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Does your body quiver at the thought of trashing trucks? Do you dream of Artics? Are four wheels just not enough rubber to burn? If yes is the answer to any of the above questions then [You should take off your anorak and do something more interesting instead? - Ed] International Truck Racing just might be the game for you.

I say 'might', because only the most avid truck fanatic - the truckie equivalent to the kind of Trekkie who'd buy Mr. Spock flavoured ice lollies then keep them in the freezer as memorabilia - would find this game fun.

ITR is an overhead truck racing game. The only difference between it and an overhead car racing game is the speed and size of the sprites and the responsiveness of the controls. ITR is so slow you could save up enough of your pocket money and buy a real truck in the time it takes to complete a lap, and the steering is so soggy that even a Vileda Super Mop would run away in tears.

Graphically, there's nothing to do, "Cor, look at the wheel arches on that!" about. The trucks are made up of a square and a rectangle in the appropriate colour while the tracks are bluey-grey strips surrounded by green bits. The tracks are dead twisty and cutting a corner more than just a tad will result in your lap not being clocked up when you pass the start line.

You need to complete five laps to make it to the next round, where you'll race three more trucks - which look deceptively similar to the last three - around a slightly bendier track. Whether you come first or last you'll get through to the next round. The only way you'll get knocked out of the league is if you manage to destroy your vehicle by piling into the barriers or getting shunted by your opponents.

Alongside the damage meter there's a fuel gauge; if this gets to zero then you don't actually come to a grinding halt but you slow to such a crawl you'll be lapped twice before you can get to the pits. Parking in the pits refuels and repairs your truck, but this takes time and the super speedy computer-controlled trucks will probably lap you yet again.

At the end of every track you are given options to buy extra goodies such as better brakes, better acceleration or a bigger fuel tank. Every race you compete in gives you a little more cash but the big money is reserved for the winner. So until you win, you can't buy better stuff and until you buy better stuff, you can't win. You're trapped in a vicious circle from which you can never escape - until you get bored, that is, and whip the game out of your datasette and use the tape to decorate the inside of your dustbin.

1. It's a great game for truck spotters.
2. You can upgrade your truck after every race.

1. It's slow; you'd be better off with a pet snail.
2. The computer trucks gang up on you.
3. About as exciting as being on the M25 in the rush hour.