Forza Motorsport 3 is a beast that is both beautiful and frustrating at the same time, one with different faces dancing between the sublime and the ridiculous. As a veteran of racing sims, I held high hopes for Turn 10’s third foray into the cutthroat world formerly dominated by Gran Turismo and Project Gotham Racing. On paper, Forza 3 appears to have the weaponry required to gun the opposition down, packing nearly 400 fully customizable cars and over 100 different track variants.

The game’s career mode is divided into car classes, and you need to complete a certain number of races to climb the class ladder and eventually land in the world championship. In other words, don’t expect to hop into a Ferrari until you’ve worked your way up to it. Cars are awarded as prizes as you gain driving experience, and can also be purchased from the in-game or online store. Each race is restricted to a certain class to keep everything fair for all involved.

Forza 3 features an absolutely cracking customization system. If you want to get your hands dirty in the world of shock absorbers and brake pads, feel free. However, if you simply want to tune your car so that it’ll be competitive in a specific event, a quick upgrade option does the trick for the less mechanically minded. The ability to get through the game with fewer cars by constantly upgrading makes the whole experience all the more accessible.

Car handling has been given some much needed attention in this model, as all of the vehicles have considerable weight to them. Like other sim-racers, when you’re taking corners at a brisk speed, the back end feels twitchy and every ounce of your concentration is fully involved in stopping the vehicle before it spins off of the tarmac. The handling is great overall, but is also the point at which we begin to see the cracks bust their way through Forza 3’s shiny coat of paint.