Try and remember to race a little, won't you...

Just like the vanilla hatchbacks and school run shunted write-offs that provide the starting point for Juiced's blinging customisations, the street racer itself isn't what it first appears to be. On the pearlescent surface, Juiced looks to be slipstreaming the arcade overdrive of games like Need For Speed Underground, Midnight Club and, to a lesser extent, Burnout 3. But flip beyond the Shystie intro video and body kits, and you're looking at a righteous street racer with enough tech-tweakery and exacting handling to position its soul somewhere between TOCA and the granddaddy of driving sims, Gran Turismo. Unexpected? For sure. Engrossing? Read on.

So a few basics first. The cars (some 50 licensed models) are real. The game's location is not. Angel City is a smoggy American sprawl that's a racer-familiar blend of LA scale and San Francisco bay with a shot of San Diego 'scraper warren. As a result, you get eight districts and a decent number of tracks for each, but no free-roaming metropolis. In Juiced, freedom is something you express through customisation. It's also where the game earns serious props.

You start the game by creating a crew identity and getting to work on your debut custom car. There are eight power classes for rides, ranging from 100-199 bhp to 800+ and prototypes. But pick your first car carefully, spend some serious currency overhauling everything from your sound system to brake callipers and you can instantly take an entry level wasp and turn it into a class two banshee before you even leave the garage. If Juiced doesn't hook you with this early glimpse at the potential power of mods then God help your cold, dark soul.

Meanwhile, on the mean streets of Angel City there are crews just waiting to humiliate you. It's your mission to force them to respect you. Depending on the crew, you can do this in three ways. First up, bet big on any event and swell your mod fund. Secondly, gain crew respect with your car's look. Last, but definitely not least, there are the events themselves.

Essentially, you get four basic types: Sprint, Circuit, Point To Point and Show Off. Gain enough respect (something you can lose too, via bad driving and rubbish tricks) and you can also begin to contact crews directly on your mobile and challenge for pink slips.

As mentioned above, handling is surprisingly sim-like, and this partly explains why, despite the presence of a decent arcade mode, Juiced reveals itself to be a racer that delivers best over the long haul. Get a couple of seasons under your belt, open up new components, perfect your Sprint gear chances and ride height adjustments before events, and you're looking at a deeply rewarding, but hellishly curious thing. A NOS-belching, bling-bling, street-racing sim. Kind of like Gran Turismo, but for chavs, and all the better for it. That said, if what you're really after is an instant smack of chassis-fixated, arcade uber porn then perhaps you should take Burnout 3 for a test ride first.

Graphics 70%
Crisp, but the sense of speed isn't amazing

Sound 70%
Licensed garage tracks and whining turbos.

Gameplay 80%
Better rides equal respect. It's addictive.

Lifespan 80%
A big game offline and meaty online, too.

Overall 70%
Arcade racer types may find the technical approach a tad brittle, but as a breezier sim alternative to GT4, this won't disappoint.