The picture above shows my collection of racing games and sims that I've played over the years on the xbox and PC. As you can see there are many different types of racing represented but if I had to pick one as my all time favorite I'd have to say it would be the NASCAR Racing 2003 Season from Papyrus. Of course it helps that I'm such a big NASCAR fan but NR2003 deserves the top spot in my book for how well it played, the incredible depth of customization and the enormous online community that followed it. It truly felt like I was behind the wheel of a stock car and competing in a race. The others that I've played like DIRT, TOCA and F1 2010 certainly have their own shinning moments but the one I'm playing the most now is FORZA 3. I'm also really looking forward to what the next installment of TEST DRIVE UNLIMITED when it's released early in 2011 because driving around Hawaii in my stunning exotic car collection was a blast.

As you can see in other sections of my website I enjoy photographing all kinds of cars and games like F3 and TDU lets me get behind the wheel of cars I see in real life and helps me understand and experience what they might be like to drive. Nothing helps you become more immersed in the game than a steering wheel and once you've raced with a wheel you'll never want to go back to a controller. I've had my steering wheels attached to desks for the PC and on my lap for the xbox but it wasn't until I picked up Forza 3 that I decided I needed a dedicated racing setup. I came up with a vision of what i would like and then set out to build myself a stand. It turned out really well and it's so much fun to drive now. I've documented the entire process in Building My Race Setup below

Forza gives you the ability to tune on your cars to get the most out of them mechanically and they have a paint shop where you can change the look of your car from something as simple as the color to very complicated designs. The Forza community has incredibly talented painters and there work is inspiring. What makes it so amazing is you can only use the tools provided in the game to create your design and nothing can be imported. I like painting the cars and it's a challenge to create something using only what you're given to work with. In my Paint Shop gallery below I'm going to feature some of my favorite designs.

Another great feature of Forza 3 is the ability to save replays and take photos of your cars. Like painting the depths of this feature is incredible and images can be created that come very close to looking like the real thing. It can be very time consuming but the rewards justify the means. I haven't had much time to use this great feature but soon I'll get to work and add some of my best work in the Forza Photography gallery below. Having had the opportunity to photograph so many cars in real life I thought it would be fun to start my own challenge by going on a quest to see if I can photograph every car in the game in real life. I'm calling it the Ultimate Photo Challenge and I'll be adding side by side pictures to the gallery below as I get them. Of course I won't be starting now from scratch and I'll be using photos of the many cars I've already found. It still will be a monumental task as there are over 500 cars in Forza 3 but it sure will make for a nice gallery to look through and I always enjoy a good challenge. This section will always be a work in progress so check back often to see what pulls up and parks!