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Among the plethora of motor-racing simulations which have been offered over recent months only a small selection's been worthy of praise. With Chicane is of a standard that would have made it a best-seller in the past, today it has little to distinguish it from the numerous alternatives.

It would be wrong to say that the graphics are not up to scratch. Both graphics and sound are more than adequate for a game like this. The passing scenary is perhaps a little stark, consisting only of road signs - not even a cactus to obstruct your view of the distant, snow-covered mountains of Monza. Or the mountains of Monaco. Or the mountains of Silverstone...

Special features include two wing-mirrors and a wide choice of tracks. You may also specify the number of laps in a race. Deficiencies include the lack of a speedometer - a somewhat crucial omission, I think.

Cheats will run riot with Chicane. For example, you can knock ten seconds off the record lap time by driving around the edge of the track rather than on it. If your engine overheats you can park in the middle of the road until it cools off without fear of being overtaken - a certain amount of respect for race etiquette is a must for this game!

The true mark of a good racing simulator is the angle you lean at in your armchair as you hurtle round the hairpin bends so, if you can forget for a while its inaccuracies and shortcomings, Chicane scores fairly highly on the realism scale. However, I think that its deficiencies are a little too great to be ignored, especially when compared to simulators like Revs.