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I've wanted tp drive a Lotus Esprit Turbo ever since Mr. Bond himself, Roger Moore blasted his one around in the 'Spy Who Loved Me'. Gremlin first launched this game in 1990 and I'd almost forgotten about it when suddenly, like a Sheffield based Q, GBH drive it onto my desk yet again.

"The name is Al... Big AL" I said as I pulled on driving gloves, deserted all the lovely ladies and headed out on the road in my white Lotus Esprit Turbo. There are in fact no less than 32 different roads to burn up in this game; seven easy, ten medium and fifteen hard, though the terms easy and medium are loosely applied in this instance. There is a option on automatic or manual gears and to be honest I would heartily recommend the auto box as it considerably eases the job.

The featured courses are planned against a background of lush, wood-lined European style countrysides, dusty desert tracks, a ice covered highways. Luckily one doesn't meet traffic in the opposite direction because control is, to say the least loose, but this does add a bit of spice to the game.

One of the more unusual aspects of Lotus is the car's ability to steer while in the air after driving over a particularly big in the road... This just about makes up for the sad lack of underwater gear which Bond's Lotus had.

Turbo Challenge operates in single or two player mode. In two player the screen splits in half with a car featured simultaneously in either section. This makes for some very competitive racing indeed! Graphics are monochrome but very well defined and sound consists of a fine variety of tunes as well as engine sounds in 128K mode but just engine noises in 48K.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge is definitely one of the better outright road racing games available on the Spectrum and it's not really that long since it was out as a full price. If you're into this sort of action it's well worth taking a look at this game.

Label: GBH Memory: 48K/128K Price: £3.99 Tape Reviewer: Alan Dykes

This is one hell of a racing game. It's got lots levels with big increases in difficulty and your Lotus doesn't seem to mind bashing around on track side obstacles - within reason. Well worth a look as a budget title.