Reviews// Ferrari Challenge: Trofeo Pirelli

You are given the choice of right trigger for throttle and left for brake, or the [X] and [Square] on the D-pad. [Circle] is the handbrake. Some players in the SPOnG office found the [X] and [Square] combination was easier to master, but I found that persistence rewarded me in the form of greater control for sticking with the triggers. Tiff's tips during training are all about weight distribution and how braking and accelerating can change it, and thusly change the handling of the car, and this turns out to be the case, so greater throttle and braking accuracy translates to greater car control.

Once you feel that you've mastered the training track enough to move on, you are given the choice of several single-player options: Challenge, Arcade, Single Race, Time Trial and Trophy. The meat of the game is the Challenge Series. You will have to progress through this to unlock the tracks and cars that enable you to play the rest of the game, and the challenges that give you targets to aim for as you do.

Arcade is a shorter version of the Challenge races and, given that the Challenge races are nine laps in duration and there are two races (and potentially a qualifying race) at each location, you may find this more convenient to play.

Single race is self explanatory; rather than take place in a series, you can select any of the unlocked tracks, and race a single race on that track.

Time Trial is just you against the clock, and is a great way of learning a circuit or improving your lap times. Trophy races are run in different cars to the Ferrari F430s that you race during the Challenge series. You have to unlock these cars by playing the Challenge Series, and then purchase them with credits you have earned for winning (and for other achievements (pardon the pun) such as overtaking, time spent in the lead).

What Ferrari Challenge lacks is anything to sufficiently distinguish it from any other racing game. Sure, it has the Ferrari name but that in itself isn't enough. In fact, it's a restriction because it limits the number of cars you can have. And even though they are almost exclusively great cars, in the end it feels as if you are trapped inside someone else's fantasy.

The only thing that is notably different from most other racing games is the 'penalty' feature. This penalises you for attempting to take shortcuts (e.g. cut corners, drive across the grass) by restricting your ability to accelerate for a few seconds. This is incredibly annoying. You get the feeling that it's only been put in there by the kind of sticklers who want you to “race properly" and not get ahead (cheat) by exploiting your poor racing line and the game's frankly pathetic collision handling.

As a comparison, one of the great features of earlier Gran Turismo games was the ability to brake late, and careen off the side of competitors' cars as they take a corner at the correct speed. Sure it's cheating, but it takes skill, otherwise it results some almighty crashes.