Yeah lets hope so for everyone sake!!
No, sadly its not an open world game, you chose circuits from the menu and race in them...if you want to play some nice open world racing, i recommend Need for Speed Most Wanted! Now thats a great game, with cops chasing you and everything :D Haha no, im not sure how many cars the original had, i just know that Gran Turismo 4 for the PS2 had like 4000 i think xD
Yeah i havent been playing that much 3ds lately to be honest...but we definitely have to voice chat some time again! And ive been pretty bored at work because my laptop there broke, so ive come up with like 3-4 ideas for challenges i might post :D