“Excuse me?” I replied.

“Just take your foot off the brake. The truck will do the rest.”

“It’s your $50,000 truck,” I shrugged and took my foot off the brake.

This is part of the unique entertainment, or as they call it “autotainment,” provided by The Drive, combination driving adventure and sales promotion sponsored by General Motors. The 11-acre facility is located directly behind The Sahara hotel on Paradise Road and offers visitors a chance to get behind the wheel of a variety of GM vehicles on a “high performance” road course and/or an off-road challenge.

Upon arrival in the giant tent-like pavilions, you are greeted and given a brief rundown of what’s about to happen. Then you have to step up to the breathalyzer and make sure that your night of partying hasn’t carried over to the morning after. A check of your license and a few signatures promising not to blame them if you break something while working out your inner Jeff Gordon, and away you go.

I visited the off-road courses first. There are two of them – an “extreme” version for the company’s aforementioned Hummer line and a slightly less adventurous version for vehicles like the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Silverado diesel pickup, or Chevy Tahoe SUV.

Say what you will about the eco-unfriendly Hummer (and God knows I wouldn’t want to have to fill one of those things up with gas with prices the way they are right now) but this machine really does the job it was intended to and running it through this course proves it. You will climb a short, vertical concrete wall, traverse berms that will leave you tilted at a 40-degree angle, run through ruts and over railroad ties that will put the vehicle on various combinations of only two-wheels at a time, and of course up and down the 15-foot tall, 60-degree up and down mountain. And yes, you can take your foot off the brake and the truck will make it's way, slowly, down the steep decline.

It may not sound like much but when you’re behind the wheel of a gargantuan machine staring what seems like straight up at the Stratosphere Tower’s thrill rides you realize you really don’t need to climb 1,000 feet in the air to get a few giddy kicks.

The lesser off-road course isn’t quite as exciting but let’s face it – the furthest off-road most Escalades get is the Target parking lot.

The performance course offers a wide choice of vehicles including the Cadillac STS-V or CTS-V, a Chevrolet Corvette coupe or convertible, a Pontiac GTO or Solstice roadster, or a Saab 9-3 convertible.

I started with the new Solstice roadster and should be put on a TV commercial talking about how smooth the clutch and shifter are. I haven’t driven a stick in years and I didn’t stall it once so you gotta give the machine credit.

You start the course at drag-strip inspired staging lights and the driving instructor that accompanied me on this trip came just shy of encouraging me to redline the motor, drop the clutch, and smoke the tires.

A long straight-away gets the speed up and then a sharp left turn takes you through a series of ess-curves. Then it’s another tight left, a couple of quick jogs back and forth and you’re back to the starting line for your next lap. It’s a short, and potentially very fast ride, but depending on the vehicle you choose it can be exhilarating. The Solstice was by far my favorite but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the STS-V or the Corvette.

Professional driving instructors accompany everyone on the trips around the courses but they are there merely to make sure you don’t get into trouble and not as baby-sitters. For most people they will probably encourage you to go further and faster than you are usually comfortable with. Everyone I rode with was terrific and friendly and I salute them because there’s no way I could stand being in the passenger seat of a car all day with people who drive like I do.

Despite being sponsored by and featuring GM vehicles, organizers of the attraction insist there will be no sales pitches for the cars, instead hoping that they will speak for themselves on (or off) the road. During my visit there was a little bit of “isn’t this feature cool?” or “this particular vehicle can do this better than [fill in the blank]” but there was absolutely zero effort or energy expended on trying to get you to actually visit a local Chevy or Pontiac dealer for an impulse purchase. Although, I’m sure they could probably arrange it if you asked.

The facility is open from 10am-6pm daily and costs $10 per driver. That fee includes two 2-lap trips around the performance loop in your choice of vehicles, two 1-lap trips around the off-road course in different trucks, or a 2-lap performance and a 1-lap off-road combo package. Passengers can come along at no extra cost but you have to pick a car with a back seat since, as mentioned, the passenger seat is reserved for the driver.

To participate you must be 18 years of age, present a valid driver’s license, sign a safety waiver, and pass that darned breathalyzer test.

The only significant problem with The Drive is that you can’t actually drive there since they took up the entire parking lot for the course. The only way to get there is to either take a taxi, park at The Sahara hotel and walk back toward the monorail station, or take the Las Vegas Monorail to the Sahara station and follow the signs.