Forza Motorsport – Hands On Preview

Next month sees the release of the first driving simulator for the Xbox, Forza Motorsport, developed by the newly established Team Forza and published by Microsoft Games Studios. Itâ??s an undeniable attempt to bring a Gran Turismo-esque title to the Microsoft machine, but is it up to the challenge of competing with Polyphonyâ??s driving behemoth? After all, we love the fourth iteration of the series and Team Forza will have to pull out all of the stops before even beginning to think of stepping out from the shadows of GT.

First things first, there is no denying that Gran Turismo 4 does a lot of things right but even Polyphony admit that their latest release is far from perfect with a distinct lack of online play (despite reviews in certain newspapers stating that it was in actual fact available) and the continued lack of damage modelling, at the forefront of peopleâ??s minds. Well this is where Forza gains a head start over the Japanese developed title â?“ both online play and damage modelling are available in this, the very first title in what is bound to become an ongoing franchise. But weâ??re getting ahead of ourselves here so letâ??s start at the start.

The main menu in the game allows you to play in Time Trials, the Arcade Mode or the expansive Career Mode, with the latter obviously housing the real depth of the game. After selecting the Career mode the first choice to make is what â??Home Regionâ? between Europe, North America, and Japan to go for; but before you switch off in disgust and assume that the developers have instilled a rigid structure to the game that only allows you to race on US tracks if you choose North America then nowâ??s probably a good time to tell you that the only implication of siding with one region is the availability and cost of certain cars. Whilst all of the regions have Entry Level cars such as the Peugeot 206 and Mini Cooper S, higher level cars are more common in their own regions and are less expensive than they are in the other areas.

This is quite a clever feature of the game since it actually affects gameplay in a real sense because even at this early stage you have to start thinking about the sorts of cars you want to be racing in further down the line; and whilst Forza doesnâ??t restrict you from driving those cars from others regions, it does give the impression that the game world is a multi-faceted one and that you canâ??t just jump from a high level Porsche to a Ford GT40 without a slight financial penalty of money in the same way that you can in GT4. Also, the region that you choose doesnâ??t mean that youâ??ll be restricted to your â??localâ?? race tracks â?“ thatâ??s dependant on the type of car you choose (FWD, RWD, rear engine, etc) much in the same way as GT.

Itâ??s only after biting the bullet and you choose your home region that you get to sample the delights of buying your first car, and itâ??s quite reassuring to know that Team Forza arenâ??t quite as stingy as their Polyphony counterparts dishing out the dough since they give you 25,000 Credits to get you off the ground, 15,000 more than in GT4.

Above each car is a complete breakdown of stats that will please some people and bemuse the rest, although the game does do a good job overall by presenting the stats in two ways: a more concise and â??user-friendlyâ?? ratings system, and a more technical number crunching view (and since only the ardent fans of Top Gear can understand and explain what Torque actually is, the concise ratings system is very welcome indeed.) Each car is given a rating out of ten for each of the following components: Speed, Acceleration, Braking, Cornering, and Rarity which does mean that even car mechanic newbies can make quite good comparisons. For the more adept, a quick press of the Y button reveals more technical details such as Power, Torque, Weight, Origin of the Car, and Weight Split.

Itâ??s then that you make your first purchase â?“ congratulations â?“ now itâ??s time to race. â??But what about completing the â??Bâ?? license?â? you cry. For those of you who find the licensing process in the Gran Turismo series a chore, the good news is that Forza doesnâ??t feature such a system; youâ??re free to drive and feel the wind in your face.

The career mode is split up into several key race groups from amateur to endurance, and within each of these are a whole host of sub-groups that are car specific â?“ American cars will unlock the races for US cars for instance. The key attraction of Forza Motorsport has to be its online play, which is integrated into the career mode and allows players to create their own car clubs (or clans to you and I.) Whilst the feature was enabled in the build, it was highly unstable, but it appears that the game facilitates a seamless transition between offline and Live play, not to mention that clubs and individual players will be able to organise â??clubâ?? colours and decals (which will be discussed at a later point); this whole side to the game should expand the Forza experience beyond any other Live title possibly even beyond Live Stalwarts Project Gotham Racing 2 and Halo 2, which would (with the addition of Forza) make the three titles a Holy Trinity of Live games for MGS.

The future of Forza also appears brighter than a certain UK mobile phone network, with Xbox supremo J Allard recently confirming that a sequel will be developed for the Next Xbox/Xbox 360 reinforcing the announcement with recent impressions of the 360â??s Live â??Guideâ??, which featured Forza. MGS certainly have huge plans for the franchise and itâ??s interesting to note that it was Forza and not the unofficial Xbox mascot Master Chief and Halo that was used at the presentation.

Forza Motorsport integrates a huge array of components and customisable parts in a similar fashion to Gran Turismo, but in addition to the seemingly endless combinations the game also enables you to change the superficial aesthetics of the cars from paint to decals. Players can cover their cars in a range of different decals, even building up patterns over a number of layers through rotating, manoeuvring, and distorting a wide array of patterns, which can then be applied to the various sections of the car.

In the same manner as countless games before it, completing races in Forza increases your credit balance, which enables you to upgrade your beast on four wheels to increasingly impressive levels of power and hopefully, control. Forza implements a tuning mode where various components can be tested to see how they affect the carâ??s performance: for better or worse. As the car develops through the various additions made to it the level of performance is marked by a scale that runs from â??D4â?? at the lowest to â??A1.â?? Itâ??s a method that clearly marks out your car and if implemented on the Live mode will provide an easy evaluation for potential opponents â?“ like the stats for the vehicles, this method means that a technical breakdown and the ability to understand such breakdowns makes the whole thing more player-friendly.

Tuning options can be made before the race and you can change everything from the tire pressure, gear ratios, cambers, anti-roll bars (soft or firm), springs (suspension) and dampeners (to combat over steer and downforce, braking (balance, pressure) and differential, and once youâ??ve decided on the final options, it finally time to race.

The environments and location in Forza so far seem to provide a range of challenges from street tracks to iconic circuits such as Nurburgring and Laguna Seca. The detail in the backgrounds is of a high quality and racing through the streets of New York past Times Square before hitting the gas and accelerating to 200 mph achieves a great sense of satisfaction; and if the idea of taking an educated guess as to where to brake scares you then the news that Team Forza have integrated a system of â??traffic lightsâ?? into the gameâ??s virtual racing line will come as a reassurance. Although the technique is not quite as refined as it should be in the final product, the racing line (which can be turned off) provides a useful hand by changing from a bright green to the most cautious red as you approach and take a corner, and should please newbies of the game.

The driving experience in Forza is one that so far seems to straddle Project Gotham Racing 2 and Gran Turismo 4. Whilst the game is less arcade-y than PGR (where you can drop your speed faster than a piece of work on a Friday afternoon), Forza doesnâ??t quite feel at this stage at least, as if it replicates the bumps and intricacies of road surfaces and driving theory. The preview build of course allows for some tweaking, but yesterdayâ??s news that the game has now gone gold means that itâ??s as ready as itâ??s going to be, so lets hope that the time between this build and the final code has been spent wisely.

One of the more common complaints made against the Gran Turismo series was the feeling that opponents felt robotic; their stubborn addiction to toeing the racing line shattered the illusion that youâ??re racing against â??realâ?? racing drivers (something that was improved upon in GT4 it has to be said.) The preview build of the game does suggest that Team Forza has been aware of these â??observationsâ?? and the results of this can be seen in the way that Forza opponents have a more aggressive nature (although Microsoftâ??s notes on the build suggested that elements of the nature was an issue yet to be dealt with.) Even though the Forza opponents do have a habit of following the race line, this offensive AI does somehow make the game experience richer. The increased sense of realism that youâ??re actually driving against real opponents is expanded upon by the addition of virtual drivers in the cockpits of the cars, a neat touch that expands on the gameâ??s detail.

Back in 2004 TVG attended the ExCel centre exhibitions of EGN and the now defunct GameStars Live, where an exceptionally early build of Forza was available to play. It would be fair to say that the EGN Forza experience was less than satisfactory since a fall through oblivion followed any off-track action. Thankfully this build offered a much more enjoyable experience (the fact that the car stayed on Terra Firma helped); this current build has been far from perfect with crashes galore and more â??blue screens of deathâ?? than a PC convention, and whilst Team Forza will have had a lot of work to do between this build and finished product, this wouldnâ??t be the first time that a Microsoft Game Studios title lacked a certain quality at the preview stage, yet managed to hit all the right notes at the finishing line â?“ we can only hope that this applies to Forza so it can fulfil its unofficial tag of being the Gran Turismo of the Xbox. Having said that, Forza does have a long way to go before it comes even close to the 700+ cars available in GT4, with Forza boasting a grand total of 231. The car list in forza does feature some â??A-Listâ?? manufacturers that havenâ??t made it on the PS2â??s driving sim â?“ such as Ferrari and Porsche, and itâ??s also nice to see that Forza includes some previously overlooked titles such as the Porsche 944S.

Forza seems to be less slick and stylish compared to its PlayStation2 rival and oozes a brashness that could never be created in a Japanese game â?“ this is American through and through; and although introductory cut-scenes didnâ??t feature in the preview build, donâ??t expect a Gran Turismo 4 Top Gear-esque operatic sequence that would satisfy car fetishists everywhere. Expect rock musicâ?¦and lots of it.

Another feature that may add feathers to the Forzaâ??s bow is the Drivatar, which can easily be described as B-Spec Mode Plus! And the fact that the plus is in capitals and followed by an exclamation mark should convey that the Drivatar feature should stomp all over GTâ??s B-Spec and mangle its remains into the mud. Why? Because whilst the B-Spec mode in GT4 allowed you to take the role of a race manger to you AIâ??s driver, Forzaâ??s Drivatar system actually learns how you drive so that it can race increasingly like the way you do. This means that when you end up endurance racing a well-trained Drivatar should finish the race in close proximity to how you would have completed the race. Once again however the unstable build that was received at TVG Towers meant that a well-developed look at the observation of the Drivatar feature could not be accomplished though some â??trainingâ?? was done.