If at the start of the current console generation someone had wagered me that before the end of it Microsoft’s fledgling Xbox would have a better racing simulation than Sony’s vaunted Gran Turismo franchise, I would have laughed at them, taken the bet, and waited for the sure-thing cash I had coming. Well right now I’d be a bit poorer if I had made that bet. Forza Motorsport is here for the Xbox and it handily out Gran Turismos even Gran Turismo itself in almost every way.

Let’s face it, there have been more driving games recently than the market can bear. Many are grossly inferior products. They stray all over the place with stories of intrigue, recovering your cars, picking up babes, gaining street credibility, etc. Where all fail is the actual driving experience. Like the most recent Gran Turismo, GT4, Forza Motorsport also eschews all the extraneous crap and goes straight for the driving/racing jugular. Here it is all about racing your car, tuning your car, racing it again, winning money, buying more cars, and climbing the ranks of racing.

Like any racing game worth its salt, Forza has a mode that just lets the driver hop in a car and burn a few laps with some AI cars – a really good way to get the feel of things. It also has a deep career mode that allows the driver to select a region of the world to call home base and race his way up the ladder of success. The region affects the availability, rarity and cost of cars that you’ll want to obtain. Europe still has some super awesome sports cars for that area, but my personal preferences run to North American muscle and Japanese sports models. Once a region is chosen, the player is given an initial choice of cars within his price range. Choosing North America does not limit you to only cars made in the good old U.S.A. When was the last time you walked down a street and didn’t see a Honda of some type? The same is true here. If the car is widely imported into the region, it is possible to obtain it during the game.

During the course of the game it is also possible to buy, sell and trade cars with other players that may base out of another region, so it is not impossible to get even very rare cars for your region. Forza has a really nice selection of over 200 licensed cars to collect and race from all over the world. It’s a sure draw for individuals who really love their automobiles. It is not quite up to the selection of over 700 cars that GT4 sports, but probably as many of Forza’s cars are actually worth driving in a race as GT4. Of course the fact that Forza’s licensed cars show damage and will begin to exhibit performance degradation, where GT4 does not, has to count for something too.

Once your garage starts filling up with cars, you’ll begin to spend a great deal of time tuning them up and bringing their performance right up to the edge of the various racing categories. For example, there are only so many modifications you can make to that Eagle Talon before it goes from being a D-class stock racer to being the next class above. The trick is to walk that fine line and push your car right to the limit of its class performance to beat the other drivers. Engines can be changed out and worked on, suspension stiffness and tire pressure tweaked, vehicle aerodynamics improved and drivetrains optimized to get you there. It is truly a well detailed sub-element within the broader racing game.

Of course where Forza really shines is on the actual tracks and in the race. The car physics engine that drives the whole affair is simply second to none. You can almost feel the G-forces as you scream around a curve. Cars handle very realistically, each according to its own design capabilities. The AI is also very good. While it will hold its racing line on the track pretty tenaciously, it will also swerve to avoid collisions and even give you a little nudge if it is to its advantage.

Complimenting the nice selection of cars and their outstanding handling are over 30 tracks to race on. Again, it’s not quite the 50+ in GT4, but the ones that are here offer a nice variety of circuit, point-to-point and endurance races. All look terrific and offer great challenge to both experienced and amateur drivers.



Graphically Forza is one lean, mean racin’ machine. Everything looks terrific, from the extensively customizable cars to the well-detailed tracks that go whizzing by at a dizzying pace. Hook it up to a 480p capable monitor for a real visual treat. The audio is equally impressive with some great auto sounds pumping out when you enable the 5.1 sound option.

Control of your car is spot on. During the review I used both the standard Xbox S-controller and my trusty multi-platform MadCatz MC2 wheel with pedals to run some races. Both performed very well, but you just can’t beat a steering wheel for the ultimate driving game experience.



Saving the best for last, where Forza really trumps Gran Turismo is in the online play department. GT4 promised it and then could not deliver. Forza brings it to the player with all the Live bells and whistles. Via Live, Forza allows up to eight players to race head to head at a sold 30 frames per second.

I have to admit that in this review I have only begun to tell you about all the features Forza Motorsport has to offer. The depth of the game is quite impressive. There are so many little side roads to the game that I have just started to scratch the surface of all Forza offers. It is definitely the best racing game that is ever likely to see release on the Xbox, with the Xbox 360 now fast approaching on the horizon. And while it does not have superior numbers of cars and tracks to Gran Turismo 4, this baby really has it under the hood and, since this is Microsoft Game Studios’ first Forza game, we can probably expect something closer to parity once the franchise makes the jump to Xbox 360 and a couple more editions of it come out. As likely a perfect racing game as you’ll ever find on the Xbox, so a perfect 5/5.