I almost mentioned rallisport 1 and 2 (and rally masters on the pc) as examples of games that did almost everything right but didnt sell well enough.
Holding up the physics crown isnt easy in a world saturated by arcade racers. Forza probably didnt sell all that well and is by far the most physically accurate simulation of last gen, and its game engine would make a fabulous rally title, but people dont buy games that they cant instantly master (case in point Richard Burns Rally, the most realistic rally game to date - takes hours to even pass the driving school).
And for the record I love DICE, from pinball illusions to Battlefield 2 PC, its all good (unless EA now destroys them with corporate bs).
MS should have bought them out and make them one of their game studios. They'd now have one of the hottest PC multiplayers and more kick-ass titles like rallisport3. But noo let EA take them over. Stupid shareholders.
You have to wonder wth happened there. MS gives dice (still an independent company - huge success with bf42) the job of creating midtown maddnes 3 (one of MSs succesful inhouse franchises) and gets rallisport 1 as a bonus for xbox1 launch. Dice further gives them rallisport 2, but then MS lets them be overtaken by EA. Incredible.
Now EA has forced the creation of Dice canada (infact created it not weeks after the takeover) for cheaper labour botched sequels (BFV) and lame expansion packs (BF42:secret weapons, BF2:Special Forces) and is slowly driving it into the ground with forced releases of unfinished products and no doubt trying to make them leave sweden for cheaper expenses and taxes.