Forza Motorsports

[wihadmin]

So which one of you Mother/Father Goose has got Forza Motorsports? Can you give us a review of it?

[GroovyDude]

I'm going to try to rent it tomorrow.

[Father Goose]

Hey- if you don't want to read the post below and just want to play Forza, my Xbox Live Gamertag is Wlnrover. Shoot me an invite- I'd be glad and proud to have anybody from this server on my Live friends list.

WARNING- LONG POST FOLLOWS.

Here is my review (we both have the game).

It is awesome. More follows-

I have to go to work super early tomorrow so I will keep this short if I can.

In 1998, a sweet game called Gran Turismo came out. For me, its primary draws were- 1. Stellar graphics 2. The first believable physics I'd played in a racing game 3. Pokemon-like-super-addictive "buy it, build it, tune it, race it" game play.

As absolutely great as GT1 was, when you play a game for 50, 60, 80, 100 hours, you start to notice the "holes" in the armor, and you make up a wishlist. So, imagine it's 1998. Mother Goose and I are in his basement, talking about GT1. Our wishlist is something like this-

"Wouldn't this game be sweet if you could jack the cars up? I just end up playing bumper cars all race!"
"I wish I could paint these cars. How weird is it that I can give a car 1,000 horsepower but there's not a Maaco in sight?"
"The AI really blows- they have a racing line they stick to, and that's it. They don't try to pass, the just ram you off their line."

GT never has addressed those issues. The cars don't damage, you still can't do anything to the paint, and the AI blows chunks (one of my buddies has a demo from GT4 where on a veeery long straight a Shelby Cobra refuses to even TRY to go around another AI car and rams it at about 130 mph- funny but not cool in the game).

Forza addresses them all. It keeps everything I love about the Gran Turismo series, and adds my wishlist!

The graphics are awesome- they're not GT4 sharp, but they look more real and lived in. Plus the Xbox has some graphics tricks that help some stuff like tire smoke and track reflections look a lot better. In GT4 all the tracks look brand new. In Forza they actually look more...well, real to me. They look more like somebody's been racing around on them. There are some big weak points- the reflections on the cars look terrible (watch a replay to see this), and there are weird bits of pop-in and stuff. All together, though, it is very easy on your eyes.

The physics model is superb. If you think it's arcadey or weird, turn off the driving aids- you'll notice some excellent realism. It's not GTR SUPER DUPER DUPER real, but I would say it's at least GT4 good. All of the different drivetrains are substantially different to feel, and all of the upgrades make a real and noticeable difference. One problem- drafting is VERY powerful and feels almost like a magnet pulling you towards the leading car.

The damage is awesome. You can keep it cosmetic and earn less money. Set it to limited and get some damage but not really total your car unless you REALLY suck. Set it to "simulation" and simply revving your engine too high will damage it if you do it for too long. The damage looks great- paint gets scraped off (and stays on guardrails!) and you see metal. Lights and windows get busted out. Spoilers, mirrors, and other small bits can get ripped off.

The AI is simply awesome. It will ram you out of anger if you're racing dirty, but for the most part it plays by the rules, and it's good. It will out-brake you, try to intimidate you (with terrible results if you slam on the brakes while it's tailgating), and in general hunt for an opportunity. When you and the AI have evenly matched cars (in, say, a stock single model race), they WILL try to hunt you down. This also extends to your "Drivatar", a computer driver who can run races for you, and does better or worse depending on how you're "trained" it during some sessions where it watches you drive and learns from you. The Drivatar does charge an extremely large chunk of change for his services, but it's fun to watch him drive.

The Online play is fun- when I can get on. They need to do some serious work here, because it's almost impossible for me to join a match most of the time. When I do, it's some clowns doing oval racing. Yeah. I want to do 25 laps on a GIANT OVAL TEST TRACK. You idiots.

The painting- the painting is AWESOME. AWESOME, I tell you! You can create almost anything you can dream up, right down to a huge selection of sponsor decals and paint (including color change paint and carbon fiber for the body). You won't find any Need For Speed Underground style stuff like spinners or underbody lighting, but that's good- it's a racing game, not Pimp My Ride. Also- it's free, encouraging you to be creative with even your first super-ghetto car.

Also- for the tuners in the crowd. The tuning system is lifted straight out of the GT games. Everything I can think of from those games can be upgraded and tuned in this game. Like I said above- it does make a difference you can feel and even hear (the racing transmission produces a manly noise that warms my heart :nuts: ). If you liked it in GT1, 2, 3 or 4, you'll feel at home here.

So. That was my "short" review. I love this game, and I am going to have to force myself to play some CS just to stop imagining apexes, paint jobs, and new parts.


Phwew. That's about it.

[Father Goose]

Also- I tried to use the phrase

"c h i n k s in the armor" above but it said that I am a racist. Heh heh. Sorry, little CPU- didn't mean to offend you :D

[GroovyDude]

My Blockbuster still doesn't have it. :thumbsdown:

[Father Goose]

I just won a 550 Speedster. Unfortunately you can't customize your driver so I can't put a headless James Dean driver in there.

Oops, was that in bad taste? Sorry, it's all I can think of when I see one of those.