This is definitely the best racer ever on a console. This is coming from someone who loves all racers from pure arcade to full simulation, I enjoy them all for what they are. If I just had to pick one racing game though, it would definitely be this one, even with all of the problems and glitches it has. No big deal, i'm sure most, maybe all of them will be patched and then it will without a doubt be the best racer to ever hit any console. Of course the people who only want and/or can only play arcade racers will not enjoy this very much, but then again, you can turn on all of the assists and play with people who also use all of the assists and it would probably handle like an arcade racer.
As far as reviews go. Can't trust them, can't go by them. Seems reviewers only give good reviews to games they like and are good at. If they don't like it or are no good at it then they give them sub-par reviews. A good reviewer should just talk about the game and tell what they see of it, don't down talk it just because they're no good. Yeah, I read reviews, but just to get some info about a game, never let them be my decision on whether to buy or not. There's been way too many games that got bad reviews that I totally enjoyed, also been a bunch that got great reviews and I thought were horrible games or maybe good games but just not my cup of tea (Halo, Gears, Oblivion, PGR, Burnout, just to name a few). So see, you just gotta try and read between the lines when it comes to reviews.
It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem. - Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990)