WE ALL love to lay the black stuff, but these days burnouts are not only expensive, they’re also a bit of an issue as far as the rozzers are concerned – unless you have a private skid pan.

Torque Burnout comes to the rescue, offering hoop-frying fun literally in the palm of your hand on your iPhone, iPad or Android unit. The game, developed by Melbourne-based coding crew League Of Monkeys, delivers simple, accessible action for lovers of tyre-torturing mayhem.

It features a decent host of cars too. Even though official licensing and badging isn’t part of the deal, the bodyshells are instantly recognisable. There are many lookalike Crumpledores, WRXs and Yank tanks on offer, as well as some more unusual options like pumped-up Dattos, a ’Vette, and an insane supercharged Land Cruiser modelled on Tom Beltrame’s famous INFERNO FJ40. Plenty of other Aussie burnout icons are featured too, including KILLA-B, SICKO, FEAR, 1TUFHG and CUTSIK.

Holden is well-represented, with older HQs and even SL/R 5000 Toranas among the hoonable options. Ford fans can still roll with Henry, but there isn’t as decent a selection, with a modern Falcon lookalike, an Escort Mk1-styled shell and a Mustang. We liked some of the sillier rides, with the Suzuki microvan being perhaps the most ridiculous-looking machine once you option it up and let it loose on the skid pan.

Graphics-wise, Torque Burnout is a pretty nice-looking jigger, with decent smoke effects and some slickly rendered rides. You can customise the paintjobs too.

There are plenty of performance upgrades that you win by earning cash in competitions, or you can buy them by engaging in micro-transactions or shelling out real cash. It isn’t essential to do this to have fun with the game though, if you’re on a budget.

But the action is where it is at, and the game rewards you for performing different manoeuvres as you slide your car sideways, keep the wheels spinning and avoid the concrete walls. There are a few different moves to master beyond your basic doughnut, too. The game makes driving easy, with left and right steering arrows on the screen and individual brake and accelerator pedals. Your brake pedal also snaps you into reverse if you hold it for long enough. While driving you have to be aware of how hard you are going and be careful not to pop your tyres, though blowing them to kingdom come is bloody good fun!

Regularly updated with new cars, Torque Burnout is worth a look, even if the gameplay is fairly simple.