TOCA Race Driver 3
 

I bought this game Thursday, and it's phenomenal! I don't know if I'd go as far as saying it's as good as the Gran Turismo series, but, of all the other racing games I've played, it is certainly the closest to being as good. The thing that drew me into the game, honestly, was an ad I saw in Game Informer for it. It shows all kinds of cars racing, stock cars, monster trucks, muscle cars, etc... It seems like if you're into racing in any aspect, you'll get to race what you like at some point. I've only done the world tour part of it so far, and I'm still working on that, so I don't know what's available to you to begin with in other modes.

Over 70 licensed cars, over 80 tracks from around the world, nice damage rendering. I'm just really impressed, but I think that shows.

Anyway, here's a list of all (or alot of, anyway) the different types of cars/races you get to drive in this game:

Convertibles
Eurocart
Pick Ups
4X4 Monster Series
Muscle Cars
Street Circuits
Classics
European V6
V8 Supercars
Rally
DTM
Formula 1000
Off Road
Rally Cross
Trucks
Sprint Cars
GT
Open Wheel
Formula BMW
GT Lights
Stock Car
Baja Motocross

I'm quite interested in this game but I was put off the series from the first... er.. effort. It seemed to place too much emphasis on realism and not enough on enjoyment.

If I said my all time top three racers were:

1) Ridge Racer
2) Midnight Club
3) Gran Turismo

Would you recommend this game to me?

Based on your first and second favorites, I'd say rent it and see what you think as this game is certainly more about realism than those two. On the other hand, if you like the Gran Turismo series, I can't imagine you not getting into this one. One way or another I would recommend that you at least play it at some point, and let me know what you think.

It does place ALOT of emphasis on realism, but to me that's quite enjoyable. I get what you're saying though.

As far as their other "efforts", I've never played the other two, though from what I hear they're similar to this one. I'd never even heard of the series until I bought this game.