Forza Motorsport 3

Review from Starks - Wednesday, 06 January 2010 @ 12:29am

Racing simulators are a niche game. Designed for those who bleed oil instead of blood, it isn't unfair to suggest that they need specific elements to allow them to be considered 'great' games. The Sony flagship title, Gran Turismo, has flown the flag for racing simulators since it's initial release on the PlayStation in 1997. The genre, dominated by the game, has improved in leaps and bounds since then in terms of realism, graphics, the car 'fleet' and the level of sophistication.

Forza, released as Microsoft's answer to combat the Polyphony Digital title, has very quickly ascended the ranks to rival GT's dominance in the simulator department. As someone who hasn't played a Forza before and is more familiar with Gran Turismo, albeit from the earlier days, I was reasonably pleased with the title itself.

I'm going to focus on two things; What is good and what I think the game is lacking.

So... what's good, eh? Quite a lot, to be Frank. And Frank's a pretty honest guy.

Firstly, there is the graphics. Forza 3 is potentially the prettiest game I think I've ever seen. Yes, high compliments for the game, but I was really blown away by the visuals on this racer. I have never, ever seen such amazing visuals in HD before. In terms of immersion, the graphics do half the job simply because the cars look oh so real and the surroundings appear like a genuine race track. Taking a step back and just gawking at your car is almost as much fun as fanging it around the various tracks you visit during a season.

Secondly, the physics, handling and experience of the car is superb. The thing you notice immediately in Forza that separates it from Project Gotham Racing is the fact that the cars act like real cars, and not like the remote control cars you see at motor shows that they drift for three quarters of the track and only travel in a straight line because the handler is doing it wrong. Forza gets your car to roll to the left and right dependent on suspension, the cars general handling and the pressure of your tires.

The only time I'll ever drive a BMW is in this game due to my crappy salary...

The 'weight' of the car feels about right too, with the ultra-light Lotus Exige dancing around a race track like a dragon fly while the 1968 Shelby Mustangs GT500 roars like a lion and drives more like a charging Rhino around a circuit. Add to this the feeling of speed that the game gives you when you get the Bugatti Veyron to 350kph and it's safe to say that the give the driver an incredible feeling, even a rush, as you drive these amazing machines.

Combining this with the new realistic effects such as tire deformation, i.e. destroying your tires by thrashing it around a corner instead of driving racing lines and braking appropriately, to flipping your car when you hit high speeds and try handbrake and there really is a sensation that you're in a real vehicle. Combined with the improved AI, where I actually noticed the computer making mistakes a human would, not just stupid errors input to make it seem as though the computer was fallible, and the racing environment was geunienly challenging and realistic.

Thirdly, and building on the realistic car element, the actual customisation of the car itself is phenomenal. Diff, shocks, tire pressure, paint jobs, decals - The list is endless. Agreed, a lot of this is found in the previous instalments, but for someone new to the series, it's a real treat to be able to change an element of a car to cover its weaknesses by utilising its strengths. This is really where the strength of the game comes to the fore. The ability to tune your car and drive it better will ultimately prove the difference between a win or a loss. The better you are at those two facets, the more likely you'll beat higher ranked cars through better mechanics skills and slick driving.

It's about at this point that I started to get a bit of a sterile feel to the game. There was no flavour, no character; Just humanless racing with no involvement with the car when I'm not racing it except to move a few toggles left or right to adjust some of the workings of the car, or give it a new paint job. I began to wonder 'What could this game really be if they started to add some more of the different elements that comprise Motor Sports?'

This is where I start to look at the game and go 'What could have been'. This isn't to say the game is bad; More that I, as a gamer, wanted that little bit more to completely hook me into the game. Sitting back and thinking on it, I came up with some idea's on where I think Forza Motorsport 3 could really put a spanner in Gran Turismo's works and set itself apart as the premier car simulator.

For a start, there's no pit lane tactics, which if you were to race the Circuit de la Sarthe for a longer race or an attempt to mimic the 24 Hours of Le Mans, would be necessary. Cars running at full capacity for 85% of the circuit with heavy braking require pit breaks. And pit breaks breed pit tactics and a completely new and different element to racing. Now, I'm not sure what this would look like, but I envisage that it could be something like a monitoring of the car performance and the endurance of specific parts, and alerts being made when, for example, your fuel got low.

Getting the cars to flip is pretty difficult, but the results are spectacular!

Continuing with the above example, when your fuel was low, you'd come in to the pits and refuel, and you would control the refueling action. Or if you needed a tire change, then you'd be in charge of unscrewing the nuts / bolts etc to get the tire off and replace it with a new one. Adding such an element with small 'mini-games' where the better your skills were the better your result (Think Fight Night Round 3 where you would reduce the swelling on your boxer mid round; the better you were at moving the stick from left to right, the more swelling you reduced) and so giving a more wholistic approach to the game.

Another element that started to bug me was that you never got to get up close and personal with the garage staff and get involved with changing or tuning your car; I harken back to Street Rod where you could effectively create your own car and install upgrades yourself on your path to being The King. If Forza were to offer something like an amateurs racing circuit, where you built your own car and raced it against others online to progress, I would find that the game would take on a new dimension of involvement and replayability. The satisfaction of rebuilding an old Datsun 1200 to race on an amateur circuit, and ensure all the parts worked cohesively together gives me an excited tingle down my spine.
These are just idea's, but from my experience playing Forza, this game is just shy of being one of those timeless titles. As good as this racing simulator is, and believe me when I say it is very good, it just lacks... well, it lacks that final 'ka-pow!' that Gran Turismo lands each time it is released.

Never the less, what Turn 10 have achieved is nothing short of a marvelous game that will surely entertain me well into 2010. With Gran Turismo set to launch in March, it's clear to me that Forza will inevitably be compared to it. But it would have to be an absolute killer title to clearly show it is better than Forza, because this is for me one of the best games for 2009.

I swear this looks like the mountain drive out of the Cars movie...

Pros

Some of the best graphics I have ever seen. Ever. Wonderful physics, and some incredible cars. Seriously, the sound of a Ferrari F50 streaking down the straight followed by a Lamborghini Countach is something just never get sick of hearing.

Cons

Cockpit view is a bit crappy. No custom multiplayer races. Only 7 AI competitors at the one time.