How to Drive delivers an exclusive preview to the track using clever moving graphics to demonstrate the optimum line through the corners, but it also explains a little of why a particular line is as it is. This is something your on­screen tutor Mark Hales believes is essential to learning the way round; if you know why, then you can more easily work out how.

If you have never been to a particular circuit, or are having trouble with part of the lap, How to Drive will point you in the right direction. The DVD format allows you to learn at your own speed, repeating sections until the point cannot help be made. It won’t replace a day at the track with an experienced instructor, but it will certainly make their job that much easier.

The on-car footage has been shot from a track­day favourite in the shape of a Caterham R300 Superlight, together with an extensive corner by corner guide. You can choose from the menu whether to play the lap continuously or to watch the corner by corner analysis with its extensive commentary and additional camera angles. There is even an overhead view of the track with the line painting itself on the road in real time.

By taking you through the corner many times and doing so from differing vantage points, the footage helps you build up a detailed mental image of where the circuit goes. When you do it for real, the image of the track – which way the road turns, what lies beyond that crest and so on, will already be familiar.

There is also a bit of fun; a ride round the same circuit in a top-spec Porsche road car, and a virtual race which will allow you to compare the cornering, braking and acceleration of two very different cars. The result is not always as predictable as you might think.