If you were stuck driving around the hopelessly congested and maddeningly tight London-area roads your whole life, you, too, would probably fantasize about exploding the areas around you to create new arteries. Such is the basis for Split/Second, the latest from the British blokes behind 2008’s out-of-left-field ATV-racing hit Pure.

We finally got behind the wheel on a couple of the game’s wealth of tracks in the Shipyard and Downtown areas. We tried two of the three car classes: the Supercars and Muscle cars (but not the Trucks). As the race began, our instincts told us, “Get to first place and hold it!” But with its clever Power Plays, Split/Second folds a bit of a wrinkle into that ingrained-in-our-DNA philosophy. Drift, draft, and overtake other cars, and you’ll fill your Power Play meter, conveniently located just beneath your bumper. Then press A to activate one and it’ll drain a segment from the bar in exchange for an explosion, falling object, or other environmental hazard designed to wreck the opponents ahead of you.

This means that if you’re in first place, you’re always the target. “If you’re in eighth place, you’re not helplessly last,” promises Black Rock studio ambassador Jay Green. “You can make up four places with a good Super Power Play.”

What? A Super Power Play? Yep, when you fill your U-shaped meter to capacity — the bar’s third segment is orange — you can unleash one of these pulverizers, which can drastically change the route of the track. In the Freight Harbour course, for instance, dropping a cargo ship from its suspended dock crushes anyone on the circuit below and forces everyone else to veer left. Your chance to bring the Super pain is indicated by an orange Power Play prompt instead of the standard blue one (and is activated by pressing B instead of A), and unlike the regular Plays, Supers are almost unavoidable by those you target. Though each run might have only a couple of Supers, expect the regular PPs to be peppered liberally throughout — we counted over a dozen on each track we tried.

As Split/Second enters its final polish phase, its sheen-y look is clean and reminiscent of Burnout, although its controls aren’t nearly as tight yet. Green informs us that car handling is among many variables Black Rock is tuning as the project nears conclusion, though, so we’re confident they’ll nail it. They’ve earned that trust after Pure, wouldn’t you agree?