Focus Interactive Le Tour De France review

The playable sections aren’t perfect either, mainly due to the dated 3D engine which has plenty of quirks. On flat stages in particular, whole fields of crops magically grow as you approach, swallowing the motorhomes that litter the verges of la Vendée. Riders generally look convincing, but the illusion is shattered in sharp bends where they barely lean into the corner. There’s the minimum of dry, generic commentary, and each rider uses the same, distinctly English voice on the team radio.

Keep climbing and, like the air, the roads just keep getting thinner

Despite these problems, Le Tour is not without its charms. After playing through several stages it began to grow on us in a way that the full Pro Cycling Manager games never managed. Although the playable sections are by no means a convincing recreation of tearing down the open road on a racing bike, there’s a hint of the thrill; it takes skill to apply the right level of effort at the right time, in picking your way through the peloton to mount attacks, and even in steering a racing line and braking judiciously during descents, which on the mountain stages are entertainingly quick.

Nobody who’s watched Belleville Rendezvous – let alone the actual Tour de France – could fail to be moved as the games’ cyclists wheeze their way up the Alps’ harrowing gradients, repeatedly playing chicken with over-enthusiastic spectators, but you’ll probably have more fun watching the event itself than you would playing this game.