Paradoxically, the PlayStation 2 seriously underutilises these features, and getting a driving game to give you everything the PlayStation 2 is capable of is therefore something of an enigma. But it gets worse. Just as the machine itself overshadowed a perfectly accomplished forbear in the Dreamcast, so every driving game has to live up to the expectation of a very much unavailable Gran Turismo 4. And just like the PS2, no-one dares disbelieve that GT4 will have anything less than 100 tracks and 500 cars and broadband only online support and be the only driving simulation you ever bother to put in your PS2 again.

Ah, driving simulation. Well we can argue about that till the cows come home, but it ¡s as meritorious as disputing the use of the word 'perfect' in video game circles. And it ¡s possibly also why every other driving game developer is still having a go and the big names are still making money on it. Codemasters knows a bit about that, having the distinction of coming up with commercially successful, if decidedly lesser quality, versions of its TOCA and Colin McRae franchises on the second PlayStation.

Who do you blame for that? Certainly the bland and jagged looks are a hallmark of programming the PS2 in a traditional, high-cache approach. But there were two pivotal areas where both games disappointed that had nothing to do with hardware: the handling dynamics and the career screnario each was based around. Both games did provide excellent damage modelling, and this is something that has been carried over to Colin McRae Rally 04. The best news besides that is that CMR04 also moves beyond the constrictive career options that put you in a defunct driver-navigator partnership with Colin McRae and Nicky Grist.

Second on the list is a substantial improvement to the handling dynamics. CMR3 was notably different to its magnificent immediate predecessor, and now we know why. Codemasters had thoughtfully attached a permanent driving aid of sorts, which explains why the cars would rotate on the track in a similar way to the cars in Sony's post-Psygnosis formula one products. It looks as strange as it feels, and the subsequent ability to be both challenging and fair is a great improvement.

Speaking of challenging and fair, CMR04 showcases some excellent course design work, in both track layout and environmental presentation. Though some environments suffer (such as Australia's mineral rich soil) from a poor choice of hues, the game is easily in the top three for both car modelling and environmental rendering. Forests avoid problems with symmetry, road textures range from very good to outstanding, blades of grass move independently, stones flick up and dust clouds (apart from being too short-lived) look even better than Gran Turismo. Yes they do (just). There is some occasional slowdown, and distant mountains suffer from partial pop-op every now and then, but such occasions are sparse.

The three camera options are all worth trying out and have their own advantages. This reviewer managed record-breaking times back in the days of the original Sega Rally using the chase cam, and in CMR04 this view's main advantage is that you get to look at the beautifully rendered cars and the damage modelling in action as you play. The latter obviously helps to survive as you can see when parts come loose or fall off completely. Smashed windows and general dirtiness is less of an issue, and you might find yourself going into the cockpit view to check out the detailed dust and snow on your windscreen, though this had a similarity to it that lost some of its appeal after a time.

The damage is set in three stages, and you will only find a realistic level of vulnerability at the highest difficulty level. Wings and bumpers will still fall off at the lower entropy rates, and it has to be said loose parts behave just as convincingly as in previous versions, if not more so.

While the game also carries with it a hereditary flaw in that the strength of trackside vegetation is unpredictable and inconsistent, running into a stubborn tree looks great in the replays, especially if it accompanies parts moving independently of your chasis.

While the physics feel much better than in CMR3, the replays proved our strong initial disbelief in their accuracy. Gravity looked a little stronger than it really is, and cars still tended to have a rather loose correlation to road holding and appeared (and felt) a little like they were floating more than cutting their way through the roads. This is all the more apparent when cornering under acceleration or going off course in snow conditions.

The sensation of speed varies between camera angles as one would expect. Even so, the chase cam still provided a reasonable feeling of pace, and the cockpit view felt just as it should. The bumper cam sat only minutely lower than the cockpit angle, and while it felt easier to manage the mental mapping of your car's body with the bumper cam, it does have a very fast feel and offers some restrictions on your view of the road ahead. The navigator commentary is timely and very helpful and works well in combination with the turn symbols, which helps to negate some of the disadvantage of this view.

Replays offer an excellent, dynamic camera, which is possibly the best of any driving game, even without the ability to manually change cameras.

Repairing car damage is allowed periodically during the championship mode. A damage scale is accompanied by a time allocation to conduct repairs in each area, which allows you to decide what to do within the one-hour time limit. Time penalties are incurred for conducting repairs over the 60-minute limit, which brings in a strategic element as both time and frequency of repair stops are limited.

Car setup options operate under a similar scale to the damage settings. Automatically selected for each stage, it is possible to alter and test various adjustments according to your ability, familiarity with tracks, any time advantage and your car's state of repair.

Control options offer excellent variety. Using the DualShock 2, it is possible to use any of the three control combinations for acceleration and braking without changing configuration. Using the face or shoulder buttons reveals intuitive utilization of the pressure-sensitivity without requiring excessive force, and the right analogue stick is also available for the same functions. Steering with the left stick proves not to be too sensitive either.

CMR04 offers much better force feedback than CMR3, reverting to some aspects of surface feedback from the PC version of CMR 2.0 with added detail and strength. There is still no texture feedback, however. The best improvement is the correction of the oversight in CMR3 that prevented GT Force owners from using the gear shift paddles, instead requiring use of the now optional face buttons.

The main concern with the USB steering wheel support remains a response delay that is not as evident with the DualShock2. This is not as bad as last year's World Rally Championship II Extreme, but it is notable even without the cockpit view, where you can see the steering wheel on screen move with a slight delay from your own.

Custom rallies, single stage attacks, two-player splitscreen (four on Xbox) and unlockable 2WD, classic and other special vehicles round out a championship-focused package.

The level of realism and graphical standards are substantially improved over last year, and the game has taken a virtual leap in these areas. The question remains why anyone would play anything other than GT4 come Easter, and it is likely to be the very championship option itself that proves to be the answer. In a sport where no other competitors are present on the same track at the same time, the benchmarks are set race by race. Additional ghost car options provide further competition, but while the track design still falls short of the standards of the GT series so far, there may end up being more rally courses in CMR04 than GT4.