The TOCA series has sold more than four million copies since its humble beginnings on the PSone. There's a good reason for that - people love to feel like they're thrashing an expensive motor to within an inch of its life, to expertly guide a car around a track on the edge of control.

TOCA has always replicated that feeling better than most, and the fact that Touring Car events feature production models means you can associate yourself with the action that much more. What better way to relieve the frustration of your dawdle home behind a milkfloat than to sit in a virtual replica of your car and thrash it for a change? TOCA grants you that freedom.

This is the first appearance of the TOCA Race Driver series on Xbox. The cars are all here, with up to 20 glistening automobiles on each track. And those tracks are as accurate as you'd expect, with favourites such as Donington and Brands Hatch present and correct. But this time there's a whole lot of this Ryan McKane bloke. Who he?

The big change with TOCA Race Driver is that all the racing action is wrapped up in a big fat story, and how you feel about that will likely dictate your enjoyment of the game. Days Of Thunder fans will probably be champing at the bit.

The player is cast as Ryan McKane, the youngest of two brothers whose famous racing driver dad was killed in a race when Ryan was a nipper. Those of a grisly disposition will be chuffed to hear that you get to see the horror crash when you load up the disc.

The whole game is organised around the fact that you're Ryan - you get him a job on a racing team, before getting him into bigger and better racing series and teams. In the options screen, you are Ryan lounging around the office, checking your email for job offers and getting your car sorted out to your liking.

It's not exactly Shenmue with cars, but it is more in-depth than the dressing supplied by last month's Racing Evoluzione. As you win races more options open up, and you get to decide which team you want to race with. You also get rivals, and a large number of cutscenes, which are cheesier than a daytime soap opera.

The main thing is the racing, though, and that upholds the fine tradition set by previous TOCAs. The handling is firmly on the side of realism. You need to brake well before tight corners to have any chance of staying on the Tarmac, but it's also all too easy to brake too hard and lock up the wheels, making it impossible to steer yourself around. It means you have to approach the racing in a serious manner, gradually closing the gap between yourself and the guy in front, and braking later to squeeze past on the inside. It can be tough, but it's also pretty thrilling.

This realism means it's a mission to get around a track without bashing your car up. But inadvertently crunching your car does at least give you the opportunity to see the excellent damage system in action. If your control skills are more Maureen from Driving School than Michael Schumacher, your precious motor will soon be left looking like a reject from the scrapper's yard. Body panels, bumpers and glass fly all over the place, and are left all over the track to be hit on the next lap. It makes it feel like you're driving on the limit, and adds a feeling of danger, especially since your car can be damaged beyond repair if you treat it too badly. You didn't want that gearbox, did you sir?

But the best thing about the racing, and the thing that separates TOCA from the likes of Racing Evoluzione, Gran Turismo and even Project Gotham Racing, is the fact that it actually feels like racing. Many racing games serve up a dull procession of AI cars. There are hardly any of them, and they never deviate from the racing line. There's no illusion of competition, and it makes it dull.

TOCA does things differently. For a start, each race has loads of cars on the track, making the road fuller than Ben after a KFC family bucket. Even better, those cars actually race. They race you, they race each other. They crash into you, they crash into each other. When they mess up, the resulting pile ups might fill the road, making you smack into them, or you might be able to swerve past to gain an easy couple of places. And their cars are just as fragile as your own, so don't be surprised to see an opponent's car falling to bits as you get further into a race.

The AI of the CPU vehicles means you feel like you're engaged in a proper race, instead of a leisurely pootle on a Sunday afternoon. Combined with the realistic feel, the sheer number of cars on the track means TOCA Race Driver offers some of the best racing on Xbox since MotoGP. The only slight problem is that for experienced TOCA players, it can take a little while before the races get as tough as you might like. But then that's a chance to bag a few championship points before others start to fight you for them...

TOCA has the visuals to back up the gameplay, too. It may not be the most amazing game to look at from screenshots, but in full flight it's admirable - it's very smooth, and the draw distance stretches way ahead. This is crucial, because it means you can see corners approaching when they're still a few seconds away, and see opponents catching you up in the distance before they're right on your tail.

The car models excel themselves, as well. They're not the most detailed ones we've seen, but given that there are up to 20 on the track at once, and each can fall apart and spray glass all over the place, they're damn impressive. The tracks themselves also look good, and the whole game is more colourful than previous games in the series, too.

The sensory pleasure continues when it comes to sound. The angry noise of a powerful engine being pushed has been recreated brilliantly here. The in-car view already conveys an excellent sense of speed, but when you have the engine screaming in your ears at the same time, it's even more impressive. The tinkling of broken lights and scraping of panels sounds suitably expensive and nasty too. The intensity of the racing is massively heightened if you've got a decent sound setup.

But TOCA's not quite the perfect car racer. It's a shame that there's no System Link or Live support, given the quality of the racing - it's a real missed opportunity. The Xbox version is coming some half a year after the PS2 original, so we'd hoped some form of full-screen multiplayer would have made it into the final version.

And then there's the Ryan McKane-based presentation. It doesn't get in the way as much as we'd feared it might, but even so it's not a particularly successful experiment. The main problem with it is that Ryan's not a particularly likeable bloke. He's a bit like Poochy the Dog in that old episode of The Simpsons - designed to be someone you can relate to, but actually a bit cringeworthy. We'd rather just get on with the racing in our own name than worry about some yank guy with a point to prove.

Overall, though, Ryan's attitude doesn't spoil things because the racing is among the best we've sampled on Xbox. Hurtling along a narrow, downhill stretch of road while hassling an opponent for a way past, with bits falling off the car... it's truly exhilarating. And if a racer manages that, it's got to be a bit special, hasn't it?

1. Realistic approach to racing
2. CPU cars actually race you
3. Great damage modelling

1. Storyline is naff
2. No system link on Xbox Live Play

Power
Smooth as you like, with loads of cars that actually seem to have a bit of personality. Good stuff.

Style
Ryan's presence spoils the package a little, rather than enhancing it. Still, it's different.

Immersion
When you get into it, the races are extremely intense and exciting, meaning time flies by...

Lifespan
...and there are tons of different tracks and tournaments and cars to try out.

Summary
A top notch racer that doesn't need its tacked-on storyline. Still, racing doesn't get much more thrilling.