NASCAR 2000

PC games are increasingly resembling an interactive version of Channel 5's night-time output, and to add further weight to this theory we've got another NASCAR title on our hands. For the uninitiated, NASCAR is the American motor sport that involves heavily moustached men with names like Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd driving anti-clockwise around an oval track for the best part of a day.

Of course, NASCAR games have been around for years, courtesy of Papyrus and, to the untrained eye, EA Sports' attempt is much the same thing, if slightly more arcadey. Either way, very few right turns are required, and if ever a driving game required a steering wheel this is it, as large parts of each circuit are spent locked in a turn, something that proves irksome with either a joypad or keyboard.

But if you can really be arsed with it and can come to terms with driving round in circles for hours on end, there is some value to be had here, with a host of tracks and some fairly hardcore attention to detail. One abortive passing manoeuvre can take several laps to rectify, so concentration is paramount, and at even ten per cent of the track length, it's enough to induce mild hallucinations. To play the game in full simulation mode, you'd clearly have to be inordinately lonely or serving a medium term prison sentence.

Even though it's supposed to be a non-contact sport, it's often all too tempting to nudge a rival car into the wall, if only to watch the ensuing carnage in the rear view mirror. When it happens to you though, it can be annoying and you will find yourself restarting more races than you finish. Only patient drivers need apply.