Formula One Challenge

Formula One Challenge falls, sadly, with a disappointing splat into the boring category. There is nothing actually wrong with it, as such, but it just doesn't have any pizzazz, any zing in it. You are, in a very virtual sense, the manager of a Formula One racing team. Armed with only a few hundred thousand quid, you must buy some engines, hire some drivers and equip your team to take on the might of McLaren, Williams, Benetton and all the rest. There's a moderately neat graphic interface where you make your managerial choices (tires and stuff) and then the race storms off. You watch a leaderboard with occasional comments as to what's going on. On the face of it, it's a corking idea. Formula One Challenge just doesn't have whatever it is that makes these things fab. Errors and sloppiness aside, it does have a certain charm. There's plenty of detail in there for F1 enthusiasts, but precious little to enthrall them for long. Sorry.