With the playstation 2 hitting the streets a few months ago, it was the cry from the fans to have some product that screamed class and took advantage of the DVD capabilities aswell. The release of Formula 1 2001 ushered in a new era of the Formula 1 sport on the latest generation of home consoles with the added bonus of a free DVD showcasing the highlights of the entire 2000 season and what a great little package it turned out to be.

With the recent announcement by Columbia Tristar to release the DVD as a stand alone title, we decided to take a look at the same disc released with the popular game a mere month ago.

The disc is broken up into each individual race and upon selection of your desired replay, you get to chose between a continuous version of the race or an interactive version. The continuous version is self explanatory but the interactive version gives you a running selection of items at the top of the screen that when selected with the remote, switch to an alternate angle whether it be the track camera, On board camera, pit camera or a screen of race data.

Each race is a comprehensive highlight package and coupled with the interactiveness it provides an EXCELLENT way to enjoy the DVD. The only gripe about the disc structure itself is that the whole season cannot be played through in it's entirity. When each race concludes, it reverts back to the menu whereby a handful of keystrokes has to be repeated to get to the next menu. For fans of Formula 1, this is a must have whether you purchase it with the playstation game or on its own.

Given the fast moving content we can expect from a formula 1 event aswell as the onboard cameras that aren't of the highest calibre video, this DVD looks pretty amazing. Productions like these can really demonstrate just how poor your household reception can be as the transfers come straight off the masters themselves. Formula 1 has never looked this good at home, if it does already then consider yourself one of the lucky few.

The only quibble is some minor mpeg artifacting given the nature of the footage but even then it goes un-noticeable unless you're desperately looking for it as I've just admitted to. On the audio side of things, the 2 channel mix is surround friendly, as are the live telecasts, and produces a nice mix to compliment the video. Bass gets low on some occasions, the fighter jet fly-by in the australian grand prix as an example.

The use of the multi angle feature in an interactive light is a welcome sight for these sporting DVDs and should be used more often in the future. I'm still pushing for a multi-angled version of this years F.A. Cup triumph for Liverpool. This is a great example of what to do for those craving sport, or racing for that matter, on DVD.

Highly recommended to racing fans.