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Licenceware has a reputation for falling short of its own hype - all that glisters is not Format Gold - but Days Of Thunder relies less on the glitz and glamour of its Cruise-spattered images and more on originality and gameplay. It pays little homage to its namesake, save a few logos and the fact they both centre on that craziest of American sports, NASCAR.

This dangerous and exciting pastime of racing over-powered saloon cars around the inside of a pie-dish has achieved notoriety many times before - usually through episodes like the famous Unser brothers' punch-up, or the untimely demise of a participant. Little wonder then that it should attract the attention of the Hollywood moguls and Mindscape, who both decided NASCAR would capture the imagination of their audiences. Less surprising still that Mindscape should use the film in an attempt to graft some extra panache onto their creation.

Your first objective is to qualify, and to do this you need to be able to drive the car! Here you have the choice of joystick control - which feels sloppy at first - or keyboard, which has its own problems: STs can sense at one time no more than two keys held down together. This causes a few soggy seats when you're trying to (desperately) avoid the side wall, decelerate and change down a gear at the same time. After a brief swearing session, one of the control methods will "click" and you can concentrate on grabbing a decent position on the start grid.

NASCAR starts require you to follow a parade car for a distance before you race. Leave the buttons and keys alone and the computer handles the parade lap for you, presenting you with yet more views from inside and outside the car. When the green flag drops, you're back in the driving seat, ready to put the hammer down.

During the race, you can sideswipe other cars, bounce off the walls and do anything to hold your position, but too much contact causes damage to your own car. Sooner or later a light flashes on your dashboard, telling you to pit in. You must enter the pit lane and stop at your flag or you could find yourself wrecked-out of the competition. Once in the pits, you can effect repairs and alter things like tyre balance and steering before rushing back into the race.

Visually, Days Of Thunder is impressive: the highly-detailed 3D shapes and the variety of viewpoints prove vector-games aren't all blocky and uninteresting. On the sound front, however, things are a bit disappointing. The intro music is unexciting ST sound-chip stuff and sounds like it's going to break into the Blockbusters theme at any moment. Sound effects are marginally better, but still poor. The engine revs up and down appropriately, but sounds like a budgie with a strangulated hernia.

Apart from one resounding oversight - no mouse control option - and poor sound, Days Of Thunder is excellent. The control methods do take some getting used to, but patient training reaps great rewards. Action and excitement are there by the bucketload once you can hold your own in a race. Days Of Thunder is fast enough to entertain and difficult enough to entice you on. Racers (and even Sunday drivers) can't afford to miss this one!