Battlefield 4 alpha trial starts today, system specs and vehicle customisation shots surface

DICE are rolling towards the late October release of Battlefield 4 - air-dropping the game to select testers for an alpha trial that's due to begin today. Testers were selected based on "experience with the Battlefield series". Don't let that get your hopes up, though - even if you have hundreds of collective hours of chaotic battle time, DICE's " TheBikeViking " has confirmed there will be no second batch of testers. Even so, information about the test is coming through, including an early look at system specifications.

OS: Vista SP2, Win7 (Win8 not supported)
64 bit (32 bit not supported)
Dx10 or Dx 11 GPU with 1+GB of RAM, Dx 11 highly recommended
25GB HDD free space required
Latest Origin version required

In all, it's not dissimilar to the recommended requirements for Battlefield 3. Keep in mind, though, that the alpha will likely be both unoptimised and, according to the email sent out to testers, missing most level textures. While the required specs are unlikely to go down, they will probably become slightly more inclusive. At the very least, expect Windows 8 to be supported.

As to what this is all building towards: NeoGAF found screenshots of the new Vehicle Customisation menus and options. See those below. (Thanks, PCGamesN .)

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.