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The year is 3472 and the once-great Earth has been destroyed. All that exists is a barren land of sand, rocks and boulders. Life nowadays is ruled by cars. Gold is replaced by petrol and your sole aim in life is the possession of the eight Golden Cups of Ultimate.

A more imaginative scene-setter to a road race game is hard to find. And the program is not bad either. Tranz Am gets away from the standard screen layout of the car at the bottom of the screen and the road scrolling towards you.

The car stays in the middle, and the whole screen scrolls in any direction. To control the vehicle you use two keys to rotate yourself, just like good old Asteroids.

The screen acts as a window on the whole land, which is about seven times the size of the displayed area in each direction. The area you are searching is therefore about 50 times the screen size. The idea is to tour the land, seeking and collecting the eight trophies which are positioned randomly for each game.

There are also enemy cars which roam the area and must be avoided. You have three lives.

The screen acts as a window on the whole land, which is about seven times the size of the displayed area in each direction. The area you are searching is therefore about 50 times the screen size. The idea is to tour the land seeking and collecting the eight trophies which are positioned randomly for each game.

There are also enemy cars which roam the area and must be avoided. You have three lives.

The screen which displays the road is square, which leaves a column of spare TV space on the left. This is your indicator panel and shows the time, score, miles travelled, speed and a reduced view of the whole land on a radar.

Control is quite easy and uses only four keys. Two to rotate and two more as accelerator and brake.

The game is also compatible with Kempston joysticks. You can pause the game if you wish.

Although the speed indicator is labelled from 0 to 400 mph, the car does not go too fast even in full speed. There are no gear controls.

Tranz Am is by Ultimate and runs on any Spectrum. It is available from WHSmith and costs £5.50.