A reviewer's life is a pretty good one. We get to play a lot of truly great games that are a pleasure to review. We get a few truly dismal games too, but often it's almost more fun writing a bad review than a good one! Sadly, there are those games in the middle, with average written across them in big, grey letters. These are actually less fun than the terrible games, as you can't really praise them and you can't really slate them either. Total Immersion Racing falls into this category.

TIR's claim to fame is that of realistic drivers that experience the same emotions as you do (anger, defensiveness, confidence and grudges). And as your career progresses the more drivers you treat badly on the roads, the more people you'll have that are out to get you. It's an interesting claim, but one that I don't think they've really succeeded with.

The presentation of TIR is stylish and full of promise. A nifty starting sequence and well-presented, easy to use menu system greet you. The choices on offer are Single Race, Career, Time Trial and Challenge. Initially in single and time trial modes there are only 2 out of 14 cars to choose from and 5 of 12 tracks on offer. It's not a bad collection, but not the most extensive either. To unlock the rest you must play through the Challenge section, where 30 different challenges await from the three main categories of Manufacturer, GT and Endurance. Manufacturer races pit you against other racers in identical cars and GT races pit you against different cars in the same class, both for a series of relatively short races, which you must place first in overall to unlock the goodies and the next challenge, whilst Endurance races are longer.

However, Career is the main mode of the game where you get to pick from just two GT level teams to being with. Just make sure you pick Noble, because the Audi car drives like an elephant towing a collection of circus wagons. Okay, well maybe it's not quite that bad, but the elephant's definitely got the better turning circle.

The three big gripes that I have with this game all hit you at once in your first race - the graphics, the handling and the feeling of speed. The first you'll notice as soon as things get moving is that the graphics are decidedly dull and average. That grainy, jagged line effect that plagues certain games is here and it's one of the worst examples of this affliction that I've ever seen. The stadiums are literally full of jagged lines and a lot of the scenery scales quite clumsily, jumping from one animation frame to the next rather than gradually increasing in size smoothly as you get nearer to the object in question. The cars look pretty nice (although the constantly moving jagged lines on the spoilers can be distracting) and the reflection effects are very good. Still, when compared to Burnout 2, Gran Turismo 3 and Colin McCrae 3, this falls short on the looks front.

Next up is the handling - half of the cars are almost uncontrollable due to a terrible lack of steering control. The cars will simply not turn sharply; I refuse to believe that any racing car was ever designed with such a wide steering arc than some of the cars in this game. You have to slow down so much to make it round corners that it's just no fun at all and it feels more like you are fighting with the controls than becoming one with them. Then, after you've gotten over the graphics and adjusted to the controls, you'll notice that it really isn't fast or exciting. There is next to no feeling of speed and the scenery chugs by at an embarrassingly slow speed. There isn't any slowdown, it's just that the graphics simply don't move fast enough to evoke any kind of excitement. Admittedly, things do get a little more exciting later on as you progress through your career and get to the GTS and Pro category cars (which are faster), but you sure have to plod through a lot of long, boring, drawn-out races to get that far and even when you get there, it really isn't worth the effort. Truly, this game should have been called Totally Wearisome Racing.

The sound effects and condescending voiceover don't help much either - the sound effects do the job but aren't anything special and don't really invoke a feeling of being there in the thick of a race with engines roaring all around (like Sega GT does) and the voiceover man states the painfully obvious (like when you're in second place he says "overtake the car ahead to take the lead!" - well duh!) He also has patronising consolation or congratulations to offer at the end of the race too - you'll be switching him off in no time. However, one of the game's biggest saving graces is its awesome soundtrack; every tune is excellent with a mid to fast pace, thumping bass beat and rich sound, which really helps you stay awake (I suppose it enhances the gameplay a little, but there's not really anything to enhance). I'd happily listen to this on an album - it really is good stuff.

So, having now established that this is an average racer in most respects, what of the selling point of realistic emotions in the drivers? Well, it simply isn't there. The fact that your team manager has to tell you who has become your rival (i.e. who bears a grudge against you) and that there is an indicator you can switch on to see how the other drivers are feeling, says it all. Why would this be needed if you could really tell? The drivers are all "on-rails" perfect, taking every corner identically. And it's only when you really badly mistreat a driver (e.g. ram him off the road or make him spin out several times) that he gets angry enough to do something about it. Even then, he'll only try to block you from passing and perhaps ram you a bit, but nothing in comparison to what you've done to him. Because of this feature, I drove like a total jerk the whole time, ramming and shunting other cars off the road at every opportunity and although this is good fun, there really is very little comeback from it. Not only that, but ramming other cars does little to affect your handling or cause you to spin out and there is no damage on the cars either, so you can't even feel good about trashing your opponents.

You can adjust your car's gears, brakes and various aspects of the suspension if you like and it does make a difference on the road, but the basic handling is often so bad that it really isn't worth bothering to try and sort it out by tinkering with it. There is a multiplayer mode for just 2 players to have a single race, but your friend won't thank you for sharing the boredom when there are so many other great games you could be playing.

Total Immersion Racing is average in every respect (except for that great music, but is this a game or a dance album?) The graphics are dull and grainy, the handling on most of the cars is a battle to control and there is no sense of speed or excitement. When there are plenty of great racing games out there, I honestly don't see why you'd bother with one like this.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).