Racing Video Games

Microsoft's premiere driving simulation series revs up with its second high-definition release for Xbox 360, Forza Motorsport 3. The third in the series enhances or improves upon nearly all the key features of earlier games, while adding new driver-assisting functions to make play more accessible to a wider audience. Central to Forza 3 are detailed, virtual re-creations of more than 400 models of automobile, from 50 different manufacturers. Races may be run on more than 100 tracks, including old favorites and some new to the series, based on actual locations around the world. Graphically, the cars are built from over ten times the number of polygons used to create the cars in Forza 2. The game's physics model refines the systems used in the previous game, and developers worked with other driving-game experts as well as with representatives of several auto manufacturers, in their efforts to build-in authentic cause-and-effect elements in minute detail.

For more casual drivers, Forza 3 offers features such as auto-braking and computer-assisted tuning, allowing for a freer driving experience without the constant danger of a crash around each tight corner, or concerns about inefficient settings for the current road conditions. When accidents do happen, the game's new "rewind" feature allows the player to stop, roll back time, and try again. Meanwhile, the hardest-core of driving aficionados can eschew the computer assistance for realistically demanding experience, just as gearhead gamers are free to do their own custom tuning, with the ability to make essentially any adjustment to their virtual auto that could be made to its real-life counterpart, for realistic performance tweaks. Xbox Live-connected Forza 3 players can race against others online in a selection of events, and show off their favorite tunings and custom paint jobs. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Help the anthropomorphic animals from the Madagascar films win multiple go-kart championships in this four-player racing title from Activision. A total of nine themed environments are included, from a beach and volcano to a freighter and zoo, each offering hazards to avoid and power-ups to collect. Perform stunts, battle for three cups, and earn medals in one of four distinct vehicle classes: 50CC, 100CC, 150CC, and 200CC. Featured drivers include Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, Julien, the chimps, and the penguins. Play modes range from a Time Trial and Checkpoint Race to a Quick Race and Championship. As a special bonus, computer animated stars Shrek and B.O.B. (from Monsters vs. Aliens) are also included as playable characters. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

THQ's third game inspired by Pixar's hit computer animated film, Cars Race-O-Rama introduces 15 playable characters to go along with the existing cast from previous titles. You'll compete in a total of eight racing locales, from Radiator Springs Speedway and Santa Carburera to Motoropolis City and Autovia. The main storyline follows Lightning McQueen's effort to prepare his students for the Race-O-Rama competition. Rival Chick Hicks is doing the same, and he will stop at nothing to ensure his academy wins the prize -- including telling his students to cheat. A new drifting mechanic lets you power slide more easily around the courses, while performing stunts during races will rev up the paparazzi and crowd. Challenge a friend in a choice of missions, lap races, and other activities. Test your skills in all-new mini-games, including the "Mack Track Challenge," "Tractor Stampede," "Photo Op," "Auto Cross," and more. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Rockstar's Midnight Club racing series makes its first appearance on next-gen consoles after a three-year hiatus. Instead of solely focusing on the nighttime racing scene, Midnight Club features a 24-hour day-night cycle set in densely populated Los Angeles. Powered by the same graphics engine used in Grand Theft Auto IV, the title offers arcade-style racing from either a behind-the-car perspective or a dashboard viewpoint with working dials and animated steering wheels. There are no longer menu screens to navigate or linear missions to follow. The entire city is available to explore from the start, so players are free to travel wherever they want, looking for opponents to challenge in races designed to test their driving prowess. Up to four players can compete simultaneously online via Xbox Live.

Reputation points earned from races can be traded in for new vehicles, performance parts, and special race invitations. The digital version of Los Angeles is the largest city featured in a Midnight Club game to date. Spanning an area larger than all three cities combined in 2005's version, Midnight Club: Los Angeles has players switching between an aerial perspective to plan routes and a street level view to prowl for potential events. Initiating races involves flashing the vehicle's lights to signal an opponent and then driving to a designated start point. Any damage received while driving or racing can be repaired at various garages. Multiple vehicle types are available from different eras and include motorcycles. Midnight Club: Los Angeles also features a licensed soundtrack by popular recording artists.

The "Complete Edition" includes all previously released updates and the "South Central Expansion" content add-on pack. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Need for Speed: Shift represents both a literal and figurative changing of gears for EA's popular acing series, as primary development duties have been transferred from EA Black Box to Slightly Mad Studios, and the gameplay moves from arcade-style action to physics-based simulation. Everything in Shift is designed to convey a sense of realism, from the cockpit view and disorienting effects of crashes, to the more than 70 licensed vehicles and 15 real-world courses. A 3D heads-up display mimics the movements of a driver's head, while depth-of-field effects blur the screen to simulate speed, inertia, and G-forces.

The "Career" mode finds players participating in traditional circuits, sprints, time trials, drifting events, and model-specific races. Finishing on the podium or completing specific in-race tasks earns players stars that help unlock more events. Each event contributes information to a "Driver Profile" system that records the way players behave on the track, branding them as either precision drivers or aggressive drivers, and keeps track of how "good" players are with a "Driver Level" ranking. Gamers can take their driver level all the way up to 50, unlocking new vehicles, accessories, and garage slots at ever step. Need for Speed: Shift supports both local and online multiplayer racing. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

Codemasters' acclaimed off-road racing series continues with Dirt 2, which offers enhanced visuals, controls, and play mechanics over its power-sliding predecessor. A revamped single-player mode finds you starting out in the humble confines of an RV, where you'll begin your racing career. It's there where you'll meet driver Travis Pastrana, who gives you the keys to the late Colin McRae's blue Subaru and sends you on your way. You'll then compete in various locales around the world, from Los Angeles to Malaysia, interacting with such real-life drivers as Ken Block, Dave Mirra, and Tanner Faust while entering over 100 events designed to put your driving skills to the test. Earn upgrades to McRae's Subaru or acquire new cars along the way. Each event is geared toward a specific style of off-road racing, from Rallycross and Trailblazer to Landrush and Raid. Up to eight players can also compete online in any of the available game modes. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide

Fuel is an off-road racing game of grand scale and open-ended attitude. The racing takes place on and off 100,000 miles of track, in a 5,000 square mile area that comprises deserts, forests, and a hodge-podge of natural landmarks of the western U.S., including Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, the Bonneville Salt Flats, and the Grand Canyon. Players are free to explore the area as they wish, in one of the game's many two- or four-wheeled off-road vehicles. Different vehicles have different strengths and weakness in different types of terrain. Fuel is set in an alternate reality, in which whole regions of the world have been ravaged by climate change. Speed junkies now race through the abandoned wastelands, with scarce and valuable fuel as the ultimate prize. The game's single-player circuit poses particular rally course challenges, and gives players a chance to unlock new possibilities. Players are also free to create their own courses, by dropping waypoints across the map. Fuel features a day-and-night cycle and strategy-influencing weather effects, such as thunder and lightning, sandstorms, tornadoes, and blizzards. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Winter sports enthusiasts can take to 25 powdery trails aboard some of the finest sleds around in Ski-Doo: Snowmobile Challenge. Players can choose from 20 authentic Ski Doo snowmobiles, and a full line of real accessories and clothing, as they compete in frenzied snow-cross races, maximum torque hill climbs, and death-defying big-air stunt competitions. Gamers looking for more than single-player action can head online to scope out leaderboards and compete in tournaments. ~ All Game Guide

Wheelman is an automotive-action video game built on the framework of a Hollywood movie, starring Vin Diesel in the lead role. An open-world interpretation of Barcelona, Spain, is the setting for the violent driving adventure. Players take control of the character Milo Burik, an expert wheelman, modeled after Diesel. Burik's got a shady past he thought he'd left behind, but chivalry calls on him to ply his underworld street racing skills one more time, to infiltrate a crime organization and rescue a woman from his past. In addition to behind-the-wheel challenges of speed, stunts, and style, players will control Burik in missions that have him out of the vehicle and on foot, waging fistfights and gunfights from a Grand Theft Auto-style third-person perspective. High-speed tricks and stunts fuel the game's driving missions. The lead character can commandeer nearly any vehicle he comes across, and even leap from one moving car to take control of another, performing an in-motion "air jack." Announced in early 2006, Wheelman was created in collaboration with Diesel's Tigon Studios. A film version, continuing the story of the game began development at the same time as the video game. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

SBK: Superbike World Championship lets motorcycle racing enthusiasts climb aboard 22 different bikes and race around a dozen official Superbike World Championship courses. All of the real teams and riders from the circuit are available for use, and each bike can be realistically upgraded and tweaked with new tires, brakes, and adjustable suspension and gearing. Racers must deal with four different weather conditions, while advanced physics and rider AI are intended to produce an extremely realistic racing experience. Those who prefer arcade-style racing can make use of the five different pre-configured realism settings as they speed through "Instant Action," "Time Attack," "Race Weekend," "Championship," "Challenge," and "Quick Race" modes. Gamers looking for competition can head online for multiplayer Quick Races for up to eight. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide