Overall I really enjoy playing Grand Prix 3. The game does have a couple of down sides, but let's start with the positives. First, the driving is very realistic (at least, it feels real to me :)). If you turn off many of the computer assisted options the game becomes almost un playable without a wheel or other analog input device. As would be expected, the cars are very sensitive and are easy to spin unless you are very careful on the throttle and steering. If you add rain into the mix the situation becomes even more difficult. It is like driving on ice. Also, any change to the car (damage, wear, etc) can be felt in the handling.
If you're in to tuning your car this game also has a lot to offer. You can tune the car at very high levels (wing adjustments, tire types, etc) all the way down to subtle suspension changes. After tuning your car you can take it out for a practice session and then look at graphs of how your car performed. With all of the tools this game provides you can put an enormous amount of work into tuning your car. If you're just into driving, the game comes with preset car setups for each track that work pretty well.
Next on the plus side are the graphics. I was very impressed with the amount of detail in the game. The sky accurately reflects the reported weather conditions and the detail on the cars (especially during replay) is amazing. As weather conditions change you can see the lighting changes all around you. As clouds pass over the scene will darken. You'll even see showers falling on selected areas of the track, along with puddles and a "dry line". During heavy rain events the standing water on the track beautifully reflects it's surroundings.
Now for the downsides. First, the replay feature is very limited. Specifically it is limited to the last 20 seconds. Even though you can view the last 20 seconds from any car a variety of angles, I expected a much more robust replay system in modern racing game.
The car damage seems to be lacking a bit of realism. While the cars do fly through the air, flip and break apart believe ably, it seems like you can go through a pretty major accident (such as hitting a wall at about 50 mp) without doing any damage. This just doesn't seem believable to me. The most recent patch for the game (available on their website) addresses this problem, but not totally.
Next, there is no verbal communication with the pits. Other games offer constant radio contact, but this has none. Having some pit chatter going on in the background would really add to the game.
Finally, the instruction manual could use some work. It covers the game pretty well and give you enough information to tune your car, but is by no means in depth. It is also lacking an index, so quickly looking up what a particular menu item means is impossible.
Even given the negatives this game is an absolute joy to play. I highly recommend it to any racing sim enthusiast.
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