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When it comes to the heavyweight division of driving sims on game consoles, there's really only two contenders for the championship, Forza and Gran Turismo. Waiting for these franchises to come to the current generation, 360 and PS3 respectively, has been tough for race fans. But now, after a series of delays, Forza 2 has finally hit home on the Xbox 360, and in its polished, completed form, it was well worth the wait. Forza 2 is packed with so much value, that it makes many other $60 games feel way overpriced.

There's so much to this game, which makes it really hard to pick a place to start. I suppose a racing game, no matter how much is included, is only as good as the driving engine that powers it. There's no question that this is one area that Forza 2 definitely excels. Just like in the original Forza, they not only preach about the realistic physics, they actually prove it through on the fly telemetry readings. Through this you can see the size of your tire patch making contact with the ground as well as how much grip that tire has left before it slips.

Now, I won't make any claims that this modeling is perfect, but it sure feels right. This comes from somebody who has driven every major racing game and has owned real world cars like a '91 MR-2 Turbo, '93 RX-7 R1, '00 Audi S4, and currently an '04 Subaru Impreza STi. My only gripe is that the rear wheel drive cars feel a little more slippery than they should. Trust me, I know what it takes to move a rear wheel drive car around a turn and what causes it to break loose. The breaking loose in Forza 2 just seems a little hyper active. It is something that's correctable with some extra care on the controller or wheel and a little bit of fine-tuning on your car parts, but certainly worth mentioning.

Car characteristics are so different from one another that each new car feels like a game unto itself. Not even just obvious differences between cars like the STi (AWD) and the Supra (RWD), but also between cars with similar frameworks like the STi and the Skyline. Power to weight ratio, weight distribution, torque, default suspension, etc. all have tremendous impact on how a car feels and controls on the road, as it should. Forza simulates real world characteristics so well that it's become the kind of game that can get driving and racing fans to buy a console even if they aren't typically video game players.

I don't want to get into a Gran Turismo vs. Forza driving sim debate, but I will say when it comes to the actual racing, Forza is in a different class. AI is pretty smart this time around, not nearly perfect, but certainly much better. AI cars are aware of your presence on the road and will not just blindly stick to their racing lines. I've seen slower cars give way, when they know I've obviously taken control of the inside line. I've also seen some aggressive drivers in fast cars late brake the hell out of me trying to make a pass.

The other thing that just has to be a part of a racing game that Forza has modeled quite well is damage. Even a very clean professional driver is bound to trade some paint at some point. You can't always late brake and cram yourself into a corner without getting a bump on the outside from time to time. Really, I could care less about the visual damage, which is typically boilerplate dents anyway, but I love the damage modeling done to the components of the car. Any number of things can happen to you from screwed up transmissions and alignment damage to loss of horsepower (dropped cylinders?). If you're really into racing, I highly recommend always playing with the damage option set to Simulation, since what's the point of racing these machines if you can bounce of walls and other cars.

As a driving/racing game alone, Forza 2 offers plenty, but there's so much beyond that included here. The integration with Live, first and foremost, is beautiful thing. While I love having my lap times uploaded after each race, seeing leaderboards before each race, and being able to race against others online, it goes beyond that standard fare. While browsing the leaderboards, you can click on names for more options such as downloading the setup of the car they used to achieve that score. For the top 100 for each leaderboard, you can download their entire race replay. These replays are complete with telemetry data, so you can see just how they handled the car around the track.

The culmination of this online effort is the auction house. Cars that you own and no longer desire can be placed up for sale to the online community at the auction house. This works just like eBay, where you decide on a starting amount, whether it's a feature item, how long to run the auction, whether there's a buyout, and pay the fees associated with the listing. There's a massive filter that can help you narrow your search and find the car your looking for. The really cool part is that you can monitor the activity on the auction house from the Forza Motorsport website. Unfortunately you can't bid from there, but being able to search through the cars and watch your auctions is cool nonetheless.

The auction house is also the place to share/sell you car designs to other people, which will segue into talking about the Livery, a game within a game. This is the place where you come to change the wheels, wings, and paint on your car. For those of you familiar with Forza 1's car editor, you'll still be comfortable here. The biggest attraction is creating details paint schemes for the car, but that only comes with some creativity and dedication. See, just like Forza, there is no free hand drawing or importing of pictures when creating a design. Instead, there are hundreds of decals in the form of geometric shapes, flames, lightning bolts, tribal patterns, and this time around, letters in a few different fonts. The set of decals is a nice bump up from the previous version, and we now have gradients and transparencies at our disposal. While it's quite easy and even impressive to throw down some well placed racing stripes (see my modest work in the accompanying screen shots), the community has responded with artwork that will blow your mind given the nature of the resources.

If I had one real complaint about the visuals/presentation, it would be the replays. Now this may not be an integral part of the game for some people, but it really is for me. I play the game, like most racing games, with the racing wheel and from the bumper cam. While I'm driving, I'm only thinking about making successful moves on the track, but when I get done I want to sit back and enjoy watching my race as if I was watching TV. The replay cameras for Forza 2 are almost worthless from this perspective. The camera is often focusing on the side of my car or on the fender and is rarely pulled back in a position that a TV camera would be placed.

Engine sounds are varied and often throaty, as expected. I was a little disappointed at how muffled the engine sounds are if you are playing from the in-car view as opposed to from behind. It's almost as if all cars have the sound proofing of a luxury model Lexus. The music is surprisingly good. I've heard plenty of songs during my time spent in the Livery, and even songs that are normally outside of my genre tastes are very appealing. Surprising though is the lack of an option to have music on during the race. Personally, I'd have it turned off anyway, but I'm sure there are people that would like an option to play it.

Well, that about wraps it up. As a driving/racing/car enthusiast, I can comfortably give a high recommendation to Forza 2. There is so much value here for the money spent, which isn't particularly easy to say about a lot of new $60 games. Enjoy it. It could very well last you through the summer and beyond.