Built around the (not so) popular Italian Superstars Championship, Superstars V8: Next Challenge takes to the starting grid as the suped-up successor to the largely forgettable Superstars V8, which limped into the videogame pits in 2009 with a blown drive shaft after being repeatedly slammed into Armco barriers by unforgiving reviewers. So, as the lights of anticipation turn green (and 5 remains but a distant promise), will Next Challenge launch perfectly and roar headlong into the first corner, or will it merely stall pathetically as rival racers leave it behind in a of dust?

Although clearly an unproven upstart in the genre, and despite it being surrounded by considerably more illustrious opposition, Next Challenge neither devours nor is devoured on the race track. The experience certainly lights up its tyres on the grid and attacks the first corner with solid conviction, but it all-too quickly eases off the gas pedal of belief and makes its way around the rest of the circuit positioned comfortably somewhere towards the rear of the chasing pack.

If you're looking to race your way through a myriad different cars, you'd be best advised to continue the (agonising) wait for or turn towards Motorsport 3. Moreover, Next Challenge comes with an extremely sparse garage of vehicles spread across just eight different manufacturers. That said, if your idea of vehicular heaven is a licensed product restricted to offering only factory motors made by the likes of Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Jaguar, Maserati and Mercedes, then you've reached your racing zenith... prepare to be underwhelmed.

That may sound a tad harsh, but Next Challenge cannot be described as a content-rich experience given all that has gone before it. Beyond the paltry selection of cars, there's (still) no in-depth 'career' mode to speak of, but rather single-player involvement remains tied to modes such as Quick Race, Time Attack and a brief Race Weekend jaunt. The core of Next Challenge is its Championship, where the player selects one of 19 licensed Superstars drivers (i.e., former drivers Gianni Morbidelli and Pierluigi Martini) before embarking on a formulaic 11-round season to secure track-based glory across various international locales. As with the actual sport, contributing events involve time-restricted practice and qualifying sessions and two runs of the same race.

On the upside (yes, there is an upside), the game offers access to a selection of real-word tracks that most racers won't have experienced before. Although the likes of Mugello, Imola and Monza will be immediately familiar, venues such as Magione, Adria and Vallelunga in Italy, Portimao in Portugal and Kyalami in South Africa succeed in providing a refreshing dose of incentive. More importantly where praise is concerned, while assisted driving mechanics in Next Challenge are solid and dependable, racers willing to tweak their engineering set-up and tackle tracks without the (extremely arcade-slanted) assistance of Traction Control, Anti-lock Braking and Electronically Controlled Suspension will encounter a more realistic and demanding test of their abilities.

Sadly however, although gameplay is noticeably affected by the inclusion of tyre wear, vehicle damage and penalties, and the ability to adjust downforce, gear ratios and brake bias does make a difference out on the track, the extra layer of depth doesn't paper over the cracks caused by often woeful A.I. drivers. Not that the 18 on-screen opponents aren't racing hard towards the chequered flag, but to say they're blinkered and easy to 'rub' off the track is something of an understatement in a renowned for the amazingly combative skills of its drivers as they snake around tracks grinding bumpers and trading paint at every corner. It's a shame, because Next Challenge with its realism and difficulty ramped up and TCS, ABS and ECS turned off, leans close to being a thoroughly decent game. It just doesn't quite make the grade.

Next Challenge also falls well short of current console standards in terms of overall presentation. Not only massively overshadowed on the by current platform frontrunners such as Forza Motorsport 3, the grimy visuals of Next Challenge don't even hold up well against much older offerings. The grubby graphics aren't without a certain appeal, but, while car models are accurate and well realised, only racers with fond memories of the original ToCA on PlayStation will be willing to forgive the slapdash delivery encapsulated perfectly by the pixelation and strobing of reflections when playing via the in-car hood view.

Players are also likely to feel short-changed by fairly lacklustre in-game sound. While I'm willing to concede that driving via the in-car cockpit view offers a modest selection of the ominous chassis groans you'd expect to hear while hurtling around a race track at 200kph, the engine sounds spread across all playable views seem strangely subdued. High-speed collisions also fail to match the crunching shock value we've come to expect from bigger, better racing games and there's little by way of track-side atmosphere to help heighten tension or increase ambient immersion. Gauged on just its aesthetic merits, Superstars V8: Next Challenge really isn't good enough considering the available muscle pulsing within Microsoft's hardware.

Once the single-player Championship has been conquered and the additional Superstars Licenses have been secured, which collectively won't take more than a day, the only remaining avenue of excitement for racing addicts still looking to stem their driving desires lies firmly with Next Challenge's multiplayer. According to publisher Black Bean and developer Milestone, up to 16 drivers can compete in Quick Races, Time Attack races and also a full or customised Championship season. While the online component mirrors the single-player in being little more than serviceable, actually finding 16 players to join the occasionally laggy may prove difficult because the majority of racing fans would prefer to burn rubber with other, more fashionable titles - and probably because most gamers don't even know Next Challenge exists.

Superstars V8: Next Challenge is a decent enough little racing package bolstered by tweak-friendly depth, optional realism, and a selection of unfamiliar international tracks. However, although it may serve as a brief 2010 stopgap, as a total racing experience Next Challenge won't live long in the memory and will be swiftly plucked from disc trays when the likes of Split/Second, and Gran Turismo 5 are finally ready to compete.

60%

By Stevie Mostyn