While Americans seem to generally favor NASCAR as their preferred racing league, folks elsewhere tend to flock to Formula One for its extremely technical racing. In truth, the sport's hardcore following is tremendous and gaming fans accept no less than perfection from titles based on it. With slick visuals, quick pacing and promises of racing bliss, Formula One Championship Edition attempts not only to please the sport's direct fans, but general racing junkies the world over as well.

One issue that always creeps up with regards to F1 games is that there's a fine line between the simulation aspects, accessibility and, most importantly, fun. Sony and SCE Studios Liverpool have attempted to address this by providing a number of options that allow anyone to quickly get into the game. Aside from AI difficulty, you'll also find options for turning car damage on and off, adjusting weather variance, racing lines, traction control, automatic spin recovery, brake assist and more.

In this ever evolving world of hyper-realism and high-definition hoo-hah, you can always rely on Ridge Racer to take things back to basics. Flying in the face of Gran Turismo's beneath-the-bonnet tinkering and the over-the-top mud bath that is MotorStorm, this latest installment of Namco's arcade racing series is high-speed rubber-burning at its purest and most simple. In fact, cosmetic details aside, playing it is more like stepping back in time rather than embracing the next generation and there isn't a great deal to separate Ridge Racer 7 from the original game that ushered in the PlayStation back in 1995.
Thing is, Ridge purists wouldn't want it any other way and, after playing ever-more complex racers swamped with unnecessary options and modes, playing something that's so straightforward, so - dare we say it - old school, actually makes for a refreshing change.
That's not to say Ridge Racer 7 doesn't offer anything new. Take the Ridge State Grand Prix for example. It's a fleshed-out career mode that serves as the main event in the game, a sprawling racing season where players start out with… well, nothing, not even a car. Before you can make a name for yourself out on the circuit you have to earn the right to compete with the best, by driving in a trial race. Win - which, to be honest, is a complete breeze - and you're awarded a car and are free to steer your racing career in any direction you wish.