My Mazda RX-7 lines up a pass at the last chicane. Leaving the slipstream to take the outside line, there's very little room here but I stick with it. The other car slowly squeezes me but it decides to go for the corner – my window of opportunity is now open. I stick with the outside line, squeeze my opponent out of the way and nail it.

This is what 'Forza Motorsport 3' is all about.

Critically acclaimed for its realism and damage system, the 'Forza Motorsport' series has gained quite a following among console gamers, and expectations were high for the latest game in the series.

It's fortunate then, that it's not just the same-old-same-old with quite a few additions in this iteration.

Graphically, 'Forza Motorsport 3' is really phenomenal, with the trademark racing game sun flare looking particularly beautiful as the sun baths the race track in its rays.

The cars themselves look great too and are packed with detail, with cars reportedly sporting four times as many polygons as its predecessor. But despite all the changes on the outside of the car, it's on the inside where arguably the biggest change has occurred thanks to the dashboard view.

A staple of the 'Project Gotham Racing' series, the dashboard view has made its way into the 'Forza' series, with every car possessing fully modelled interiors, right down to the rear view mirrors and speedometer. It's not entirely perfect as there are some visual glitches that pop up on occasion, such as flickering, but it's a small price to pay for 400 modelled interiors. After playing in this view, you'll find it hard to go back to any other.

The menus are dead giveaways to the new focus of 'Forza Motorsport 3': making motorsports accessible. From the Apple-like white menus and clean formatting to the serene car displays in the background, Turn 10 Studios have gone out of their way to make everyone feel at home.

And this focus extends to the gameplay as well.

Driving assists have always been a big part of the 'Forza Motorsport' series, and there are some additions this time around too. The most important new assist would have to be the auto-brake feature, allowing for even the most accident-prone, inexperienced person to have a go. Of course, there are the usual ABS-braking, stability control, traction control and racing line assists – but the beauty is in the customisability of it all.

Want to just sit back and relax? Then switch on all your settings and keep your finger on the accelerator. Want your car to go sideways and hear the tyres squeal? Then just turn off the traction control.

Jumping into the season mode leaves you with an array of options – simply choose a racing series for the year and in-between those races you can compete in other cups. The beauty of this formula is that there are just so many events to choose from and, if you've finished them all, you can always re-race some events if you want.

In keeping with the Forza Motorsport tradition, you still can't sell cars you've won for more than 100 credits – a good and bad feature.

Of course, as with any racing game, you're bound to take a few knocks here and there and 'Forza 3' does a pretty good job of displaying this. Cars get their paint scratched off, mirrors will be knocked off, bonnets will be crunched in, windows will be shattered, lights will be smashed, bumpers will fly and cars will roll. The damage is still not on the level of games like 'Colin McRae DiRT' or 'GRID' though, where doors and bonnets flap open and fly off.

What's more intriguing, however, is the effect that your shunts have on your handling. Your car will display anything from a knackered steering system to the acceleration of a tortoise on Ritalin. It all makes for frantic action – but sometimes it can get too frantic, and that's where the rewind feature, lifted from 'GRID', comes in.

By tapping the back button, you can go back a few seconds in gameplay and pretend that the horrific pile-up you caused moments ago didn't happen. Being a purist, I initially balked at the idea of a rewind feature, but it certainly beats hitting 'restart' every few seconds when you out-brake yourself.

Multiplayer is a blast, allowing you to take on opponents in a variety of races, but the biggest draw would have to be the storefront and auction house which allows you to sell everything from your own cars to customised paint-jobs.

As 'Forza 2' proved, the variety of user-generated content is phenomenal, from cars emblazoned with Kanye West's face to the questionable Nazi-themed Mercedes motor. 'Forza 3' will no doubt see hundreds of thousands of designs, giving you all the more reason to hop online.

'Forza Motorsport 3' sets a new standard for the console racing genre, with gorgeous visuals, accessible gameplay and a lengthy lifespan with more than 700 races to choose from. Buy it. Now.

9.3/10

Buy this game: Xbox 360

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