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EA has rolled the latest entry in the Need for Speed series out of the garage. It's being developed by new EA studio Ghost Games, using DICE's scenery-smashing Frostbite 3 engine, and overseen by specialist racing game studio Criterion. The team is drawn from a who's who of driving game greats, with credits encompassing Blur, PGR, Forza and Burnout.

Rivals takes place in Redview County, and finds players taking control of both cops and illegal street racers in a shared online world. "Imagine that you're playing Rivals, you're driving around as a cop or as a racer, playing through the progression of the game," explains producer Marcus Nilsson.

"When I join, and you and me are friends, and I'll be put into your world. The world is big, though, so I could be playing my single player game in a different part of the world. What could happen is that the two experiences merge, so if you're playing as a cop and I'm playing as a cop and you're in a pursuit and I'm in a pursuit, all of a sudden if that pursuit goes into the same world you'll be playing a co-op experience where you're working on the same pursuit. What that does is totally destroy the line between single player and multiplayer."

The game has even hired the lead designer of Far Cry 3 to bring his expertise in taking an openworld game and filling it with fun stuff to do.

Need for Speed Rivals hits the road on November 19th for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is also on the way.