Building A Virtual Racetrack For Stay-At-Home Drivers

We don't like to admit it, but there's nothing really new about racing videogames. They've been a staple since the days of mall arcades, Atari 2600s, and the Carter Administration; in the interim, they simply gotten faster, sharper, more complex, and more exciting. But the folks behind iRacing.com -- an online, subscription-based racing service -- have something bigger in mind: "a vision of Internet racing as a recognized competition with its own global sanctioning body, a place where an amateur racer can have a fulfilling career and where professional drivers can hone their skills".  Which sounds awesome, but we're still buying Forza Motorsport 3. [NYTimes]