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Sometimes I think management sims are the best thing in the world. Ever. Sometimes I think they're something of a waste of everybody's time. Completely.

In the first case, what you get is the chance to immerse yourself utterly in someone else's world. You make all the decisions and the mighty computer works out the consequences of your actions. The illusion is utterly convincing and whole days can pass by without you noticing. [Mere days? Weeks, surely - Ironic Ed]

The latter case leaves you wondering why you bothered. Instead of waiting with bated breath while the computer computes its computations, you tap the mouse button impatiently, desperately wanting the whole thing to be over so you can watch Star Trek.

Forumla One Challenge (version 4) falls, sadly, with a disappointing splat into the latter category. There's nothing actually wrong with it, as such, but it just doesn't have any pizzazz, any zing, any, er, some other word with a 'z' in it.

You are, in a very virtual sense, the manager of a Formula One racing team. Armed with only a few hundred thousand quid, you must by some engines, hire some drivers and equip your team to take on the might of McLaren, Williams, Benetton and all the rest. There's a moderately neat graphic interface where you make your managerial choices (tyres and stuff) and then the race storms off. You watch a leaderboard with occasional comments as to what's going on. On the face of it, it's a corking idea.

I'm a bit of a fan of the old motor car brmm brmm racing, and I thought I was in for a bit of a treat with this one. But no. It just doesn't have whatever it is that makes these things fab. Errors and sloppiness aside (Nigel Mansell isn't in the 1993 season, chaps, and when the weather changes from 'heatwave' to being merely 'sunny', 'the weather deteriorates' is scarcely a way to describe it), it does have a certain charm. There's plenty of detail in there for F1 enthusiasts, but precious little to enthral them for long. Sorry.

Whatever the magic formula is for the perfect management sim, Formula One Challenge just hasn't found it. Oh, and isn't Nigel Mansell racing Indy cars in America this year?