Nice. The graphics in Test Drive 6 may not be Gran Turismo quality, but the cars look very nice, and a lot like their real-life counterparts. Choose and purchase a vehicle, upgrade it a bit if you like, and tear up the streets. The tracks look pretty nice, although it seems that you can never see very far down the road. This is due to the twisting and turning of the tracks and is probably intentional, to reduce 'pop-in.' But it leaves you with less of a feeling of control. The soundtrack is kickin', however, featuring such acts as Eve 6, Kottonmouth Kings, Empirion, Cirrus, Lunatic Calm, q-burns abstract message, Gary Numan, and Fear Factory. This hard hitting soundtrack fuels the fury as you tear up streets and bystanders alike in an attempt to be the first across the finish line.

There are some new features this time around, such as an economic system that allows you to purchase and upgrade cars (ala Gran Turismo), environmental sounds, breakable objects, and a new A.I. that lets the police share information to better hound you. Well, actually, I didn't find the police to be that big of a problem, but bear it in mind, anyways. While a few of the races occur on actual tracks, most are unauthorized cross-town street races. This means you have to watch out for oncoming traffic and police who apparently frown upon reckless driving. Get caught and not only could you end up losing the race, you also have to pay a fine for speeding (or smashing other cars upon, depending, of course...) - lessening your money that much more. Remember, that money's supposed to go towards upgrades and that Lotus you've had your eye on...

I have seen many more difficult racing games, and I have seen easier. Test Drive 6 lies somewhere in the middle, with the biggest obstacle being monetary funds. True gamers can practice a bit, get the hang of it, and upgrade their car until they can win a lot. Then, it's just a matter of winning races and spending wisely. For those of you who are impatient or simply not ashamed of cheating, there is a code that will give you mad amounts of spending money... instead of entering your name at the 'NAME' screen, enter this code. There. If you don't want to know... don't click. (hehe)

I have never been the biggest fan of the Test Drive series. It seems that Infogrames has been good for Accolade. Test Drive Off-Road 3 was a highly enjoyable game, and Test Drive 6 is actually pretty fun as well. The new economic system is a nice addition, and allows you not only to improve your vehicle, but to customize it a bit, as well. The tournaments' betting system is very interesting as well. At the beginning of each race, you put up a bet on yourself, between the stated minimum and maximum. The other drivers put up their bets, then all the cash is divided up into first, second, and third prizes, with a large chunk going towards the prize for winning the entire tourney. Pretty cool. The police A.I. is improved, but with a fast enough car, they're not much to worry about - unless you happen to crash and come to a complete stop close to one. Otherwise, just blow them off of the road! ...hehe... Test Drive 6 also offers some nicely interactive courses, with 'shortcuts' that you can use to get around traffic or pesky police cars, etc. as well as breakable objects. In fact, some of the track designs are quite interesting, with hills that provide nice jumps and multiple paths that offer variation. Sadly, the graphics suffers from two problems. One is that you can't see very far, no matter what view you're using. This can give you a claustrophobic feeling and limit your ability to plan for the road ahead. The second is an extremely aggravating feature that can't be turned off. No matter what view you choose, getting into a couple of collisions will cause your view to change to the next view. This can be extremely confusing while trying to navigate a city at a high rate of speed.