"If you wonder how the frantic pace of F1 racing can be captured in a turn-based board game, Formula Dé and its board game counterpart proves how to do it. The game is played by rolling the dice that corresponds to the gear your car is currently in, then move your car the number of spaces shown by the die. At the end of your turn, your car is considered "stopped." The concept of stopping is important in negotiating corners, because you must make at least as many stops as shown on the yellow flag besides the corner. During a race, your car will suffer wear on five major parts (tyres, brakes, fuel, bodywork, and engine), each of which start with a fixed number of Wear Points. Similarly, every action you can perform in a real race is simulated by spending various kinds of points: Brake Points for braking, Tyre Points for overshooting a corner (imagine the tyres screeching), a combination of Fuel, Brake, and Engine Points for over-revving (i.e. skipping gears), and many more. Throw in collision and pit stops, and you have an incredibly realistic racing simulation that doesn't require reflexes to win.

Formula Dé is a very faithful PC conversion of the superb board game that adds many extras, including a track designer you can use to design your own circuit. You can even replace cars in the game by your own designs - even tanks (!) can be downloaded from the official site :) If you have played Formula Dé before, this fanmade Java underdog is a must-have. Although the website is in French, the game itself is in English.