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Ah, the revving of the engine, the smell of the gas, the screeching of rubber on tarmac and the squashed and bloody pulp that was once the body of a NASCAR driver who didn't quite come up to scratch.

The thought of a film about Tom Snooze and a stock car did little to fire my imagination. Still, being a reviewer [That's debatable - Ed], the idea of a game based on the film did make me moist around the mouth.

You are immediately launched into your first time trial - two laps around the track to establish your grid position for the forthcoming race. All of the tracks are roughly (very roughly) oval and are driven around in an anticlockwise direction, which means you only ever have to make left-hand turns.

Pushing forward on the stick accelerates your vehicle, pulling back brakes, forward and fire changes up a gear, and back and fire changes down a gear. If you can't figure out what left and right movements do I'll merely assume you were dropped on your head at a very early age.

Each corner of the track is steeply banked and your car is constantly forced to the outside of the track, where it becomes all but unmanoeuvrable. It's best if you kick it down a gear. This is tricky at best, since you have to pull directly back and then press Fire each time you move down a notch, so while you're scrambling to change down, you momentarily lose control over the car and start to decelerate. Suffice to say, going round corners isn't fun.

Once you've secured your grid position, it's onto your first race. The speeding track is seen side on in a nice parallax scrolly bit and then the scene cuts to show the view from behind your car. This is actually the start of the race, so push forward on the stick, before all the opposition screech past.

The object then is to career around the track without hitting the other cars and without them hitting you. This is where a minor flaw in the gameplay becomes apparent. If you are rammed, untold damage is caused to your car. If, however, you ram an opponent, untold damage is caused to your car. Er, sounds a bit unfair, doesn't it?

Another inequality in the gameplay is that your opponents can move right and left at top speed on the bends whereas you often have to slow down, allowing them to go sailing past, leaving you with a deep-rooted sense of paranoia. Against these unjust odds you must complete the race, preferably in first place.

If you sustain too much damage or your fuel starts running out, you can make a pit stop to refuel and make repairs. With the opposition being as vicious as it is, one of these stops is usually necessary at least once every three laps. Bad judgement results in your car becoming a wreck and you have to start over again.

Graphically, Days Of Thunder starts in a very promising fashion with the first sight of the moving 3D track but the sprites sit very awkwardly on top of the background and the two just don't seem to be on speaking terms. Playability is also lacking. Apart from the injustice of the damage system, the constant badgering from the opposition means that even pit stops are more trouble than they're worth. Sound isn't bad, with an adequate title track followed by whirring engine sounds and raspy crash noises.

After an initial period of interest, followed by one of intense frustration, the game soon becomes annoying rather than challenging. With so little to recommend it, you'd be best to leave this one on the starting grid.

When you've sustained a near-fatal amount of automotive damage, it's time to hit the pits. Here you can replace tired tyres, tinker under the bonnet and fill up with gas (that's petrol to you and me).

The icons on the left are (top left/top right) jack up the car on either side. Here, the Mello Yello's been jacked up on the left; (middle left/middle right) change the tyres on either corner of the car: (bottom left) fill up the tank (bottom right) repair any race-losingly damaged enginey bits.

The small icon on the lower control panel (between time and lap counters) shows the amount of wear and tear on the engine and all four tyres. As the blobs change colour, so the damage level increases, from green through to white. After white, your next stop is the junk yard! Er... that's it.

1. Pit stop screen works quite well, judging when to carry out repairs and refuel adds one of the few points of interest.
2. The game is hard - for those who bother to persevere, there could be some challenge here.

1. Graphics are a big disappointment. The track is initially impressive but when background and sprites come together it simply doesn't work!
2. Control of your car is abominable, especially when cornering.
3. Biased in favour of opponents. They're more manoeuvrable and don't suffer the ravages of damage
4. Due to circular nature of racks, left-hand cornering only soon becomes repetitive.