Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360, 2007)

Forza Motorsport 2 is the best racing sim I've played to date. It builds on top of the original formula which Gran Turismo truly pioneered.

The thing that really set Forza apart from Gran Turismo has to be the car customization. It has got to be one of the most in depth customization feature in a game (besides Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition). You can truly make your car your own from painting the car, adding an incredible amount of graphic layers (do you know how many General Lee's I've seen online!?), even changing rim style, size and width!!! Think of Forza like the World of Warcraft of the car racing genre. Also Forza has actual damage (it's pretty good but not perfect, cars could fall apart more or crumple more) and you leave tread marks on the ground. That alone makes it more realistic than the GT series.

Another thing I have to give the Turn 10 team props for is the A.I. It's a very nice change to have a computer opponent that actually brakes early because you brake early and one that actually tries to go around you. And because the A.I. uses the same driving physics as the user it can make mistakes occasionally.

Once you've played enough of the single career and you got some sweet rides to compete with it's time to jump online. This portion of the game is sooo much fun. You really test your skill and vehicles abilities when you race against thousands that are out to do the same thing. Tuning becomes a big factor here. You want your car set up so it's easy for you to control and isn't sliding all over the place (even though yes it does look very cool). Also one setup might work great for let's say Leguna Seca (tight turns), but you might have to make a whole new setup for a track like Mazda Speed Way or New York (mainly top speed). Real world knowledge of cars and driving physics is an asset but it can be learned along the way.

This time around you can tell the physics have been tweaked and I think the cars are a little easier to control in this game compared to the first one. If you set a car up properly you can drift a whole course pretty easily (if you're good at counter steering) and make some pretty cool replay videos. The feel of the game feels like a mix between Forza and Gran Turismo 3, hard to put my finger on why but you'll get it when you play it.

My only problem with the game is I wish there were a few more tracks for variety (maybe some point to point racing?) and more deep dish rims to pick from. Both of which can be solved with down loadable content and neither are that big of a deal.

Overall pretty much any racing fan with a 360 should own this game. It can appeal to the casual racer or a hardcore driver (thanks to the ability to turn off or on assists, damage and difficulty levels). So basically what I'm saying is, if you like driving games BUY THIS ONE!!!