Unwinding in the wake of GTA IV

With Grand Theft Auto IV deservedly hogging the limelight, it’s tough to see life beyond Liberty City. But there are other games out there worth taking for a spin (when you’re GTA IV’d out), including the adrenaline-soaked new NASCAR 09 on Xbox 360.

With some major tweaks to the gameplay, NASCAR is back with a trunk full of performance enhancing features. Electronic Arts has enthralled and enraged NASCAR fans in equal measure with its ultra-realistic racing sims.

The unforgiving handling is just like the real thing, but it wasn’t particularly fair in previous versions meaning any momentary lapse in concentration and your toast. EA has tweaked its latest racer for Xbox 360, to ease the playability and give NASCAR 09 wider and more instant appeal. But is driving in circles still fun? Hell yeah.

Top talents
Realism – Xbox 360s powerful processor means much better graphics on screen this time and NASCAR’s programmers are always striving for authenticity in the racing.

Reputation – One new feature of the latest version is an on-screen score for your reputation as a driver, which is affected by everything that you do in races, qualifying and even warming up.

Mentoring – Another headline feature is the mentoring mode in which veteran NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon helps you with your driving and career decisions. You can also make Jeff very angry by overtaking him during practise laps.

Best price: £39.99 on 2 May 2008

Closest rivals
Forza Motorsport 2 Xbox 360 – Forza is a truly great racer on the Xbox 360, blending buttock-clenching speed with a bewildering choice of great cars and challenging tracks.

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
Juice Games have had some fun with the genre, taking the emphasis solely off the racing and adding attitude and eye candy with saucy cyber-babes and stunts in gratuitous abundance.

Guitar Hero 3 (guitar included)
Bored of racers? Then it’s time to rock out with a virtual Slash and wield your wireless axe like the rock god you always suspected you were.

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