It's been a long long time since the first Test Drive had you racing down the mountain in a Ferrari or Porsche. And this time, they give you an entire island. The place is Oahu Hawaii and it is just gorgeous with open roads, plenty of mountain and coastline to see, and city streets too. Much better than anything you'll find in Forza or Need for Speed.

But this game is all about the experience of driving. The entire island is open to you. Drive anywhere you want in one of the 125 licensed cars. Go on missions or enter races with people you'll meet along the way. All you need is the cash to buy the cars and garages, which unlocks more missions, which earns you money to buy more cars. It's the circle of life for car nuts. And it makes more sense than receiving points or kudos. Like anyone has gone into a dealership and offered 60K kudos for a Mercedes. Yeah right.

The cars are great looking, but they do suffer from the shiny-effect. But you do get complete 360 degrees of viewing while driving. That's right. You can turn your head and look out the window at the beautiful scenery or into the car's dashboard and check the instruments. Put a fan near your TV and you can simulate the wind blowing through your hair as you rocket down a mountain slope. The only thing missing is the G-force a Ferarri produces when cornering at 120 mph! The cars sound great too! And yes, there's a good selection of tunes or use your own which is what most people do anyways.

The cars handle fine and there is no collision damage just like alot of other racers. There's some traffic, but no people. This is kinda strange. Part of the reason to drive around in a half million dollar supercar is to have heads turn when you drive pass them. But the racing AI is not very good. It feels very scripted. The AI will repeat the exact same pattern. There are cops too, but they seem more interested in eating donuts than chasing you. You have to drive like a maniac and cause massive traffic accidents before the cops are on your tail.

The developers also added bikes, but the cars are the centerpiece of this game. And they are fast and a pure delight to drive. Although, this is still more arcade than sim so the handling is off. You can however, feel the bumps on the road. There's really no story in this game. You just go around accepting missions, accepting races, and collecting cars. And you cannot customize your cars either. Maybe for pure car enthusiasts, this makes sense. Who would decorate a Ferrari Enzo with some logo anyways and ruin the paintjob.

The game may not have customizable cars, but it does have plenty of multiplayer. And it works just like the single player. Drive around the city and find races to enter and missions to complete. You can also just race the nearest person by flashing your headlights at them. Or create your own race for people to enter. There is a limit to the number of cars you'll see while driving. So even if you and you're friend are in the same city, you might not be able to race one another. We give Test Drive Unlimited highmarks. Instead of acquiring useless licenses or winning X number of circuits, Test Drive Unlimited is all about the love of driving and the open road.