In our first preview of Rush Hour we let you know what features would be included with the game.  We had a chance to actually see some of these features for ourselves at E3, as Maxis had the game on display to show them off for the first time.

You may have already heard that you can take over your city's emergency vehicles, but did you know that you can do it at any time?  All you need to do is click on a passing police or fire vehicle and you will receive a mission that you must take control of the vehicle to complete.  There's no need to wait for the next disaster to befall your city before taking action.  For example, click on a police car and you may be challenged to chase down a carjacker.  Not all of the missions are related to handling emergency situations.  Although you may find yourself fighting a forest fire when you fly a helicopter, you can also direct traffic by being your city's "eye in the sky".  Your citizens love a take-charge mayor, so completing missions is a great way to boost your ratings.  The missions also provide you with the additional incentive of unlocking upgrades for your vehicles and city should you complete them.

You'll now be able to see your entire transportation network at the regional level.

When you take control of a vehicle you don't actually get into it and switch to a first person view.  Instead you'll drive it from the same view as the one you use to build and manage your city.  It's really to your advantage to keep traffic down in your city because you'll be driving the same streets as your sims, and you'll find it difficult to complete missions if you can't make it down the block due to a traffic jam.  You'll be able to weave around other cars and take any route you'd like when driving, but you'll need to be careful that you're not so reckless as to cause accidents along the way. 

You won't be the only one who benefits from the vehicle enhancements in the game.  You also be able to buy cars for any sims you have imported from The Sims.  You can monitor your sim as he/she moves through the city, either using his/her car or public transportation or even a route that you specify, and get reports from the ground on the state of your transportation network.  You'll also be able to get information on your network by clicking on homes and buildings.  This will show an overlay on your city of the transportation routes your sims are taking to and from the building, allowing you to identify the weaknesses in your network.

The transportation upgrades will integrate nicely with existing networks, allowing you to add them to your current cities quite seamlessly.  You can upgrade streets to wide avenues as easily as you laid the roads in the first place, and you can connect elevated train lines to your existing rail network.

In addition to the transportation features, map labels, and new structures, you can also expect some improvement to the game's engine which will allow the screen to scroll and zoom faster than in the original game.  When everything is taken into account, Rush Hour will be a significant expansion to SimCity 4.  Look for Rush Hour to be released later this year.