The game story starts when the White House sets an emergency meeting, where they uncover the information that the military authoritarian Don Gwano is using the high revenue from his large oil exports to finance and support his great army and navy.
As far as racing games go, I'm a pretty traditional sort of fellow. Give me something with lots of speed, or great handling, in a setting that's either realistic or sci-fi, and you've got a happy camper here.