Rated 
One of the best (If not best) Racing games I have ever played
In Car View is amazing, Very detailed levels and car models with amazing graphics reflection and lighting effects, Refined and balanced racing system, Fun online racing/ranking system and matching
Could have used more Locales, People may give you negative feedback just for winning races, Might not have enough customizeability for some people.
Posted Nov 30, 2005 - Let me start first off by saying that I'm not a hardcore racing game fan. However I have played a decent share of racing games from Forza and GT4 to Burnout and NFS. I never passed many of the courses on all of the above games and probably the racing game i've played the most is Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. The most noticeable at first and one of the most amazing parts about this game are the graphics. The levels are amazingly detailed and accurate. This is probably one of the reasons why for the limited locales in the game. Each locale has a decent amount of tracks but of course it never hurts to have more locales to make things more interesting. I took the time to slowly cruise through the Shinjuku tour level and I found everything from the hotel I stayed at to the KFC just a ways down as well as some popular stores like Big Camera. It's amazing how much detail they put into the game. However when you're racing you'll probably never notice these things. The cars may appear to shiny to some but I think that's fine since thats when exotic cars look their best. It is missing some of the grittier visuals that make the GT games a bit more photo realistic, but in it's own way PGR3 exceeds GT in realism. Especially in the world reflection on the cars and the incredible lighting effects. The lighting effects are best in the in-car view camera. This is where the graphical improvement really enhances the quality and gameplay of the game. The in car view itself makes the game more than twice as immersing as any other racing game. The dashboard details have been modeled just as well as the exterior of the cars and brings forth a whole new experience you cannot get from any other racing game. The lighting effects and reflection effects are especially noticeable when you exit a tunnel or the way the front windshield looks at night or in bright sunlight. It is definitely something any racing game fan should look forward to and something everyone should try for themselves. The gameplay is quite similar to PGR2 with some physics effects from Forza. For example you can pit other cars by nudging their rear. The Kudos system from PGR2 is back and the game has a more arcadey feel to it than Forza or the GT games. Of course this is not necessarily a bad thing (especially for the more casual racing game fan like me). Many of my friends have been turned off by Forza because it's way too hard for them to control the cars. In my opinion PGR3 offers a good median in realistic physics and forgiveness that make it an especially enjoyable experience (even more so online). The songs in the game might not be for everyone but the game really has a varied soundtrack from classical music to all sorts of International music. It's really an interesting experience to be driving in Shinjuku in you Ferrari Enzo listening to some crazy Indian music. In addition to the great soundtrack you can use your own songs off your network or simply plug in any mp3 player and stream them off there. The whole interaction with the Xbox blade dashboard is amazing. It may not sound like much, but being able to simply plug in my Ipod, just like I do in my real car, adds to the whole experience in ways no other racing game has done. Even though this has not been the first racing game to use in car views, it has simply done it the best. And the inclusion of the in car view has been long absent in racing games since the old NFS games for the PC. There is little for any racing fan here to hate with some amazing exotic cars in the lineup, amazing graphics, and fun online play. I realize that some people prefer their games with more tweaking like the GT games but I personally don't like to get too technical with my racing games. Even so I'm confident those fans could find PGR3 at the very least a fun game. I recommend this game to all racing game fans. I even think this game could turn some people into racing game fans.
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