As a huge fan of Forza 2, I must sadly admit that Forza 3 did not live up to my, slightly high, expectations. Perhaps I have put the game on a pedestal, or perhaps it took me time to love it. But, essentially, Forza 3 was not the game I hoped for.

First of all, I found the menu's in Forza 3 to be the biggest flaw in the game. There is no flow between menus, they are difficult to understand and I remain bewildered as to why they have even bothered to alter the menu style from Forza 2 to this, a much less user-friendly style.

As well as the lack of ease in using the menu's, the online gaming options for Forza 3 are really disappointing. When using Forza 2 online I was able to select the track that I wanted to play and the race that I wanted to join. Now, it seems, that these options have been taken away from me. Where is the fun in that? I am thrown into a race that I'm really not interested in being a part of and can't play the tracks that I know and love when I want to play them!

On the plus side, the graphics on Forza 3 are truly immense! These graphics take high definition to a new level with some amazing landscapes (though this has disrupted my gaming...having crashed twice simply from being distracted by the pretty views!). The game play is also fantastic. There is more detail and more effort in the tracks. Everything seems to run that little bit smoother than in Forza 2, with tracks that are more challenging and interesting. Don't get me wrong, game play in Forza 2 was great but in Forza 3, they seem to have refined things just that little bit. Of course there is the occasional glitch but, let's face it, that's life!

All in all, if I could have Forza 3 with the menus and online options of Forza 2 I'd be a very happy gamer! As it stands, the adjustments made to create Forza 3 annoy me just enough to keep me returning to my old friend Forza 2 while Forza 3 gathers dust on the shelf.