There is a mixture of events in the game, where the player must either race cleanly, aiming to be first, or where you can play dirty, sabotaging your opponent’s car by shunting them off the track or driving them into a wall.
You begin the game by choosing your vehicle, from a lengthy and comprehensive list that includes CAT earthmovers, Caddies and Chevrolets, a showroom’s worth of Fords, Pontiacs, Rovers and VW Beetles amongst many others. There is even a Volvo bus if size and strength are your thing. You can customise your paintwork, but do not get too attached to it, as each race or outing will surely leave it in need of a refresh!
Next you choose between manual and automatic. Manual is great if you are a fan of simulation racing games, automatic if you are out to score speed and destruction prizes without wanting the stress of gear changes and potential stalls holding you back.
Finally, you choose between dirt and tarmac tracks, of which there are many. Various speedways, raceways, rings and motocenters are waiting for your attentions, or you can hit the countryside in certain areas, bringing an element of hair-raising rallying to your game.

Three Ways to Play

• Career: a fairly premise begins your career. Win races from a set selection, and as you rise in the ranks, more events will present themselves. Unlike in the other modes, keeping your vehicle in reasonable condition and coming first in the race is more important than accumulating damage and taking out opponents (although there are ‘side quests’ to tick off, such as causing three opponents to crash out). Your results in the standings are key
• Multiplayer: indulge your inner psychopath by t-boning your opponents and relishing the physics engines that make each smash a sumptuous feast of crumpling metal, authentic metallic screams and debris flying far and wide, with – fairly often – a single tyre bouncing out of the crush and rolling away sadly as though fleeing a crime scene
• Custom Events: from the slapstick hilarity of a ride-on lawnmower race (but make no mistake, people will do almost anything to win, even this!) to a full-on Destruction Derby (which is what the name implies) to a Dirt Showdown which is basically a full on battle royale but for cars, in which players battle each other to be the last vehicle standing. Or driving . Moving anyway!