Forza Motorsport 3 returns the franchise to the spotlight with fresh new looks, sweet new features and more content than some top shelf RPGs. Players will find that Forza Motorsport 3 is more of an evolution than a revolution. Considering that Forza Motorsport 2 is a game that is still worth picking up from time to time, that’s not a bad thing at all.

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Ever heard the phrase “Don’t hate the playa, hate the game?” Well, racing simulations for many are more like the game hating the player. It can present a high barrier to entry for those without the patience to get past the learning curve and is even worse for those without the attention span to constantly attempt to approach every turn with perfect consistency. Put simply, racing sims can be a real pain in the ass.

Take one turn too quick, too slow or too far inside and instantly your race is a loss. Pause game, scroll down, restart. If you play racing sims and you’re working on your perfect line, that routine is all too familiar to you. Forza Motorsport 3 has remedied most if not all of these issues. Need for Speed: Shift started to add a level of accessibility to the sim side of race titles and Forza Motorsport 3 appears to have perfected it. In all truth Need for Speed: Shift wasn’t a pure sim. Forza Motorsport 3 on the other hand both is and isn’t.

To quote Tom Cruise, “even a nutless monkey” could play this game with all the assists on and the new rewind feature. This all new rewind feature allows a driver to simply tap the back button and go back in small increments to a previous point in the race, allowing players to jump back in time prior to that podium contention ending wreck and retry that overtake or turn. Even better, this feature is one you can use without penalty or a number of uses. Having a mulligan of sorts in a racing game honestly completely changes the approach to gameplay. While some purists may scoff at this before trying it, but all BS aside, you’ll use it on the last lap of a 10 lap race when you drop from first to last. And you know it. And you’ll find that after time you’ll be using this less often to win and more often to get the near perfect lap time. If for no other reason it’s apparent right off the bat that Turn 10 is taking steps forward instead of resting on an already successful platform.

The game sports all new upgrade options, breaking down many of the categories that were once grouped together. Now cams, valves and springs can all be swapped separately for example, giving you an even greater level of control over exactly what type of car you’re intending to build. Hours upon hours can be spent simply trying to wring every last bit of performance from a vehicle; you can drive the same car with the same parts but an optimized setup can shave seconds off a lap time. Also added are even more camera views for spectating your own awesomeness, as well as an all new driving aspect, a true cockpit view. In the wake of Need for Speed: Shift this may seem less impressive but you have to realize the fact that Forza Motorsport 3 has more than double the rides Shift did. Every single cockpit is picture perfect down to the gauges. Just take a look during a race, even the damn trip counter works. That’s true racing obsession and we love it.

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The details are what sets Forza games apart. To match the picture perfect interiors, the exteriors are of the same caliber, painstakingly modeled and scaled perfectly. Factory colors are accurate, and thanks to this detail customizations pop off that much better. Many will remember the painting and decal system of the past, as well as some of the absolutely ridiculous schemes produced and distributed by the community. That system has been expanded upon and thanks to the graphical overhaul Forza Motorsport 3 looks almost photo realistic most of the time.

Perhaps the biggest leap forward in the visuals are the backgrounds. Though the previous two Forzas were nice looking at the time, but the backdrops were far from beautiful. Luckily the racing was enough to make the track scenery barely noticeable. Now, the tracks are so pretty they’re distracting at times. They’re no longer flat. From the trees to the mountains to the pavement, everything is upgraded and seems to really come to life this time around. The superficial seems to have finally surpassed the substance of the series as the complete package is absolutely gorgeous.

That’s not to say the substance is shallow or lacking. This game is massive, some might say “too beaucoup.” When was the last time you bought a racing game that came on more than one disc? Forza Motorsport 3 ships on two discs, the second containing 1.9 gigs of cars and tracks that you can install on your hard drive either in full or selectively split up in three car packs and one map pack. If the track count goes on for days then car count goes on for months, with over 400 vehicles present.

In case you hadn’t caught the hint yet, clear some hard drive space. But don’t delete your music because yet again you won’t be singing along to anything on Forza Motorsport 3’s soundtrack. No cause for alarm though, as the cars and sounds of racing are the real soundtrack. The Forza series has always boasted some of the best audio around when it comes to the roar of V8’s and the whine of superchargers. Once again the time put into painstaking recording samples of each of the games 400 cars pays dividends in the sound department. That’s become one of the things expected from Turn 10. Luckily being victims to their own attention to detail and passion hasn’t caused them to fold under the pressure.

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Pushing the genre even farther towards new heights is the new version of the auction house. Bidding on a car can be insanely frustrating with no maximum bid feature, forcing you to constantly rebid or just give up and pay a buyout to acquire a vehicle. That being said it is still quite satisfying to sell a car for more than what the game would have given your or even better purchase one for a fraction of the cost a car store transaction would have run. Also on the marketplace are tuning settings so you can even profit from your technical knowledge or be competitive against those with more of it. The marketplace and auction house bring a sense of community to Forza that extends even beyond the usual multiplayer races.

No racing game has ever felt this complete before, being fun both when racing and when doing the chores in between. Forza Motorsport 3’s depth and content make other racers pale in comparison. Some may boast more cars, others more visceral racing, others better graphics, and others even more features. But none can claim to pull it all off with the fanaticism and sheen that Forza Motorsport 3 does. The title does everything well without glaring shortcomings. Forza Motorsport 3 is the champ and going strong; with the promise of downloadable content painting a grim picture for the competition.