Why? - Because firstly, Codemasters seem to have caught a slight case of RPGitis, forcing us to play as Colin McRae in Colin McRae Rally 3, and now as Ryan McKane (who? - I hear you blurt) in Toca Race Driver. In a dramatic intro (that seems to have aged very quickly, or maybe I've just seen it a lot) young American boy Ryan watches his racing driver Dad win a race and then die tragically due to a seemingly deliberate after-race collision with youthful British driver James Randall. Years later Ryan and his older brother Donnie are both race drivers themselves, and you play as him in his quest to become the world champion. A plot unfolds as you play and cut scenes tell a typically B-movie plot of success, failure, determination, feud (with an amusingly posh-voiced and strange-haired rival called Nick Landers), revenge, reconciliation and eventual redemption. Love it or hate it, it works, and never gets in the way of the game's principles, which are: racing, racing and more racing (with some races on the side). Like I said, it's purely B-movie stuff (something like I imagine Days Of Thunder would have been like if the cast of Eastenders and Baywatch had starred instead of Messrs Cruise & Duvall) but regardless of what I think of Ryan and the plot, it'd be a rather good B-movie if it had racing action this good in it…

Yep, what racing you get! None of this piddling 'six or eight cars pootling around the track like mindless drones' rubbish that some of the best selling racing games of recent years have been guilty of, oh no - TRD gives you grids with 20 detailed cars each capable of being bodily wrecked, and every one of them seems to have genuine, reactive AI that wants to bend your bumper or stick you in a tyre wall.

   

The physics and handling may come as a shock to some racing game fans who've never experienced a Toca game (where have you been?), with lockable brakes that need to be eased on and damageable cars that need to be treated with respect and not a little love. The hugely varied cars (from Minis to Dodge Vipers) have grip limits, and some reach them more abruptly than others. This can result in some rather sudden and unexpected crashes that can seriously knock your confidence, but this only reinforces the feeling that you need to practice with each and every car to learn its peculiarities and quirks. Sadly, this will alienate a lot of gamers from TRD, which is a shame, and the inclusion of optional ABS would have solved a lot of problems and opened the game up to an even wider audience. Simple to use tuning screens mean that the handling characteristics of each car can be radically altered with the minimum of fuss, and the smallest change can actually make the difference between success and failure. Strange then, that the game has no qualifying session (not even a single lap) and although you can practice as much as you want before championship races, the grid position is preset and seemingly random, sometimes as high as fourth and other times as low as eleventh or twelfth. The fierce opponent AI gives you the impression that you're really racing against other sentient beings, and if you ram another racer he'll often come looking for revenge. You'll see them lock brakes, have their own battles and accidents and even end up on their roofs (as can you). We've even seen them collide and spin in the pit lane, which I must admit produced a smirk as I swept by into the lead. You do seem to get your rear end tapped a little more often than I'd have liked, but this seldom results in you spinning and again just seems to add a further realistic edge to the racing.

Although the game is a huge graphical improvement over the PS2 game, with better looking cars and trackside detail, none of the horrendous scenery pop-up that spoiled the look entirely (the draw distance is now highly impressive and on certain circuits you can see the other cars in the field from miles away) and also now has 20 cars on the grid, a higher resolution and generally tidier and smoother look throughout, most of the game would seem to be a direct port complete with all the idiosyncrasies of the original; like races that you simply can't win due to the shortcomings of your car and the strengths of others (if anyone has managed to win the one-off Viper race please let me know because I think it's impossible), or what I would consider as an unrealistic lack of traction in the more powerful rear wheel drive cars (some of which seem to spin their rear wheels or slip the clutch incessantly regardless of how smooth you are with the throttle). But TRD's tricky handling and the sheer fact that one mistake can cost you a race gives the game an edge that few other racers have. Never has the old saying "You can't win a race on the first lap but you sure can lose it" been as true.

The body damage is extensive and certainly produces some amazingly realistic looking crashes when you view them in replays (particularly if you watch them in slow motion - the shattering glass as it catches the light is superb), but sometimes seems a little over the top and you'll occasionally finish a race in a total wreck that barely resembles the car you started with, and you'll wonder exactly how you did all that damage and how the car kept going at all. Oh yes, and the replays, whilst they look nice, just like the PS2 game seem to have a lower frame rate than gameplay, which is odd.

   

The damage isn't purely cosmetic though and repeated clouts will spoil your car's handling, or lose you gears and engine performance, making you take more care than in most other racing games.

Other than the obvious graphical improvement and extra opponents (6 more than the PS2 game), the game structure would seem to be identical too. This means that you start in the Super Sports racing league, and if you accrue enough points from the various championships within this formula then you get offered a drive in the next one up, the Power Racing tier. Strangely you only get offered one drive in this level and have to accept it, continuing in the lower league to gain experience and compete in every country isn't an option (until you win the Lola World Championship and vanquish nasty Nick, at which point you can go virtually everywhere you want). If I'm not mistaken you also get a few new paintjobs and the new, 'safer' (make that more boring) versions of Hockenheim and Nurburgring. Hangovers from the PS2 include terrible flat, barely animated spectators which are made more obvious than they need have been with some daft replay camera placement, and a Sun that although set in some lovely skies appears to be going supernova. Engine sounds vary from throaty roars that sound great, to reedy whines that you just want to go away. The multiplayer (up to 4 split screen but no system link - boo!) is also a bit disappointing, and although you can set up your own little multi-race Championships the graphics (although smooth when moving) are grainy and lack detail.

When you boil it all down, this is without doubt the best pure racing game around. 42 cars, 38 circuits and 13 Championships give the game some real longevity (even if you've already 'been there and done that' on PS2). There are better looking 'driving' games but none match the racing action or intensity of TRD. If Codemasters had given this game the full Xbox treatment I'd rate it a 10/10 without hesitation, but Ryan McKane is a pain and some dodgy game structure and handling foibles rob it of the perfect score.