Despite Midnight Club 3 being a far more forgiving game than MC2, Tokyo is still a tough city to master. This is partly due to it being carved up by a river and the bridges that link up the two sides of the city are troublingly narrow.
Trying to swing your rampaging muscle car round a hairpin bend to slip over an ornate matchstick-thin bridge isn't a welcome challenge when you're trying to defend the slimmest of leads.
The other town planning decisions that cause headaches are the numerous tunnels and flyovers. When trying to locate the next checkpoint you constantly have to be aware at what level it has been placed on – fail to take the correct slip road or neglect a tunnel entrance and the race could be prematurely over.
What makes it worse is that the AI drivers rarely make this type of mistake.
The presence of Tokyo has been seamlessly incorporated into the structure of MC3. It's the fourth city to be visited but, as you flit between locations rather than having to complete a whole city before moving on, it won't be too long before you're flashing your rims in the Japanese capital.
But, as Rockstar are so eager for gamers to experience MC2's neglected city, you'll be able to access Tokyo from the start in the Tokyo Challenge and play it separately from the main game.
