Forza 3 - Where Videogames & Reality Collide Feature

We know that a large portion of TVG's readership will avidly defend the realism and simulation in Forza 3. We know this because when we reviewed the game last month, we were spurned by fans of the series for even daring to criticise its time-rewind feature and opponent AI. Thankfully then, Microsoft recently invited us to a track day at Silverstone where we got the chance to compare Forza 3's performance against a real-life Lotus Exige on the Silverstone South circuit.

To put the record straight, we were actually very complimentary about Forza 3's handling in our October review. In fact, I distinctly remember referring to the balance of cars under braking as, "better than any driving sim we've played". This was our main focus in the track day comparison, to see exactly how Forza 3's simulation fared in terms of handling, car models, and circuit accuracy next to the real thing. To do this, we firstly completed a lap time on a Forza 3 pod (complete with a racing seat and an official wheel/pedals control setup) before we went out onto the circuit for real, and then came back later to record a second lap time on Forza 3 for comparison.

Racing on the Silverstone International Circuit in Forza, we recorded an initial lap time of 2:13 with a Lotus Exige, and that's without a single driving aid to help us and manual gears to boot (we wanted it to be as close to the real thing as possible). Then it was time to sign our life away on an insurance form and take to the hallowed tarmac of Silverstone. Of course, we were accompanied by a pro instructor who took us through the basics and told us how to drive the circuit. "Brake, brake, brake," he'd insist as we approached a corner, or "keep it balanced" as we clipped an apex, and our personal favourite, "open the throttle," as we exited onto a straight.

Driving at 118 mph down Hanger Straight is an experience that everyone should have at least once in their life, like visiting South Africa or eating a döner kebab (mostly because they incorporate roughly the same level of risk). It's only when you reach a corner that you realise quite how fast you're going though. In such a highly tuned car on a wide open racing circuit, the sensation of speed isn't quite the same as driving a Ford Fiesta down a country lane. One is a sedate cup of tea (with a dash of sugar for anything above 50mph), while the other is a row of tequila shots - the ride may be incredibly exhilarating at first until you realise just how drunk you are/fast you're driving and spend the rest of the night hurling in a gutter/impaled on a steering column.

But enough about alcoholism. Once we'd finished our allotted time on the circuit, the instructor gave us a low down on our performance. Despite the fact that we drove some "very natural racing lines", which was probably down to the fact that we "played a lot of those driving videogames", we did have a bit of trouble with the Exige's racing gearbox. Reaching for fourth and finding sixth was not an uncommon occurrence, while the car's third gear probably resembled a ball bearing by the time we'd finished with it. Nonetheless, the instructor let us push the Exige fairly close to its limits, which provided us with plenty of handy information for our second lap time on Forza 3.

Although the Silverstone South Circuit only incorporates a section of the International GP circuit that we were racing in Forza 3 (from Becketts through to the entrance of Abbey), the lessons we learned allowed us to trim a healthy three seconds off our initial Forza 3 time to post a healthy 2:10. Mastering Stowe must've accounted for at least a second and a half of this. When we drove the corner as we'd been taught - in fourth gear and with a tighter entry - we were able to floor it earlier out of the exit. Similarly, using the same technique for negotiating Club that we'd been shown - in terms of the braking point and gear selection - we got a much cleaner run onto the long right hander on Club's exit.

In fact, when we drove in Forza as we'd been taught in real life, we felt as if we'd totally nailed the section from Becketts through to Abbey. The braking points, gear changes, and optimum racing lines in this section of track were near identical in Forza 3 to how we'd been taught to drive them by a professional racing driver. Similarly to Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo series though, the sensation of physically driving the car wasn't quite as similar. While the physics that underpin Forza 3's braking lock-ups and skids is incredibly accurate as we've already said, the sensation of G-forces and being violently thrown around a cockpit aren't quite as loyally translated.

For this sort of kinetic approach to a driving game, you have to look in the direction of Slightly Mad Studios' Need For Speed: Shift or Codemasters' Race Driver: GRID. Both titles do an exceptionally good job of providing a cockpit view that makes clever use of camera direction and visual filters to present the illusion of violent G-forces and jarring collisions with opponents. Having said that, where vehicle handling and circuit realism are concerned, there are very few games that come anyway near Forza 3's level of depth. Its only peer in this area is Gran Turismo and, with the full GT5 release still languishing in a 2010 release, Forza 3 is currently the most complete package that's available for this type of driving simulation.