Reviews// Project Gotham Racing 3 (Xbox 360)

I love driving. That's why I own a Renault Clio 182 and a 480bhp handbuilt AC Cobra racing car. I don't love driving games though. A good driver gets feedback from many different sources. From the seat of his pants, the palms of his hands, from the sound of the engine and the sound of the tires on the road, from the feel and temperature of the air, from the look of the road surface. To really drive on the edge, you have to evaluate all of these data unless you want to end up in a ditch.

But driving games don't give you these things, all you are left with is what you see on screen, what you hear (and despite any number of claims about sampling real engines, it's the changes in the engine note that tell you what's going on under the hood), and the fairly meaningless shudder of your joypad. Of these three inputs, it is without doubt the images on screen that provide the most important data - so anything that improves the quality and fidelity of this data is to be welcomed. Like upping the resolution... massively. And that's exactly what PGR on the Xbox360 does.

Racing at High Definition is a world apart from racing on a standard def TV. The track details are so much sharper, so corners approaching at 120mph are more than a barely decipherable mash of pixels, but instead are recognizeable road features. This means you can judge and adjust speed and approach much more accurately, and choose your racing line to clip the apex perfectly. As a result the whole experience is more enjoyable.

Project Gotham Racing 3 is one of the three racing games in the Xbox360 launch line-up. The others are Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Burnout Revenge. Despite our devotion to Burnouts 1 and 2, we think the series has gone off the boil a little since EA took control. Recent versions seem to be suffering from feature stuffing, whereby a perfectly good game has had needless bells and whistles appended in the hope of justifyiing a new version. So if you're after driving thrill on your new Xbox 360, PGR3 should be one of your main contenders.

As a game, it holds few surprises - it's the third PGR game, following two Xbox predecessors and all three are descended from Metropolis Street Racer on the Dreamcast. Following the all-round brilliance that is Gran Turismo, racing games need a unique selling point (USP) to differentiate themselves from the mass of GT-a-likes. MSR's was its accurate city models.

But realistic city centre race-tracks are not enough of a USP, so the other ace up the MSR/PGR sleeve is the inclusion of Kudos points. These are earned for driving recklessly with skill. Negotiate a corner in drift without touching a barrier and you'll get Kudos points added to your total. Gaining Kudos points is vital to career progression, as they unlock new cars and increase your "rank" in the game.

There are credits too, as in traditional GT-style racers, and you can use these to buy new cars. But, and this was one of PGR's downsides for us, every car in the game is capable of over 170mph. While part of the thrill for Gran Turismo players is the tuning aspect of the game, whereby you start off racing in a Fiat Uno, which you upgrade until you can win enough races to buy a Ford Escort and start all over again. PGR3 espouses this approach, and you start your campaign in a choice from a "modest" selection including the Noble M400, Honda NSX GT2 or Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec. And it only takes a few victories before you are racing in exotica like the McLaren F1 LM.