rFactor

Great racing sim both on and off-line. You bcan add many mods all generally free once you have bought the original program. I downloaded the game initially and paid online - this worked fine and is the quickest way to get started.

I have tried every race program there is and rFactor is the BEST.

Discovered rFactor about 6 months ago, been hooked ever since!

rFactor can be bought as a disc, or downloaded and costs about £25. It is quite a large compressed download of nearly 700mbs. Which after 6 months use with added mods (downloads) of additional cars and circuits and rFactor currently stands at 14GB. Downloads tend to be RAR files, you get the odd zip file as well.

There are some great cars to drive - not just F1, but Aston Martin, Australian V8 Holdens and Fords, plus stock car racing even Truck Racing. And the tracks, well Silverstone, Monte Carlo, Bristol Motor Speedway, even some Fantasy ones.

You can drive yourself, use keyboard, joystick or wheel, you can have steering help (good, but not if you are hurtling towards a sharp bend at 150mph!). You can choose your car, your circuit. The computer opponents will race you, they are individual cars and data is based on the driver of the "real" car. Or if you want to spectate, you can do that, set your car up, let the computer qualify you and then let it race. You can watch the car from the cockpit, from the roof or almost any exterior surface on the car, even from the camera points on the track.

I'm not a "Gamer", I enjoy going out for a spin in my DB9. If you want British Touring Cars, you won't get it. This game is realistic, the engines, the track surface and not to mention the cars are so perfect. If you do get good, you can race online. As rFactor is American, it is still not possible to race in the rain.

Enjoy - remember the pit lane speed limit - I got fined points for speeding in an Scooby out of the last pit stall before the pit-lane exit. How many feet is that?