Four different types of boats are available to sail: America's Cup Class (ACC), Melges 24, multi-hull and offshore racer. The offshore racer is probably the boat you should start out in as it is the most forgiving of the four (the multi-hull is the hardest to handle when new to the game). Races take place at several different locations around the world: Sydney, Auckland, San Francisco, Isle of Wight, La Trinite and Porto Cervo (there is also a 'tropical?course for those who use the course creator tool). All of the different locations are a good copy of the real thing and lend a nice feel to races.

The control system on the whole is fairly simple: on the keyboard the cursor keys steer the boat and the down arrow centres the rudder. Number keys 1-4 will change to the assigned sails and the number pad lets you move the camera around your boat. You can also use your mouse to click to the relevant sail icon to effect the change just as easily, a funtion available for most other controls as well.

You can also use a gamepad such as the Logitech Dual Action controller and use the analogue sticks for rudder and sail trim and the D-pad to move the camera. All buttons are assignable with the four main face buttons able, for example, to control the four available sail types for easy switching as the wind and your direction demand.

Although there is unfortunately no force feeback in VS3, using a steering wheel provides the most comfortable and realistic controller setup, at least for the larger classes, with the pedals able to be assigned to trimming the sails (this is done automatically default) and buttons for selecting sails and moving the camera and switching angles.

But of course that's not all of the controls, just the basic ones to get you started. For beginners the first question will be how exactly to get a huge ACC class boat moving into the wind. Unfortunately VS3 doesn't contain a tutorial mode. For those that are familiar with how to sail this won't be a problem but to those who have had zero involvement with yachting this will be a rather sore point.

There is, however, a 'novice?mode that provides a floating arrow around your boat that changes colour (green to red) with respect to the best angle to the wind. Combined with the manual (which both novices and seasoned skippers should read) should allow most beginners to get their boats started but some tutorials to help learn the finer points of sailing would have been another welcome inclusion.

The single-player side of the game consists of some solo challenges (beat-the-clock style races), some solo short course racing (again in a clock countdown format) and some racing versus the AI in either the pre-built races or those of your own creation. While these challenges will entertain for a while it really does feel like something is missing here. Perhaps a championship mode or career mode might have added some depth to the offline game, but as it is online racing is where the real action is.

While the virtual umpire might at first seem to be incredibly harsh on some calls in multiplayer (Gameplanet recommends that all those who do play the game and are not familiar with the rules of yachting do read up about them online - and perhaps get the unofficial patch which corrects some judgements and updates the rules, albeit with the added feature of allowing manual sail trimming to provide higher boat speed) it doesn't take long to work out what not to do in order to avoid getting a 'lag penalty? While the AI in the single-player does give a challenge to players at first, it's not till you've been forced into a penalty turn by an evil, devious, son of a? that you really find yourself drawn into the game. It's also through the multiplayer side of the game that you will most likely begin to learn to use the advanced controls of the game (like manual sail trimming) in order to eek out that extra speed from light winds.

The graphics and audio in VS3 really do tie the game together by creating an excellent atmosphere. Position the camera a long distance away from your boat and all you can hear is the sound of the wind and the occasional bird or bell or helicopter. Get right in tight on the boat and hear the waves breaking against the hull, the ropes, wires and gears clanging and hear the wind hitting the sails.

The graphics are just as good, especially the ocean. Night time racing (especially on the ACC boats) shows of some excellent lighting (lights on the boat reflect on the water) and looks extremely pretty. On clear sunny day in good water you can see the boat's keel if it has one and watching the smaller class boats struggle in storm conditions is also fun (rain will hit the camera with an authentic graphical effect). Unfortunately the graphics for the cities that some of the courses are near are a little lacking once you get close, but normally the racing takes priority to the sightseeing in the cities.