Review: Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360)

Posted on 16. Nov, 2009 by James Dilks in Featured, Reviews, Xbox 360

Playing Forza 3, I can occasionally find myself thinking, ‘this isn’t so different from Gran Turismo 2’. Of course, I’m wrong, but Microsoft’s answer to the perennial driving simulation shows that incremental changes, not revolutions, are what drive the genre.

What hasn’t changed? An overabundance of true-to-life cars – rendered in increasingly painstaking detail – that cover all but the most absurd of types. From Minis to Maseratis, Ferraris to Fiats. A selection of real tracks, taken from Europe and North America, with alternate routes and reverse circuits fleshing out the numbers. An epic career mode, spanning your first foray onto the track, until finally you’re crowned King of the Road at the Nurburgring. Extensive tweaking, part-swapping and paintjob options.

Yes, that’s it. It’s GTA-and-it’s-ilk’s antitheses, more a small, dangerously deep patch of quicksand than a shallow sandbox. In a world in which we expect driving sections in our shooters, and shooting sections in our Drivers, it’s strange to find something so tightly focused, with no story and no ‘characters’ as such (although British actor Peter Egan does soothingly smooth narration job). Driving real cars around real tracks – realistically – buying new cars and upgrading others, and then doing it again, is ‘all’ Forza has to offer, along with a few superfluous extras.

Turn 10 have used a couple of features to help suck the player in. The new career mode is a far more simplified affair; you’re pushed further and further down the rows of a calendar, encountering one bi-weekly, season long event per ‘year’, along with additional, smaller events during weekdays. The longer events are set, progressing from class-to-class each season, while for the others you’re given options as to which set of races you’d like to take part in. They largely fall into two categories: a certain class of car around a certain type of track, or a certain make of car or cars, often themed around the car’s origin. To keep you hooked, Turn 10 turn to an RPG-style level grind. Races earn you credits to spend on cars and upgrades, as well as points to level up with. Each new level for the racer sees you bribed by another manufacturer, as they compete for your affections like F1 teams at Jenson Button’s feet. Each new level for your particular choice of car sees discounts for various parts of that manufacturer’s cars. It certainly adds a ‘just one more race’ feel to the season mode.

The second and perhaps most important feature of Forza 3 is its insane level of customisable accessibility. Tell the game that you’re not sure what a car really is, and your first race will feature: autobraking, anti-lock brakes, traction control, no damage, no tire wear or fuel to worry about, a racing line telling you where to drive and when to slow down. It goes so arcade it’s like an on-rails shooter. Add in GRID’s rewind feature for when you crank up the difficulty and repeatedly spin out, and some might say it’s been made too easy, too dumbed down. This is when a gamer’s self-control needs to kick in; turn off autobrake, just do it, straight away. The most rewarding Forza 3 experience comes through the gradual switching off of these vehicular assists. As you learn to brake for corners and follow the racing line, turn off traction control and work out how to stop spinning out. When that’s mastered, turn up the damage, turn up the opponent difficulty, turn down the racing line. Challenge yourself to stop using rewind at the slightest deviation from your perfect lap, at being nudged off the track, at all. And it is about challenging yourself – forget officially sanctioned Microsoft Achievements – it’s far more rewarding here to keep making your game harder and get better at it, step-by-step. Nowadays we think a game is complete when we’ve squeezed every Achievement Point out of it, I’m sure I used to just play for as long as I found it fun.

Further accessibility is introduced with the Auto Upgrade option. If slogging through every single part of your car trying to work out which bits to upgrade, and at what cost, doesn’t excite your inner auto-fetishist, let the game do it for you. One button will choose the best options, whether you want to upgrade as much as you can, for a particular race, or to a certain class. It’s remarkably useful.

The driving itself feels exemplary, and finally pulling off a decent lap without assists, curving gracefully through corners without over- or understeering can be an absolute joy. It’s nice to see the AI drivers actually race each other as well you. And in an imitation of ‘pressure’, they’ll randomly bail out of tricky corners if you’re close to their tale.

The Storefront area offers the chance download user-created paintjobs, as well as replays and photos. Realism purists can find many accurate racing designs, all dolled up with advertising logos. There are also currently a lot of copyright infringing characters and names available.

Forza Motorsport 3 is surely leading the pack when it comes to driving simulations, and its accessability is a welcome relief for anyone who felt the genre was out of their reach.

Microsoft supplied us with a copy of the game, for review purposes.