Many people - especially men (or should that be boys?) - dream of screaming along narrow roads in a ridiculously fast, hideously expensive car. Accolade give those would-be playboys a chance to pretend they own one of these exotics, as they're known, with the latest in their Test Drive series.

The road is composed of filled-vector graphics, and is viewed from the driver's perspective; in other words, through the windscreen. Having chosen from a Chevrolet CERV III, Lamborghini Diablo, and Pininfarina Mythos, the driver can select whether he or she plays from the keyboard, mouse, or joystick.

Then a skill level is chosen; the first three of the nine levels provide automatic gears, while the higher levels give a manual shift - after all, whoever heard of an automatic Lamborghini?

The driver can choose to race against computer or human opponents, or alternatively he can race against the clock. The course is set in five stages between the Pacific Coast and Yosemite National Park (just outside Cleethorpes), and numerous obstacles, police speed traps, road works, and BSM learners create hazards to be overcome. So jump in, rev your motor, and get cruising!

I'm a great fan of driving games, and a wishful thinker when it comes to exotics such as those in this game. The 3D vector graphics are amazing, and very highly detailed, and the various weather conditions such as rain and snow, along with the night-driving, make this an accurate simulation in that sense.

However, the game falls down in a number of ways as far as I'm concerned. For a start, it's too tricky - American roads just aren't that twisty (in fact they go in a straight line for hundreds of miles at a stretch sometimes).

Although the number of options available add a great deal to the longevity of the game, the program runs too slowly - even with the turbo on! There's really no feeling of speed, so the cars might as well be Skodas.

If an accurate driving sim appeals to you, you may like this; otherwise it's too mediocre to be worth buying.