Forza Motorsport 3

Forza Motorsport 3 sure makes a grand entrance. The dreamy white menus, serene music, and imperious British announcer are racing game that your first impression is more Myst than fast cars. But really, that’s just a sign of what’s to come — this innovative, hugely fun, and massive game blows everything else off the track.

Let’s cut straight to the Achilles’ heel of Forza 2: graphics. That’s just not a problem in Forza 3, which looks like a high-end PC game thanks to visuals that are both beautiful and very different for Xbox 360. The lighting is shiny-bright, the colors are super-saturated, and many of the gorgeous textures seem photo-like (check out that pavement!). It really doesn’t look like anything else on 360, and we found that uniqueness as captivating as the game’s rocksolid frame rate.

The career mode, which before was a simplistic series of races, has also been reborn as Season Play. Don’t let its initial garage full of chumpy rides wilt your enthusiasm (we went for the Versa SL…over the Scion xD, Yaris, Fit Sport, and other tin cans) — you’ll get into some speed demons much more quickly now. But first, you’ll hit the new season calendar to pick your events from a small pool of options. Tons of game lurks behind that initially limited offering. In Forza 3, you earn XP as both a driver and for each such an enchanting departure for a individual car, and moving up in levels awards you free new rides. Every car in the game is available for purchase right from the beginning (though good luck with picking up that Ferrari until you’ve built up some serious funds), and if you don’t like the events presented to you when you fill your next hole on the season calendar, just back out and change cars to get new choices.

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