Forza Motorsport

Forza Motorsport - Review Xbox

Forza Motorsport - Review XBOX

Forza Motorsport - Review Xbox

As an Xbox owner I am the first to hold up my hand and say, for 10 years or so Sony and their consoles have had the racing genre in a very firm head lock. Apart from the odd multi platform title such as the Colin McRae series the Xbox has lacked a truly great, Xbox specific, racing title to challenge Sony's amazing roster.

Microsoft has quietly been developing Forza Motorsport for some time now and what a development it is! Forza feature 230 cars from 60 manufacturers including Mazda, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and Dodge plus a pile of tracks with a great mix of real race tracks from all over the world and brilliant fictional tracks too. All the best known tracks are present, the famously challenging Nurburgring Nordschleife to the spectator-lined streets of Rio de Janeiro or New York , race on meticulously designed tracks with an incredible sense of speed and realism.

The driving in Forza is very good and feels very realistic. The cars feel quite heavy and there is not really any floaty feeling when cornering. You have the same driving aids as real cars do these days s uch as traction control, antilock braking, and stability management. Microsoft has taken the driving aid to a new level with their suggested line" feature this assistant paints a line on the track to show you the best line to take around any corner. The line shows in green (this means speed up) and turns yellow (this means come off the accelerator) then red (this means brake) if your speed is too high as you approach the corner. This is equivalent to a major tutorial on each track as the suggested line" assistant gives you all the info you need to put the perfect performance in every time.

Forza has the usual camera angles available and even has an at track level camera for you total speed freaks out there. Using the right analogue means you can glance left or right and also at 45 degree angles too and the obligatory rear view mirror also works well.

When it comes to opponents the AI is great and is probably the developers greatest achievement your opponents drive with guile and each car reacts individually unlike some driving titles were the bots hunt in packs. Bot drivers will block your route passed them for the entire coarse; they will also swerve around behind you looking for a gap in which to pass. This said it is online (against human opponents) where the real driving is to be done

Take your car to the garage and install alternative engines, suspension kits, bolt-on superchargers, brakes, rims, racing slicks, and more. Fine-tune gear ratios, fuel-mapping, forced-induction pressure, tire temperature and pressure, and ignition timing for the ultimate setup. The amount of customization available is cool. You can also put your performance-tuned creations to the test against the online gaming world on Xbox Live .

Graphically Forza Motorsport is stunning! Well-balanced reflections, lighting, and shadows tie together highly detailed cars and smooth-edged environments. Camera effects like blooming, lens flare, heat shimmer, light rays, depth of field, and haze create TV-quality presentation. Unique road textures, surface irregularities, persistent oil and skid marks, and scraped walls deliver an incredible sense of speed. The sounds are also good, you have plenty of music to get into when driving, engines, and skids etc. all sound wicked.

Xbox Live Features

Online Racing Goes to the Next Level .From intense multiplayer wheel-to-wheel racing with up to eight gamers simultaneously, to challenging individual bests and beyond, Forza Motorsport's Xbox Live game play will deliver innovations that reinvent the online racing experience.

Career Mode Goes Online . The debut of an on and offline career mode features traditional competition with AI to accumulate career earnings as well as the ability to earn money to tune-up your ride by competing with human opponents over Xbox Live .

9 out of 10

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