Sadly, with all those speed signs dotted about the roads and the increasingly annoying speed cameras placed in the best places to ensure you've been reading them – joy riding just isn‘t an option and for good reasons of course.

By Brad Russell Traditional racing games are a dime a dozen these days; they are either annually renewed or get a new paint job in the graphics department with each entry. Most racing games unfold like this: get in, race, unlock some stuff, and progress until satisfied.

If you missed the previous Dirt titles, then Dirt 3 will certainly bring you up to speed with Codemasters's finest racing series, and comes thoroughly recommended to any petrol-headed gamer who loves to power slide through gravelled forest tracks.

Plenty of circuits; cars and event types; Gorgeous gameplay; graphics and sound; Great car handling makes for an enjoyable game

Lengthy transitions in menus; Gymkhana can be frustrating; Online competition has Jedi skills

DiRT 3, the next installment in Codemaster's most popular "DiRT" franchise is now available, and once again, the development team behind the game has done a brilliantly job with this game. There is bulk of new contents in Dirt 3 to keep racing fans busy for a very long time.

Dirt 3 is an awesome racer - even if you don't know what gymkhana is...

Extremely responsive controls; new gymkhana mode adds even more variety; tons of tracks, vehicles, and race events; accessible to drivers of every skill level; outstanding graphics

Dirt Tour could be better; uploading clips to YouTube is sort of limited

Rally racing fans know that that their support is not widely supported in North America. The off-road racing, which is damn exciting, just hasn't earned its spot in the eyes of racing fans on this side of the pond.

While some wish Rallisports Challenge was still around, Codemasters has been offering great rally racing experiences to gamers around the world with the Colin McRae/DiRT series.

When Dirt 2 was released in 2009 it boasted a lengthy and varied career mode, numerous multiplayer options, and uniformly excellent presentation. Its sequel loses none of those things and also makes some great additions to the formula.

New event types add even more variety to both solo and multiplayer sessions; Difficulty and assist options cater to new and experienced drivers alike; Cars; buggies; and trucks all look great and handle superbly; Fantastic presentation; Supports both online and split-screen multiplayer

YouTube functionality is limited

One day, there will be a racing sim that covers every major style of racing, from street to track, dirt to snow, covering all disciplines and racing brands equally well under the same name.

DiRT 3 is a straight to the action racing game with plenty of variety to keep things fresh. In my opinion, sim racers are cool, but they're not very fun. Customizing your cars is more enjoyable than actually driving them; and racing feels like a means to purchase new cars.