Ok let's start with the graphics. In still screens Test Drive 6 look OK. Not great, just merely average. Many games do look much better in motion, but when actually seeing TD6 in motion, the game actually looks worse. Low resolution textures, low polygon environments and vehicles, a horrible overuse of mipmapping, no lighting at all, and so on. As a result, the entire game looks very bland and sterile. Now if the game was running at, say 60 frames per second, or even a nice solid 30fps, the blahness could possibly be forgiven. But, as you probably guessed, the framerate is nothing to write home about either. At times, if you are lucky, the game hits almost 30fps. Now compare that to Tokyo Xtreme Racer's and Crazy Taxi's extremely fast 60fps, and Speed Devils' and Hydro Thunder's insanely detailed 30fps.

The soundtrack and audio may or may not be your cup of tea, but I really didn't care for either. The soundtrack includes actual songs from Eve 6, Kottonmouth Kings, Empirion, Lunatic Calm and a couple of other groups. I'm really not that crazy about songs I may hear on the radio, being in the games I play, unless of course it suits the game perfectly. The Offspring in Crazy Taxi being an example of suiting a game perfectly.

Test Drive 6 does include 40 real licensed cars, including classic Muscle Cars. Vehicles from Dodge, Ford, Jaguar, Toyota, Audi, etc. are all accounted for. Now this would be a good thing if the car models and textures weren't so damn ugly. I think the original Saturn version of Daytona USA had better car models. Infogrames originally claimed the models in the beta version were just "placeholders", but that was obviously not correct. Graphics and sound (good or bad) don't mean a thing if the gameplay is bad. Thankfully, TD6 plays OK. The control and handling feels pretty generic. It certainly isn't sim like, as seen in Gran Turismo, or pure arcade, like Speed Devils. Whatever it is, it isn't as bad as the game looks, but it is still far from great.

There are plenty of modes and options to fiddle around with. There is a Practice Mode, Single Race, Tournament Race, Cop Chase and Challenges and 2 Player modes. You also have full access to the Garage, where you can buy/sell/upgrade your vehicles, a la Gran Turismo. Most of the modes allow you to place wagers (shades of Speed Devils), and Challenges allows you to take part in driving skill tests. The number and variety of modes is probably the only redeeming factor in TD6.