Every type of racing game has a leader. Gran Turismo is the undisputed simulation leader. Ridge Racer is the king of the arcade (in spirit, at least). Wipeout leads all futuristic racing games. When it comes to water racers, gamers look to the past: Wave Race and Splashdown.

If you're going to make a racing game (and chances are you are since it's one of the most bombarded genres), you might as well look to one of those leaders for inspiration. You might even look to them for design and graphic ideas. Even listen to their music for a soundtrack solution.

That's where Enthusia Professional Racing comes from: a world where it's believed that to be the best, you must directly compete with the best. Given the subtitle and the images of shiny, intricately designed vehicles, the first assumption is that this is a game in competition with Gran Turismo. That assumption proves to be true, though the backgrounds and music seem to have more in common with the Ridge Racer series. Gran Turismo 4 took several years to develop, includes several hundred cars and dozens of unique tracks. Can Enthusia really compete?

It definitely tries, and in many respects it does. Enthusia is a fueled with licensed vehicles from all the major manufacturers, as well as some you've probably never heard of (unless you've played Gran Turismo). These vehicles are well represented in videogame form, having all the necessary curves, grooves, and the right paint options. The developers opted not to include the funky paint job names that some manufacturers give to their cars, a realistic element that had to be sacrificed.

Enthusia's primary coal is to be the most realistic simulation racer on the planet. To promote this message, pre-menu videos demonstrate Konami's dedication to getting things right. First they show a real car with a real driver on a real course. He executes a few fancy driving moves, just the thing to get your blood boiling for the game. Then they show the videogame version of those moves, only this time you see a person controlling the game with a PlayStation2 steering wheel. It's a cool promo, and when the two cars are stacked next to each other, it's hard to tell them apart.

That's really bad for your tires.

I haven't gotten the chance to drive these vehicles for real, so I can't judge the accuracy as well as a professional racer can.  They made it look fun though. "Fun" is all that ever really matters to me.

I start the game, click through the menus, pick my car and … hit a wall. In more ways than one, no less. Enthusia's efforts to be ultra-realistic meant it had to be ultra-difficult to control. That's understandable, but what about the fun factor? What about the old adage about making a good first impression? Those things have to be taken into account.

Enthusia has a small cluster of modes, only one of which features gameplay that's somewhat new to the genre. That mode is called Driving Revolution. While it sounds like a journey to becoming the most skilled racer in the world (or perhaps a mode where you create the most perfect motor vehicle), it is actually a mode where the only goal is to drive through lines at designated speeds. If that sounds like fun, let me make the picture more clear. Light-colored squares appear on screen. They change color as you increase and decrease your speed. If they turn green, you're driving at the proper speed. Follow their path and drive through them as evenly as possible without going above or under the designated speed. This amounts to a lot of trial and error, but not much entertainment.

 
The replays are much prettier than the game itself.

The meat of the game - Enthusia Life - is that single-player mode everyone desires (conceptually). Lots of cars to unlock; lots of races to enter; and a ton of challenges to overcome. This is good, but while you're facing opponents and point challenges, you're battling an even greater adversary: the controls. They might be realistic, but that's secondary. Realistic isn't always fun. It's definitely not here. Even the fastest cars don't seem fast enough. Very few of them grip the road as they should. I'm going by videogame standards, and the standard of how I define a good racer, but isn't that what all games are developed and based on? When we step beyond the bounds of that, we begin to cross over to the dark side. This can lead to amazing results, but often leads us down a dreary path that's anything but the equivalent to becoming Darth Vader. Evil or not, Anakin had the Force on his side. Enthusia doesn't.

Gameplay: 6.9
Bad weather conditions are unnecessary for Enthusia. The controls are either stiff and awkward, or overly slippery. It makes it hard to enjoy a racer that would've been pretty good otherwise. Why not great? To be a great racer you need to have great controls and great tracks. Enthusia's tracks are short, simply designed, and have very few elements that make them stand apart from the courses in other racing games.

Graphics: 7.9
Beautiful replays; not-so-beautiful gameplay. Enthusia looks like a first-generation racer. The vehicles look great, but their reflective bodies aren't as detailed during the game as they are during replays, nor are the backgrounds as close to the real thing as they are during replays.

Sound: 7.0
Dated engine sounds, new techno beats. The soundtrack is better than I would have expected considering the genre it's in (and how limited the song styles are), but it can't compare to the works of Tom Salta.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Easy-to-win races, hard-to-steer vehicles. The courses are basic, having few sharp turns and easy corners to navigate. The turns are so wide in one of the off-road courses that even the worst vehicle can win the race.

Concept: 8.5
Enthusia Professional Racing wanted to be the heart and soul of the genre. Its odd intro (showing playful children and a photographer who becomes frightened by a deadly crash) shows what the developers were going for. After that I expected the game to include a crazy story mode, but was relieved that it didn't.

Multiplayer: 6.0
Two players can go head-to-head in a game of awkward controller confusion.

Overall: 6.9
Enthusia is an enthusiastically challenged game. It has its high points, like a good collection vehicles and an awesome replay mode (something other games have). It also has its low points, like difficult controls and bad course designs (which some other racers also have). Rent it if you have a great steering wheel (preferably the one from Logitech). Otherwise you'd be wise to speed towards the nearest exit and drive to the next big thing, or cruise back to Gran Turismo 3 or 4.