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Racing games have a long, storied history of the "get up and go fast" mentality and have excelled at offering those in any age bracket the opportunity to do just that whether they have the means to drive for themselves or not. The genre itself is escapism for many; a means of sitting back and taking a stroll in their favorite car, taking in the sights and sounds of the virtual environment around them. While others treat it as something more, a means of practice and even a means of celebrating car culture itself — you'd be hard pressed to find a single person that actively (and regularly) plays video games that's never laid hands on a racing game in their lives.
With so many of us here specializing in the genre, it begs the question: what racing games would make your all time top ten list? With an abundance of offers on the table, each with their own charms and personality, there's — and we can't emphasize this enough — a lot to choose from.
For me, this was an incredibly difficult list to make and while some decisions were far more obvious/apparent, others took a fair bit of consideration on my part. I'll start with my top ten of all time and I hope you'll share yours. Offer a short blurb of what piqued your interest in the game, how it was significant to your tastes going forward — whatever you want.
10 - Burnout Revenge (2005)
I know what you're thinking: "T, what the hell? Why isn't this Burnout 3: Takedown?!" I never purchased Burnout 3, however, even with that said, it still played a vital role as it's because of the Takedown demo I would purchase Revenge when it released in the first place. I spent a unholy amount of time crashing, racing and destroying everything in my wake in this game. The soundtrack was phenomenal, the physics were pure arcade bliss, and making the AI eat a plate of poo is one of the most satisfying feelings one can possibly have in a video game. Best of all, it's highly encouraged!
Burnout Revenge is, without any question, one of the most fun games I've ever played in all of my days.
9 - Driveclub (2014)
In my mind, this is the spiritual successor to Project Gotham Racing (this isn't the last time you'll see this mentioned, trust me). To this day, January 21, 2023, Driveclub still has audio that rivals the likes of Forza Horizon 5 and any other console racer you can think of. It will put up one hell of a fight, bloodied nose and all, and the same holds true for its visuals. Don't believe me? If you own the game, fire it up and take a lap around venue in any weather condition, and then fire up GT Sport and/or GT7, and keep this in mind: Driveclub released in 2014. It was a little too ahead of its time in some ways and behind in others. While its launch was troublesome, its post launch support was stellar. Its weather effects rival, well, any racer currently on the market by a considerable margin.
Unfortunately for us, there will never be a Driveclub 2 as the doors to Evolution Studios were closed in 2006. There's no telling what the series may have evolved into and it will forever be a "what if" scenario.
8 - Forza Horizon (2012)
What happens when you take Forza Motorsport, throw out the rule book and let players roam free? You get the original Forza Horizon, that's what. Set in Colorado, Forza Horizon is the franchise's first foray into an open world environment and it was a smashing success. No longer confined to laps around a track, you could now lay your foot down and listen to the wide open throttle of all your favorite cars as they darted down the streets and highways of Colorado.
I haven't been able to quantify what it is yet, but there's a quality about the original that the succeeding titles haven't been able to replicate. It's not the fact that FH1 is the first (and so far only) to offer a rally expansion because that can easily be overlooked. Nor is it the open world because, let's be honest, 2-5 has more of an "open" environment that FH1 ever had and they're all larger to boot. There is something — some kind of charm or nuance — that the original has that sticks with me more than the others though. Perhaps it's just that it's the first and nothing else. Regardless, FH1 has a special place in my heart and that will always be the case.
Of course, roaming free isn't all the original Horizon offered as there was a story (and even cutscenes!) as well. It was a virtual playground to explore to your heart's content and there's no way I'm going to pretend it didn't set off a major rejuvenation of sorts in the genre. However, I'm also not going to pretend Forza Horizon is the first to do it on this scale. In fact, there's a certain Atari title that released almost six years prior that tackled an open world racer first and, quite honestly, did (and still does) a lot of things better. If you're wondering why this isn't higher up on my list...
7 - Test Drive Unlimited (2006)
...This would be the reason. Let's get the obvious out of the way first: yes, Forza Horizon has better visuals, better audio, and better physics. These points will never be argued to the contrary. Ever. What can be argued is TDU was the first on the scene and approaches things in a way that is wholly realistic for its premise: the life of the rich and famous.
I spent hundreds of hours acquiring, buying, unlocking, customizing, and racing in the original TDU. The game unquestionably served as a blueprint for what would become Forza Horizon, The Crew, etc — they all owe gratitude to TDU because without it, they're unlikely to exist in their current iterations/capacity, if at all. It would take until Forza Horizon 4 to allow players to purchase homes and TDU still approaches that feature better than FH4 and FH5. While the cop pursuits were a bit (and that's being polite) ill-thought and implemented, the game had so much to offer that it was only a blemish on its otherwise clean record. Every individual car had its own HUD cluster, you could customize the interior colors, wheels, and aero options (if any) at the dealership (yes, there were dealerships that you'd drive to/discover) and it was all complimentary of every other feature in the game.
TDU wasn't perfect, far from it in fact. However, while the statement about Driveclub being ahead of its time may seem a tad hyperbolic, TDU truly fits that bill. Solar Crown has a lot to live up to
6 - Assetto Corsa (2014)
What is there for me to say about Assetto Corsa? I've sunk more time into this than any other racing sim in the past...10 years or so. While it was originally a PC exclusive it would eventually make its way to consoles in 2016, but for my purposes we'll be focusing on the PC version. Let's just jump right into it: mods. There are a copious, stupid amount of mods for Assetto Corsa and they all offer something different.
If there's a track or a car you fancy, there's a high likelihood that a mod of it exists. There aren't enough good things I can say about the game. It plays brilliantly with a wheel (even more so if you use a custom FFB LUT) and a controller, and if you're tired of its aged looks, you can get the Custom Shaders Patch alongside Content Manager and inject a near next-generation visual overhaul with little difficulty. I love AC for everything it does and can't get enough of it. Nearing 10 years later and I'm still actively playing this game and enjoying it. That alone should speak volumes.
5 - Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005)
Now we're getting into the top 5, the nitty-gritty of the list and there's absolutely no way, no how, that the original Most Wanted isn't in my all-time top 5. I've purchased this game three times: originally on the Xbox, then again on the Xbox 360, and then a final time on PC. I've beaten the game, from beginning to end, multiple times, on every single platform I've listed. To say I loved the original Most Wanted would be a gross understatement, I feel.
"T, what about Underground?" I loved Underground but it doesn't strike the same chords as MW. I would spend 15-20 minutes (if not substantially more) getting into police chases because I wanted my bounty to be sky high and then some; I wanted to get into as much trouble as the game would allow, and it was a rush that carried through into every event in the game whether there were any pursuits or not. The 2005 racer is such a blueprint, the BMW M3 GTR — the game's hero car — has weaseled its way into almost every single NFS game since, adorned with its iconic livery.
The soundtrack is amazing, with a good deal finding its way into my Spotify playlist. The game itself is still my measuring stick for NFS games and while that's unfair to a degree as times have changed, it speaks to the sheer amount of fun it offers.
4 - Forza Motorsport 4 (2010)
Were you not expecting to see this? FM4 is to Forza what GT3 (or 4, depending on who you ask) is to Gran Turismo: the measuring stick. FM4 does a lot right, seemingly too much as it was to the detriment of the series going forward. The Top Gear partnership, Autovista, the world tour mode, the cars, tracks, it was all fantastic. This was a toss-up (for me) between this and FM3. Why 3, you ask? While I've been playing Forza since the beginning, prior to FM3 I was only ever able to maintain interest up to hitting driver level 30. Arbitrary, I know, but it was a thing for me and FM3 broke that by a considerable margin. It's also worth mentioning that FM3's menu soundtrack is the best the series has ever had in my opinion.
There's also a bit of a special place here as FM4 is what would lead to ForzaPlanet being created and would give me the freedom to essentially run a forum and news page. Still a wild thing to this day and I'll always be thankful to the boss man @Jordan for the opportunity. While this is the only game on the list I haven't gone back to replay recently, there's no denying the impact it had on everything.
If Forza Motorsport can rekindle this flame and deliver on many (and more) of the same aspects, it will be an instant winner in my book.
3 - GTR 2 (2006)
Now we're here at the top three and there's no better class for this game to be in than here. I bought this on a pure whim at J&R Music World on November 22, 2006 at 6 in the evening. No, I didn't remember all of that on my own, bar the store I bought it from and it being on a whim, everything else came from the receipt that's still in the box.
There is no underselling how important and big of a role GTR 2 played for me getting into PC sim racing. This game was my everything, and I mean my everything. The visuals, the sounds, the venues, the physics — it was unlike anything I had ever played prior. One of my favorite cars to race was the S7R and I remember modding it (this is a few years after I picked it up) to the point where it had so much horsepower that the engine would catch fire if the throttle were wide open for any longer than three seconds or so.
It was an absolute blast. The Super GT, GT500, Le Mans, Prototype, street cars, the stupid amount of mods available for the game left me with more to do than I could ever possibly indulge (RIP nogripracing). Without GTR 2, I never would have discovered rFactor (which I also bought soon after), Ferrari Virtual Academy (anyone remember this?), Assetto Corsa, and the list could go on. It's because of GTR 2 that I love the A1 Ring (Red Bull Ring) as much as I do, and Fuji Speedway (it was the test site for the above S7R "adventure"), and it's also the reason I bought Race Pro on the 360. I saw the game on the shelf, saw that it was developed by SimBin, and that's all I needed to know.
In many ways, GTR 2 is my sim racing renaissance and is unequivocally responsible for me playing any PC racing sim. It played that big of a role and the only reason it isn't higher is for reasons that will soon become apparent.
2 - Project Gotham Racing 3 (2005)
If you've never played PGR 3, you're missing out on one of the best arcade racing games I have ever played, bar none. It was a launch title for the Xbox 360 and for a good reason because Bizarre Creations knocked it well out of the park with this. The selection of cars, the cities that you race in, it feels like a master class in how to make a game fun with a visual representation that matches. You like Autovista? PGR 3 did it first. Granted, Auto/Forzavista would take the feature one step further by allowing the engine bay, doors, etc, to be opened and interacted with, PGR 3 put you in your garages and would let you gawk at the cars in a fidelity that seemed absolutely mind-boggling at the time.
Did I mention PGR 3 is singlehandedly responsible for me loving Classical music? Every time I turned the game on, I would immediately tune to the classical station if it weren't set already. I didn't listen to anything else. Going around corners in style with Beethoven playing in my ear? Is there anything better? No. The answer is no.
The physics were delightful. It wasn't an arcade racer trying to be a sim trying to be an arcade, no, PGR 3 knew exactly what it was and it emphasized upon it to the nth degree. Powersliding through corners, drafting off your opponents, overtaking, drifting, take corners cleanly or stylishly — PGR 3 wanted you have to fun the best you could. And the audio...for point of reference, PGR 3 (and later PGR 4) were used in comparison videos against GT5, GT6, Forza 3, Forza 4, and even Forza 5, and it came out on top 8-9 out of 10 times. That alone should tell you everything you need to know.
Its audio direction was the measuring stick for a while, long after its time in the sun even. Why not PGR 4, you ask? That's simple. As much as I love 4 and for everything it does better, I played 3 more. I love Project Gotham Racing, it's one of my favorite games without any question, but there's only one game that I can think of that tops it on my list.
1 - Gran Turismo 2 (1999)
You hear it, don't you? My Favourite Game by The Cardigans. Very relevant, very fitting.
If you know me, you saw this coming from 127 miles away. Gran Turismo 2 is my favorite GT game of all time and there's no sugarcoating that whatsoever. While it wasn't the first GT game I ever played (that honor goes to GT3) it was the first one I bought because I didn't have a PS2 at the time. GT2 introduced me to so many cars I'd never heard of and manufacturers I never knew existed. To be fair, some of the cars don't actually exist but that's neither here nor there.
The amount of times I've replayed this game and done so differently every single time is amazing even to me. My path eventually narrows down to the same stuff: get this car and then run roughshod of everything and laugh maniacally while doing so. The US soundtrack during races is something I'd never turn off, in fact every single song is in my Spotify playlist. I get urges to replay GT2 regularly and the game has had a profound effect on my love of racing games and perhaps sim racing as a whole. Of course GT2 doesn't compare to anything modern but there's no denying that without Gran Turismo, console sim racing likely wouldn't be where it is now. Forza Motorsport wouldn't exist in its current capacity, as it likely would have been influenced by something else.
I remember my very first playthrough vaguely, but I'm fairly certain one of my first "good" cars was the Cougar XR7 and that would eventually carry me through to some of the better cars and more rewarding races. What a tail happy thing it is though, good gracious. GT2 is a timeless classic that, even four console generations later I still play it and have more fun with it than should be allowed. There aren't enough good things I can possibly say about GT2 and it (perhaps unfairly) is the measuring stick for me against other GT games in more than a few ways.
With so many of us here specializing in the genre, it begs the question: what racing games would make your all time top ten list? With an abundance of offers on the table, each with their own charms and personality, there's — and we can't emphasize this enough — a lot to choose from.
For me, this was an incredibly difficult list to make and while some decisions were far more obvious/apparent, others took a fair bit of consideration on my part. I'll start with my top ten of all time and I hope you'll share yours. Offer a short blurb of what piqued your interest in the game, how it was significant to your tastes going forward — whatever you want.
10 - Burnout Revenge (2005)
I know what you're thinking: "T, what the hell? Why isn't this Burnout 3: Takedown?!" I never purchased Burnout 3, however, even with that said, it still played a vital role as it's because of the Takedown demo I would purchase Revenge when it released in the first place. I spent a unholy amount of time crashing, racing and destroying everything in my wake in this game. The soundtrack was phenomenal, the physics were pure arcade bliss, and making the AI eat a plate of poo is one of the most satisfying feelings one can possibly have in a video game. Best of all, it's highly encouraged!
Burnout Revenge is, without any question, one of the most fun games I've ever played in all of my days.
9 - Driveclub (2014)
In my mind, this is the spiritual successor to Project Gotham Racing (this isn't the last time you'll see this mentioned, trust me). To this day, January 21, 2023, Driveclub still has audio that rivals the likes of Forza Horizon 5 and any other console racer you can think of. It will put up one hell of a fight, bloodied nose and all, and the same holds true for its visuals. Don't believe me? If you own the game, fire it up and take a lap around venue in any weather condition, and then fire up GT Sport and/or GT7, and keep this in mind: Driveclub released in 2014. It was a little too ahead of its time in some ways and behind in others. While its launch was troublesome, its post launch support was stellar. Its weather effects rival, well, any racer currently on the market by a considerable margin.
Unfortunately for us, there will never be a Driveclub 2 as the doors to Evolution Studios were closed in 2006. There's no telling what the series may have evolved into and it will forever be a "what if" scenario.
8 - Forza Horizon (2012)
What happens when you take Forza Motorsport, throw out the rule book and let players roam free? You get the original Forza Horizon, that's what. Set in Colorado, Forza Horizon is the franchise's first foray into an open world environment and it was a smashing success. No longer confined to laps around a track, you could now lay your foot down and listen to the wide open throttle of all your favorite cars as they darted down the streets and highways of Colorado.
I haven't been able to quantify what it is yet, but there's a quality about the original that the succeeding titles haven't been able to replicate. It's not the fact that FH1 is the first (and so far only) to offer a rally expansion because that can easily be overlooked. Nor is it the open world because, let's be honest, 2-5 has more of an "open" environment that FH1 ever had and they're all larger to boot. There is something — some kind of charm or nuance — that the original has that sticks with me more than the others though. Perhaps it's just that it's the first and nothing else. Regardless, FH1 has a special place in my heart and that will always be the case.
Of course, roaming free isn't all the original Horizon offered as there was a story (and even cutscenes!) as well. It was a virtual playground to explore to your heart's content and there's no way I'm going to pretend it didn't set off a major rejuvenation of sorts in the genre. However, I'm also not going to pretend Forza Horizon is the first to do it on this scale. In fact, there's a certain Atari title that released almost six years prior that tackled an open world racer first and, quite honestly, did (and still does) a lot of things better. If you're wondering why this isn't higher up on my list...
7 - Test Drive Unlimited (2006)
...This would be the reason. Let's get the obvious out of the way first: yes, Forza Horizon has better visuals, better audio, and better physics. These points will never be argued to the contrary. Ever. What can be argued is TDU was the first on the scene and approaches things in a way that is wholly realistic for its premise: the life of the rich and famous.
I spent hundreds of hours acquiring, buying, unlocking, customizing, and racing in the original TDU. The game unquestionably served as a blueprint for what would become Forza Horizon, The Crew, etc — they all owe gratitude to TDU because without it, they're unlikely to exist in their current iterations/capacity, if at all. It would take until Forza Horizon 4 to allow players to purchase homes and TDU still approaches that feature better than FH4 and FH5. While the cop pursuits were a bit (and that's being polite) ill-thought and implemented, the game had so much to offer that it was only a blemish on its otherwise clean record. Every individual car had its own HUD cluster, you could customize the interior colors, wheels, and aero options (if any) at the dealership (yes, there were dealerships that you'd drive to/discover) and it was all complimentary of every other feature in the game.
TDU wasn't perfect, far from it in fact. However, while the statement about Driveclub being ahead of its time may seem a tad hyperbolic, TDU truly fits that bill. Solar Crown has a lot to live up to
6 - Assetto Corsa (2014)
What is there for me to say about Assetto Corsa? I've sunk more time into this than any other racing sim in the past...10 years or so. While it was originally a PC exclusive it would eventually make its way to consoles in 2016, but for my purposes we'll be focusing on the PC version. Let's just jump right into it: mods. There are a copious, stupid amount of mods for Assetto Corsa and they all offer something different.
If there's a track or a car you fancy, there's a high likelihood that a mod of it exists. There aren't enough good things I can say about the game. It plays brilliantly with a wheel (even more so if you use a custom FFB LUT) and a controller, and if you're tired of its aged looks, you can get the Custom Shaders Patch alongside Content Manager and inject a near next-generation visual overhaul with little difficulty. I love AC for everything it does and can't get enough of it. Nearing 10 years later and I'm still actively playing this game and enjoying it. That alone should speak volumes.
5 - Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005)
Now we're getting into the top 5, the nitty-gritty of the list and there's absolutely no way, no how, that the original Most Wanted isn't in my all-time top 5. I've purchased this game three times: originally on the Xbox, then again on the Xbox 360, and then a final time on PC. I've beaten the game, from beginning to end, multiple times, on every single platform I've listed. To say I loved the original Most Wanted would be a gross understatement, I feel.
"T, what about Underground?" I loved Underground but it doesn't strike the same chords as MW. I would spend 15-20 minutes (if not substantially more) getting into police chases because I wanted my bounty to be sky high and then some; I wanted to get into as much trouble as the game would allow, and it was a rush that carried through into every event in the game whether there were any pursuits or not. The 2005 racer is such a blueprint, the BMW M3 GTR — the game's hero car — has weaseled its way into almost every single NFS game since, adorned with its iconic livery.
The soundtrack is amazing, with a good deal finding its way into my Spotify playlist. The game itself is still my measuring stick for NFS games and while that's unfair to a degree as times have changed, it speaks to the sheer amount of fun it offers.
4 - Forza Motorsport 4 (2010)
Were you not expecting to see this? FM4 is to Forza what GT3 (or 4, depending on who you ask) is to Gran Turismo: the measuring stick. FM4 does a lot right, seemingly too much as it was to the detriment of the series going forward. The Top Gear partnership, Autovista, the world tour mode, the cars, tracks, it was all fantastic. This was a toss-up (for me) between this and FM3. Why 3, you ask? While I've been playing Forza since the beginning, prior to FM3 I was only ever able to maintain interest up to hitting driver level 30. Arbitrary, I know, but it was a thing for me and FM3 broke that by a considerable margin. It's also worth mentioning that FM3's menu soundtrack is the best the series has ever had in my opinion.
There's also a bit of a special place here as FM4 is what would lead to ForzaPlanet being created and would give me the freedom to essentially run a forum and news page. Still a wild thing to this day and I'll always be thankful to the boss man @Jordan for the opportunity. While this is the only game on the list I haven't gone back to replay recently, there's no denying the impact it had on everything.
If Forza Motorsport can rekindle this flame and deliver on many (and more) of the same aspects, it will be an instant winner in my book.
3 - GTR 2 (2006)
Now we're here at the top three and there's no better class for this game to be in than here. I bought this on a pure whim at J&R Music World on November 22, 2006 at 6 in the evening. No, I didn't remember all of that on my own, bar the store I bought it from and it being on a whim, everything else came from the receipt that's still in the box.
There is no underselling how important and big of a role GTR 2 played for me getting into PC sim racing. This game was my everything, and I mean my everything. The visuals, the sounds, the venues, the physics — it was unlike anything I had ever played prior. One of my favorite cars to race was the S7R and I remember modding it (this is a few years after I picked it up) to the point where it had so much horsepower that the engine would catch fire if the throttle were wide open for any longer than three seconds or so.
It was an absolute blast. The Super GT, GT500, Le Mans, Prototype, street cars, the stupid amount of mods available for the game left me with more to do than I could ever possibly indulge (RIP nogripracing). Without GTR 2, I never would have discovered rFactor (which I also bought soon after), Ferrari Virtual Academy (anyone remember this?), Assetto Corsa, and the list could go on. It's because of GTR 2 that I love the A1 Ring (Red Bull Ring) as much as I do, and Fuji Speedway (it was the test site for the above S7R "adventure"), and it's also the reason I bought Race Pro on the 360. I saw the game on the shelf, saw that it was developed by SimBin, and that's all I needed to know.
In many ways, GTR 2 is my sim racing renaissance and is unequivocally responsible for me playing any PC racing sim. It played that big of a role and the only reason it isn't higher is for reasons that will soon become apparent.
2 - Project Gotham Racing 3 (2005)
If you've never played PGR 3, you're missing out on one of the best arcade racing games I have ever played, bar none. It was a launch title for the Xbox 360 and for a good reason because Bizarre Creations knocked it well out of the park with this. The selection of cars, the cities that you race in, it feels like a master class in how to make a game fun with a visual representation that matches. You like Autovista? PGR 3 did it first. Granted, Auto/Forzavista would take the feature one step further by allowing the engine bay, doors, etc, to be opened and interacted with, PGR 3 put you in your garages and would let you gawk at the cars in a fidelity that seemed absolutely mind-boggling at the time.
Did I mention PGR 3 is singlehandedly responsible for me loving Classical music? Every time I turned the game on, I would immediately tune to the classical station if it weren't set already. I didn't listen to anything else. Going around corners in style with Beethoven playing in my ear? Is there anything better? No. The answer is no.
The physics were delightful. It wasn't an arcade racer trying to be a sim trying to be an arcade, no, PGR 3 knew exactly what it was and it emphasized upon it to the nth degree. Powersliding through corners, drafting off your opponents, overtaking, drifting, take corners cleanly or stylishly — PGR 3 wanted you have to fun the best you could. And the audio...for point of reference, PGR 3 (and later PGR 4) were used in comparison videos against GT5, GT6, Forza 3, Forza 4, and even Forza 5, and it came out on top 8-9 out of 10 times. That alone should tell you everything you need to know.
Its audio direction was the measuring stick for a while, long after its time in the sun even. Why not PGR 4, you ask? That's simple. As much as I love 4 and for everything it does better, I played 3 more. I love Project Gotham Racing, it's one of my favorite games without any question, but there's only one game that I can think of that tops it on my list.
1 - Gran Turismo 2 (1999)
You hear it, don't you? My Favourite Game by The Cardigans. Very relevant, very fitting.
If you know me, you saw this coming from 127 miles away. Gran Turismo 2 is my favorite GT game of all time and there's no sugarcoating that whatsoever. While it wasn't the first GT game I ever played (that honor goes to GT3) it was the first one I bought because I didn't have a PS2 at the time. GT2 introduced me to so many cars I'd never heard of and manufacturers I never knew existed. To be fair, some of the cars don't actually exist but that's neither here nor there.
The amount of times I've replayed this game and done so differently every single time is amazing even to me. My path eventually narrows down to the same stuff: get this car and then run roughshod of everything and laugh maniacally while doing so. The US soundtrack during races is something I'd never turn off, in fact every single song is in my Spotify playlist. I get urges to replay GT2 regularly and the game has had a profound effect on my love of racing games and perhaps sim racing as a whole. Of course GT2 doesn't compare to anything modern but there's no denying that without Gran Turismo, console sim racing likely wouldn't be where it is now. Forza Motorsport wouldn't exist in its current capacity, as it likely would have been influenced by something else.
I remember my very first playthrough vaguely, but I'm fairly certain one of my first "good" cars was the Cougar XR7 and that would eventually carry me through to some of the better cars and more rewarding races. What a tail happy thing it is though, good gracious. GT2 is a timeless classic that, even four console generations later I still play it and have more fun with it than should be allowed. There aren't enough good things I can possibly say about GT2 and it (perhaps unfairly) is the measuring stick for me against other GT games in more than a few ways.
Opened up a whole new world of cars.
). You'll notice most of my past choices have sequels or earlier instalments which are better, and this is no exception, but GT3 was the perfect transition between being accessible and overly anal. GT4 still impressed me on a technical level with its amount of detail and car selection, but I thought the handling model was more fun in 3, even if it wasn't more realistic. It drags towards the end game for sure, and the car list is lacking in certain areas, yet I still love everything about it.
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