f you have even the slightest interest in driving virtual vehicles, you have plenty of options. For car collectors and strict simulation buffs, there are Forza Motorsport 2 and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Fans of arcade racers can look to Burnout Paradise and Project Gotham Racing 4. Off-road fans have MX vs. ATV Untamed, SEGA Rally Revo and DiRT.

The team behind the latter, Codemasters Racing Studio, thought there was room in the already crowded videogame racing market for yet another entry, a game that deftly straddles the line between arcade racer and hardcore simulation all wrapped up in a glitzy high-gloss package.

So they dusted off the DiRT's groundbreaking engine, renamed it Ego and used it as the framework for an entirely new project: Grid, an unabashedly racing-focused game that takes the skeleton of Codemasters' old TOCA/Pro Race Driver series, slips it into a high-tech skin and imbues it with a modern soul.