Kart games are an oddity. Too often, slapping existing characters from other genres into a cartoon racer results in a tawdry piece of brand extension that only a loon would want to play.

On the other hand, if you want proof that transferring characters from, say, a platform game to a kart game can be genius, you don't have to look further than Nintendo's Mario Kart.

Gameloft hopes Rayman Kart will follow the success of the latter, clearly, and it was shaping up well when we got hands on at 3GSM last week. Now the company has released first shots of the game, so you can see too. Nice, innit?

Needless to say, we'll be reviewing the game when it emerges faster than Rayman can say, "Isn't my lack of limbs a problem when it comes to handbrakes, steering wheels and pedals?", so hit 'Track It!' for a trackside seat.