^ This right here. I'm tired of people going right to OMG DRAG RACING/NASCAR!!!!!!! Yes, thats a part of the american culture, but not the entire damn thing. Look at Fallout3/vegas, said to be 2 of the best games to come out on current consoles. Both made by the "western world" but enjoyed by all. Were talking about spicing things up that PD seem to just leave vacant. GT2 had it down packed with the races and series, with the HP/Weight/car limits. It just made for a much better game and thats where the "'western influence" would make this a much better game. So, please stop acting like its all about drag racing and nascar.
QFT. Elder Scrolls as well. Both western developers and Japanese ones brought astonishing games to the table. Lately, though, it feels like there are less and less really good games coming out in general.
But some Japanese developers really put me down, lately. Like SquarEnix with their Final Fail 13. MMO combat system (well, sort of) forced into turn based battless, a lame story and an absurdly linear gameplay in general, as well as (in my opinion) bland characters.
Thinking about it, I feel like the Japanese developers seem to only evolve their games superficially. The core remains the same, to a certain degree and, thus, seems more and more outdated. That's what I think about the Final Fantasy 13 example, at least: Combat, characters and graphics have been changed, but most of the gameplay itself could be from a game from the 1990s.
I kinda feel the same about Gran Turismo. PD tried to evolve their formula and added all kinds of fancy stuff - B-Spec, Phototravel, the Museum and so on, but the gameplay feels outdated, with its short career mode and the lack to actually 'work' on your cars (read: more in-depth tuning and [visual] modifications), for example.
Superficial evolution, when a little evolution to the core aspects of the game (the cars and racing, not only graphically) should be what's most important.