The people at Codemasters are faithful to the idea of "try before you buy", so they have decided to offer up a demo version of their latest racing game, called Race Driver: GRID. And, for good measure, they've also decided to launch a contest. Just go into Time Trial mode and execute the fastest lap, then get it into the online leaderboards. On May 23, the top five time trialists will be picked and then invited to go neck and neck for the chance to win a BMW 3-Series.

The demo offers three race events to see what the game is all about. There's the eBay Motors Muscle Cup which has the upside of offering a Mustang GT-R, and the downside of making you race it on the narrow streets of San Francisco. Restarts will be required. Second up is the Advan International Trophy which features a Nissan S15 Silvia in the Yokohama Docks, and the third event is the Euro Touring Car Series where you pilot a BMW 320si around the Spanish Jarama racing course.

Race Driver: GRID is neither arcade to the max nor racing simulator, but rather a breed between the two, the half orc of the driving games. There's damage simulation that actually influences the way the car handles and there are plenty of car bits left on the circuit if you manage to bump into something, but it takes more than one contact with a tire wall to totally take out the car.

But maybe the best thing about the racer (besides the adrenalin rush of cornering at high speeds) are the very detailed and engaging graphics of the courses. Narrow Italian streets and wide space in the docks in Japan look extremely good and might have the effect of causing a spin if you pay them too much attention.

The full game is due out for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC in late summer. Apparently, a Nintendo DS variation of the game is also expected.