But these are asides. It's the actual game, in one or two-player mode which really deserves praise. It's one of the quickest racers we've played on PlayStation, and the first thing you'll notice is how much more lenient and forgiving it is than the first V-Rally. You might just get round the course within 10 seconds of your competitor's first time out, and most of all, you're more likely to have a load of fun.

As you fly around one of the 84 - count em! - tracks, the scenery and the course design really stand out. A real effort has gone in to making rallying in Finland different to Australia, and again to Great Britain. And it works wonderfully. The cars look pretty too, with all the World Rally Championship motors taking pride of place. You could complain of graininess - and it's true that there simply isn't the sheen of, say, a Ridge Racer - but you'll hardly notice as you frantically try to keep control of these souped up family cars on what amounts to dirt tracks.

What you certainly won't need is any kind of rally skill, though. Colin McRae Rally showed up V-Rally, and while V-Rally 2 might look better, Infogrames still haven't got the hang of rallying as a sport. This is nothing more than great arcade action on soil or slippery roads, rather than any kind of rally simulation. That great feeling of throwing a high performance car sideways around a corner is just never reached.

Which is a shame. Because it means V-Rally is an arcade racer which doesn't look as good as Ridge, has all the cars but doesn't come close to Gran Turismo's pure style, and has all the tracks without one of them being as teeth-clenchingly rallyable as Colin McRae. But it's still a great game. And while you wait for GT2 you really do need a piece of V-Rally 2's undeniably good laughs.