In my opinion this is still the best X360 racing game to date.
I play this game with the controller which does its job very well. You can customize the sensitivity and similar setting very extensively so that you can control the cars without a headache due to the fact that you don't have a wheel. Once you set them up, the controls are really spot on and you can really feel the road which helps a lot when you try to shave seconds off your lap time.
This game can be friendly even if you suck at driving, because if you turn all the aids on, the car will basically drive itself. I have to disagree with Gamespot that the game has bad sound effects. I don't mind the sound of the M3 GTR roaring down the straight one bit! Even when you skid, the sound is better than that horribly artificial screech that you hear when playing Forza.
The single player is probably no good for novice players that just want to have fun, because this game, unlike others, does not forgive you that easily if you go off the track. You can't play this game like NFS where you just go full throttle and ram everything in your way. That's the way it should be and that's why I give this game a solid 10. Even though it's been a while since it's been released, I still play it quite regularly.