rec.autos.simulators

I know this is the wrong forum, but then again what better group to ask.  We
want to get my 9 year old a new game system this year.  We actually bought
the X box bundle for $219 last week.  I was just out at the mall and see the
same thing, so I was told for 179, none actually on the shelf, but we can
take back what we bought.  I made sure of that before we paid for it.
So here is my question.  Between the PS2 and X box, playability, quality of
***, online ability, which one is better?  I have never played either
except today at the store I played the xbox demo.  not too bad I suppose....
Both play dvd's and cd's, both offer surround sound I believe.  My thoughts
are that the Xbox is microsoft and I understand computers pretty well so
"should" be able to cope with issues that come up.  Looking around on the
internet I did find some "how to's" for fixing PS2's.  Now I figured that is
a mark against PS2 since I have not seen anything like that for Xbox and
assume there are more problems with PS2.

Thoughts?  Recomendations?

Thanks for any help...

Sean

Just got my kids a PS2 and they love it. Huge library of games compared to
xbox. I would say go with the PS2 also.

The Xbox is generally aimed at the more mature, discerning gamer.  No way in
hell I'd buy a PS2 for myself but for kids it might be the better option due
to more games being available.

I haven't played anything on any console that could be described as a
*sim*... they're all arcadey.

KK

 IMHO Atari's NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona is the most realistic SIM that's
been released on any console to date. This sim was only realeased on
the PS2 and Gamecube. The game is built on the NASCAR Heat engine that
was originally released on the PS2/XBox; was significantly
tweaked/improved for NASCAR: DtoD. The dirt track and MODs circuits in
the game are excellent. The only down note for the game is that the
graphics don't stand up to the other better console titles; about the
quality of the better late 90's PC Sims.
 Some other things to consider. IMHO the PS2's controllers analog axis
perform better than the XBox's controllers; even the Gamecubes axis
seems to handle better. The PS2 also has a much better support for 3rd
party wheels; most importantly Logitech which is about as good as it
gets for consoles. The XBox has more polygon-pushing hardware, thus
the graphics are usually better in the XBox exclusives. With few
exceptions multi-platform racing games are ported from the PS2, thus
there's not much difference in graphics between platforms.
I've played quite a number of console racing titles 1 -on- 1 with
friends and family. To name a few GT3(PS2), NASCAR Thunder 2003(PS2),
PGR(XBox), Rally Champ(XBox), Colin MaRae Really 3(XBox), Burnout
2(GC). I've yet to find any console game that matches the depth and
realism of NASCAR: DtoD. I haven't played PGR2 yet, so I can't
comment.