With so many racing games being released in the month of October 2002, companies are giving gamers a difficult choice in what they should buy. Ferrari F355 Challenge is the latest racing game from powerhouse gaming publisher Sega. The game originally first appeared on the Sega Dreamcast and has now been ported across to the PlayStation 2. It's basically a racing simulator that lets you race against other Ferraris on various circuits around the world. There are four different gameplay modes that include Arcade, Championship mode, Great Driver Challenge and Versus Play. The arcade mode is good old-fashioned racing fun on a circuit of your choice, whereas Championship mode lets you race on six different circuits in a points based championship system. Championship mode is basically for hardcore racing fans that want nothing but a true car Ferrari simulator.

The Great Driver Challenge is basically a tutorial that teaches you the basics of mastering the Ferrari such as how to use drifts and slipstreams in order to get the most out of a race. Finally, the Versus Play is basically two-player multiplayer fun on the arcade circuits.

The gameplay of Ferrari F355 Challenge lets you select two different screens while driving, either an in-car view (dashboard) or rear view of the car. The handling of the cars (well, the Ferrari) is extremely accurate, smooth and sensitive. It should be noted that the arcade mode handles like a true arcade game and is very lenient when it comes to crashes, spins and driving on gravel. On the other hand, the Championship mode is extremely realistic and is actually very hard to drive. Another problem with Championship mode is that the CPU drivers are a little harsh when it comes to driving and you will soon find yourself screaming out in frustration because of the things they can do and you cannot.

Graphically, Ferrari F355 Challenge is a very basic game and has some of the most simplistic backgrounds of any car game on the market. Because this game has been ported from the Dreamcast version, the graphics of the game are unfortunately quite dated. Fortunately, the car models of the Ferraris do look quite good, even though they appear blocky. The game also contains some great lighting effects and also maintains a constant 60 frames per second that really helps to give you a sense of speed.

Ferrari F355 Challenge has the same arcade style of music that Ridge Racer became famous for but unfortunately it really lacks the lustre of music from modern car games on the market at the moment. Generally there's not many sound effects in the game. Well, apart from the high-pitched sounds of the Ferrari engine, the sounds of tyres screeching around corners and the noises you make when you crash a Ferrari at 150 kilometres an hour!

Ferrari F355 Challenge would have been a great game two years ago but unfortunately it doesn't stack up to what is currently available. With the new Burnout 2 game and Need For Speed, Ferrari F355 Challenge is the poor man's cousin of speed as the graphics are mediocre, the sound effects are almost non-existent and the gameplay is a little rough. Ferrari F355 Challenge is only recommended to hardcore Ferrari fans.