The Return of the Greatest Racing Franchise
587975
There are very few games on any console that can be as addictive as the Gran Turismo series, especially if you are a car or racing fanatic. GT5:Prologue certainly continues that radition of addictive gameplay and the most beautiful car renderings at least I have ever seen on a computer, console or pretty much anything that is not the real thing.

Taking into account the fact that this is not the full version of what will eventually be GT5, and also that we are paying a lower price for it, it's very easy to forgive such a short game. I guess it could be called a preview. In fact if you look at it that way this game is huge considering the above. However its not without its flaws.

The graphics in this game really show the PS3 hardware capabitlity and the car models have so much setail it's sick. Right down to the details of the wheels and the detph of the tread in the tires. Just when you thought the cars couldn't look any better in GT4, they come up with this. In this regard, as well as track accuracy, this game has no equal.

The menus are also beautiful although I found them a bit frustrating, especially when trying to buy cars. I understand that theres a lot of info to load but sometimes it feels like scrolling through the menus is taking forever. They seem less intuitive. Details like in past editions, when you finished a race and had the different options before you, all you had to do to exit was hit the left d-pad and you were in the exit icon. Now you have to scroll through all the otions to hit exit. Its small thinga like that that make the menus a little clumsy. Thats not to say they are not beautiful. Watching your active car posing at all those different locales is kind of breathtaking. Its like combining the menu options with the photo mode in GT4 except you don't need any extra memory space and you get to watch all the time.

To upgrade your cars, you first have to finish the first three race classes C, B, and A. This opens the S class which is really challenging because the cars are awarded performance points based on your modifications and the races have point limits. This makes the racing very even and forces you to win by driving skill. You cant win on horsepower alone. It almost make me glad there are so few tracks because you really have to learn them to be successfull in the S Class. It reminds me of GT2 in that it had Power restrictions to enter the different races. Even though its all fun and good it is the upgrading part of the game that both worries and dissapoints me.

Once you have the option, the upgrade menu is a series of parameters where you adjust horsepower, weight, ride height etc... This is so NOT the way it was done in the past. To upgrade your car you had to buy parts and if you were serious about it you would go and test the results of your upgrade at the test tracks. This is the way its done in the real world. Why change such a crucial part of the game that way? If you want a powerful car you just hit the HP parameter all the way up and the weight all the way down and thats it. No work on your part. Also, you get to change paramenters right before a race. You cant work on your car at any other time. And also you cant change wheels, spoilers... nothing cosmetic. I'm not one to "rice" my cars a la Need for Speed but I expect some form of customization.

This really worries me because it might be a sign of things to come. I can understand why it was done in this version but it would take so much out of the full version of the game it scares me. I only can hope it fixed for GT5. I also hope that this is not the price we are paying for having Ferrari finnally in the game.

Having said all that, this game is lot deeper than what it's name implies. The controls are right on and realistic and of course its incredibly beautiful. It's one of the most engaging experiences on the PS3 right now. Be warned: This game will draw you in and won't let go for a long time. Probably until GT5 comes out.
3368334
F1 Championship Season 2000 is an excellent step up from the former F1 2000.  Both games are enjoyable, but most importantly, they're both driveable, unlike virtually all the F1-based games for PSX (except the Greatest Hits game Formula1).
Those who have previously played F1 2000 will instantly recognize that F1CS2K is largely based on its predecessor.  However, the physics engine has been updated, including new car set-up options (such as Rear Spoiler).  Due to the upgraded physics engine, it is difficult to use the same driving approaches in both games, but F1CS2K's physics engine actually increases both playability and believeability... and overall survival at Monaco!!
However, F1CS2K provides more features than its predecessor.  For those just beginning with F1 racing games, Training Mode is absolutely important, allowing the player to both learn the courses (including corner/segment names) and receive visual and auditory tips and feedback concerning each course's corners and tricky areas.  Scenario Mode is great for everyone from novices to experts, challenging all players to raise their skill level as they progress through its fourteen stages of real-world F1 racing concerns, from simply finishing at or above a certain position, to coping with problems such as engine misfire.
The visual detail is quite impressive.  Clouds are reflected on the shiny surface of the cars.  The grooves on the tires attract the eye.  There are still some minor pop-in issues as certain textures/patterns come into view, but this is really barely noticeable, especially when contending with a large pack of traffic.
The sounds are better overall.  Most impressive is the higher-pitched sounds of the cars, closer to actual F1 engines.  This higher pitch also carries further, allowing the player to better hear other cars located elsewhere on the circuit.  The team radio provides more information, which can be of great benefit to the attentive player.
My only major complaint is the French-language option of the game.  I speak fluent French, but the voice heard over the radio is extremely difficult to understand.  This is not simply an issue of divided concentration (focusing on the race and focusing on the voice); the problem is the voice-acting itself.
One tip which will definitely help in playing virtually all racing games:  Buy or rent any game of the Gran Turismo series and complete all the license tests.  Among other things, the license tests will teach how to handle different types of cars and how to approach different types of corners in both flat and hilly conditions.  The latter is especially important to F1 racing; for example, the Interlagos circuit itself has 90-degree corners, J-turns, chicanes, and severe elevation changes, including the deadly left-hand steep-downhill Turn 1 at the end of a lengthy stretch of flat-out acceleration.
3296619
what the hell happened, this used to be the greatest racing game period, ive played every one since GT2 and i don't understand what happened where is career mode? where are the used cars that can be tuned? why is everything online based. Ive been waiting years for this game to come out and i must say it is by far the biggest let down for a game release ive ever experienced. Wish i could return it. Shame on you Polyphony
621776
Wow...how could you not give this game a 5 star rating?it's the first racing game to let you use NOS,the first racing game to have you involved in the game even when finding people to race instead of just signing up for events like in Test Drive or Apex.
The graphics are good,LA,Paris,and tokyo has insane jumps and good backgrounds,plus the the AI comes off challenging but still beatable. My only complaint is the lack of a custom soundtrack option.it would be awesome to drive around listening to the 2 fast 2 furious soundtrack or some 50 Cent or JT Money. Anyway you gotta go buy this game right now.get your a$$ out of that chair you're sitting in reading this and go to your nearest [local store]and pick it up!
2201370
Forza Motorsport is Microsoft's  grand attempt at breaking the strangle hold that Grand Turismo has had on the racing simulation.  The attempt is certainly a very impressive one and quite welcome as well.  First of all we start with vehicle selection of over 200 cars from Ford, Nissan, Porsche, Mecedes and more that will be available through content download off X-Box Live.  With this many cars to choose from, it makes for great replay capability.  The game features several different modes of play including Arcade, career and of course multi-player online, also greatly adding to the replay value.

In Arcade mode you can compete in six different vehicle classes.  Most of the cars are selectable but many have to be unlocked through gameplay.  In all the arcade mode offers 186 races in 31 different events making it a tremendous challenge.  But Forza Motorsport really shines with the tremendous career mode option.  You start by selecting your home region which dictates the cars that are available for use with a starting number of six in each region.  From there you start your career at the bottom in the amateur circuit to race and build credits towards buying new cars, buying parts or making modifications to your existing ride.  Just the paint and decal selections to modify your car's look offers hundreds of options.  Credits are also used to unlock higher levels of competition to get more challenges.  There is also a pretty cool reward system where you can gain discounts on parts from certain manufacturers.  When it comes right down to it, the sheer number of option and modifications that you have available to you can be pretty overwhelming, but if you're looking for depth in this department then this is the game for you.

The graphics and sound are just fabulous and top Grand Turismo in every way.  The cars look showroom accurate and the various tracks and locations you race on are just stunning!  The music offers several options including adding your own custom soundtracks.  With it's sheer number of options and great play Forza Motorsport is a fantastic race simulation.
1444708
I loved the now defunct CART series! I'm mid 20's now but growing up I remember pacing around the living room when I was 7 or 8 cheering for Alex Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser and Team Target. The Dreamcast was my second console and I got this game long after it was discontinued but recently when I went to play it I had allot of fun. It has a bunch of great racetracks on there; Laguna Seca, Long Beach, Motegi, Milwaukee, Surfers Paradise, Portland, ect. Of course it unfortunately didn't have Indianapolis because of the open wheel split at the time.

It had all the drivers in CART at the time of its release besides Michael Andretti who was replaced by his car owner Carl Hass; All Unser JR, Paul Tracy, Gil De Ferren, Tony Kannan, Heilio Catastrophes, Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, and Greg Moore who was eerily on the press start screen before the main menu. Flag to Flag was released with the Dreamcast on 9-9-99 and Greg Moore would die in a tragic accident at Fontana a month later on 10-31-99. He is playable as well.

The racing is simple, you can qualify, practice, customize the cars, and race in a whole season. The damage to the cars isn't realistic and the AI is pretty weak but its fun to pick up and play and remember the good days of the old CART series.
783544
I love racing games.  I have been a Gran Turismo fanatic since GT1 on the first Playstation.  I bought all five GT's, including GT5 Prologue.  But you know what?  I'm also a car enthusiast, so that's why I made the switch to Forza.

I specifically bought an Xbox 360 for FM3, because GT5 got boring fast.  FM3 was a game for car enthusiasts.  The physics weren't as good as GT5, but they were certainly good enough. Overall, the game was much more fun than GT5.

Well, FM4 is better than FM3 in every way!  Better graphics, better physics, and more online competitions like "Rivals" mode. The real reason to buy this game, though, is for the car list. There are just so many worth additions to your garage.  You'll even be able to download new cars as they become available over the coming months.  Yes, that will cost extra money, but you don't have to buy it if you don't want to.

If there is one complaint I have, it's that you can't create your own race with custom settings in single player.  You pretty much have to go through the list of preexisting races, which are too short in my opinion.

There isn't much else to complain about.  It's the best racing game ever available on a console.  It leaves Gran Turismo in the dust!
3320895
I purchased Grand Prix Legends years ago.  Later I found that there is a modding community that have improved the game to the point of absolute simulation.
Everything has been improved from handling, engine/wheel/chassi tweaks all the way to environment and A.I.
Now Grand Prix Legends is a whole new gaming experience.
1944351
Where to start?  This is easily the best racing game I've played for the xbox.  One of the primary reasons is because before this the best was NT 2002, and this easily tops that.
The game has been stepped up so much, it has a lot more replay value than NT 2002.  There are "Thunder Plates" which are similar to "Madden Cards" if you play any of the newer Madden games.  You may not be buying them, but they do the same thing, just attained differently.  More to add, they have a Lightning Challenges where you can relive great nascar moments to earn more thunder plates.  There's a Thunder License mode where you can get what is basically a practice mode.  Last of the new things (that i've found so far), there's more then one song on it, and it's the first EA Sports game (that i've played) that will let you use the songs saved on your xbox.
It's still got the Quick Race, Season, Career, Create a Car modes that are the same as they were last year.  Career may have newer options to change to fix your car, i havn't gotten that far yet.  But there's plenty of new things that add a lot to the replayability that made people tire of NT 2002.  EA fixed that and added.
To shorten it up, if you liked NT 2002, or have ever like a Nascar game in the past, or any other racing game, buy it immediatly.
1534364
This is the best NFS in quite a long time. As others have said, it gets back to its roots. It also has taken an open world concept. At first, I found myself a bit frustrated driving around trying to find events, but once I discovered how to get around, and utilizing the gps properly, it is a blast. Because of the sheer number of routes and events, there's easily 30+ hours worth of driving to do, regardless of doing head to head matches with other players on live.

Wrecks are somewhat disappointing. Frequently a faster wreck would involve a dozen flips ambiguously in the air, and then the car would land flat somewhere out of the bounds of the road. It felt like they didn't really iron out the physics and how to make wrecks believable, but also not pre-rendered. a significant number of high speed wrecks left me laughing out how silly it looked.

The issues I had with the game were the sometimes extended waiting time to get into a match. Additionally, several times, the server would disconnect in the middle of races. I also had multiple game freezes that required exiting out of the game, quitting it, and relaunching.

All that to say, I would recommend it if you're a fan of the franchise, and are looking for a good racing game. However, come in expecting a somewhat imperfect experience from a stability perspective.
2392818
This is the best racing game I've ever played. However; that said, it has some of the same old flaws that exist in all racing games I have played like Gran Turismo 2,3 4,the NFS games and Test Drive to name just a couple. It doesn't take long for an intelligent person with some experience to figure out that whoever created the simulation for the speed, acceleration, and handling of a 1979 Chevy Camaro obviously never drove a real one. In reality, these cars (and many others) run and handle FAR better in real life than they do on the game. I also wish each race would not have its own favorite car and you can hardly keep up with it even though the car you are driving is smaller, lighter, with more acceleration and much better handling but the car driven by the simulator can fly around corners much faster. It is easy to win but not so well balanced with respect to the various aspects of the cars performance. They need to improve this. Everything else is fine but I would really like the in-game picture adjustments from GT-4. I miss those.
115318
J2 set a new standard for game versatility.  It had racing, shooting, action platform, puzzle, jetboarding, and strategy.  Every kind of gameplay was represented and that was what made it stand out.  J3 on the other hand is 75% racing.  Since I'm not a huge racing fan, it hurts the game a little for me.

Don't get me wrong.  The game is fun, and judging it on its merits alone, it deserves 4 stars.  But I had expectations that simply were not met.  J3 is a victim of its amazing predecessor.

The storyline isn't as strong either, and the final revelation about the Precursors, while cute doesn't fit with elements of the previous games.  But that's not important, and if the game was more fun, I'd easily forgive the story problems.

I do recommend it.  If you like racing, you'll probably enjoy it.  If you don't, you'll probably still enjoy it, though not as much.  But it's just a bit of a letdown.
3164606
I've played tons of games.  Probably an unhealthy amount of games, but played them I have.  Included in that pile is the racing genre, and the best racing game I ever played was, is, Trackmania United.  I initially took a chance on the original Trackmania by buying a bargain version.  I installed it, played it, then bought the next iteration, and loved that too.  Here was a game that really pushed the boundaries of racing.  And, even better, if you flew off the track during a session, you didn't fly into an invisible container wall generated by the limits of the game engine itself.  You could drive MILES away from where you were supposed to play, and explore... not that there was much to see, mind you.

Then I went ahead and DL'd Trackmania Nations.  This excellent franchise had set another gold standard yet again.  And when I got into the other games, and saw the custom tracks and race cars that were available, I was really blown away.  The tracks were huge in scope.  They were the tracks that every boy who had racing fantasies dreamed of, and then some.  Tracks that were impossible, fun and even impossibly fun.  Loops, banks and jumps that defy all logic and reason.  The kind of tracks that would be impossible to build, but are fun to imagine and interact with.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end, and so it was that I opted to end my addiction to absolutely the best racing game ever.

If you have the time, are into racing games, then I highly recommend all of the Trackmania games.  You will not be disappointed.
3769441
Outside of the arcades back in the mid 1980's, good racing games were hard to find.  Excitebike, Rad Racer and RC Pro Am brought some of this home, but F1:BTW is one of the most overlooked racing games in the NES library.

Starting just with a measly Mini Cooper, you work your way all the way up to being a F1 driver going against the best in the world on the real F1 tracks being used at the time.  How you got there, however, was quite the choice.

You're able to enter any race that you have the ranking for, but you can also upgrade your car with your winnings from the races.

Or, if you're a true gambler, you could to go Las Vegas and play the slot machine there at the casino.  One good hit with 3 7's with the 1000 credit would give you $1M and let you pretty much be set up to the F1 level (and also making going through all the races a lot more manageable).

Ah, the actual racing.  If you forget to buy/recharge your nitro, it becomes nearly impossible to win in the later races, and especially at the F1 level.  And it can become really sneaky hard to get past those annoying green cars, let alone the blue ones (which are your competitors).

The tracks themselves (outside of the F1 tracks) are quite interesting and the hills/valleys were very unique at the time for NES racing games.

The music?  UGH.  You are better off just racing.  Any of the 3 tunes (I found the 2nd one to be most palatable) will quickly start to grate.

This game also allowed you to save...which is definitely a boon and different then other NES racers.

Overall, if you've never played this game, and are looking for a good NES racer, this comes highly recommended.  Elements in this game would be used in future ones, from RPM Racing all the way to the Gran Turismo series.
1407604
Now this is a game that surprised me!  I expected an arcade-type racer with decent graphics and fun, breezy gameplay.  Shox is much more!  It features licensed vehicles ( that actually show damage for a change ) in challenging rally-style races with aggressive a.i. opponents.  The tracks are slippery and require finesse and lots of powersliding unlike other arcade racers such as Burnout 2 ( great game, by the way ) which take place on highway and city streets.  The graphics are excellent and the slow-motion crashes and jumps never seem to get old.  But the unique feature and namesake of this game is the "shockwave" that, when earned, shoots down the track like some sort of visual sonic boom that enables the player to hitch a ride so that he or she can seriously out-distance the competition.  This game also features night racing ( once the daytime tracks are beaten ) and you can accumulate cash by repeating races until you've earned enough to buy a new ride.  Overall, this is a great buy, highly recommended and a must for racing fans.
1741627
I read a reiview in the Mac addict magazine that came out recently. They did an article on motorcyle racing, and they came to the same conclusion I have come too. Even though there are newer games out for superbike racing, this game is the best even though it is 2 years old. It has enough riders and bikes as well as courses to keep you going for a while. The graphics are excellent for a game that came out 2 years ago, and can still rival games that just came out. Also when paired with the Gravis Eliminator Gamepad Pro USB controller, it hard to stop playing. It provides an array of racing views ranging from 1st person to 3rd person. If you are into superbike racing or racing in general you can't go wrong. However, I don't reccomend buying this game for 19.99. I recommend searching for "Racing Mania 2" The Racing Mania 2 package comes with not only this game, but 3 other super racing games. Need for speed hot persuit, Need for speed Porsche unleased, and Nascar 2000. All these games are excellent and the package costs 19.99. 3 more games for the same price. You can't really go wrong.
4849924
Every Mario Kart is a must buy, period. Of cours, after playing every single one, you can tell what parts are more polished than others in comparison. MK7 has great graphics, a nice comback of the coins system, and (from what I've heard) an amazing online gameplay. I do miss the mission mode from MKDS, but the game is quite solid, and being able to receive ghosts from the web is a nice touch.
Bottom line: if you enjoy racing games at least a little, buy it!