Demo: Forza Motorsport 2

I'm floored. Honestly, I've never played a racing sim that was so good. Of course, I'm only talking about the demo here, so I have no idea what the structure of the game is like or how any of the insides work. I'm like a doctor pre-X-Ray. I'm the consultant for plastic surgery.

The demo is pure driving. 20-some-odd cars. 1 track. No setup. No futzing around. All you get is to choose whether or not you want ABS, TC, Stability and driving lines. That's it. Bare bones, take-it-for-a-spin, set aside $60. Your owned. That's pretty much what they had planned for you. But this could very well mean that once you make the first incision, that's when you find the cancer.

But since I can't see inside, all I can say is that the driving is phenomenal. At first, it felt pretty much like the old Forza and GT. Very sim. Technical sim even. Forza 1 has a bit more arcade soft of feel to it, but you knew what you were getting into.

This time around though, it's a bit different. I decided to race a few races without any assistance turned on. I thought the race would be over before it started. That's usually how that stuff goes: uncover the true sim hidden within and never make it past turn 2. But, surprisingly, Forza 2 only got better.

I obviously had to change my driving styles from pedal to the metal and mashing the brakes to full of grace and charm. I cradled both triggers in the first knuckle of my index fingers and used my finger tips to judge the depth. All of the sudden I wasn't spinning out and sliding around turns. I made the 1-to-1 correlation like a real car and it was like I was in another world. Another video game world where simulation doesn't mean impossible and isn't talked about between friends by saying, "Betcha can't drive it like this."

Now I'm at a crossroads. That place where you've been promised the moon and the stars. If the game were house for sale, it's the one with all the great landscaping. The trees are perfect. The driveway is paved. It's in the right neighborhood. It's even the color you want. But you haven't seen the kitchen from the seventies with wood paneling and laminate floors. And whether or not you like shag carpets, it just doesn't go with rest of the house.

Please, please don't let there be shag carpet.