Last week, a shiny new iPad 2 arrived at Sidepodcast Headquarters. Of course, it chose to present itself the minute that I stepped away for a mini-break, and I had to wait days and days to get back and try it out. However, once I did, I was hooked.

I've not yet tested out all the new functionality, although it's mostly just the addition of a camera or two, and I keep having to wrestle it away from Mr C who likes the Smart Cover. What I have done, though, is tried out Real Racing 2, and let me tell you now, it is love.

The game is specifically designed for the iPad and iPad 2, so that if you plug the device into a TV, the game appears on screen and the iPad becomes the controller. It is something quite magical.

The graphics are great, not mind-blowing, but certainly far better than something like the Wii, and definitely amazing to be coming out of something so small. The game is a baby version of Gran Tourismo, in that you get some money, choose your car, race and race to get more money to buy better cars and so on.

The tracks are fictional, but they present more and more of a challenge as you go round. I am officially terrible at racing games, the worst you could imagine, so when I set the game up I picked the easiest option.

It essentially means you just have to steer, although a couple of hours into playing and I have just discovered that pressing on the iPad screen during a race is actually the brake. Who knew?

So far, it's going pretty well and I am capable of winning races (although there was an oval course and I was terrible at that). I don't remember the last time I could win at a race, with or without driver aids on, so the fact that this new game makes racing accessible to me is something quite incredible.

You can hook it up to GameCenter and share with your friends, there are multiplayer options, and as mentioned, several levels of difficulty. I haven't explored that side of things too much. So far, I've had too much fun just steering. It's highly recommended, if only as a break from the über-realistic simulators you get.

At the moment, Real Racing 2 is available for £5.99 and seems like great value for money to me. It's worth pointing out that you need an HDMI adapter for the iPad which is somewhat more expensive than the game, but means you can see any and all iPad content via the big screen.