The cynical bastard in me has had to have a bit of a reality check. A month or so ago I downloaded the GRID demo, played it for all of five minutes and then pompously declared it to be the biggest pile of crap I've ever played.

Of course, I'm now forced to swallow those words because after playing the full game I have to admit that I'm well and truly hooked on GRID. But first I need to address the things that turned me off the demo.

There were two main concerns that I had, and I guess they're still valid, but in the full game are far outweighed by the many positive aspects. The first irksome element is the way that it feels like the DiRT presentation template has been copied and pasted on top of the Race Driver series. There's the same presentation of in-game stats, the same ‘loading' icon and the races are presented via a similar pin-up board approach as you work your way up the racing tiers.

The second thing you need to come to grips with is the game's rather unusual physics system. Codies has obviously stepped right out of the realism pool on this one. Cars do have a sense of weight, but it's a peculiar application that is unique to this game. Basically, you'll fly around corners like lightning, reaching full acceleration in seconds and will be able to brake to a stop in mere metres. It takes some getting used to and provides for an extremely fast-paced and sometimes hectic racing experience, particularly given the packed-grid racing structure of each championship.

A fairly spiffy feature is that GRID will call you by a nick name that you choose at the start of your career and when you sign in or win lots of money – the game will call you by this chosen moniker. From there, it's off to racing in some sponsored events, winning enough cash so that you can create your own team. Eventually you'll even be able to hire other drivers, and a lot of money can be had from balancing multiple sponsor stipulations – things such as having multiple sponsor deals such as ‘finish no less than 3rd' can net you wads of cash for each race for you and any team driver you may have. As you get better, more sponsors will vie for limited space on your cars, with more money and tighter restrictions coming into play.

There's also a secondary objective to complement the act of raising funds to buy vehicles; reputation points build up throughout your career (which works on seasons, culminating in big races such as the Le Mans 24 Hours which come complete with a day/night cycle throughout the time accelerated duration of the race) and these give you access to more prestigious international events as you work your way up the ladder.

Race types are broadly broken up into American, European and Japanese leagues, with each having a concordant plethora of race types within their respective classes. American races are mostly about muscle cars and will see you fanging through the streets of San Francisco like a charging bull. There's some variety too with the inclusion of Destruction Derby events that even include jumps for a bit of air time.

European events are a bit more ‘classy' and feature more renowned tracks such as the aforementioned Le Mans. Open wheel racing is a real highlight here, as the sense of speed when you change the camera angle to the cockpit view is punched all the way to eleven. The Japanese events, in comparison, are a bit hit and miss, featuring drift and touge races.

Drifting takes a short while to get used to, is extremely similar to Project Gotham's Kudos runs and after one or two events, you'll have it mastered. As a matter of fact, after a few drift events you'll be racking up scores that the A.I racers most likely won't get close to touching. Touge racing can be quite intense, as it involves the close racing of two drivers, one round downhill and one up - with severe time penalties for colliding with the front vehicle.

Further proving that Codemasters is well and truly trying to reach the casual gaming audience, GRID features an instant replay system that lets you reset your car back in time should you stuff up badly and crash. A little bit like the Prince of Persia Sands of Time rewind mechanic, this actually comes in handy because the other cars can be complete hounds, always on your tail and managing to stymie your attempts to pass them. It's the first time we've seen something like this featured in a racing game and when things on the track get a bit rough, you'll be glad it's there. Luckily, and if you're after extra career points, it can be turned off before each race.