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Arcade addicts will doubtless be familiar with the driving game Pole Position, in which you take the wheel of a racing car and drive very quickly round a circuit. Well, now you can do the same thing on your BBC Micro as Pole Position has been adapted for it, retaining all the excitement and skill of the original.

You first undertake a qualifying lap; your time must be good enough to rate you in the first eight, or you won't get onto the grid.

Once a bonus for position has been given, the race starts and, as it progresses, more and more cars appear in front of you, and they must be passed carefully if you are to get a good score. A countdown timer is displayed - 55 seconds are added if you complete a lap, but if it reaches zero the game ends because you are being too slow. However the game ends you are awarded a bonus of 50 points for each car you passed, and a time bonus of 200 points per second still on the clock.

The course is very similar to the arcade version, right down to the fourth bend, a very tight left-hander which has to be taken carefully. The Atari balloon pulls messages across the track before the race, and the background scrolls. In fact, my only niggle about the graphics is the jerkiness of some movement. The car seems to lurch across the track, and the trackside signs jump towards you about ten yards at a time, but the rest of the graphics are above average. Sound is good, with engine noises and a great chuck-chuck sound as you hit the kerbs.

All in all, a very well written program - all it lacks are cars passing you, as on the arcade version, but that has a little more memory and power behind it!