I've been to Hawaii twice. The first, by accident. A work trip to Montreal had a stopover in Hawaii - that turned into a day trip when the plane wouldn't start again (true story). The second time was only a day or so ago. And this time around, the experience was so good, I stayed. Here's how it all unfolded...

The fun began in Honolulu. 200 large burning a hole in my pocket the size of Britney Spears, although not nearly as ragged around the edges. The cash is dying to be return to its friends at the bank, so I speed the reunion.

First stop was the car rental place. In Oahu, you need wheels. If like me, you intend to attempt communication with the heavy local crews by speaking wannabe pidgin to them (example: "Howzit brah, where da pipeline at?") a vehicle with sound acceleration is a good idea. Not to mention life insurance. Bearing this in mind, I splashed out on the fastest ride they ha. $2000 down the tube, but that's how we roll. After a bit of a cruise around the suburbs of the 'lu I hit the next stop - a car dealership. There, I picked up a "Saturn Sky". Never heard of it before, obviously a US thing. It looked cool enough, though. The rest of the dough went on a sweet apartment in Ala Moana.

Cruising in the Saturn, I see a local girl ('wahine', if you're keeping linguistic track) needing a lift. No problem. We take off. Putting the pedal to the metal on US roads is a little tricky, with the whole wrong side of the road thing. After a couple of brief off-road excursions, and multiple wahine whining, she decides she'd rather walk. Later for you.

Thinking I'd absorbed enough city attitude, I decided to check out some of surfing's better know spots. So I hit the highway and head for the North Shore. First stop Makaha - one of the legendary spots of yesteryear. On the way I get into a couple of street races and got diverted into running a couple of quick car deliveries for big bucks from naïve haoles. After a brief tour of Makaha, it's off to Kaena Point - the westernmost point of Oahu. Word has it that some of the biggest waves to ever hit a shoreline have broken off this point. My tour is wrapped up by a blast along the highway up to Waimea Bay, legendary in its own right.

The whole east of Oahu beckons, but its getting late, so after a brief shopping expedition at Ben Sherman and Marc Ecko stores, it's back to the crib to figure out how much racing I need to do to get the flashy Merc I have my eyes on.

By this point, most will have figured that of my two Hawaii trips, only one has occurred in real life. And no, it wasn't the one where I had $200,000 to spend on cars and taxiing broads around. But I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the hours I have spent in the world of Test Drive Unlimited showed me more of Hawaii than the jetlagged day I spent in Waikiki, wasting cash at Neiman Marcus and hanging out with sunburnt tourists at the cringeworthy "Australian" Outback Steakhouse. Perhaps if the trip had have involved surfing the North Shore, it have been a different proposition - maybe a detour via intensive care.

Typically, successful games fall into two types. First, an outstanding execution of a single concept. Classic examples - Pro Evolution Soccer, SingStar, Tetris. They don't pretend to be all things to everyone. Respectively, they are a football game, a singing game, and a puzzle game. That's it, end of story. They ensure that they are maximum fun, and gain praise by being the best, or most rewarding in their field.

The other type of successful game is the Big Idea. This type of game may not have the specific, focused excellence of the first type of game, but they do a lot of things, very well. Classic examples: Grand Theft Auto III onwards, World of Warcraft, and now - Test Drive Unlimited.

TDU isn't the best "authentic" driving experience on Xbox 360 (that would be PGR3 for now). It's not the largest game world - there's at least a couple of games, including Atari's own Just Cause - that can lay claim to more mileage. It's not the best looking game on Xbox 360 even. But in terms of sheer ambition and potential - it's number one with a bullet. This is a true next generation game. Not because of how it looks, but rather in that it's a genre breaking effort.

In TDU, the only time you're out of your car is in when you're featuring in a cut scene. You don't walk or run anywhere. You drive. It's Grant Theft Auto without the theft. It's World of Warcraft without the Warcraft (or nerds). And it's Hawaii 5-0 with extra juice. There's over 1000 miles of roads in this game, and if you want to be ranked up there with the best in the world, you'll eventually cover every one of them.

As you may have gathered, this game is not your typical driving game. In TDU, you raise money to spend on cars, clothes, houses and motorbikes. Your goal - the hallowed rank of Champion. Getting there from lowly Rookie status doesn't just rely on accumulating cash, rather it's tied elegantly to your Xbox 360 achievements. Win enough challenges, buy enough cars/bikes/accommodation, do enough missions, and travel enough miles, and you gradually unlock those precious points. And as long as you're connect to Xbox Live - all the while you're doing this, you're immersed in a virtual Oahu along with countless other racers.

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