The third update for Burnout Paradise has gone live for the PS3. (Sorry, 360 users will have to wait 2 more weeks, because of bugs found in the update)
I'm totally excited about this update. Online Road Rage sounds fantastic.

Full list of changes:
- New title screen showing off a new car with new Paradise logo and new title music
- New cars/liveries available:

+ (unknown car on the title screen)
+ (more secret/unknown cars)
+ Hunter Olympus
+ GT Tiger (Carbon GT Concept livery)
+ Tempesta Dream (Tempesta livery)
+ Hippie Van (BRT Van livery)
+ A secret Criterion livery

- Geometry issues at the Airfield have been fixed, making it easier to complete the hoop challenges
- 1080i support for PS3
- EasyDrive and Challenges menus now loop
- "All new" surround sound mixes for PS3 and 360
- "All new" EasyDrive sound effects
- Dedicated PS3 LFE (subwoofer) content
- New music tracks included
- Driving backwards in Road Rage cancels the event, like Marked Man
- Boost Chaining in open areas by drifting no longer works
- Searching for online games returns more information than before (Today's Best, Challenges, Races, etc...)
- All cars online now show damage instead of just your own
- Player called out for being ahead in all of Today's Best categories
- 30+ bad respawns have been fixed
- Issue with checkpoints not being placed properly on the map have been fixed
- Ability to invert the camera controls
- Ability to mute yourself when using EyeToy/Playstation Eye (to remove echoing?)
- EasyDrive now closes after 20 seconds of inactivity
- Ability to view challenge and leaderboard lists without leaving online games
- Custom soundtrack support for PS3 (MP3, AAC, ATRAC formats supported, WMA *not* supported)
- Improved graphics on SDTVs for PS3
- User-created liveries for the Kitano Hydros, Hunter Oval Champ and Carson Inferno Van
- Sirens on Police vehicles
- Classical music from Picture Paradise now in the regular game playlist
- Improved sound effects
- Timeout at the end of the race increased
- 40 total Paradise Drives for Ranked Races consisting of:

+ 7 user-created races
+ 10 checkpoint races
+ 23 point A to point B races

- Players leaving will no longer cancel the current freeburn challenge and the game will just act as if the player that left had completed his part, allowing the rest of the players to attempt to finish the challenge (3 player or more challenges only, only for those that support it!)
- 70 new Timed Multipart Challenges with Leaderboards
- Live frontpage/"game calendars":

+ Specific events on certain days and exclusive cars for use in them
+ Live frontpage as you start the game shows Criterion news as well as what you've done recently and what's popular online (see http://www.flickr.com/photos/criteriongames/2436954704/) including a new remix of the Burnout theme
+ Real-life time/weather for your city

- Mute specific players at will from the Show Players screen
- Global Paradise News page shown with daily news on login
- Game calendars will be used to unlock new liveries and other things
- New Freeburn game modes (see http://criteriongames.com/article.php?artID=114):

+ Freeburn Stunt Run (team version might be included as well, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsUCjKzZB4M)
+ Freeburn Marked Man (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO3sUTor_M8)
+ Freeburn Road Rage (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThdipywMNLE)

- Turn signal/road sign navigation is much more accurate
- Fixes, changes and balancing for Ranked Races consisting of:

+ A reset of the leaderboards on Cagney's release
+ Hall of Fame for top 10/top 50/top 100?, regular resets and additions to Hall of Fame including possible rewards
+ Penalties for players with high disconnection ratios
+ Traffic always on
+ No custom routes allowed
+ All sanctioned routes have their own time leaderboards
+ Starting grid order based upon Ranking, better ranks start out towards the back of the pack
+ Car limits based on Boost levels instead of licenses to encourage more diverse car selection
+ Car selection screen comes up after the race is shown allowing everyone to see the race before car selection
+ Additional tuning to how Boost is earned while racing
+ Hosts no longer allowed to kick other players
+ Quitters will no longer be penalized only 100 points, but will be treated as if they came in 8th place (maximum potential loss of 700 points)
+ New map icons for the start and finish of races on map and minimap
+ Rounds no longer exist, all ranked races consist of just one race
+ All players start ranked races with full boost bars
+ Amount of time before race is terminated after the winner crosses the line has been increased from 20 seconds to 60 seconds
+ Specific traffic density per Paradise Drive

- Fully functional disk caching for xbox hard disk owners
- Massively improved caching system on ps3
- Background installation so within 15 minutes every section of the world is on your hard disk
- A fix for the VOIP settings being forgotten
- A fix for the bug causing people to join the newest rooms by default, leaving yours empty and lonely
- A fix for the invincibility glitch and other glitches related to the junkyard
- Rankings and points properly updated between each series of races
- A potential fix for the impossible Road Rules times
- When a player is vertically taken down, the game specifically calls it out on his screen as "VERTICALLY TAKEN DOWN!" instead of the usual "TAKEN DOWN!"
- Canadian leaderboard (according to podcast 26)
- Choice between rotating and fixed minimaps (unconfirmed at this time)
- Other unannounced fixes, additions and changes

http://criteriongames.com/