Sure, multiple track, car, and detail variations are expected these days in this overcrowded genre, but what if you were to add a spectacular story mode to the game as well? That is what you get in Pro Race Driver. You not only have many modes of game play, but a rich detailed story mode to boot. You play as Ryan McKane, the son of a great driver, who was the son of a great driver, and you are trying to follow in the footsteps of greatness in your bloodline. You are treated with cut scenes, upgrades and pit crews, all while competing to become World's Champion. Codemasters dubs this title as the first ever "CarPG" and they couldn't be more correct. However, depth, options, cars, tracks and modes don't mean a thing if the basic aspects of a game are lacking. So does this title have enough under the hood to do the immense depth justice?

Visually Pro Racer driver is proof of what happens when you take advantage of superior technology. The Xbox version does laps over the PS2 version in terms of looks and capability. Car models are richly detailed and correctly modeled. What's more, the car damage is realistic as well, with bumpers, side panels, etc flying off your car when colliding with another vehicle or wall. The damage physics are also realistic in presentation as you actually damage the point of impact. The backdrops look impressive, with very little draw distance, and tons of variance between each track; ranging from tight courses, to wide open terrain. The game also represents some quality cut scenes that move the story along nicely. While the game does tell the story, it doesn't slow down the pace of the game one bit. Also, while the PS2 version only had 6 cars on the track at once, the Xbox version supports 20, which makes for more excitement and frequent crashes to enjoy…unless it's your own of course. The whole game just feels polished. If one down side could be mentioned, it still feels as if Codemasters has yet to master the Xbox hardware, leaving textures, bump mapping, and reflections sub par compared to other racers on the Xbox. The game is still a looker, and should be a welcome addition to any racers library.

Audio is very decent, but nothing you haven't already heard in most racing games. The car engine sounds are deep and strong; tires squeal, and damage sound effects are done adequately. The voice acting during the cut scenes isn't comical in the sense of bad, but they don't provide that emotion to get you really involved in the story. Thankfully the in game music, while made up of popular bands, can be silenced, as custom soundtracks wasn't on the checklist for Codemasters. It should be noted that Dolby Surround Sound is supported as well, but not total Dolby 5.1. While nothing really stands out as superb, the sounds aren't bad in any way... just not completely new or original.

Game play is where Pro Racer Driver leaves most games behind. The computer A.I. is top notch, and reacts like a real driver and not just robot drones that are either set in one pattern, or trying to wreck your car purposely. Instead, each race is very competitive and you don't feel cheated in anyway if you lose. The handling is also very tight and responsive. You always feel in total control of your vehicle, and can only fail upon your own fault. What's more, is the car reacts accurately to the damage done to it, so tweaking your driving may depend on what shape your car is in. The physics seem very realistic even in the weather differences. You'll not only play this game many times in multi player, but also in the story mode as well.

Pro Race Driver has a wealth of options for many hours of driving excitement. 42 licensed cars from the touring and racing divisions, 38 circuits along with 13 Global championship rounds to compete in, a deep customizable set up mode for your vehicles, deep story mode, up to 4 players in multi player, and real time damage to round off the wealth of options. Easily enough to keep any racing fan busy for days on end. The game would have been the pinnacle racing game if Codemasters would have stuck to their guns and brought this out for Xbox Live. With the PC version offering online play and the extra time they took to develop the game for the Xbox, it's an option that should have been offered. As is though, the game is still deep and will keep you racing for hours on end.

Codemasters has a great tradition in the racing field with the Touring Car Championship and Colin McRae series, and hopefully they will add this series to their already impressive lineup. If you like playing racing games, and you've yet to pick up this masterpiece of racing excitement and drama, then you are missing a sure fire winner in Pro Race Driver.