We’ve previously posted a lot of game videos and screenshots for Cars 2, and shared a podcast interview with John Day from Avalanche Software, but Day 1 at E3 2011 was our first chance to get hands on with the brand new racing game. And lucky for us, our guide on this adventure was John Day himself.

We checked out two of the game’s modes, an actual race through an airport and an arena battle in Radiator Springs. What we saw from either mode didn’t necessarily do anything new or terribly different, but it did combine great controls (using the Wiimote/nunchuk or the Wiimote with steering wheel) with fun kart racing elements to provide a very polished, very fun racing experience. Each of these game modes are playable by 1 to 4 players, and we are awaiting confirmation as to whether any version will support online racing.

In the race, we both had the immediate impression that it reminded us a bit of Disney’s 2010 title Split/Second, which ended up being appropriate, as Avalanche Software worked with Black Rock Studios, the Split/Second developers, and incorporated some elements of that game into their own. We raced through various airport buildings, zoomed down a runway while avoiding landing jumbo jets, and picked up missiles to fire at opposing vehicles. Again, much of it standard kart racing fare, but you could tell that the developers had studied the best kart racing games and tried successfully to build on the best parts of those other titles.

In our arena battle, we fought it out in a desert expanse outside the town of Radiator Springs, throwing rockets and bullets back and forth, bouncing around using the cars’ ability to actually jump to reach new areas, before I defeated Jeff in sudden death. The level felt a little bit sparse with only the two of us playing, thanks to the large design of the level, but you could easily see that with four players, it would be fairly chaotic.

While there’s not a story mode per se, there are a series of increasingly difficult C.H.R.O.M.E. missions that will let you earn your stripes as a spy car, and those can also be played with anywhere from one to four players.

The in-game garage is stocked with a large number of vehicles to choose from, including familiar faces like Lightning McQueen and Mater, as well as plenty of new characters from Cars 2. Only a handful are available initially, with others beyond that unlocked through a variety of in-game achievements. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will be getting additional vehicles as downloadable content; unfortunately the Wii version will not.

The game also features a series of crests and awards, which on the PS3 and Xbox will mirror the achievements, but on the Wii adds that extra layer that is always missing. Some are achieved simply through employing various driving skills over an extended period of time, while others require more specific and focused efforts.

One final thing we did observe, while the game was plenty of fun on the Wii and the Wiimote and steering wheel controls seemed to do the job nicely, putting the Wii version side by side with the PS3 version did no favours to the graphics on the Wii. Knowing how great the movie will look on the big screen, it would be hard for us to choose the Wii version over the gorgeous PS3 or Xbox 360 version.

Cars 2 The Video Game arrives in stores on June 21, just ahead of the movie.