If Forza Motorsport 3 really is going to be the “definitive racing game of this generation,” as Turn 10 game director Dan Greenawalt emphasized at this year’s E3, then it needs to appeal to more than just the simulation fanatics and car painters that have flocked to the series so far. And that’s completely not a newsflash to Turn 10, which is focused on creating a much more accessible — and far prettier — racer.

While Forza isn’t turning into Burnout, it should make realistic driving less daunting by building in some useful assists. Along with auto-braking that lets you drive with one button and an auto-tuner that sets up cars properly, Forza 3 adds no-guilt rewinding. Tap the Back button any time, as often as you want, to rewind the race five seconds and undo everything from a crappy line through a turn to a car-shattering wipeout — it’ll sure save you the trouble of restarting the race like you would’ve anyway! (And yes, leaderboards will recognize in an as-yet-unspecified way the times that are posted without rewinding.)

And while Forza 2’s cars had faces that only a mother could love, Forza 3 is definitely a much better-looking game. In the races we saw in action, we could tell that the team has constructed an all-new and much better graphics engine (60fps with 10 times more polygons per car, Greenawalt tells us). We also love the newly added cockpit views, the improved damage modeling that lets cars flip and roll over, and even the new interface, which is clean and austerely pretty.

But the biggest new feature that Turn 10 has announced (so far) is the ability to create, edit, and upload HD video from in-game. If the incredibly impressive paint jobs that we all marveled at in Forza 2 are any indication, we’re in for some seriously must-see TV. And speaking of our favorite feature from last time — yes, Forza 3 will make enhancements to the livery editor, multiplayer, and the auction house, but Greenawalt ain’t talking about how any of those features are changing just yet. But his confident smile when he assured us that “we aren’t resting on our laurels” was most promising.

We did get some interesting details on the new career mode, though. Instead of offering just a roster of events that you make your way through, Forza 3 develops a personalized calendar of events based on the cars you use most often and the types of events you race most frequently. The game’s circuit, drift, drag, oval, and time-trial events have jumped in number from 90 to 250, and if you prefer, you can just access them “the old way” and run what you want when you want to.

Forza 3 also beefs up the number of tracks in a big way, rocketing up to 100 circuits. Most are in real-world locations (such as returning friends like Suzuka, Nürburgring, and Sebring), but some are fantasy tracks that are “grounded in reality,” Greenawalt explains. We checked out a gorgeous run from the mountains in Montserrat, Spain, down to the ocean, but others include trips down the Amalfi coast in Italy and across the American Southwest.

Last but not least, the car lineup is still largely under wraps, but the game includes 400 vehicles from 50 manufacturers, including the Audi R8 V10 and the Nissan 370Z. We can’t wait to find out what else Turn 10 has up its sleeve, but one thing we are sure of: between this game and Need for Speed: Shift, fall is going to be a great time to love racing real cars, real fast.