It's always rather disheartening to see the demise of the industry's finer franchises thanks to straight-up underwhelming sequels. We saw it with Devil May Cry 2 (though thankfully, DMC3 was a step in the right direction to return the series to its former glory) and, if you all remember, Driv3r had most gamers scratching their heads on just how the hell Reflections Interactive managed to screw up their once respected action-driving franchise. To say the least, the developer has a bit of redeeming to do with the next installment in the Driver series, as announced today by Atari and scheduled for shipping early next year.

"Backed by a distinct driving dynamic that gave rise to a completely new sub-category within the driving genre, and with millions of fans worldwide, it is no surprise that the Driver franchise is often called the 'father of action driving games'," suggests Marc Metis, senior vice president of Marketing. "With our next Driver game, we are concentrating on those qualities that defined the franchise and established it as a perennial best-seller."

Not to give away any "revealing details" (E3 will change that, we're sure), the announcement sketched out a basic concept for the tentative Driver 4: classic car chase AI, top notch vehicle dynamics and physics, a photorealistic, interpretive New York City setting, mission-based gameplay and incorporated online play.

Early 2006 serves as the current ship date for this new Driver, and we're quite the commencement of E3 2005 tomorrow will give us a fair look at what to expect from this sequel with much to prove. We'll keep you updated.