Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox)

The sheer volume of this game is overwhelming, you have 102 cars in the game, 172 Races in the World Series and an infinite amount online. As soon as you pick up the game and start the first World Series race, you realise the jaw-dropping graphics of the game, There is no 30 FPS like you find on NFSU, it runs perfectly smoothe.

The beauty of this game is that it doesn't matter if your a racing game fanatic petrol-head, or a novice to racing games, you won't be missing out. The difficaulty settings playable for every race range from the very easiest bronze medals (novice), right through to platinum medals in expert mode. And there will always be a game to suit your standard online.

Let me talk about the cars for a second. Each one is rendered beautifully to look almost identical to it's real life replica. Choose to race anything from a Mini Cooper, a Honda Civic, SUVs, Pick-up trucks, Porche 911s, the 600+ hp Enzo Ferrari, or even the insanely fast TVR Cerbera Speed 12.

Each one actually handles different, it is no longer a case of 'the fastest car wins' as most car games are, each car suits a particular driving style, and there isn't a car that is put in just for show.

Then you get onto the actual driving, I have NEVER played a racing game that drives as realistically as this. I may have to retract that statement when GT4 comes out, but there is no more crashing into corners and keep on going, no more hurtle through bins, lamp posts and postboxes and keep going like you get with NFSU,this game requires BRAKING. The smallest nick on the side can mean the difference between first place and second, the decision is yours whether you can risk powersliding a turn or just taking it normally and not getting the kudos.

The details are beautiful, you can see birds in the sky, water on the road, reflections in the car's paintwork, there isn't a badly rendered pixel in the whole game.

The single player mode is addictive, but it's when you get online that the real fun starts... There are hundreds of game's open right now, pick a course and start racing against people your own standard, trash talk them when you beat them, suffer the humilliation if you lose.

But it doesn't stop there, you can play Cat and Mouse games online which when played with your friends are absoloutley hillarious. And of course, the person who lurks behind you the whole race only to slam you into the wall on the final bend and take pole position doesn't neccessarily come off any bettet, as you get Kudos for driving well, and Kudos is what you need to level up.

I gave this a 5 star on it's driving alone. Perfect physics, incredible choice of cars, and the brilliant online mode makes it even more so. The only way this game is not perfect is on the sinlge player mode, which is fine, but would be enthralling if it had a garage to buy upgrades to your ride.

If anybody still isn't convinced that this is the most detailed racing game ever, drive Endinburgh very, very slowly and look at the shops you pass on the left, it has the EXACT SHOPS logo and all, in the exact order that are really there, it is pure class to go into the shop the day before, then race past it in an Enzo Ferrari the next day.

The best racing game ever made for the Xbox, one of the best GAMES ever made. Buy it now.

Then there are the tracks, GT has a few real tracks, such as Laguna Seca, and the rest fictional tracks, PGR2 has dozens of tracks for each of the ten cities in the game, including Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Moscow, Washington DC, and the full length 8 mile Nurburgring circuit in Germany.

One area where PGR2 will really excel will be online play, not only will you be able to race against up to seven other players, but the best player in the world for each track will have his ghost saved to the Live! servers, so those who race that track can see exactly how you got that spectacular laptime.

Ultimately, any true racing nut should have both of these games, but if you must have one and you prefer to let your driving do the talking rather than the size of your turbocharger, then PGR2 is the game for you.

Anyone who still doubts the domination of the X-Box needs only look at Project Gotham Racing 2. You won't find it for anything else.

This sequel has somehow managed to be vastly superior to it's predecessor, with many more tracks in many different real-world locations, and a massive amount more cars.

The game has been rebuilt from scratch, with amazing attention to detail, in all areas. Graphic and sound quality are sublime, with scenery decorated with photo-realistic textures.

The physics are hugely improved, and you will really notice a difference in driving style between each car.

Importantly, the game is more involving, in that it caters for people with different tastes. If you want to jump straight into the game in an arcade fashion, drive cars, win races, you can do it. If you want to work hard at it and learn the way the different cars act, then you will be further rewarded for it.

The ultimate reward for working though the Kudos World Series mode surely has to be the unlocking of Germany's Nurburgring. Every mile of the infamous circuit has been mapped brilliantly, and you will be surprised at how many hours can be spent soaring around it in your GT1 car, trying to get your lap time below the 6-and-a-half minute mark.

The game offers the option of walking around a massive car showroom area, where you can look at the cars you have yet to 'buy', and those you already have unlocked. The variety of cars is astounding, with everything from classics like the Porsche Carrera RS 2.7 and Ferrari Dino, through SUV's like Mercedes' ML and Volvos XC90, to track cars like the Noble M12GTO and roadsters like the Caterham 7. You will work your way up through the classes to reach the ultimate level, where you'll find the newest supercars - Porsche Carrera GT, Ferrari Enzo, Koenigsegg CC, and GT1 racers from TVR, Porsche and Mercedes.

Completion of the world series and especially cone-challenge events, is much easier than it was in PGR1, and is much more rewarding.

As well as experiencing all the games great features whilst listening to your favourite sound tracks from your X-Box hard disc, there's also the option of game expansion; For those lucky enough to have a broadband connection and an X-Box live account, you'll be wanting to downloading the extra cities (Paris, and Long Beach, Los Angeles) and the 30-or-so extra cars that have been built since the game's release.

This is by far the most complete, rewarding game I have played in a long time, on a par with Halo and GTA3. Get it now otherwise you'll be missing something special!