I've never been too crazy about racing games with normal cars on normal tracks. I enjoy kart racing much more. This can be attributed to the fact that I am neither a car buff nor a Playstation owner. So what does this racing simulation critic think about this game? The plumber thinks it's a very decent game.

The controls are very tight. Of course, it depends on what car is chosen, but handling is never a problem, unless it is supposed to be. I don't know much about cars, but there seems to be some variety in the package, and its fun to be rewarded with a new car after doing well in a race. I'm sure I'd appreciate this much more if I knew about cars ;-)

The rest of the game is a mixed bag. There are different types of courses, but there seems to be only 10 tracks total, though there may be slight variations to them I haven't noticed. The backgrounds and sides are very well done (road signs, etc.), the game runs smoothly, and the cars look quite nice in the garage. Unfortunately, I find the road to be fairly pixilated, and the vehicle rotation/scaling to be lacking. Of course, those graphical problems don't really interfere with gameplay, but there is one issue with the graphics that makes me very angry: it is almost impossible to tell what is a wall and what is just off-road terrain. I "cut a corner" only to crash into a wall all too often....

The music is appropriate--it isn't distracting, but it doesn't really add much. Of course, it barely sounds like music through the built-in speaker, as the engine noises overwhelm the background music. Meanwhile, with headphones, both the so-so music and the differently pitched engines can be heard very well. The stereo sound is well implemented in the game, with cars zooming by on both sides.

The biggest annoyance is probably the password save that THQ so ingeniously implemented to frustrate handheld gamers and cause them to loose their places when batteries die (yup, that just happened to me!) Car fans will really like this game, despite not being able to choose what to upgrade in the car. But as for me, I still can't wait for Mario Kart: Super Circuit to arrive at my doorstop at the end of this month.