Racing games have always given the player the chance to do something they might never be able to do in real life - drive fast cars at a high speed with little thought for the consequences. Games like Need for Speed make a big deal about their officially licensed cars - which is great if you happen to know what they all are, but unless you're an avid petrol-head or watch Top Gear on a regular basis, it won't really mean an awful lot. Of course, many cars become famous to the general public by featuring prominently on television shows or in films - these are the cars the rest of us want to drive. It didn't take EA (and others) long to figure out that the success of The Fast and the Furious could easily be translated to games around a similar theme, and before long wannabe Vin Diesels were painting their cars ludicrous colours in NFS: Underground. That's all very well for the current generation, but older gamers may feel a little bit short-changed. We don't want Supras and Imprezas (whatever they are) - we want the cars that were on our screens in the 1980s, when every second film released featured Burt Reynolds trying to drive somewhere, when every television show worth its salt featured an iconic car for the hero, and when viewers were told: "One man can make a difference". Welcome to the FFG guide to recreating the old favourites of the screen using old(ish) racers...

1. Seeing as games like Need for Speed III were probably inspired by films where high-powered cars raced on public roads, this game would seem like the obvious place to start when attempting to recreate that old classic, The Cannonball Run. Indeed, with a whole range of cars available, it requires very little modification unless you particularly want to race with the 1980s models.

2. However, the madcap spirit of that film is definitely missing from the NFS games, not to mention the fact that you can't race against multiple opponents with traffic and police on the road at the same time. In this regard, something like Midtown Madness 2 has a definite advantage, although it is of course confined to city driving.

3. While there are a good number of fan-made cars for MM2, there are simply hundreds available for Need for Speed: Road Challenge. This is where the real fun begins if you happen to be after a particularly iconic car - for example, the black Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit. Just head over to nfscars.net, and, once downloaded and installed, they can be used in-game like any other.

4. The big semi looks impressive in this screenshot, but anyone who wants to recreate the Bandit and Snowman trek across the country is likely to be disappointed. There's no "East Bound and Down" game mode implemented in NFS, so basically you're just racing a couple of laps against the truck, which incidentally isn't particularly convincing on the move. Still, get rid of the truck and you can still have plenty of fun with the Bandit-mobile in Hot Pursuit mode.

5. The handling isn't quite up to scratch, though, and if you really want to feel like you're throwing around some 70s muscle, then something like Driver is probably more appropriate. The cops are also slightly more homicidal than in NFS and Midtown Madness - with pile-ups and carnage worthy of Sheriff Buford T. Justice himself.

6. Above all, though, these old movies were about driving on the open road, getting from one place to another in as short a time as possible. A scenario which could quite possibly describe the original arcade racer, Outrun. Fire up MAME for some nostalgia (or buy Coast 2 Coast for your PS2 if you want to cheat a bit). Alternatively, Test Drive II and the original Need For Speed are other oldies which attempt to recreate the feel of the open road.

7. Though we've been critical of the "tracks made to look like roads" approach adopted by recent NFS titles on this site, we should probably point out that there was a certain 1980s TV show which was pretty much all about driving around in circles with the idiotic police in pursuit. Recreate the antics of those good ol' Duke boys by getting a 1969 Charger for NFS: Road Challenge from nfscars.net and have some fun winding up Ennis and Roscoe. Come to think of it, there's also a couple of Hazzard-like ravine-jumping moments in Interstate '76 - and the car's orange, too.

8. The Dukes of Hazzard have also been the subject of a number of officially sanctioned games, boasting authentic voice acting and, of course, the General Lee itself. By and large, they're pretty poor efforts, and while you may get a TV-style intro and an all-new storyline, the fact is that the actual driving bits are rubbish. There have also been a couple of Knight Rider games, which are slightly better in terms of gameplay, although they don't feature any of the original actors (sorry, Hoff fans).

9. The most compelling argument for buying the official Knight Rider game, of course, is that KITT will be able to do stuff from the show, like jump over things using the infamous "Turbo Boost". Otherwise, you're just driving a 1982 Trans-Am - more Michael Long than Michael Knight. Or even Jerry Reed: "I'm gonna be the Bandit!" Ahem. If such a thing appeals to you, then models for NFS are available - all, sadly, without a plastic shark.

10. No prizes for guessing where to go to get your Miami Vice kicks - the fourth game in the GTA series, no less. Okay, so it isn't technically an oldie. And you don't play a good guy... oh, who cares? Did anyone even like Miami Vice?

As a footnote, it should be added that while downloading extra cars for Need for Speed and Midtown Madness can provide mild nostalgic excitement, they never really capture the whole experience of the show or movie that you might be trying to replicate (incidentally, this is why there's no A-Team entry here). It's a little bit like those people who buy a DeLorean and spend their weekends sticking bits to it so that it looks more like the one from Back to the Future - while it might look the part, it still doesn't go back in time. The couple of officially licensed games we've dealt with here, on the other hand, do a reasonable job of replicating the atmosphere of the show, but, criminally, are let down by terrible driving physics. Clearly, there are a couple of gaps in what is generally considered to be a saturated market. Firstly, as we've mentioned before, games allowing you to race on the open road have been in short supply in recent years. The success of Outrun: Coast 2 Coast, essentially a souped-up version of the 1986 original, highlights the dearth of decent road-racers, but is also proof that simple, well executed ideas still have a place in the modern gaming world. Secondly, there remains a good deal of untapped gaming potential in campy old TV shows where the car was the star, the acting preposterous and the credits cheesily entertaining. Interstate '76 is proof that you don't need an official license to reference and recreate the feel of an old series. While 80s bashers argued that the poorly received follow-up suffered from being set in a naff decade, the truth was it just wasn't good enough. Vice City, anyone?