I'm going to offer a controversial opinion here - especially given the release of Codemasters Dirt 3 isn't too far away - that Test Drive Unlimited 2 is the best rally game you'll play this year.

What madness is this, I hear you cry? Well yes I know TDU2 has lots of problems; initially the handling is crap, there are loads of bugs and most of the multiplayer functionality is disabled while Eden Games fixes the game.

But once you've played the game a few hours, you've tweaked the controls and bought some better cars the handling models seems a heck of a lot better. Interestingly the offroad handling is actually rather good - as good as any arcade-style rally game you'll play.

...

While Eden has taken flak for removing motorcycles from this sequel the addition of offroad racing more than makes up for that. The original game didn't make the best use of the dramatic Hawaiin scenery as the player didn't have any reason to wander away from the roads. Now in TDU2 - there are offroad events aplenty and they are great fun.

But here's the interesting thing - and hence my post - because you can create your own racing events and share them with others there's plenty of scope for deliberately creating challenges that will appeal to rally fans.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who'll be expecting Dirt 3 to feature the odd lie. The much-vaunted sixty rally stages will turn out to be six rally stages each chopped into ten pieces for separate events. And once again we'll me rather narked by the BS that Codemasters unfortunately engages in these days (just look at the mess that was the recent Operation Flashpoint comeback).

Any road up, my point is that you can get your rally kicks from Test Drive Unlimited 2. I've already set-up quite a few offroad events using courses that do seem tailor made for rallying. For example, there's a route along cliffs at the southern point of Ibiza that is particularly challenging with very narrow tracks and dramatic changes in elevation.

The game features plenty of variety in terms of scenery, surface and dynamic weather and with the ability to create very long point to point stages one really can create some of the best rally experiences of this videogame generation. This is probably the first time since the epic PC game Mobil 1 Rally that we can enjoy rally stages of a realistic and terrifying length.

Go try it, buy yourself a Subaru Impreza and set yourself up with some custom rally stages and upload the best ones for others to try. I think we've a great game within a game going on here.