Best Racing Game 2009

[Daniel]

Keep your posts clean and to the point. If you would like your comments to appear in the magazine, please keep comments to under 100 words.

The Reader's Game of the Year special will appear in issue 198.

[Lazlow]

I could easily give this to Forza 3, it very much deserves all the praise it gets and I'm certain it has a great chance of taking out this category, but I'm throwing my weight behind:

NFS: Shift

I was enormously cynical when EA announced the next NFS game would be a sim, but blow me down if they didn't deliver. Its not perfect, the driving model is a little skatey, the cars sometimes feel weightless, and the drift mode is pants, but few games have delivered such an immersive race day experience with a precise driving model. Great selection of cars and tracks, fantastic visuals, and tremendous sound. I eagerly await a refined follow-up.

[dalmatian]

Forza 3

I liked NFS Shift but Forza 3 just had so much more content in it (with better gameplay) that I had to give it to Forza.

[adam_91vn]

Forza 3

[Cian]

Forza 3

What a great package this was. Immense depth in customization and a lengthy career make it worth every cent. The developers deserve a round of applause for making a simulation racer so accessible. The new Gran Turismo.

[lex3191]

Forza 3 without question. It was a big year for racing games but Forza 3 was all class. Rock solid gameplay and looks, great career mode, car porn a plenty, fantastic community options make this game the complete package

[freeradical]

DiRT 2

[Serenity]

Forza 3, close thread. We'll have a runaway winner here.

[Jay]

I was going to vote for the racing bits in Viva Pinata: Party Animals, but someone told me that came out last year, so I guess it'll have to be Forza 3. Although the expansions for Burnout Paradise were pretty good, but not enough to knock off Forza. Or Viva Pinata.

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

Wipeout HD Fury expansion

[StorminNorman]

Forza Motorsport 3
It's pretty hard to even pretend that there's a competitor to this. Forza 3 took the standard set by its predecessor and exceeded it in every imaginable way. More cars, more tracks, a better career mode, more tuning and upgrade options, more detailed physics, more graphics... just more. This will be the racing game by which all other racing games will be judged for years to come.

[Xanafalgue]

Forza 3

[Shorty]

Forza Motorsport 3

While Need for Speed: Shift and Dirt 2 deserve plenty of praise in their own right, the winner for 2009 has to be Forza Motorsport 3. It's improved on the second game in so many ways and has enough content, online and off, to keep racers amused well into the forseeable future.

[Hyperblau]

Gran Turismo 5 Time Trial Challenge
It's not a demo apparently...

I kid, Forza 3 all the way. Amazing package.

[Surgeon.]

Forza 3

Nothing else even comes close.

[Lazlow]

Pfft the said best racing game >_>

[igotnewsuper8systemWRONG!]

Pretty slow year for racing, everyone is voting for the magic carpet sim.

[HiredMan]

Forza Motorsport 3

Turn 10 absolutely nailed it in every way. Best game in its genre so far.

[Clockw0rk]

Gran Turismo PSP.
/Creedy


Forza Motorsport 3 is my actual vote.

[REQUIEM]

Forza 3 : What all Driving games should be like. Must give props to N4S Drift as EA shocked the hell out of me with this years franchise update as it was a dam good game also.

[Grubdog]

F1 2009. Yes, I have Forza 3, and it's good no doubt about it, but the fun factor is much higher for me in F1 Wii, and i'd even put Race Pro above Forza. Race Pro isn't the most polished game but the physics are very satisfying and I have a soft spot for open wheel racing. F1 Wii is very fast, the tracks are amazing and the controls are damn satisfying. 20 cars on track at once in split screen is also damn impressive. I'm a huge F1 fan but F1 2009 still impressed me more than I expected.

[Tom Campbell]

Forza 3 is a much bigger game then Need for Speed. For me though the size of Need for Speed was good enough. Forza 3 is so much bigger and I find myself getting bored of the game. Instead of finding it fun I find it a chore to finish it. Thats the only reason NFS over Forza 3.

[JC Henderson]

Forza 3- A game that had me obsesed for hours producing a St kilda saints logo for my bonnet before even the first race has my vote.

[Stevorooni]

Forza 3 - Even though I haven't had much time to play it, it's clearly an improvement over F2

[lastitachionearth]

mario Kart Wii