XBox 360 is starting to look better and better... Hmmmmm...
Gran Tursimo series was a lot of fun. It struck a good balance of making it a (pseudo) simulation without making it so damn difficult so that an average Joe can't enjoy it. I do agree that there's some truth to it being a "shopping simulator" though. On the other extreme, I recall F355 - holy shit, that game is hard, but it's a solid, solid "sim". I couldn't get in to it as easily as GT because of the difficulty curve (and no way you can do good times on the shitty standard analog pad).
Yeah, I'm a huge fan of F355, but a wheel is required. Not just for good times, but just to stay on the track. Daytona is even harder to play on a standard pad, but thats due totally to bad programming. The DC's biggest flaw, IMO, is that you need to use some other controller for virtually everything other than RPGs and sports games do to the stock one being so super shitty.
All that said, I can't imagine that real track driving is ANYTHING like video game driving. It sure ain't for motorbikes -- that's why I never even bother playing bike sims, I know it'll be nowhere _near_ the real thing.
I'll play a good ol' game of excitebike, though! 
Riding a bike is harder to adapt to a game because you ride a bike with your whole body. A car is controlled by just siting there and...well, using buttons and wheels, pretty much like a game.
I played a game for the original XBox, I think it was called Moto GP (not the Namco one on PS2), that did an OK job at being a bike sim. Riding a bike is pretty f*cking complex though, and I've never driven one at the limit, so I'm not qualified to comment.
