in making you fast in the way that the M3 or even the M5 are wont to do.

But somehow, all that doesn't stop the car from stoking every last lick of lust in your gut. A 560-horsepower twin-turbocharged V8 will do that for you.

Driving Notes

• I think this may very well be the most beautiful machine in the BMW stable right now. The fascia, wheels and carbon fiber roof of the M line all help sharpen the standard 6 Series nicely, turning the car from an awkward bubble into a lithe and purposeful grand tourer. It snatches eyeballs like a cleptomaniac Doctor Frankenstein at the optometrist's office: with both purpose and glee.
• The real magic of this car is at its heart: a 4.4-liter turbocharged V8 with 560 horsepower 500 pound-feet of torque. The thrust out of this engine is fiendish in its delivery, and you can't help but get the sense that the only thing keeping this powerplant from leaping out of the coupe's nose and terrorizing the countryside is you. The car strains against the brake pedal at every stop light, and the exhaust burbles and pops in some of our favorite anti-social tones. It is the rolling embodiment of Skynet.
• Our tester came with a seven-speed double-clutch transmission. The logic can be switched between "sane" and "why am I in the next county?" There is no middle ground, but the paddle shifters feel great. The shift lever, meanwhile, might as well have been imported from another planet. In the future. In an alternate dimension. It's that counterintuitive.
• Speaking of switches, there are independent controls for the shift logic, dampers and steering. You can save your presets by plowing through the iDrive system or by pressing and holding a button on the steering wheel, but it all feels like an unnecessary added step. The M6 doesn't simply remember which settings the driver preferred from one jaunt to the next. The result is a car that's in your way more often than not. It's either the best or worst first world problem in the history of our species.
• BMW didn't hold back with the carbon fiber on this machine. Our tester came with a composite roof and carbon-fiber trim indoors. It originally wore the optional carbon ceramic brakes as well, but some yokel had already roasted the rotors off of the car. BMW went back with steel. At $8,700 for the option, we don't blame them.
• This all sounds like a lot of bellyaching, but don't misunderstand. There are only a handful of cars out there that can evoke the sort of emotion this one does, and most of them carry price tags more than double the $123,345 of our tester. That's not saying it's worth the coin, but the car has its place.

UPDATE: BMW informs us the carbon-ceramic brake option was removed due to the fact that that this particular model was manufactured in 2012. The carbon-ceramic rotors were only available on models built in 2013. While the vehicle's monroney showed the option at $8,700, BMW says the brakes are available for $9,250, but are covered under the company's four-year, 50,000 mile maintenance program.

For the past few years, Chrysler's Mopar in-house tuning division has created its own one-off versions of several cars in the automaker's portfolio, including the Mopar '10 Challenger, Mopar '11 Charger and Mopar '12 300. For 2013, the black-and-blue up-do has been given to the new Dart compact, and Chrysler has announced that the limited-edition sedan is now available for order, priced from $25,485, not including *$995 for destination.

Like previous Mopar edition vehicles, the Dart is painted in a signature Pitch Black exterior with an offset blue racing stripe. The sedan sits seven millimeters lower to the ground and gets visual add-ons like a chin spoiler, decklid spoiler and rear diffuser, along with gloss black 18-inch alloy wheels.

Performance wise, the Dart's 1.4-liter MultiAir inline four-cylinder engine remains, producing 160 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque, mated to a six-speed manual transmission. The Mopar car gets a sport-tuned exhaust system along with revised power steering calibration and beefier brakes.

Inside, Katzkin leather covers the Dart's seats, with the driver's seat done up in blue with black accents (the other seats are black with blue accents). Other standard equipment inside includes Chrysler's Uconnect system with the 8.4-inch touchscreen, premium floor mats and a sport pedal kit.

Scroll down for the full details in Chrysler's press blast.