head to head
Neither is simply harder - they are hard in different places. Burnout 3: Takedown demands more optimization; Rocket League demands more reads.

Execution · Pure Mechanics
The beloved arcade racer where slamming rivals into walls is the point.

Execution · Pure Mechanics
Mechanical car-soccer where execution is the ceiling.
Burnout 3: Takedown leans Execution (Pure Mechanics); Rocket League leans Execution (Pure Mechanics).
Rocket League leans clearly harder on execution.
Burnout 3: Takedown
High-speed control and takedown timing are everything
Rocket League
Aerials, flicks, dribbles, pure mechanical ceiling
Rocket League leans clearly harder on reads.
Burnout 3: Takedown
Online rivals bait slams, modestly
Rocket League
Rotations and 50-50 reads against humans
Burnout 3: Takedown leans a little harder on variance, though the gap is small.
Burnout 3: Takedown
Traffic and crash chaos inject randomness
Rocket League
Almost deterministic physics
Burnout 3: Takedown leans clearly harder on optimization.
Burnout 3: Takedown
Track knowledge and boost routes reward study
Rocket League
Training routines, rotation theory
A matching score does not mean a matching test. Two games can both sit at 10 on execution and demand completely different things of you - which is why the reasoning above matters more than the number beside it.