Super 1 Karting Simulation

All the F1 licenses are thundering out of the pit lane at the moment (see our head-to-head on two of the newest on page 68), and that does nothing to help this poor game.

As licenses go, Karting is hardly the most exciting, but the developers could have done a better job than this. You know you're in for a rough ride when you're plunged straight into the options screen without any sort of introduction. You get to choose between arcade and simulation, and when you've done this there's no way to go back, so the only way to change is to quit and start again.

There is a choice of three different cart classes, although they're all pretty much the same if we're to be honest. The tracks aren't much better either, with drab graphics resulting in very little variation. After a while the game degenerates into one boring droning ordeal - even the spectators look bored. Driving the slow and overly skiddy karts quickly becomes frustrating and your first few races will involve getting round corners at around 15mph just to stay on the track. Even when you get the hang of the handling, it still feels unrealistic.

In its defence, S1K has a few nice features. Damage is real time and karts do degenerate accordingly, while racing in the wet is actually quite fun. Arcade mode also offers up to four-player split-screen action, which is vaguely entertaining, although you're going to need a pretty powerful machine (Pll-450) to get the best results It also features LAN play, but no Internet support. There's no way we can recommend this game to anyone apart from easily pleased karting die-hards.