For years now, the Gran Turismo series is been hailed as the king of simulation racing games and for good reason. Gran Turismo has set a new standard for simulation racing with hundreds of licensed cars, superb realism, and outstanding eye candy. But the one thing the series lacked? Competition. No game has come anywhere near the same caliber as Gran Turismo… that is, until now.
Forza has more than 230 licensed cars, many customization options, real brand name upgrades, online play, real and fictional tracks, and most of all… it is extremely fun to play. While Forza does not allow for the same level of fine tuning as Gran Turismo 4, it does exceed in many areas.
First of all, lets look at the cars… the number may not amazing but the variety is. You'll be able to race in popular compacts from Honda and Mitsubishi up to exotics like Ferraris and Porsches. Forza has cars that you will actually want to drive from 60s muscle cars to the most modern exotics and concepts and pure bred race cars! Better yet, most of the more popular cars have tons of upgradeable parts such as engine mods and body kits. The custom paint job option is time consuming but it will allow the creative type to complete pieces of automotive art.
There are plenty of tracks in Forza, both real life and artificial. The real life tracks are great imitations of the real thing. The fictional tracks are great but most of them could have been a bit better. Actually racing on the tracks is really fun though as each track varies depending on the skill level of your opponents and what car you are driving. While the AI usually follows a line, they will make mistakes and play rough if you are a threat to their victory. Rough play may seem like a good idea but body damage will affect your car in various ways depending on what is damaged… victory may end up being bittersweet if you're not careful. The optional guide lines will show you the best line of approach and how dangerously you are driving based on your car's capabilities, speed, and the angle of the track. The difficulty of the game is depending on what the player wants- the easier you make it, the less victory earnings you make. The series races allow you to save in between levels and come back to them later which is a very nice feature.
Forza definitely won't last as long as Gran Turismo 4 but the length of the game is reasonable. Online play helps to extend the length by a lot. The issue of lag becomes a problem from time to time but the races are usually smooth and there are plenty of different options in online play.
Forza's cars look wonderful and most of the tracks look good. The game runs smoothly even with all the competing racers on screen at once. While the graphics are definitely great, a bit more polish would not have hurt and clipping is an issue sometimes. The sound effects are very nice but a lot of the cars have the problem of sounding too similar though each car sounds different depending on the upgrades that have been applied (you can hear the whine of the turbocharger, a change in exhaust, etc.). The in game audio tracks are ok but most people will take advantage of the custom soundtrack support.
Is Forza better than GT4? It's hard to say… Forza is a split between simulation and arcade racer, and it successfully accomplishes both very well. GT4 is easily the better simulation racer, no questioning that. Forza is for people who don't want to spend hours fine tuning the gear ratio of their car, it's more laid back. You can spend minutes or hours playing Forza and have fun. Forza is also the only online racing game of this level at the moment. If you don't like simulation racing games, then check out Forza… it's like the perfect combination of simulation and arcade style racer.
Final words: Xbox owners now have a racing game which actually keeps up with Gran Turismo 4 and beats it in some cases.
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