You gotta keep your hands on this wheel

AN estimated audience of 500 million people will tune in for the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone, tomorrow afternoon. Ten years ago all but a tiny fraction of those people would have known what it is like to race a car around the Silverstone circuit. Today, thanks to the power of video games, all of us can take on Schumacher and co from the comfort of a favourite armchair.

The programmers, who spend thousands of hours perfecting Grand Prix games, claim they are the nearest thing to reality this side of a testing contract.

Professional drivers would seem to agree.

Jacque Villeneuve used the original Formula One title on PlayStation to learn some of the trickier circuits ahead of his driving debut five years ago. The game worked. In his debut season he ran Damon Hill close for the world championship. The following year he went one better.

Wearside driver Warren Hughes famously used his PlayStation to learn the Le Mans 24 Hours. He raced on the world-renowned French circuit this year with the MG team and acquitted himself very well.

The drive for reality started with the PlayStation. Formula One by Psygnosis helped sell millions of PSX packs (I know, it was the reason I bought Sony's box of tricks way back) and added another nail in the coffin marked Sega Saturn.

The Sony game had all 16 circuits, the Sega version just four. It also had all the teams and all the drivers in the correctly identified cars.

That first game also had its fair share of bugs. Like cars that insisted on coming in for refuelling every lap and drivers who never made mistakes.

Things have changed a lot since then.

The latest Formula One title from Sony plays on the mighty PS2 and the difference is stunning. Looking at the PS2's visuals it's possible to suspend disbelief and just watch the race unfold.

When your Williams-BMW plunges down Eau Rouge in Spa you can almost smell the heat from the brakes as your rotors glow cherry red. The exit from the tunnel at Monaco has never looked better (famously, Nikki Lauda once described racing at Monaco as like "riding a bike round your living room" now you can appreciate what he meant) and Silverstone's wide-open track - perfect for overtaking - is just like the genuine article. I know, because I've driven cars around there for real.

Sure, there's an array of driving aids to help you keep your car on the track when you're starting out, but the committed will switch everything to manual, plug in a steering wheel (yes, you look stupid but the control is better than a joy pad) and dial in a full race weekend.

The realism now extends to random car failures. At Monaco when you are lying third with six laps to go, when the engine lets go the controller could go through the TV screen. Now you know how Mika Hakkinen feels this season.

The other drivers also make mistakes. Schumacher is a swine to pass; Coulthard usually jumps out of the way and so on. It's so realistic you may even be tempted to have a bash at motor sport yourself by signing up for a driving course at Croft Circuit, near Darlington.

If you do, a word of warning, crashing in real life is always more expensive and painful than it is in your living room.

Roland Garros: French Open 2001. Publisher: Cryo. Format: PS1. Price: £29.99.

TIM Henman may not have made it to the finals of Wimbledon but you can, thanks to Roland Garros 2001 for the PS1.

Unfortunately, licensing worries mean it's been renamed the English Open but it's still on grass and looks similar enough. The French Open is there in all its glory (the developer, Cryo, is a French outfit) and there are competitions in America and Australia.

The soundtrack to this game is first rate, with authentic crowd calls really adding to the big game atmosphere.

Anyone who has played a tennis game before will find the controls take a bit of getting used to. Cryo has opted for a system that allows for accurate return ball placement but needs quick reflexes if it is to be successful.

OUT THIS WEEK:

A plethora of titles for the Game Boy Colour shows there's plenty of life in the old dog. Powerpuff Girls, Powerpuff Girls: Bad Mojo and Powerpuff Girls: Battle Him (UbiSoft) are unashamedly aimed at younger gamers.

Ubisoft also has Roswell Conspiracies, an action title based on a moderately popular American TV show for the PS1 this week.

Back on the Game Boy, Top Gun from Virgin and VIP from Ubisoft, are aimed at boys who love blast 'em ups.

GIZMO OF THE WEEK

When I reported on DVD Region X, a nifty add-on for the PS2, a few weeks ago I was rather sceptical.

According to Datel, the UK company that also makes the rather handy Action replay cheat cartridge, DVD Region X would reprogramme the DVD player inside your PS2 to accept films from any country.

The reasons for doing this are many. American movies often hit DVD over there about the time they are released in UK cinemas so you can enjoy the very latest Hollywood hits if you import your films.

American DVDs tend to have more extras. Movie buffs love these. US films often have deleted scenes, extra "making of" featurettes, trailers and narrations by cast and crew. Suspicious of Datel's claims I put Region X to the test and am pleased to report that the disk/memory card combo worked perfectly. To trip it up I used the US version of The Patriot, a notorious DVD that refuses to play on many a UK-hacked movie deck. Mel Gibson's civil war epic came through with flying colours.

The DVD Region X plays both PAL and NTSC discs, although you'll need a multi-mode telly to watch NTSC movies in full colour.

At a price of £19.99, the DVD Region X requires no costly internal mods and works like a dream. If you have a PS2 and enjoy movies it's a must-have purchase.

See your local games store.

CHEAT OF THE WEEK

MDK2 Armageddon on the PS2 is an enjoyable, albeit difficult, shoot 'em up. To even the odds why not pause the game (as Max) then hold R2 button and press up four times. When you return to the game everything is in slow motion, giving you extra time to dodge that enemy fire. Good luck!