…use your mirror often, or so the old Public Information Films used to tell us.

And when playing Project Gotham Racing 2, don’t be scared to use the brake. Really! It’s not out to get you, and it won’t necessarily allow all those nasty other cars to go screaming past you. If you don’t use your brake, you end up flying into a wall, simple as that.

I’ve always loved games that were strongly based around real-world (or seemingly real-world) physics. I spent hours slingshotting around Jupiter in Elite (or, more often, getting pulled into its gassy, possibly smelly, interior and dying nastily). Stunt Car Racer was brilliant, even when you went flying off the track into the unknown. I liked the demo of Gish so much that I bought it. So naturally, with the current crop of games offering up physics that seem more and more real, I’m spoilt for choice.

But forget all that fancy eye-candy that in-game physics are currently being abused for - exploding barrels sending zombie bits flying and the like. Small, inconsequential stuff! If a game really has to make good use of physics, make it in the handling of a nice meaty car, or a starship around a dying sun, or something that matters. Because there’s nothing like hurtling around a muddy track, barely in control of tons of gleaming metal, nothing but you and your impeccable judgement between you and an untimely in-game death, to produce a gaming thrill. ;D

I should probably talk about video games less around here.