This has to be the perfect game for the frustrated modern driver. After a hard day at the wheel watching traffic cones or speed-camera-ing your way down the M6, what better way to relax than by getting into the virtual car of your choice and battering the hell out of it?

Flat Out is a banger racing game in which you can choose one of 16 upgradeable cars to compete in one of 45 competitions. Courses range from straight races to demolition derbies, where the aim is to be the last car rolling. It’s all great fun, aided and irresponsibly abetted by a game engine that is tweaked to transmit the feel of every single shattered pedestrian protection rail to your fingertips.

Another satisfying aspect of the game is the way the cars destroy themselves in authentic-looking stages. You can batter panels, shatter all the glass, burst the tyres, but only when you set yourself on fire are you really in trouble.

The truly suicidal, meanwhile, will be in awe of the driver’s ability to launch himself fatally through the windscreen, screaming, while the rest of us will love the game’s easy and responsive controls, and the authentic feel of the cars.

NIGEL KENDALL

Explore Games & Puzzles

• Crossword

• Linkudo

• Sudoku

• Killer Sudoku

• Chess

• Bridge

• Crickler