Do you like it when the wheels on the Bugatti Divo, Koenigseegg Agera RS and Ferrari Roma go round and round? Then it’s time to take a ride in Forza Motorsport.
In this I-Drink-Petrol-For-Breakfast-Em-Up, you race cars. That’s it, and you can go buy the game now ...
… for those of you still on the starting line, trying to find first gear (it’s the one on the top left), let me tell you more. It’s been about six years since the last real Forza Motorsport game (those questionable physics Horizon ones where you drive through trees don’t count), and although there isn’t a shortage of racing games out there (Motorfest long in the rear view mirror from just a couple of weeks ago), most of the true racing games can be unwelcoming or obtuse, especially in multiplayer.
Forza Motorsport tries to welcome everyone, putting you in the action almost as soon as the game has booted up. With its driver aids turned on by default, there’s little chance of you sliding off a chicane, or meeting a barrier with shiny polished metal and carbon fibre. FM guides you in gently, and then tears your face off with acceleration once you’ve found your rubber coated feet.
It doesn’t stray far from the familiar formula of picking a car, learning how it handles, upgrading it and racing it on tarmac circuits (if you go into the gravel here, you don’t get bonus kudos), but it does so with improved physics and a coat of RT reflections.
There is a good selection of cars here too, from the American classics to the Japanese rockets and the prestige of the Italian hyper-cars (there are BWMs, for all those people that like to drive dressed up as a clown). Both vintage and modern varieties – I just had to get that XR3i Mk III Escort Turbo – in white of course.
It’s clear that this time Turn-10 want to encourage you to stick with a car for a while. Unlike in previous entries, each car has its own level which unlocks tuning parts as you progress – but you’ll need to do this for each vehicle. It doesn’t take too long, but it does seem like an odd decision unless there are microtransactions incoming that speed this up (and I wouldn’t be surprised).
With this minor niggle aside, the game plays just as you’d expect – being able to feel, see and hear the difference between the different FR, FF, MD, 4WD cars and the grippiness, shiny and sounds they possess.
There’s much to explore, and tracks to set the best laps on in all sorts of weather at any time of day – with a lot of the fan favourites from previous games, such as Maple Valley (and this time the trees look like they actually have leaves).
I've been playing in on PC with a pad, and it seems pretty well tuned (no Project Cars like pad input here), but it will definitely lift things up a notch or two with a proper racing wheel setup (a Fanantec direct drive wheel being an ultimate accessory for those with the cash to splash).
Forza Motorsport is a solid entry in the series, happily runs great on PC (I have had the very very ocassional frame spike, but that's about it in the four hours I've played so far).
Overall I'm pretty happy with it, so give it 9 blown head gaskets out of 10 (thankfully no Rover 420 GSis were injured in this synopsis) - and will see how things progress into the late game. It's a solid sim racer so far.
In this I-Drink-Petrol-For-Breakfast-Em-Up, you race cars. That’s it, and you can go buy the game now ...
… for those of you still on the starting line, trying to find first gear (it’s the one on the top left), let me tell you more. It’s been about six years since the last real Forza Motorsport game (those questionable physics Horizon ones where you drive through trees don’t count), and although there isn’t a shortage of racing games out there (Motorfest long in the rear view mirror from just a couple of weeks ago), most of the true racing games can be unwelcoming or obtuse, especially in multiplayer.
Forza Motorsport tries to welcome everyone, putting you in the action almost as soon as the game has booted up. With its driver aids turned on by default, there’s little chance of you sliding off a chicane, or meeting a barrier with shiny polished metal and carbon fibre. FM guides you in gently, and then tears your face off with acceleration once you’ve found your rubber coated feet.
It doesn’t stray far from the familiar formula of picking a car, learning how it handles, upgrading it and racing it on tarmac circuits (if you go into the gravel here, you don’t get bonus kudos), but it does so with improved physics and a coat of RT reflections.
There is a good selection of cars here too, from the American classics to the Japanese rockets and the prestige of the Italian hyper-cars (there are BWMs, for all those people that like to drive dressed up as a clown). Both vintage and modern varieties – I just had to get that XR3i Mk III Escort Turbo – in white of course.
It’s clear that this time Turn-10 want to encourage you to stick with a car for a while. Unlike in previous entries, each car has its own level which unlocks tuning parts as you progress – but you’ll need to do this for each vehicle. It doesn’t take too long, but it does seem like an odd decision unless there are microtransactions incoming that speed this up (and I wouldn’t be surprised).
With this minor niggle aside, the game plays just as you’d expect – being able to feel, see and hear the difference between the different FR, FF, MD, 4WD cars and the grippiness, shiny and sounds they possess.
There’s much to explore, and tracks to set the best laps on in all sorts of weather at any time of day – with a lot of the fan favourites from previous games, such as Maple Valley (and this time the trees look like they actually have leaves).
I've been playing in on PC with a pad, and it seems pretty well tuned (no Project Cars like pad input here), but it will definitely lift things up a notch or two with a proper racing wheel setup (a Fanantec direct drive wheel being an ultimate accessory for those with the cash to splash).
Forza Motorsport is a solid entry in the series, happily runs great on PC (I have had the very very ocassional frame spike, but that's about it in the four hours I've played so far).
Overall I'm pretty happy with it, so give it 9 blown head gaskets out of 10 (thankfully no Rover 420 GSis were injured in this synopsis) - and will see how things progress into the late game. It's a solid sim racer so far.
- you won't need to speed things to buy all the cars because you don't really need to, you stick with the same car for a series of races and you'll easily have enough cash for the next series at the end of it. You don't have to spend money on parts any longer.
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