It's late on a Saturday night and you and your Max Power-reading mates have all hooked up in a local Tesco car park to flaunt new alloy wheels, a 1.21-jigawatt amp and stereo with matching speakers, and fragrant fluffy dice. The cars line up in formation with comedy window stickers ('I'll get goose bumps when the bass pumps') and the just-passed-their-test drivers think they look the biz. It's not really the same picture that The Fast and the Furious movies painted, but this is the UK and we like to 'keep it real'. Nitrous boosting from freeway to freeway is something you'll only see on World's Wildest Police Videos. Cruising up and down the high street with happy hardcore booming in the background hoping to impress girls leaving clubs is the heart of our modding scene. If you've always wanted a piece take corners at top speed. Floor it too much into a corner and you'll frustratingly spin out, pretty much ruling you out of a podium finish. So, rather than hitting the gas and drifting round the corner, you'll have to ease off the accelerator a little, turn and then hit it.

The car will grip the track better making you turn sharper. We would have preferred a handling system more along the lines of the aggressive Lamborghini (think RalliSport Challenge 2 if you never played Lambo), but you can't have everything. The good news is that cars become easier to handle the higher up the BHP rankings you get.

A mention should also go out to the hardcore driver AI. As with most racing games, a win can depend on the outcome of a lucky bump or two but you'll need more than luck to come out smelling of roses here. The driver AI is extremely unforgiving so it's best to steer clear of them at all times and pray for the best when the hunting pack comes together.

The style of play is more along the lines of a GT game than a Burnout or Gotham. And there's so much to it that you could even say it's got role-playing elements. There are options for you to jump straight into an arcade or customisable race to get a feel for things, but this is all about modding, racing and impressing with your ever-expanding portfolio of hot rods. You can tinker around with almost every panel of the car, making it suit your dress sense, music preference or modding taste if you're seriously into it. Every racing mode is also available to play over Xbox Live and System Link for some real showdown gatherings.

As you will clearly be able to see from the screenshots on these pages, Juiced has got its own unique look that borders on that of a colourful cartoon and there's an excellent blurring effect that kicks in when you engage the Nitrous boost. Everything moves a lot quicker and the screen shakes violently as you focus to keep your eyes on the road.

The Career mode is extremely deep and follows a calendar-based setup with you moving through the days of the months attending various race events, receiving text messages from your rivals about upcoming special events and playing with your souped-up cars in the garage. Events include everything from circuit racing and point-to-point challenges to pink slip bets and show-off events in front of rival crews. Your ultimate goal is to move up the ranks from green-faced learner to hot rod god, making as much cash and collecting and modding as many cars as possible along the way.

Juiced is a massive game that will eat into your social life like porn eats into a hard drive. With the lack of a new Gotham game this Christmas, you could do a hell of a lot worse than check out Juice Games' debut. Be patient with the cars and they will do your Xbox justice.

1. Looks incredible
2. Good mix of events
3. Excellent modding options

1. Hard learning curve
2. It's a chore constantly repairing damage

Power
It's got a unique visual style that looks absolutely stunning. Quick loading times too.

Style
Incredibly deep racing sim with style and attitude that gets our juices going.

Immersion
Tons to do and master: one of the biggest racing experiences available on Xbox.

Lifespan
It's absolutely massive! Single-player is enhanced by an equally massive multiplayer option.

Summary
Turbo-charged driving extravaganza that will get any petrolhead's juices flowing. Juiced is loose and we love it!