Price: £44.99

Players: 1-4

Put away any thoughts of Batman as the follow-up to the Sega Dreamcast's racer MSR arrives in the form of Project Gotham Racing. Don't expect huge leaps in originality either, but do expect a high degree of class and polish as you race around San Francisco, Tokyo, London and New York, to name but four locations, not only beating your lap times, but gaining Kudos points along the way. Kudos are obtained, not only by driving faster than before and winning a race, but also by the way you drive. Negotiate an S-bend - for example - and the way in which you swerve round and exit it will depend on the extra points received. The more points you get, the more levels will be unlocked, as well as the chance to drive round in more cars, which get better and faster cars as you progess, starting with the Mini Cooper S, Toyota MR2 Spyder and the VW Beetle RSi, but leading to a Corvette ZO6, the Carrera GT and an F50, with 30 cars in total. You know the way this type of game plays, so let's see how it handles.

While the best-looking racer on the PS2 is easily Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec, this one easily matches that for appearance on the Xbox. Smooth, flawless cars - which don't appear to get dented though, sadly, realistic locations and good physics as you experience a jump or two round the streets of San Francisco. It's also impressive to see that the hard drive remembers where you knocked cones over so everything's just as you left it when you come round for the next lap. Soundwise, car games often leave a lot to be desired, but that's mainly because all you hear most of the time is the noise of an engine, however realistic they may have made it sound compared to the real beasts. A nice inclusion is the ability to choose your own music, as described in the Xbox console review, so your favourite tunes can play alongside those already programmed in such as Gorillaz' 19-2000 and Doves' Catch the Sun.

It takes a while to get used to the controls, but once you have they become second nature and the excitement increases greatly as you find you have greater control over each vehicle. Alternatives to the arcade mode are a multiplayer option, in which you can race against up to three other people, a time-attack mode where you'll race against a ghost car to improve upon your lap time for your chosen track, a quick race against five opponents and the Kudos challenge, unlocking new levels and rewards as you race through 12 levels and 9 different challenge types.

GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ENJOYMENT
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.