Forza 2

[stepp]

Anyone else managed to get hold of the Pal version yet? Ive had mine since thursday now ( ltd edition )...i did pay a bit over the odds though but i wanted it for the bank holiday weekend!

Played 7 hours so far, great game, great playability, ****e loads to do with decals and designing your cars, havent really explored the online side yet...mainly been doing career mode.

Let downs??? Yep the graphics im sure could of been better with more AA and more textures o nthe trackside and scenery, the replays IMO are utter ****e, too slow framerate and the camera angles are a joke.

Ive had my 360 since launch and this is definatly the best game ive played on it so far, then again i love racing games.

Stepp

[John Beaulieu]

Forza 2

my japanese copy arrived today - not put too much time into it, but what little i have seen is good.

started in the european region - decided to pick up a '92 VW Golf Mk2 as my first motor ... tbh it lacks something in the top end when racing (still to win my first race), and its a slidey beast around the corners if I don't slow down enough - but it sure is fun to throw around. Put in a Racing drive-shaft, and lowered the suspension - which has messed up the balance big time.

The test track i am racing on isn't anything special - it has one or two overtaking corners, and the 3rd variation throws a double S chicane at you which, if you hit it right, can you push you up a place or two. The races have been tight upto now, and even though I haven't won any yet they have been exciting and fun. The AI is a dirty bast, always looking to push you into the gravel so that you spin out - the AI will leave the racing line in order to close a gap you might push through, and I have seen a couple of AI crashes which weren't forced by myself (I have spun the AI out a couple of times by catching them just right at the back end - revenge for the times they did it to me).

The Golf I am in has a pretty poor sensation of speed, but i put that down to not being able to hit top speeds on these early tracks ... tried out Arcade mode (where you can pick any car which has been unlocked) and using the top end vehicles is bloody fast (the cars in the demo are about 3 or 4 packs away from the top end in the game).

Supposed to have a custom car free with this game - but I can't work out how to unlock it (the manual is in japanese whilst the full game is in english).

Auction house is fun - someone is (as I type this) selling a Mazda R7 with the best Gears of War decal I have seen, its absolutely spot on in every way ... I don't have the credits to bid though - lots of anime decals up there as well, with a couple of lameass decals alongside them. Most expensive car I saw was 100,000 credits, but the majority were at the 20,000-ish mark (though they still have quite a bit of time still on their auctions).

Speaking of decals - a quick test of the decal editor (with my ultra poor artistic talents) resulted in the following attachment ........

[Uli]

John, i see that you just got started but can you please report back if it's possible to set weather condition and time of day for free races? and whether there are 24h races complete with day/night-cycles like in "Les Mans 24h"?

and can you compare it to Forza in respect of how much of an update or a sequel is this game?

[John Beaulieu]

will have a play around with the free run mode to find out about weather conditions etc and get back to you

tried out more arcade mode before bed - you have Exhibition, in which you pick car class and track and then just race the AI, Time Trial - in which you need to pass a certain time on the track using a car already chosen for you and Free Run.

Also had more of a play around with the decal editor .....

[charlesr]

How does it compare to the demo? (graphics, car models)

[John Beaulieu]

looks more or less the same - though I haven't been to the demo track yet

[John Beaulieu]

ah just remembered ....

for every race you get credits - credits for winning, credits for how rare your car is, credits for clean races etc etc etc (too many options to remember after 3 hours kip) - the credits go towards 3 things, they sit in your 'bank' and you can spend them on new cars, upgrading current cars and the auction house, they level up your character (flying through the levels - at level 5 after only a couple of hours), and they level up your cars reputation (my Golf is now at level 1 - most of the cars you see in the auction house are level 0)

Also, you car retains its stats even when sold/given to someone else - think of it as a log book, it will show previous owners, races driven/won etc etc ...

[dc-arena]

Can you play the online career with your friends?

[John Beaulieu]

i can't find the car clubs option (has it been taken out?) and not had a chance to play online yet - will try it and get back to you

[elkatas]

Sounds lovely. I couldn't care less about graphics, and I'm just happy to hear that actual mechanics / physics work well. How's AI? Any improvements over original Forza?

[charlesr]

According to the IGN review, there's no weather or time of day effects. Shame.

[Rossco]

Uch, that would have been nice. I need to get out and buy the wheel for this soon!

Have you got any new cars yet or still stuck with your shady wee Golf? I dont want to be driving slow boring cars like that for long before getting some new exciting beasts.

[Uli]

According to the IGN review, there's no weather or time of day effects. Shame.

ja, it's really too bad. most of all because i am looking forward so much to a game which will eventually match the feeling and gameplay of "Les Mans 24h".

i am sure Forza 2 is a decent racing sim but so far i don't see myself picking this game up for just a few new cars and some upgrades to the core game - especially since i have yet to complete Forza and GT4

[Ciaran]

You won't buy it for new cars, improved gameplay and improved graphics. But you would buy it if you could race at night

[Yoshimax]

Ciaran in "trying to make sense of it" shocker