I’m a relatively lucky guy, commute-wise. My commute averages about 13 to 20 minutes a day depending on traffic and whether God takes a personal interest in seeing me hit every traffic light. I know a lot of people that spend significantly longer times behind the wheel to get to their workplace and I sympathize. Add in whatever lunch sojourns come up and I’m behind the wheel of my car for around an hour to an hour and a half a day. So why on Earth would I choose to spend another second behind the “wheel” — however virtual it is — of a car?

Because I’m a sucker for racing games. I suddenly realized with some horror that I had depleted my complete stock of racing games. Project Gotham Racing 2, Rallisport Challenge 2, Burnout 3 all gone. I’m harsh on my games, they don’t stay in the stable for too long. I just hadn’t noticed I was down to zero driving games. When did that happen?

So, out comes Forza Motorsport — the purported “GT KILLER!!! OMGLOLZORS!!!1″ — and I resisted temptation for a short while before finally succumbing this weekend on the basis of positive reviews and peer pressure (thanks Javahead and Graphix). To be honest, it really didn’t take much coaxing at all but that’s what I tell myself.

From a few very short drives yesterday I believe I’m in for a treat. I’ll let the driving geeks battle over whether this rivals GT4 for realism. I don’t have a PS2 so I can’t make comparisons. In terms of the Xbox racing titles I’ve played — which is, I believe, all of them — I believe this one has the capacity to deliver more genuine enjoyment than all the rest of them. This from someone who logged almost 100 hours in PGR2. This is a game that lets you turn off all of the driving assistance, from traction control to anti-lock brakes, enable realistic vehicle damage, and practically demands that you drive a manual transmission so you can keep the engine in the right torque range for hitting the apex of corners at the right speed and power through it appropriately. Again, I only have a handful of races under my belt, but just from those races I know that I’m going to be having a hell of a time with this title.

Those of you with Xboxes, run along and grab a copy. I’ll see you online.

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