Now that I've had a good 7 days behind the wheel of PGR, I can honestly say that it is my favorite car racing game to date. PGR combines the best aspects of Gran Turismo 3 (PS2) with the pure fun of Beatle Adventure Racing, the underappreciated racing game for the N64.

Like GT3, the graphics, gameplay, and physics are excellent. In fact, graphically speaking, PGR edges out GT3 due mainly to the attention to detail. The way the light reflects off of your shiny silver Audi TT makes you drool as your highly polished windshield glistens in the sun. You watch as your driver (yes, there is actually a person in the car in PGR), leans with the turns and takes his hand off the wheel to shift, a nice touch if you ask me.

Gameplay is well thought out and highly customizable. There are six main racing options, three of which I'll talk about: Quick Race, Arcade, and Kudos Challenge. No, the latter isn't sponsored by an early player in the energy bar market, Kudos is a point system. You earn Kudos as bonuses for placing in certain races, pulling off stylish moves, or just generally kicking ass. In order to progress and earn new cars, you have to race in each of the 3 modes. The Quick Race mode pits you against 5 other cars in a classic battle for 3rd, 2nd, or 1st. You progress through various cities and try to get at least a bronze to advance from say NYC to SanFran. The Arcade mode is purely for Kudos. Yes, you have to get very good at going through cones and pulling off cool slides and 360s to earn at least a bronze. The Kudos Challenge is my favorite mode. You work your way through an array of different races including the good ol' me vs. 5 other cars, one on one, overtake challenge (pass "x" number of cars before time runs out), speed challenge, and several other creative and challenging ways of putting your driving skills to the test.

The Kudos point system is very customizable. By raising or lowering the difficulty level for each race you determine how many Kudos will be awarded. The more difficulty, the higher the reward and vice versa. Getting that bronze medal is not necessarily dependent on whether you place 3rd, but how many Kudos you have earned. It may be a little confusing, but just think of it as a great way to keep score.

Despite the warning to the contrary, driving in real life like you drive in PGR will, in fact, probably work for you because the physics and feel of the game is phenomenal. You almost feel a couple of Gs as you blast around a corner doing 75 in a Nissan Skyline GTR. The controller only adds to the complete immersion in this game. Not only does it vibrate in sync with whatever you're doing, but the weight of the controller itself gives you the feel that you're controlling something with power. I don't know how this game would feel with a puny GameCube controller in my hand. You almost need the size to harness the power. Speaking of the controller, the default button and control layout leaves a little to be desired, so I switched it up a little and made the trigger buttons be my up and down shift and "A" my gas. This works well enough except for the fact that my right thumb is red and shiny from constantly pushing on the "A" button. I know, I know, I could use the right analog stick for that, but I'm just not that type of guy.

Unlike GT3, this game is not so big that you get lost in it. There are not hundreds of cars with a plethora of confusing upgrades that you'd have to be an auto mechanic or listen to an absurd amount of "Car Talk" to understand. It's very straightforward: win this circuit...get new car. Beautiful. New car faster, now must go back to Quick Race and see if I can win that damn London race. See, it's completely manageable, thus giving it that feel of Beatle Adventure Racing. Pure fun.

Let's not forget that PGR is soundtrack enabled which means you can listen to your own CDs that you've put on your Xbox. I can't tell you how nice it is to have my personal playlist of 80+ songs. Oh...cool feature, Radio DJ's announce your music and break in on your songs with contest winners and request hotlines.

I hope you get the feeling that this is a well thought out and highly polished game because it is. And all that thought has helped make Project Gotham Racing the best combination possible: both fun and challenging.