You may recognize Executive Producer Jason DeLong on Need for Speed: The Run from our live E3 show, which we streamed live from our PlayStation booth earlier this year. Interactive cinemas, fast cars and loud tunes propelled The Run at E3, but all along EA Black Box was quietly scheming to reveal more at gamescom.

In my play session, I chased after a pearl white Laborghini Aventador down a treacherous mountain road on Independence Pass in Colorado. Then it happened: I found myself staring at an oncoming avalanche from behind the wheel of my car, plowing and drifting through chaos while I sat comfortably in a dark room at EA’s show floor. I couldn’t help but smile after my demo session with Need for Speed: The Run, knowing that I finally got to play a true-to-form Michael-Bay-inspired Hollywood action racer on my PS3.

I got a few minutes with DeLong and picked his brain about a retaining the authenticity and how the high-tech Frostbite rendering engine opens up new storytelling vistas for this action racer.