However, being the incredibly thorough gamer I am (honest!), I decided to stick with the game for a little while longer. Lo and behold, I soon learned to deal with the somewhat suspect car physics after a while and now I really enjoy this game!

World Driver is a basic sports car racing title. But, unlike a lot of other racing games, when you create a profile you’re ranked 30th, and as you complete the different points circuits you go up in rank. Now, as you go up in rank more racing teams will approach you to drive for them, basically this translates into a constant stream of new cars to try out.

A lot of new points series open up as you work your way through each race as well, unlocking new variations of the basic tracks and even stiffer competition. The balance is done so well that you’ll actually find yourself playing just to go up that extra rank.

What’s not done well, though, is the control. World Driver falls into the trap that so many post-Gran Turismo games have, which is to say trying to make the car physics work in such a way as to appeal to both the arcade and sim fanatic. The cars seem to react to turns and road surfaces realistically, but the drift setting feels a tad high. The result is a control system so touchy that the slightest contact with almost anything will send you careening off course and cost you valuable seconds.

But as I said before, the control can be tolerated after a little practice, though the frustration level will still get pretty high as the racing gets closer and more competitive. Even getting nudged by other cars will send you out of control. That said, learning to powerslide around turns and navigate the various tracks can still be a lot of fun.

Ever since the introduction of the RAM Pak for the N64, most games have supported it by having a pretty nice looking high res mode accompanied by a relatively ugly “regular” mode. World Driver doesn’t support the peripheral, though, and still manages to look great! What’s even more interesting is that World Driver does indeed sport a high res mode, which is basically condensing the screen into a “widescreen” look. What’s nice about this is that the game definitely looks better, and really doesn’t suffer much of a framerate hit as a result. In either graphic mode there are some nice reflection effects on the cars and some impressive lens flares. It’s too bad that some of the darker tracks are a little hard to see, but I find that with almost any dark colour scheme in an N64. Either way, World Driver is very playable no matter which graphic mode you choose.

Lately I’ve gotten away from concentrating on sound effects and music in video games, but I feel I must address the sound in World Driver. First of all, the music is actually quite good. While it’s nothing memorable, it does fit the onscreen action well and doesn’t sound too much like “cart music.” The sound effects, however, are pretty bad. The sound of the engines in particular is disappointing. They sound more like a low whine than the high RPM monsters gamers have come to expect.