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Pitstop was a Pole Position style of game which had the added challenge of making pitstops. Its celebrated sequel, Pitstop II, is the follow up, and was the first split-screen, head-to-head racing game.

In the game, you must race against eight opponents. Raymond Rollbar, Lamont Lugnut, Deirdre Diptstick, Terrence Tierod, Tina Turbs, Penelope Pitstop, Earl Sump and, if in one player mode, Epyx robodriver. It features one or two player mode and a choice of three, six or nine laps, robodrive, semi-pro or pro skill levels, and six tracks. The tracks are Watkin Glen near New York, Vallelinga in Rome, Sebring in Florida, Rouen les Essuals, in Elbeuf, France, Elockenhien near Heidleburg in Germany and we are not forgotten with Brands Hatch.

At the end of each race points are awarded: 9 for first place, 6 for second, 4 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth and 1 for sixth. The other four do not sore, and at the end of the six races, the points are totalled and, of course, the one with most points wins.

A word of warning: 9 lap races hurt your inner arm, because of the time required to move left and right, and accelerate, and my arm begins to hurt after two laps, so nine is a killer. The difficulty levels are what they say, not skill levels. By this I mean that the opponents don't get faster, the tyres wear more easily, meaning you have to make more pitstops, not drive faster, making it rather boring to play after a while, because if you can win on rookie (and most good drivers should be able to) you can win them all, so, like most two player games, it is best played by two people of similar skill; that's where the luck lies.

When actually racing, the game is joystick-controlled. Left and right are as usual, back decelerate, forward accelerate and fire boost. Boost is used when acceleratng. It makes the car accelerate faster, and also ups the top speed, but it's thirsty on fuel. Fuel is shown in a horizontal bar, which is yellow, apart from the warning red area and this moves down as your fuel runs out.

Your speed is just given as the number, and your tyres are shown by a small coloured bar on each tyre, the colour depicting how bad they are. The colours are blue (showing the little damage), purple, green, brown, red, yellow and white (which means your tyres could blow on hitting anything else). Your tyres deteriorate on contact with the kerb or other cars.

The background and horizon scroll smoothly, but it is the same for all the courses. On each player's half of the screen is a map of the course showing where you are by means of a flashing bit. On the course s a wide bit, denoting the start/finish line, which is also where the pits are; you go into the pits by pulling over to the left.

In the pits, a steering wheel sprite appears, which you can position over one of two men. One has a petrol pump which can be moved into the side of the car to fill up the tank again; be careful not to overfill, or it will all seep out. The other man can be used to remove a tyre, take it to the pile, where it is changed automatically and return to place it on the car. This can be time-consuming at first, but is rather easy after practice.

So that's Pitstop II: despite its fame, I found the one player game too easy to win, and although the two player option was fun initially, I tired of it quickly - the arm pain doesn't help.

Obviously a technique game, winning is achieved by making the decisions about whether to risk all for victory, or be content with second, and make a pitstop.

To me, the game loses part of the fun, but you can't have everything, and it does have good graphics. In general, a game with a great reputation, but overrated, so think seriously about spending £10 on it.