One genre that the Xbox 360 hasn't been short on ever since its launch is racing games; some naturally are better than others. The console is host to the likes of Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Burnout Revenge and Full Auto, and there are plenty more in the pipeline. However, one game that stands out from the crowd in terms of unrivalled quality is Project Gotham Racing 3. The immensely popular franchise has reached its third instalment and is better than ever, challenging players to race some of the fastest real-life vehicles on four wheels through the streets of London, Las Vegas, Tokyo and New York, as well as on the world famous Nürburgring circuit. And while it's maybe not the huge next-generation leap forward that it could have been, it's still a game of unprecedented brilliance and something that all racing game fans - and indeed most gamers, full stop - should be able to squeeze months of enjoyment from.

First of all, the thing that I must mention about PGR3 is the Kudos points system; seeing as it's the foundation of the majority of the game I thought it best to get you motley lot (well, those of you who have never played a PGR game… the rest of you will have to bear with me, I'm afraid) familiar with it. Basically, Kudos points are awarded to the player for taking risks and pulling off flashy manoeuvres during races. While it might seem like a good idea to put your foot down and attempt to leave the competition eating your dust, you won't gain a lot by doing so. Driving around at breakneck speeds while pulling off slides, getting up on two wheels, gaining air and - God forbid - even pulling off the odd 360° turn or two (if you're a particularly flashy git) earns you Kudos points, the amount of is uploaded onto individual scoreboards on the PGR3 online servers (should you be connected to Xbox Live at the time) for the whole world to see, as well as earning you the right to buy certain concept cars as you progress through the solo career. Additionally, you're sometimes required to earn a specified amount of Kudos points in particular race events. While the game does throw plenty of standard event types at you such as street races (self-explanatory really, unless you're a bit of a dunce), numerous variations on the time trial formula and the increasingly popular elimination races (the racer in last place at the end of each lap is eliminated from the race until there's only one person left), you'll also be challenged by less conventional racing events where Kudos points determine whether you succeed or fail, such as cone challenges, where you need to navigate between sets of cones all the while performing manoeuvres and keeping the combo going, and Time vs Kudos, where you need to finish the race before a ridiculously low timer reaches zero, but performing moves pauses the timer.

One thing that PGR3 undoubtedly has going for it - on top of everything else, all of which I'll get to at some point - is its fantastic level of accessibility to all players, no matter how good or bad they may be at driving games. First of all, controlling the cars is not overly difficult, but nonetheless unforgiving enough to anyone who simply holds down the accelerator and expects to be able to make it around a hairpin without wrapping their car around something. Secondly, every race in the solo career can be played in one of five difficulty levels which consist of novice, easy, medium, hard or hardcore, which earns the player a medal; steel, bronze, silver, gold or platinum respectively. So while it is perfectly feasible for rookie players to play through and complete the solo career earning steel medals - something that can be done in a matter of hours, it's that easy - the challenge is still there for the veteran players, as the majority of the gold and platinum medals are exceptionally hard to obtain. Incidentally, it is worth playing through the game on the harder difficulties even if you've beaten the solo career before, as doing so rewards the hardcore player with additional goodies, as well as Gamer Achievements.

Nonetheless, while the career is certainly accessible to everyone, it is not without its faults. First of all, it lasts nowhere near long enough; it's possible to beat the career on the lower two difficulty settings in approximately six hours, making it significantly shorter than the career found in PGR2. However, the fact remains that on the harder settings it poses a substantial challenge and offers up a good few extra hours worth of gameplay. And additionally, despite the solo career's short lifespan, there's still a plethora of things to see and do.

After the solo career, the multiplayer aspect of PGR3 is undoubtedly what will consume most of your time. All the race event types from the solo career are present - along with some extra ones - and each can be played in split-screen on one console, or on multiple consoles over System Link or Xbox Live. PGR3's Xbox Live play is pleasing in that it caters for both recreational and hardcore gamers, split into two modes, Playtime and Online Career. Playtime allows you to just jump straight into a match (or create your own) and just race for fun, no strings attached. For the more serious and competitive gamers out there, however, the Online Career puts players into ranked matches where every win or loss counts towards their overall online ranking on the big bad PGR3 leaderboards. Personally, I've found it far more enjoyable to simply jump into matches with friends and play for fun, as the online career matches tend to be taken very seriously and also frequently take a while to get started, as you have to wait for enough players to join the game lobby, and if this takes too long to occur then the game yanks you out of the lobby and into another, where you must wait again. For all its well-meant intentions of saving players time when getting into ranked matches, it ultimately falls short and proves to sound far better in theory than it actually works in practise. Players can also enter tournaments, each one requiring entrants to qualify for the elimination rounds by racing as fast as they can around a specified route, allowing them as many tries as they like before the deadline. The multitude of game modes make for a comprehensive and time-consuming multiplayer game and the online play itself is simply divine; lag is almost non-existent and no gameplay or performance compromises are made to get the game running smoothly either. And the fun doesn't stop there…

Gotham TV is PGR3's 'next big thing', allowing players to not only view photos and replays they've created and saved themselves, but also to simply kick back and watch other players racing online. This is split into three channels: Heroes, Friends and Tournaments. Heroes channel hooks you up with live broadcasts of the best PGR3 players in the world, which is handy for getting tips on how to improve and hone your skills, while the Tournament channel broadcasts the hottest tournament races in progress at the time. Gotham TV's appeal appears - to me anyway - to be somewhat niche, as I'm not sure how many people actually spend a substantial amount of time simply watching other people race when they could be racing themselves. However, it is a fairly revolutionary aspect of the game and something I hope the developers expand upon in the inevitable future instalments in the franchise. [Indeed, it's a brilliant idea for any game, a spectator mode that allows you to pick up tips by watching the finest players in the world, whether in multiplayer or single player. Ed].

Currently the game is also upgradeable with a multitude of extra cars ready to be purchased via the Xbox Live Marketplace; available in packs or individually… which leads me to one of the second of my very few gripes about the game - when compared to the eleven cities that PGR2 allowed you to race around (or thirteen if you count the downloadable packs as well) and also the colossal amount of different routes you could take through each, PGR3's selection looks considerably paltrier in comparison. Granted the route creator does help matters somewhat, but the city areas available are so insanely tiny that the number of routes you can create before your options wear thin is disappointingly insubstantial. Bizarre Creations urgently needs to expand upon the meager selection of cities and individual tracks on offer, even if they simply update the visuals on some of the cites from PGR2 (I particularly enjoyed racing in Moscow, Edinburgh and Sydney… hint, hint), that would be a start. Oh, and get Cardiff in there too. I know there's naff all interesting in Cardiff, but I'm sick and tired of hearing people say "Oh, this is cool! I go/shop/sell smack there!" when they see things while I'm playing online in the cities available, stuck there feeling like a hick who lives in the middle of nowhere. Sort it out, BC. [Yes, he lives in Cardiff! Ed].

So although not a massive step forward from its predecessor in terms of content - but just about big enough in regards to gameplay - PGR3 undoubtedly improves significantly upon the already stellar presentation of PGR2. The snazzy motion blur effects being flung around give an impressive sense of speed, while the attention to detail is spectacular. The cities are miles ahead of PGR2's in terms of vibrancy and texture work, plus the criticisms about the lack of spectators, people or any noticeable signs of intelligent life whatsoever have been rectified, with crowds of people gathered behind barriers, flashing cameras as they take pictures of you and your competitors. The cars equal the environments' beauty; shiny, perfectly replicated and what's more, there are a ton of them; not as many as PGR2 had on offer (something that may change if more and more downloadable cars continue to surface on the Marketplace), but it's ultimately a far more impressive and speedier collection, boasting the best of the best from the likes of Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Ford, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and a wealth of other top manufacturers.

What's probably even more impressive than the selection of perfectly recreated cars is that a tap of a button puts you in the drivers seat - first person style - and the inside of every car has also been authentically recreated. Using the in-car view seriously amps up the aural aspect of the game; you can see the full dashboard, the whole windscreen, the rear view mirror, the passenger seat, and you can move your head around to not only examine the interior of the car, but to look left and right out of the windows to see the luscious scenery blurring past at a blistering pace. The impact of this view is truly next-gen and for the first time ever it really feels like you're sitting in a real car as you race.

Every car sounds unique (if you listen carefully for their subtle differences) and things like the roar of the engine and the squealing of the tyres on the tarmac - aural effects that were already fantastic - sound that much more pronounced and really do go toward making PGR3 feel like you're actually racing these real-life luxury cars. The one thing that disappoints about the sound - and it's nothing to do with the sound quality itself - is the selection of music on offer. Granted, it's an impressively eclectic mix, but to be perfectly honest - and brutally blunt - a lot of it really is crap. Luckily, it makes me appreciate the Xbox 360's in-game music-streaming feature all the more.

Project Gotham Racing is undeniably the cream of the crop when it comes to racing games. It always has been and it always will be - on the Xbox, Xbox 360 or any other future platforms - and Project Gotham Racing 3 is truly a testament to this. Its unparalleled presentation, pleasing accessibility to players of all skill levels and the exhilarating rush of careening through some of the most famous and awe-inspiring real-life locations - incidentally in some of the fastest and most awe-inspiring real-life vehicles - all add up to make PGR3 one of the must-have titles on the Xbox 360, despite its minor (almost to the point of being irrelevant) shortcomings, which are few and far between anyway. If you own Microsoft's super-console, you owe it to yourself to buy and play this game. And if you don't own it, then you'd better start scraping £325 together. Believe me, it'll be money well spent!

Reviewed by Mark Reece for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).