Racing and NASCAR are two different things... If most of the country enjoy seeing cars with bigger wheels on one side going around a loop for 500 laps the mystery of GT's lack of appeal is solved.
Galaki; yeah, Mario Kart. I always forget that, I guess it just doesn't occur to me when I'm thinking of Need for Speed, Gran Turismo and Forza. It still does nothing to my point though; GT 5 might end up being the most important PS3 title ever.