My 2 cents:

Gran Turismo 3. Best graphics, most cars, most realistic by far over any other racing game ever.

Uh Mario Cart for the 64, nuff said

Realism - GT3
Speed - F-Zero
Fun - Mario Cart / Mario Cart 64 (MC64 = great multiplayer racing.. I wasted a semster of college playing this game)

ok, i know its been said about a dozen times, but... GT3!! by a huge stretch. hell i bought PSX and, to some extent, PS2 just for GT and GT3.

there's a new racing one out there called Auto Modelista(?). it's cel shaded animation similar to jet grind radio and it looks pretty cool. i read quick review on it though and it wasnt all that favorable. anyone play it yet?

Yes, I have, and imho, it sucks. The only redeeming factor is the amount of customizing you can do to your car, although, none of it adds or detracts from your cars peformance. You can do a siginificant amount of performance cuztomization as well. But the graphics get old after a little while, and the physics of the game....Well, there weren't any.... It might be worth a rental, but being a hardcore GT3: A-spec fan, I can't reccommend this.

I think my buddy and I have played V-Rally 2 for about 150+ hours....great game

NEED FOR SPEED 2,3,4,5
TEST DRIVE 2
POD
HI-Octane