Really no question about it, sim racing titles are just not popular these days. Forza 3 sold 175k in its first NPD month and in its second month it was not even in the top 20. Forza 3 is only doing well in UK and even here it is due to bundling, I got myself a 360 elite with Forza 3 and another 2 games. The two games I could choose but Forza 3 came with every single bundle (BTW it was at Game). GT PSP according to NPD sold like shit first month let alone the first month.

GT:5P has done well but I honestly think that in just two years the popularity has decreased rapidly. Had GT5:P released now I seriously doubt it would have done as well as it did two years ago, increased install base and all. It's all doom and gloom as a huge racing sim fan, I honestly do not think that the big one GT5 will pass 7 million lifetime. :(

Also this has to be said.....the fuck is going on with these chartzzzz numbers? 100k each week in NA for Forza 3 according to this site yet it did not even pass 200k for the second month in NA according to NPD which is the one I trust. Please let me know what I am missing here and will be sure to apologize for the mistake if I have made it because right now VGChartz numbers are as laughable as ever. Before anyone starts with the "he is a gaffer so hates this site anyway" please don't bother, I have been here for over a year now so hardly hate it.  

The software numbers tend to be less reliable than hardware. It does suck when a game you're following turns out to be (massively) overtracked, I've been there before.

I wouldn't call the numbers laughable, as VGC was pretty accurate for the NPD top 10 (besides Forza 3). However, you should trust them at your own discretion, especially for the lower selling titles - things like this happen.

Forza 2 did only marginally better, from what I gather, and you're lamenting the demise of the entire genre?

Or is it you are lamenting the inaccuracy of VGChartz?

Either way, I think you are wrong. No, Forza 3 is not doing all that well in America. Yes, the discrepancy between VGChartz numbers and NPD seems to be pretty big. But don't forget all the other racers out there that are making pretty big numbers. Shift seems to be doing great, and I truly believe GT5 will do some very nice numbers as well. And don't forget all the excellent tracking VGChartz does either.

oh stop this meltdown

Gran Turismo was always the ONLY hyper realistis sim racer that actually did very well

it will remain that way

I am fairly certain you can't compare VGC to NPD because they group sales differently. You are probably looking at WW sales or Americas sales on VGC and comparing it to the NPD, which is not the same, and then trying to draw some conclusion.

Either way you are completely wrong about Sim racers. They are probably more popular, in terms of sales, now days then they were before. no racer touches GT and that game has yet to come out. When it does it will be huge. Other than that the Need for speed series has gotten a nice little ressurection lately, the burnout series has sold nicely, Forza sales pretty well also. I'm sure there are a few other sims out there that sell relatively well for not being a genre leader.
I don't recall any other period in time where racing sims just flew off the shelves besides the aforementioned Gran Turismo and maybe a time where need for speed sold remotely better than it does now.

I hope you are wrong. Just got my fanatec wheel and love it (just played Forza 3). Gotta make this purchase worth it so keep them sim racers comin (I'm look right at you big daddy, erm, I mean GT5).

I take VGChartz numbers with a huge grain of salt to say the very least and am not a member of this website for its figures. I am rather a member because I am one of those really sad people whom care about console sales like most other people on this site and enjoy discussing it. I do wish Chart Track did sales numbers every month like NPD however sadly they do not so have to assume the numbers on this website are correct.

Media Create, NPD and Chart Track are the ones I trust and can only hope that the last one starts showing numbers for the top 20. NPD was so good back in the day when the whole sheet was leaked however that no longer happens however Media Create it just mint.

On topic I think racing titles in general would have been a better title........the ones with no Mario in the title.

just wait till GT5 releases.. even Forza 3 might pick up sales

VGC had it at nearly 400k in the preview.  It wasn't in the top 20, so it was probably at ~150k or lower. (God of War was at 17, and is less than 180k)  Another pretty bad error recently is the Beatles Rock Band which just recently passes 1 million.  VGC has it at nearly 2 million.

it is what happen when gamer hype go to OVERHYPED online FPS ala Halo or COD

dont worry there are still plenty of player that love to play offline with their friends and those ones will get GT5
PS3 is HOT in Europe right now

also GT5 getting 7M is still good considering PS3 install base

(well, if they have PS3 and like racing lol)