Forza Motorsport

Microsoft's latest 'drives' Sam wild...

There are a number of other minor problems with the interface. Forza is screaming out for a single page that displays your current career progress and the paths available to the player for progression. There were times when I could have sworn I was playing an old point and click adventure, so absolutely stuck as I was as to how to advance onto the next set of races. Each set of races will have certain restrictions, be they weight, BHP or class, amongst others. As you mod your cars their specs shift considerably, so your pool of suitable vehicles is in a constant flux. All of the different race sets will gift the player a free car if you come in first in all of the races in that set, so it's only natural that you will want to nab a free RX7 rather than shell out for one from the store. However, to find out which set has this vehicle as its prize requires searching through the different career paths until you find that race and then trying to remember which cars you have that are capable of winning that series for you. A simple overarching display screen, detailing the races to be driven and the cars to be won, would strip away a lot of tedious menu navigation and generally make the player's life that bit easier.

The first time you set off in a race in Forza is an amusing affair. Even with all the driving aids on you're guaranteed to careen off the track within three corners of the start. The driving model is both precise and individualistic, so as with all good driving games a certain period of adjustment is inevitable. Forza guides neophyte players along with its impressive dynamic racing line, a sting of coloured bars that threads its way through the course following an unadventurous racing line. The bars will change from green to yellow and then red when the player should slow their car down for an approaching bend or hilltop and quickly becomes relied upon as a near infallible guide of what to do next. The line is also dynamic, so those red braking bars will show up a lot quicker when driving a bullish Ferrari Enzo than when you are behind the wheel of a hesitant Vauxhall Corsa. It's an innovative system that works so well that like sleeping tablets and MMOs, it's very easy to develop a dependency.

So much so that I eventually had to force myself to turn it off and drive like a man. In conjunction with a number of other driving aids such as ABS and traction control Forza's driving line ensures that novice and experienced drivers are able to enjoy the Forza racing experience. You'll soon find yourself turning off some of the lesser aids such as stability management to gain the extra cash that the higher difficulty level rewards you with. Piling on the difficulty leads to greatly expanded earnings to spend on upgraded kit and flashier cars, but it's still a brave day when you finally banish the racing line for good. An issue I have with a few other driving games is also unfortunately present in Forza and was ultimately responsible for my hesitancy is ditching that green life-line. Thanks to the similarity of the colours of the track with those of the land on either side it can often be very challenging to determine when and where the next corner will appear from. Changing camera positions helps a little, but even when looking at the bumper of the car from high above corners will often appear out of nowhere, leaving too little time for the driver to react and break before skidding off onto the grass. Naturally this problem dissipates as you become more familiar with the tracks, but it always remains annoying that part of your brain tells your body to hitch up and try to peer over the horizon so as to get a better clue of what is coming next. The less-than-mild bloom effect that the developers have implemented compounds the problem as it blurs the line between track and kerb just where you don't need a bit of graphical polish. Saying that, the bloom effect gives the backgrounds a nice hazy atmosphere and makes for some of the most lifelike looking scenery in any driving game to date. It's also a cheeky way of sneaking in a pseudo motion blur affect.

The graphics in Forza are generally of a very high standard. The aforementioned scenery really does deserve special merit. The variety of locales present in the game hasn't led to any corner cutting in the art department. Real life tracks such as Silverstone and Leguna Seca have never looked more realistic and the fabricated courses are a rich source of impressive vistas and beautiful sunshine effects. All the trackside objects are full 3D models which really help to foster a greater sense of immersion but the framerate always remains constant and has a fluidity which belies the amount of detail packed into each track. On one or two occasions I did experience a clutch of dropped frames which made the game appear to freeze for a fraction of a second but this happens so infrequently that I feel some what silly even mentioning it. One area which has caused some discord is the quality of the car models themselves. I tend to side with those that believe they lack certain something and so have a tendency to appear a little flat. I feel inclined to place the blame on the bloom effect, for a close inspection of the models do show off a lot of detail and some striking representations of the world's best driving machines. Little touches in the game, such as skidmarks that persist till the end of the race and paintwork that rubs off onto objects you collide with all combine to make Forza a very pretty game indeed.

Forza is probably the most complete racing package available for any machine in any era. I haven't even mentioned the pimping options, (Forza includes a full paint and stickerbox along with a number of tinted window and flashy rim options), the mightily impressive Drivatar, (a virtual driver that you can train then let run races for you), and the sheer range of cars on offer, (over 200 cars from 50 manufacturers from the Asian, American and European regions). I've even criminally not detailed the comprehensive online component. Needless to say playing Forza online is at least as thrilling a racing experience as the offline mode and the number of options, leaderboards and people to race will ensure Live enabled gamers will be able to get so much out of the package they may not feel the need for another racing game for a very long time. Forza may sound like an intimidating game, yet while it is deep enough for the petrol heads it's still easy enough to pick up and play that bunch of drunken non-gamers can have a blast trying to out drive each other after a night down the pub. No mistaking though, this is a serious racing game for serious racing fans. If we can ignore the atrocious menus it is also a seriously well made game that should appeal to gamers of all persuasions. If you've held off for this long then you really should do yourself a favour and buy this essential game.

93%

By Sam Gibson