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It's the age old argument: 'mine's bigger than yours', or in this case 'mine's faster'! When you own a Ferrari F40, everybody wants to beat you (-up, probably, for being a rich git!). So when some poser in a Porsche 959 (pah!) challenges you to a race across America, you decide there's only one way to shut him up.

Before the race starts in New York, you get to choose between a manual (hi/lo) or automatic gearbox. Your car is also equipped with turbo boost, but this soon overheats and so can only be used occasionally for an extra spurt of speed. Of course, the road is congested with obstacles and other vehicles to slow you down.

As well as making the next checkpoint within the time limit, your aim is to beat that Porsche, otherwise he nicks your girlfriend in a neat animated sequence! Between multi-loaded levels, you can ask the four animated mechanics to upgrade your car with a better engine (higher top speed), hi-grip tyres or special turbo (faster acceleration).

Turbo Out Run first roared into view in issue 56, gaining a massive 97% from the ecstatic reviewers. Robin loved the impressive 3D: "At last we have a decent horizon effect on a C64 race game and Probe have kept the speed up all the way."

Hoggy also lapped up the game's superlative presentation. "Static pictures, bonus scenes, even the map at the end of your game is brilliant." And Stu enthused, "Never has an arcade game's amazing presentation been so brilliantly recreated."

However, the consequences of this on the tape version was one of the worst multi-loads ever seen. It's incredibly sluggish and totally breaks up the flow of the race. The good news for multi-load loathers is that Kixx are considering re-releasing the disk version.

As for the game itself, it has been somewhat overshadowed by Turbo Charge and Out Run Europa. Nevertheless, its no-nonsense racing action is still very playable and certainly the best on budget.