Gaming Forza Motorsport

[Semjaza]

I didn't see a thread on this title, which surprised me. For those that don't know, it a new racing simulation for Xbox that takes a page from the Gran Turismo series. I'm hoping it does as well as it deserves too, but somehow I don't think it is. It somehow manages to be realistic and challenging but even more user friendly than comparable titles.

I've been really impressed with the set up of the game and how everything feels. I'm used to GT mechanics, but some things in this game seem almost unforgiving by comparison. The damage models, the handling, how cars react when bumping into eachother from different angles, etc.

The game has a variety of modes; the main one is Career. Here you pick a homeland (which determines which areas cars you have easiest access to... America, Asia or Europe) and race. As in other games, you finish races and win money and possibly new cars.

How much money you get is determined by a few factors: how far in the game the race is, the rarity of your car, how much you damaged it (deducts money from your wins) and so forth. In the difficulty menus, turning off some helpers and enhancing AI strength and damage realism also raises the amount of money you can win. Forza's default settings don't give or take away from bonuses.

One of these helpers is a line that shows you where to drive on the track and how fast to go. Using this you can determine when to start stopping (yellow into red) and when to speed up again (green). It's a small thing but definitely helpful to those who need it. Personally, I recommend turning it off right away because the main thing about this game is getting used to the feel of each car. That line destroys that link between you and the machine and really stops you from realizing how damn well Forza has been crafted.

Races are divided much like in GT. You need certain types of cars to get into some (front wheel drive or rear, Japanese car or American, C class license or B class, etc). So obviously you're not going to be able to use one single car throughout the game.

Car class is determined by the car's power, as expected. A difference here is that upgrading parts on your car increases what class it is in. You're not going to running a souped up Integra against stock ones because you won't be in the same class. It's in your best interest to keep several cars on hand at a time.

Aside from new parts you can also change the look of your car. After market rims, bumpers, window tints and so forth are all available for purchase. You have to be careful though; installing these on a car makes it ineligible for stock races. You can change car colors for free and attach up to a 100 different layers of decals and vinyls to change your car's appearance.

You can sell your cars both in-game and online. The cool thing about the online aspect is that you can often get more money utilizing that method. Aside from being able to get new decals and looks and race others, I think that's a nice addition.

The game also features something called a "Drivatar". Basically you train this AI by completing tasks and doing well in races that mark your efficiency. This is then applied to an in-game character than can complete races for you. It's not perfect, obviously, but it is a cool feature. The main drawback is that using a Drivatar to win races cuts back your earnings heavily (we're talking like 90% here).

The game obviously looks great. Car models are excellent, tracks are gorgeous, framerate is incredibly smooth, lighting and effects are fantastic. It's about what I'd expect from a Xbox racer after Rallisport Challenge 2; especially one that has up to twice as many cars on screen at once as that title.

Sound also fares well. Effects are sharp and people have commented that the in-game cars sound just like their real world counterparts (I wouldn't know lol). Music is different for each type of menu and actual racing parts. Some feature instrumental versions of classic rock tracks like Iron Man and others are just random electronic sounding compositions. The actual race music is composed by Junkie XL and gets the job done.Of course, you get to use custom soundtracks as well, which automatically makes me happier with the music selection compared to anything I could have been stuck with otherwise.

Anyway, I can answer anything people want to know about it. I'm never sure how much to write or how much not to in these threads. The game has been getting 10s and 9s overall, so it's not just me that likes this title. Strongly recommended.


[IMG]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/121/reviews/920720_20050502_screen011.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.xbox.com/media/games/forza/sim-forza-0003.jpg[/IMG]

[Purple Haze]

[COLOR=Purple][SIZE=1]I have just 2 question about it.

The first is I'm not a big simulation racing fan and is there any features for someone like me to even want to play this game? Does it take up you whole life like the GT games so that you can never leave the house in order to beat the game? I tried to play GT for a while but it got really boring quickly becuse I had to do the same races over and over and over and over again in order to get money to buy new cars.

2) Does it have any action in the races like Project Gotham Racing or Apex.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Semjaza]

I don't think it's quite as demanding as GT is in some ways. You don't have to take countless license tests for one. I'm finding that you win enough money (particularly with some of the difficulty settings ramped up) that I've not had much of a problem buying top of the line parts for the cars I use most. Cars themselves sell for quite a bit of money (even more on Live), so if you get rid of one you won you'll probably have enough to nearly max out another car.

I think the amount of time spent to what you actually get is better balanced in Forza. I think it might appeal to you a bit more, but I could never say 100%. I'd at least give it a rent and see if you feel the same about that.

As for action, I'm not sure what you mean.... I've not played Apex or PGR, strangely. It's not insane like Burnout or anything; it's still a simulation at heart. That doesn't mean that the AI isn't challenging or that you won't have to do a lot of crazy turns or anything, though.

If you want to explain what you mean a bit more due to me ignorance on those titles, I'll try to answer it a bit better.