Driving reigns at E3

Racing fans have a lot to love at E3 this year, with Sony's Gran Turismo Sport and Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 7 playable on the show floor.

In two demos I attended, there was a lot of talk about fidelity to environments, tracks and cars. PR people focused on vehicle rosters and challenges, social features and livery customization. But it’s only when you play these games that you remember their astonishing pedigree and fanatical eye for detail.

Details and stats will no doubt be used in the juvenile internet war between whether one of these games is superior to the other. For those partisans who care about such things, the hardware specs of PlayStation Pro and Xbox One X will also be dragooned into service as well as GT Sport's PSVR support.

The fact is that both sets of console owners are well served by two highly attractive, minutely detailed, ferociously competent games. With the coming of 4K visuals, racing games have never looked better.

As much as I enjoy the detail of clouds passing by or the gleam of racing helmets, playing both these games on the show floor, transported me into the moment, the contest. This, surely, is the ultimate goal of these games' producers.

Racing games have always been at the forefront of hardware companies' attempts to showcase their consoles. The beneficiaries are racing fans, who can play games that are well-resourced and are always absolutely gorgeous.

Gran Turismo Sport is out this fall. Forza 7 arrives for Xbox One and WIndows PC on Oct 3 and on Xbox One X on Nov. 7.

And if you tastes lay elsewhere, there's also Slightly Mad’s Project Cars 2, coming out PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One on Sept. 22 via Bandai Namco. I played a course racing through the Highlands of Scotland and found it to be a great drive with lovely environments.

This E3 is a lesson that we're spoiled for great racing games.