Hit the road
James Fryer puts pedal to the metal with a round-up of games to keep your boy-racer antics off the roads and in the living room.
Tourist Trophy
PS2
If the feel of tight, sweaty leathers gets your juices flowing then hop on your bike, weave your way down SZR and grab a copy of Tourist Trophy now. From the developers of the chart-topping Gran Turismo series comes a title designed to replicate the true essence of motorcycle racing, with Honda, Kawasaki and Ducati mean machines all represented in their true glory. The learning curve is a little steep for our liking but, once you’ve tired of doing wheelies (and promptly ending up eating dirt) and trying to take hairpin corners without braking, you’ll slowly begin to love it. There’s nothing like the noise of the wind rushing past you as you thunder towards 200mph, manoeuvring your way to the front of the pack and, while TT may lack in the universal appeal department, it’s a winning title in its own right.
On the road PSP-style
A trio of bite-sized motoring mayhem for couch potato revheads...
Formula One 2006
If you haven’t got time to take the school-run 4x4 over to Dubai Autodrome to give that V6 a proper running-in, here’s a title to whet your appetite. It features drivers, cars and circuits from the latest F1 season and gameplay is fast and furious. Even racing newbies will enjoy it thanks to the ‘driver-aids’ – switch them off and you may plummet at high speed into the (paid-for) advertising boards. Commentary is provided by industry greats, and it’s best to listen when they tell you to take a pit stop. Trust us.
Twisted Metal: Head On
Rigging your Toyota Corolla up with a rocket launcher is bound to make beating the morning traffic a damn sight easier. While you get to work on an ATeam- style souped-up hire car, Fired Up lets you take control of the skeletal Mr Grimm on his oldskool chopper, or the evil clown Needles Kane in his creepy ice cream van, as well as a host of other Manga-esque characters. Think Mad Max meets demolition derby as you collect deadly weapons and blow the living daylights out of everything that moves. It’s mindless carnage but we love it.
Ridge Racer
November will bring the PS3 to the UAE and with it a new installment in the Ridge Racer series. In the meantime, this pocket-sized version of the arcade classic packs in 58 cars that boy-racers can only dream of owning, and 24 graphically smooth circuits to tear around. Drifting and power sliding through the corners is still a must and with quick races and a World Tour mode, there’s plenty of in game action to keep you on track. And cutting up your mates at 200km/h in multiplayer mode never fails to entertain.