I played a lot of the original Project Gotham Racing on the Xbox. That was one of our group's go-to games when we were together, especially when the wives wanted to play with us.

So, when I got my 360, I also picked up a copy of Project Gotham Racing 3. I knew how beautiful it looked and couldn't wait to play it again. Then something came and bit me on the rear.

You see, there are basically two types of racing games — arcade and more realistic simulation games. Arcade racers are more of the how-fast-can-you-go, sweep-around-the-corner types. Simulators, on the other hand, attempt to realistically model the physics and experience of driving a car in a race.

PGR3 is more toward the "simulation" side of the arena. Personally, I prefer the arcade racing style. That's just me.

And not playing it in a big, fun group of people also took some of it out of me. Sure, PGR3 attempts to be "online all the time" — you can play the whole game without racing an artificial-intelligent opponent — but I really don't consider the people on Xbox Live to be that fun.

Also, the game can be fairly difficult. It's hard for me to figure out what I'm supposed to do in some situations — I can kind of get the hang of it, but I never truly master it, and I'm left to wonder what I'm doing wrong. The fact is, all of the cars in the game are the very high-end type of cars — the fastest, the most expensive ones in the world. As they say in the booklet, if it can't go 170 mph, it's not in the game.

There are five cities in which to race: Tokyo, London, New York City, Las Vegas and Nurburgring. Each of them looks beautiful and detailed, almost exactly like they do in real life, down to the motion-captured fans on the sides taking pictures of the action.

Each city has multiple tracks, and better yet, you can create your own track.

And as I've mentioned, the cars themselves are gorgeous. PGR3 takes it to a whole new level in terms of graphics. It has to be seen on an HDTV to be believed.

The sound matches with the graphics. Each car has a unique sound, recorded from the real life cars. In addition, living up to the legacy of the PGR series, there's an enormous variety of music to listen to, from techno to classical to alternative to Bhangra and Japanese pop.

And then there's Gotham TV, where you can watch races of other people going through the courses. That is, if you're into that kind of thing. (I don't have enough time to play the games I have now, much less watch other people play the games.)

But the whole point of playing is to get Kudos. No, not the tasty granola bars, but rather, the points you get from doing good maneuvers, such as sliding around a corner or doing a good drift. As you earn Kudos and credits, you open new cars that you can buy and work your way through the variety of different gameplay modes.

All in all, it's a beautiful game. If you've played the previous PGR games, you're not going to be bowled over by any innovations in gameplay — just on how good it looks. In general, it's nothing exceptionally exciting. If you're practicing for Project Gotham Racing 4 — which introduces some new life into the series, including motorcycles and weather effects — it might be time to go back and dust off the copy of PGR3 from the back of your game closet.