2009 wasn’t as good a year for racing games as 2008 was or 2010 will be, but it certainly wasn’t a bad one. You had something for everyone. Forza Motorsport 3 catered to the sim crowd, the likes of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 and MotorStorm: Arctic Edge appealed to those more inclined towards pick-up-and-play racing, while Need for Speed: Shift tried to do both. And honestly, Fuel was only there to make up the numbers. As it played out in the IVG poll, Forza 3 and DiRT 2 were the only real contenders and although they were both great games, you would expect DiRT 2 to win out for being more accessible and being multi-platform, but Forza 3 really did come very close to winning the IVG vote and, in the end, only lost out by a few votes.
A lot of the old Colin McRae Rally fans still refuse to play DiRT 2 because it is no longer a rally sim. It’s their loss because DiRT 2 really is a great game, and while the old Colin McRae games will be missed, Codemasters have made the transition from simulation to arcade exceedingly well. DiRT 2 richly deserves the title of Racing Game of the Year and it is also the staff pick for this category.
IVG Staff Pick: Colin McRae: DiRT 2
