With car racing games you have Forza 3 for the 360, and you'll have Gran Turismo 5 for the PS3, if they ever release it.
With the footy games, both PES and Fifa are cross-platform.
Most games are cross platform now, but Microsoft do seem to throw a lot of money at games developers ensuring that they have more exclusive content than Sony do. Not really something to base your choice on. There are still some big games that are tied to one console or the other (eg Halo).
Technically there is little to choose between them, some games look slightly better on one, and some on t'other.
The RROD is a thing of the past, buy an Elite or a "Jasper" vanilla 360. I would be wary of buying a used 360 as some of them may be locked out of Live (there was a huge banning recently).
Live multiplayer is free on the PS3 and is about £40 p/year on the 360. There are many more players on Xbox Live though.
As Jim has pointed out, the price difference is mainly because the PS3 has a Blu Ray drive.
If you want to play Blu Rays and you don't already have a dedicated player, then I'd get a PS3. If Blu Ray is irrelevant then I'd save some money and get a 360.