There were a few notable racing games in 2011, namely titles like DiRT 3, Need for Speed: Shift 2, Driver: San Francisco, and even another NFS game with The Run.

All of those titles were pretty enjoyable in their own right, but none were as polished, entertaining and fully featured as Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport 4.

The game took the formula that worked so well from Forza 3 and added a new lighting system, unbelievably photorealistic vehicles,  a full-fledged community and more.  The game featured tight controls, and a great presentation, thanks in part to the folks at Top Gear. And while the inclusion of a Kinect control scheme wasn’t as good as we hoped, we appreciated the effort.

Forza continues to be one of the best racing sim franchises and its latest effort was the best of the lot.