They tempted and taunted us in equal measure with the 2007 release of Gran Turismo Prologue, a kind of taster of things to come. It thrilled us with its incredibly slick, realistic graphics, and its super cool range of cars and tracks, but it just left us wanting more. Three years later, and they’re back with the full version, and it is every bit as slick, swift and downright awesome as we could have hoped.

The latest instalment of the Gran Turismo franchise is simply the best looking, most comprehensive, fun racing simulator on the market. Drive the snazziest, coolest, most expensive cars in world, on some of the most challenging tracks available. With classic cars from the 60s and 70s, to modern day sports motors, souped up rally cars, and the types of vehicles we’re not even rich enough to afford in our dreams, they’re all here. Or if you want to make life hard for yourself, you can even drive a Hyundai.

The variety of tracks is awesome as well, with stunning night and day races where you can take in a variety of terrains from a London city street to the slippery, snow-covered tracks of the Alps.

And if that’s not good enough, for the real nerds out there, you can mod your car with everything from tyre changes to new exhausts, engine tuning… you name it. Personally, we like to just get in and drive, and that’s perfectly acceptable too.

The gameplay is very good, and you’ll find yourself twisting and turning around circuits, desperate to pick up medals and beat every time you post. But the real beauty is the look of the game. So much thought and attention has gone in that it doesn’t just look realistic; in some parts it’s even better than the real thing.

As well as the huge number of tracks, cars and different race scenarios, the makers have even thrown in a few nifty little surprises to add to the fun. The bonus go-kart race is pretty tricky to master, but once you get there it’s a lot of fun. And if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to race Top Gear’s Stig and tubby telly chef Jamie Oliver at the same time, then you can act it out thanks to the VW Campervan race which takes place on the Top Gear test track.

This is a simply stunning, absolutely enormous game, that will no doubt eat up much of your spare time, and make budding Lewis Hamilton’s of all of us. Until you come back down to real life and have to drive your boring old Ford Focus to work, of course.