GT Pro Series Racing Wheel for Nintendo Wii - High Performance Steering Wheel Controller for Wii Racing Games - Perfect for Mario Kart, Need for Speed & More

As others have mentioned, this is sort of a "Gran Turismo Lite". It's not as detailed or realistic as the GT games, but that's still really the best comparison. You get to choose from real world vehicles and tune them to a very limited degree - though with some of the tuning options it's not readily apparent what effect the different parts actually have.The graphics are good and there's an excellent sense of speed. No, they're not "realistic", but it's the Wii. Comparing a Wii game to something on a much more powerful system isn't useful or instructive. The graphics have a cel-shaded look which is appealing. The environments look good. I have no problem becoming immersed in the gameplay, so to me the graphics are just fine.You get only 10 tracks, plus reverse versions. Not a lot, but they're all excellent, technical courses and are a blast to drive, and they all feel totally different in reverse. The wheel that comes with the game is actually pretty good. It's heavier than the Nintendo wheel and I like the feel of it. Of course it's not the same as an actual racing wheel, but I still like using it.So, while this game has a facade of racing real cars, what you actually get is a sweet spot somewhere between arcade and simulation, more on the arcade end, for sure. There are no shortcuts, jumps, boosts or powerups. If you're having trouble winning a cup you likely need to choose a different car and then work on your racing line. As others have said the racing is drift-oriented, which is fine. Even if you choose "race" handling, you'll still drift to some degree. But that's what makes the game fun. Drifting perfectly around a hairpin and undercutting several other cars is thrilling and addicting. Also - to "rubber band" AI, which I love. Meaning - if you're behind the game doesn't artificially keep the races close. If you have a track dialed in and you're not at a higher difficulty level you can win by a substantial margin.The races are exciting and generally very close. There's a lot of bumping and nudging - hitting other cars doesn't necessarily slow you down much, while hitting a barrier or wall will slow you down to a much larger degree, but not in an annoying, "realistic" way. So you can still salvage a race even if you start off poorly.My son and I play a lot of Mario Kart and I was looking for something more realistic. Of course "realistic" is relative. I don't really want something that takes me a week just to pass the license tests. I primarily wanted something where I could shave tenths off of lap times, work on racing lines, learn tracks, etc. This game fits that bill perfectly. It's fun but not frustrating, and learning to control the drifts is fun, although I tend to choose "race" handling because the drift handling gets too squirrelly for my tastes.As a point of comparison, I got Need for Speed: Nitro at the same time as this game. NFS is ok - not bad at all, really, but it's of course much more arcade oriented with boosts and such. NFS also lacks an inside-the-car view, there is only one 3rd person camera angle, which bugs me. They're obviously very different games, and while NFS can be fun I much prefer GT Pro.