One time it even froze up on me

Definitely worth your time.

My 3 year old has a hard time with the plane and boat but does great with just the car.

if you miss one, you lose time

Note that there are a coule of timed trials that are tough to get through, but if you try enough times, then the game gives you the option of skipping them

Each time you compete in a race, the next one opens, even if you didn't win it... which seems kind of pointless, as you just need to be in it to unlock it to race as it whenever you want

To qualify I don't down any of the big name, "realistic" racing games