There has to come a point where we just won't need real rallying. There just has to - if Codies can update its series in nine short months and make it look and feel so much nicer and enjoyable than before, then it's only going to be another year or so until rallying becomes a purely virtual sport.

When it does, co-drivers the world over will flood the unemployment market with their intense route-finding skills becoming defunct in this age of commuters and computers, and daredevil spectators will have to throw themselves in front of buck-wheeled shopping trolleys in the hope of getting a cheap fix of thrills. Mark our words, it will happen.

Okay, so maybe it won't. But on the evidence of this latest game in the renowned Colin McRae Rally series, we're hard pressed to imagine how things can get much better. Really, it's 'just' an update in the same way that Hitler was 'just' a vegetarian. So, please, read on and find out why no other game is fit to grovel in the gravel left in this man's wake.

We've got just one little request, please Codemasters? Can you leave at least a year before the next game in the series, so that we've got a genuine chance at beating the Expert difficulty level this time? Cheers.

It's hard to beat a good rally game. There's not much better you can get in this world. We thought about maybe having deckchairs shaped like a naked lady. Or maybe having a fridge that liked you. Or maybe having a remote-controlled car shaped like a naked lady. You get the picture. But, no - you really can't beat a good rally game. Much like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 and World Championship Snooker 2003, Codemasters has taken the sport and moulded it into a fantastic lump of video game for you to play with. It's taken the skills of a world-class rally driver, mapped them onto an Xbox joypad and handed it over to you to command and fiddle with at your will.

Yep, it's hard to beat a good rally game. But it's even harder to beat the McRae series and its immovable tendency to be all-conquering in terms of quality. Colin McRae Rally 3 growled its way onto Xbox in a tsunami of mud and a veil of choking tyre smoke, to universal acclaim and the occasional accusation of below-par visuals (upheld).

Now number 04 touches down with all the weight and noise of a Citroen Xsara crashing expensively to the dust track after a 'Caution - Big Jump' in the Greek foothills. It's only been nine months - like Colin McRae 04 is someone's baby or something - since the last one, so how come this could get any better than its predecessor in such a short space of time? Did one of the lead programmers have a soak in the bath before having a manic "EUREKA!" moment where he suddenly thought "Maybe we should make it look tons prettier and make it handle in a far more tangible and frankly brilliant manner?" before running naked through the streets? Well, that would explain it, so we'll happily accept that as the reason for this being the greatest rally game yet.

So, there you have it - Colin McRae Rally 04's two trump cards are that it looks blinding and handles with an unprecedented degree of weight and momentum. Really, it's so tactile you can almost hug it, and so good looking that you'll happily let your hands wander during said clinch. Sorry if it sounds like we're trying to turn you on. It's all just sub-conscious love, honest. So we'd better justify our praise, or else risk looking like word pervs writing Erotic Official Xbox Magazine...

See these screenshots dotted around the place? Those should be evidence enough of Colin's beauty, but it just won't hit home until you see it in the fifth gear of motion. Screenshots are, after all, just postcards from us to you, and to see the good grace of this thing moving is completely lovely. The character and conditions of each country have been captured with a knockout punch of detail, making each rally feel all the more individual. The cracked and scorch-dry roads of Spain are pocked with fine detail, making it all the more tempting for your slick Tarmac tyres to lick along them at the neck-breaking speeds that dust-free roads invite. Japan is dark, dowdy and threatening; the intense downpour of rain and sudden hairpins will grind you down if the gloomy, spooky architecture doesn't. The USA's dust tracks are fat and open, given you a nice introduction to the hardships ahead, and the UK is filled with claustrophobic country lanes and muddy excursions through fields and woodland, coaxing an X-man level of concentration out of the player. And Sweden is home to mounds of driven snow and glimmering roads packed together from solid ice - tricky stuff.

And this all feels like so much joy to play because of the way it handles. Thing is, car handling in video games usually defaults to one of two extremes - either the tight-assed prim 'n' proper realism of Sega GT 2002, or the slapdash slack of arcade abandon that you get in games like Burnout 2. It's hard to get the balance right, but Codemasters has managed it. Another minor grumble levelled at Colin McRae Rally 3 was that the car handled a bit too much like a flight of fantasy, as if you were simply spinning it around a pole that spiked through the centre of the car like a carousel horse. Colin McRae Rally 04 addresses this, and in fine fettle - Codies has struck that brilliant chord between fiction and plausibility with a handling model that feels superb. Though it's not precisely realistic (it wouldn't be any fun if it was), there's an incredible feeling of weight, heft, engine power and, well, a super-powerful vehicle in your hands. It's like being a millipede but without having to worry about any of the footwork, as it were.

It's the handling, really, that makes rallying a type of game that's so hard to beat. It's a serious racing game without being too serious, meaning that you can play it for months on end to refine and tweak and nip your scores to world-class levels, but you won't have to spend days at a time learning the basics of cornering and applying the brakes all properly. In fact, you can play Colin McRae Rally 04 however the hell you like; it's the kind of game where you can throw your arse around the corners with all the gusto of a getaway vehicle and not get punished for it.

The variety of viewpoints (well, three of them) all offer up contrasting driving experiences, too; playing from outside and behind the car makes the game simple enough for anyone to pick up, while the in-car mode is a lonely, intimidating and hardcore experience. Pure and po-faced racing is an acquired taste, but rallying is something open to anyone who enjoys having a joypad melt into their hands and fun things happening on screen that they can throw themselves into with mad gaming recklessness. It's the Zen of freestyle cornering over the mantra of repeated lap racing, and it's great. And nowhere more so than in Colin McRae 04, which is, to date, the greatest rally game ever made.

So, that's it. That's the new improved Colin McRae 04 in a highly recommended nutshell, not forgetting about the Xbox Live scoreboard antics. We reckon it's worth your cash yet again, regardless of whether or not you gobbled up Colin McRae 3 with all the slobbering gusto of a crocodile in a pizza parlour. Once more - it can't be beaten.

1. Looks beautiful and moves quickly
2. Handles brilliantly
3. Live scoreboards
4. In-car view is scarily realistic

1. Custom Rally mode
2. Is a bit of a letdown

Power
There's definite horsepower under the Xbox's bonnet, and here it's being used to impressive effect.

Style
Gritty, dusty, sun-baked locations and gleaming bodywork make for an unbeatable real rally look.

Immersion
The attention to detail, coupled with great handling, sucks you in like a whirlwind of off-road action.

Lifespan
Rockhard Expert mode and Xbox Live leader board willy-waving make for long-lasting gaming.

Summary
Rallying at its grandest, prettiest and most absorbing. This is the greatest rally game that money can currently buy.