C-Zeta's Forza 6 reviews

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Continuing on from my GT5 and GT6 reviews, I'm now moving onto a different series entirely in the form of Forza 6.

The format will be much the same as before, except this time I'm not going to be giving ratings to anything after the review. Mostly this is because I'm now of the belief that if you just put a rating at the bottom readers will just look straight down at that, which would sort of defeat the point of writing the review in the first place. But whatever.

Here there'll be reviews of a handful of cars that have piqued my interest in this game, and with this game, there are quite a lot.

So, sit back, enjoy the ride.

 
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Willy's Jeep

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Most racing games have their oddballs, and you'll be seeing a couple of Forza 6's in here. This is the first of those, Willy's Jeep.

The Jeep is often heralded as one of the most important creations of World War 2 (which we won, by the way), around the time when it was made. While this is undoubtedly correct, I'm not really to know how it compares to other figures of WW2, since my knowledge of it is limited mostly to a lot of British history and quite a bit of German, with a light sprinkling of Russian and a mostly unfortunate knowledge of Japanese. (If you know, you know...)

American bits haven't really crossed my mind too often. And I'm afraid I'm probably not going to learn much more by driving it in a racing game made 70 years after this model was built.

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Still, while it's here, why not?

The Jeep actually seems quite brisk off the line - but then it would, with its AWD system. Although I suspect the gradient of Watkins Glen's start line might have had something to do with it as well.

Though in this regard it isn't as slow as its age would suggest, you quickly run into a problem with it - it hits top speed far too quickly. Even though it struggles with hills unsurprisingly, it still runs into the redline a lot and you spend a lot of time at its top speed of 78mph, which does get a little weary. It sounds a little weary too if I'm honest, since the drone from the engine isn't particularly inspiring.

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Obviously when a car is as slow as this it's not going to be difficult to drive and the Jeep isn't either. However even in corners it does squirm about under braking, if you ever end up doing that. You can mostly plough through quite a lot of corners without them, and that's fine. But even if you do it's not exactly threatening. You can get perfect turn after perfect turn in this, easily.

The cameras on the car are actually quite worth a mention. With onboard views, a lot of cars either have it or they don't. The Jeep really doesn't. That bar marking the top of the windscreen gets right in your vision, and as a result it's quite hard to concentrate on much else when driving like that.

However, while most cars have dreadful hood views, the Jeep's is perfectly alright. The fact you can actually see the road on either side of you makes it much better than a great many hood views, and since the chase cams aren't the greatest on this either (and I don't like bumper view in anything with this game), hood view is the one to go for here.

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Of course, the Jeep is quite out of place in a game like this. You're not going to be racing anything in it certainly, and that means it's in here for one big reason; to drive it.

And in that regard, despite the faults, I like it. Because it's just one of those cool pieces of history you can admire for being in a game that, more than anything else, celebrates the car in almost every way possible.

So you shouldn't really buy one. But you should be thankful this game gives you the choice.

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Chevrolet Bel Air

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I have seen debates in the past asking what would be the perfect car to drive around for a trip to America. Many point to a Mustang, some for endless classic muscle cars, and plenty for a Corvette. In fact, if I had an older Corvette handed to me in America, I'd take it like a shot too.

But if I were given a completely free choice, what I'd actually take is this. The Chevrolet Bel Air. The perfect American car.

I've only driven a Bel Air in one game before, that being Midnight Club: Los Angeles. And in there it was literally perfect. In MC:LA, you can stick the throttle at a certain point and the car will, rather than going full throttle, just cruise up to the speed limit. Because of this, a barebones Bel Air is simply a flawless cruiser in that game.

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Of course I could have put the throttle down at some point, but what would be the point? That would fly in the face of what this car is all about, which is, quite simply, to cruise around at no more than walking pace.

And so that's how I drove it here too. I didn't thrash the car to within an inch of its life at Long Beach. I simply tottered around, at no more than 35mph, just admiring how stupendously cool the car was and how it made me feel.

That's what you'd take a Bel Air for. Just sitting down, listening to a quiet V8 strum moving you around the place in the coolest way possible.

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All the views are actually pretty much perfect, and that means the best without question is the onboard view. Just sitting there, looking at that perfectly old school speedometer, makes it all feel so brilliant.

But on the other hand, a chase cam view lets you look at the whole thing when driving along. And it just looks magnificent. From a time before most American cars could be drawn with nothing more than a pencil and a ruler, the Bel Air in that magnificent aqua paintjob, coupled with the white roof, silver sidestrip and those bonkers whitewall tyres and flat rims, is the perfect image of its era. Sure some cars might have looked quite similar to it too, but they're not in this game and this is the most iconic of the lot.

The ring of 'Chevrolet Bel Air' just sounds so very right too. It's just simply a very special car.

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It's just that unlike other special cars, you don't go mad in it. You do the exact opposite. No other way would feel right.

If you're looking for something to race, this is not for you. If you're looking for something to drive, and you know how to do it, it's hard to do much better than this.

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Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2

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Always gotta get this one in early.

The Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ2 was, effectively, the first car I ever reviewed, in GT5. And so I felt it rather fitting to take it on in Forza 6.

In GT5, the Giulia TZ2 was an expensive as hell car that got in by winning their Pebble Beach trophy. This needed no such invitation to get in and is a damn sight cheaper, although 650,000 Cr is still a lot relatively speaking.

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Of course, in GT5 it was worth every single penny because to drive it was simply sublime. It was simply unshakeable through corners, hooking to the racing line every single time without fail or question. You had to go a long, long way to find anything that drove as well as the Giulia TZ2 in GT5.

That said, due to the way GT's physics work it was rather crippled by a lack of power, which rendered its staggeringly low weight somewhat moot when you actually raced it. This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, but with the way the PP system worked the Giulia TZ2 was often left high and dry by cars relative to it.

Luckily, Forza 6's PI tends to work with a greater deal of accuracy, and its physics also reflect that. The Giulia TZ2 here is rather more rapid than the one I know, and it kind of shows.

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However, while GT5's Giulia stuck to the road like glue, this one is rather less sure-footed.

If you mess up a corner, it can struggle, leaving it wobbling about, understeering in places and unable to brake in time to make a corner perfectly. This means thrashing it about a track is rather inadvisable.

However, crucially, unlike some cars, it's not dangerous. You never feel too threatened even when the car does end up going wrong because the result is rarely ever catastrophic. And if you do get it right...well, it's pretty damn good. Notably the Giulia managed to handle Laguna Seca's Corkscrew brilliantly.

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The biggest difference in driving for sure though is out of corners. Part of the reason for the GT5 Giulia's brilliance was that it never stepped out of line on the throttle, usually because there wasn't the power. This does though and, much like I said with the cornering, you have to conquer it but it's not difficult. You can get plenty of slides going and the car has more than enough balance to come back to you pretty much every time.

I realise I've been banging on about the comparison between this and GT a lot, so now I'll get on to why you should buy the Giulia regardless. Obviously, the biggest selling point is the looks, which are sheer brilliance. This is unquestionably one of Zagato's finest and with it one of Alfa Romeo's finest. And with its reputation, that's saying something.

The sound is all well and buzzy, and does well to replicate the feel of driving a true, old-school Italian racer. That said, it highly differs from the grumble that GT5's produced...oh god, there I go again.

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Truth be told, I keep evaluating the two because I rather thought this one would be just as brilliant as GT5's. If I'm honest, it probably isn't. But do not let another game cloud your judgement of this one because by itself, the Giulia TZ2 is still a great car to have around, and give a shot. Though I wouldn't buy one here, due to the expense, you can just go and rent it for a try. It might be just what you're after.
 
Mini Cooper S

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The Mini is certainly iconic, being seen as one of the great British cars. People think of the Italian Job, and of the rally wins. I certainly like to think of the latter, seeing the Mini running around on the Monte Carlo Rally and winning.

Unfortunately, because it was so iconic, they forgot to stop making it. They managed to keep on making it into the 21st century before BMW bought out Rover, by then its makers, and made a new Mini which has also become a mighty success.

The Cooper here is a Cooper S from Austin, and so I was expecting something great to just throw about without a care in the world. The paintjob was even mostly what I wanted, apart from the fact I wanted silver stripes on the front too. That's what a classic Mini looks like in my mind.

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Sadly, I was to be left disappointed.

I wasn't expecting it to be fast, of course. But then you don't need speed to make fun, as the real life model of this doubtlessly proved. In fact I've even seen plenty of examples in racing games myself. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them.

The car just isn't rewarding when you turn the wheel. Sure it slides about, but not in a way you actually want it to...it's more just something that gets in the way. The drone from the engine is also something I expected, yet here I just couldn't live with it.

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Some slow cars aren't worth the bother to drive but with this you just expect that it will be...and yet it just doesn't want to join in the fun.

What's the problem then? Well I thought it was the model of car but actually, it isn't. Though the game doesn't give it away, this is the MkII model that to my mind is the quintessential Mini. So it has no reason to disappoint there.

I reckon the real problem is that it's not being driven in the situation I know it should be. And indeed, maybe it isn't the right Mini all along.

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Because if this is anything to go by, if you want to put in an original Mini that'll give you some fun, it'll have to be rally prepared and have a number on the side.

And you can't just leave it be on a tarmac track like Brands Hatch here. You've gotta stick it where I think it belongs...in Monte Carlo.

So I'll find a game that does just that. And when I've bought it, I'll go out and drive it there.

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Here though, you're not going to get much of anything. So you're best off looking elsewhere.
 
Lancia Fulvia

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I talked so much about waiting for some good Lancias to get in the game that I didn't decide that I had to buy Forza 6 until all my favourites were in. It took until the last car update.

This one wasn't in that; it had been announced beforehand. But the Fulvia was just a little behind the true greats I knew about.

I still thought it was great, but it wasn't quite on the calibre of some other Lancias. However, that said, I'd never really driven it in much of anything before so I wasn't to know. Indeed, it only came to the Forza series in Horizon 2, so it's a recent addition here as well.

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But my general thought was that'd it probably be just like a Lancia to drive. What does that mean though? Well...

First thoughts upon driving the Fulvia off the line were that it was surprisingly quick. Or at least it felt that way; the gearing is short and sweet, as it would be with this model being based around rallying. So while it might not have actually been that fast, it felt that way and that is good enough for me.

The engine roars away just as you'd expect it too in a car of this type. Except this is rather different because the engine in this is a rare V4 configuration, so actually it doesn't quite sound like anything else. Which is fine as long as the sound in question is good, and here...it is.

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Cornering in the Fulvia is actually really rather good, thanks to the low weight giving you more chances to throw it into a corner. That said, it's far from perfect. The FWD drivetrain, naturally can cause understeer in places and it was not uncommon to see the car snap back too quickly upon straightening the wheel out. Like a teenager who just wants to get out of work, it sometimes just can't wait for you to stop turning and rushes back into line before you've got it placed just so. This isn't the end of the world, though.

The car also shakes about quite a bit on bumps, of which at Watkins Glen there are plenty. If they're on a fast bit (which they are for the most part here) it's no big deal, but in a corner it might be a little disconcerting.

Overall though, the drive is not bad. However, I mentioned that I expected it to drive like a Lancia, and in that regard...it fits the bill perfectly. Not perfect, but still cheerful. In that regard Turn 10 can give themselves a pat on the back for getting it down so well. So while it's not the absolute best drive around, it's quite possibly one of the most realistic. That can only be a good thing.

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Aside from the driving there's other factors, chief among which is the looks by which many a car of this era - and certainly Italian ones like these - are often judged. And the Fulvia pulls it off very well. Rather than being one of the gorgeous 'curvy' beauties of the time, the Fulvia is instead one of the simple yet beautiful lookers from the 60s. And anyone should take good looks, no matter how they come.

So to sum up. The Fulvia is a Lancia, as Lancias should be. It does plenty right, from drive to sound to looks. It's well worth your time. Now I can only wonder what some of the other Lancias will be like...

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Chevrolet El Camino

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I first heard of the El Camino through Classic Game Room, a YouTube show where the host Mark seemed to talk about it never-endingly in any racing game. He talked of fitting it with ludicrous sci-fi stuff as he always does, and I just had to question "What is this El Camino?!"

Turns out it's a muscle car that is also a pickup truck. Which makes it a ute, technically. Although it hasn't ever been classified as such, really.

It is a pretty mad concept, though. However, whilst many a fusion of different car types has ended badly, giving you the worst of both worlds, this one seems to offer the best of both.

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It's got the power, the weight is about what you'd expect - heavy - and it's got the stereotypical V8 sound. That said, unlike most muscle cars I've encountered it does seem to be geared for rather more than the quarter mile, since here the gearing is actually quite long, particularly 1st.

The obviously completely unorthodox back end does its job too, by actually distinguishing the El Camino from other cars of its ilk and meaning that, unlike most of them, it does look quite unlike anything else in its class. That alone is reason enough for picking it over something else.

Unfortunately the choice of colours isn't quite as mad as some muscle cars get. It's still fine, and this light gold is what I'd take over the rest. But hey, Chevy has never done it to the level of some. Not all muscle cars can be winners.

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To drive, it honestly isn't really anything special. It's just your basic RWD behaviour, sliding about a lot and with the weight not really getting anywhere. But then you aren't really buying this car to drive it, surely? I mean if you wanted something for driving you'd get something lighter, more modern and less of a handful.

Unfortunately, I realised rather too late that it wasn't just basic RWD behaviour it exhibits, but basic muscle car behaviour. Which meant that as tried to go flat out through Bathurst's The Chase, it didn't stand a chance. It just went right off, and then it did this...

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So, yeah. Not one for driving, the El Camino. But then again, when it looks so mad, who really cares? You've got it for the charm, not the cornering.

Oh, and of course CGR Mark did get one eventually...it lies in his big room amongst all the arcade machines generally looking awesome. You know you've made it when you've got a room like that!
 
First of all, I like you, you can write and you take good pics.

But let me say that your premise of cars not being 'competitive' is basically how you want to approach this game.

I feel a bit disappointed in that I often took the most powerful and competitve cars and used it on the AI as if it was a sledgehammer.

Of course I maxxed out my Lamborghini and Nissan affinty etc.

If you use the Skyline GTRs and Gallardos, Huracans, Aventadors in their class you will crush the AI.

I now try to play slower and I try to use less 'iconic' and obvious cars. I am no fan of Volvo but I am over 20 affinity because I just like bashing the drivatars with the Paul Newman 850R turbo V8 wagon.

Sure its harder but its a part of the fun.
 
Nice reviews, though I'm wondering if these are only based on the stock performance, or if you're also taking into account the potential of upgraded versions. I say this because the '65 Cooper is incredibly competitive in C-Class racing (won many races in the Introductory C-Class hopper), while the Willy's Jeep dominates the short courses you'll often be put into in D-Class hoppers.

Keep up the good work. I'd love to see a GMC Vandura review. I've got a killer D-Class one. :D
 
Everythings fine but one thing missing: Jaag F-Type

Oh I'll be working on that...but it'll be a little while off yet.

First of all, I like you, you can write and you take good pics.

But let me say that your premise of cars not being 'competitive' is basically how you want to approach this game.

I feel a bit disappointed in that I often took the most powerful and competitve cars and used it on the AI as if it was a sledgehammer.

Of course I maxxed out my Lamborghini and Nissan affinty etc.

If you use the Skyline GTRs and Gallardos, Huracans, Aventadors in their class you will crush the AI.

I now try to play slower and I try to use less 'iconic' and obvious cars. I am no fan of Volvo but I am over 20 affinity because I just like bashing the drivatars with the Paul Newman 850R turbo V8 wagon.

Sure its harder but its a part of the fun.

Thanks very much.

I can certainly see what you mean, and I actually experienced an example of what you meant yesterday.
You see, I took that El Camino I reviewed and modded it up for the Historic American Muscle races. See, thing is, the car I'd initially chosen to do the Sport Icons was, in addition to being very expensive, also rather outclassed. But the El Camino did a fine job in the Muscle series and I just went out and did it there and then. And yes, I too like a challenge more than a blowout. It's something I try to make in many games these days...

Nice reviews, though I'm wondering if these are only based on the stock performance, or if you're also taking into account the potential of upgraded versions. I say this because the '65 Cooper is incredibly competitive in C-Class racing (won many races in the Introductory C-Class hopper), while the Willy's Jeep dominates the short courses you'll often be put into in D-Class hoppers.

Keep up the good work. I'd love to see a GMC Vandura review. I've got a killer D-Class one. :D
Well of course everything's going to go like a rocket if you stick mods on it. I would've pointed this out on the Mini since it'd help more than anything I've seen, but I'm not really considering modding much of anything at this time.

Also, about the Vandura...
 
Lotus Elan Sprint

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There are several cars whose reason I like them is quite irrational. Quite a number of my very favourite cars have some certainly irrational reasons, reasons which usually immediately sprung them to the top of my tree.

The Lotus Elan Sprint has no such silliness going on with it. My reason for liking it is simple; it's a lightweight car that looks nice.

I first clapped eyes on it in GT2. While it looked fantastic there, it was also available in more colours there. There, it could come at you in black, red, orange, yellow, green or blue. In Forza 6, the only colours a stock one comes in are yellow and red. The yellow, while good, looks quite wet next to the striking red that I like to see this in anyway.

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Speaking of which, I have seen one of these in the flesh. It was at some motor expo in Canary Wharf and it might've been the most interesting thing I saw all day. I thought it looked terrific. However, whilst some cars have really captured me just by doing that, the Elan didn't quite manage that to the level of some.

Of course, the looks are largely dominated by that stripe separating the rest of the paint and giving it the classic two-tone look. Interesting paint jobs on interesting cars like this make for something...well, interesting.

To drive, it's pretty much exactly what I expected, and exactly what its statistics would suggest. The super-lightweight body can be flung into corners easily and the car goes in spite of having 'only' 126bhp. However, it naturally exhibits the sort of behaviour any RWD would get, in that if you go too far, it'll just go wild. This caught me out at first, but luckily in the Elan it's easy to get around.

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In fact, by the last lap I'd even gotten the confidence in the car to start sliding it about again. And it went rather well, to be honest.

That said, while it's a perfectly fine car to drive, it isn't much more than that. It doesn't really go to the next level, so to speak.

The sound is also pretty typical of the breed, a nice little roar that probably sounds most fitting in the excellent onboard view, and obviously in the chase cams. That said, it turns into a less pleasing drone in the hood and bumper cams, whilst with the way the car moves and rolls about the hood view moves about constantly, making it nigh on unusable. Never use those cams in this. Ever.

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The Elan is a simple little thing, a personification of Lotus, embodying the Colin Chapman minimum weight design philosophy. While it's not the most spectacular thing, I raise now the question of realism. And in this regard, the Elan is great, because it imitates what you'd expect it to be near perfectly.

It's a car you can admire, for sure. It's certainly worth some of your time.

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Mazda Cosmo 110S

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The Mazda Cosmo 110S is, quite simply, a very lovely thing.

And here, it's even lovelier. This is because Turn 10 have put into Forza 6 what I like to call 'the right one'.

The Series 1, or as some might know it, the L10A, was alright. But it had a completely flat mouth that rather messed it up. This Series 2 - the L10B - fixed it by making an open, and much better looking - if not absolutely perfect - grill that just looked so much better. And to give it even more cred, the power was upped to 128bhp.

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The rest of the car itself looks brilliant, especially among the majority of Japanese cars from its era. While a great many did look rather interesting, I've come to realise that quite a few basically looked like muscle cars that had shrunk in the wash. Which is not only to say they looked uninspiring, but that a number of them also looked similar. The Cosmo absolutely does not do this.

In fact, in many ways this car breaks from the norm of the time even further when you look inside it. This is because this was the first 2-rotor powered car.

This is what started Mazda's association with the engine and it's given many of their cars its own character. The Cosmo is no different in this regard, because whereas with other cars like it you'd just get a rattle, this one should give a sweet, smooth, signature buzz.

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And sure enough, Forza gives you one...but not one you were expecting.

I know Turn 10 makes a habit of amplifying sounds quite a bit, but this is just mad. I expected a song and instead I got a buzzard. It sounds like a rotary...but not the one in the front of this car, for sure. And quite naturally, as with many a rotary, you notice it. Quite a lot. Best stick to onboard view to nullify it a little. Especially since, say, hood view, is cursed with massive roll.

That says something about the car itself in terms of actually driving it. On that note, once you hear past the buzz, you notice the Cosmo is extremely planted. And indeed, superb to drive.

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It grips and goes like little else can in this game. It sticks to lines with remarkable ease and turns in very calmly, totally without pressure. It's a fantastically smooth drive, and for that alone I can recommend this car.

That said, you can't go too wild with it. You have to drive like a sane man would. You can't go insane with it, especially since it flies in the face of what this car feels like. If you do try, the car either carries on its merry way, or it tries to shake you off in a "Stop! What are you doing?!" manner. It did that to me at Sonoma's final hairpin at first, at which point I realised this isn't a car you mess with.

There's nothing wrong with this, of course. It just means you have to change up your driving style and honestly, that's not difficult. It just makes driving it quickly a little...one-dimensional.

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Regardless, the Cosmo is still a great drive and I'd recommend actually going and purchasing it. Anyone can handle it easily, it invites you in very well and its stability inspires extreme confidence, and it's slow enough to be totally non-threatening. It's a great car for learning the ropes of proper racing, and therefore, while not completely perfect, I whole-heartedly suggest you buy it.
 
Lancia 037

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If there was one car I'd buy this game for just to drive, it'd be this one.

My love for the Lancia 037 is curious. I'd heard about it first as a WRC racer, one which had stuck with RWD whilst its rivals moved onto 4WD. Still, with the latter being relatively young the 037 performed well enough to capture the 1983 manufacturer's title, which was generally considered more prestigious at the time. But it was outclassed as 4WD came further to the fore and, apart from a few notable exceptions, it has become the norm ever since.

4WD is my favourite drivetrain actually. I like the grip it affords, the best car I've seen in a video game is 4WD, my favourite car is 4WD, and in general I just feel safer if a car has it around.

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So how can the last great 2WD rally racer possibly be one of my very favourite cars? Simple.

I sort of saw it one day at a motoring event with plenty of stuff in it. I saw it and just thought, "Wow. This thing is beautiful." It was difficult to quantify how, since the way it's all done doesn't seem to lend itself to a good look, and yet...it's just gorgeous.

Also, the owner put the whole boot of the car up, which in itself looked pretty spectacular, to reveal the innards within, including the supercharged 2.0L straight-4 engine. That's always a good sign...a highly powerful, yet tiny engine.

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And with that I fell in love with it. So much so that a while later I went and threw it up on GTP's Cool Wall. It got many Sub-Zero votes...more than the rally cars from Lancia either side of it; the Stratos and the Delta. And I find that remarkable.

The Stratos is hugely celebrated and is a wonderful car in its own right, whilst the Delta S4 lies as one of the most important cars of Group B and its younger brother the Delta Integrale was Lancia's most successful machine. But the 037 has often been left behind as a neglected middle child of the family.

Indeed, this effect has been so profound that the only two games I'd driven one in prior to this were Colin McRae Rally 3, which I'm rubbish at and even worse when in the 037, and GT Advance 2, which is an excellent game...but about as realistic as the chances of the dog I don't have becoming PM.

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So I relished the chance to try at last, in Forza 6, an environment where it could truly shine.

I was made to wait a while for it, if I'm honest. It didn't get announced till the very last car update, and the pessimist in me refused to believe it would get in until it was actually set in stone.

It's also the rather weaker Stradale version we have to deal with here, with just 202bhp. But if anything that means I can just enjoy the car more. I'm not always in the mood for a mad Group B spec Martini liveried replica, you understand.

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The sound is fine, though obviously not being as souped up as it is it's not the supercharged madness that you get from the rally car. There the whine totally dominates it, a totally unique sound quite unlike anything else you or I know. But this'll do.

As for driving it, well I was being careful since I didn't dare hit anything, for fear of hurting the 037's brilliant body. In many ways though, this is the way to go anyway. Even with the lower power it's still mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive so going all out is a difficult task with much peril ahead. You need to pay special care and attention to go fast in this thing, and if you do...well, the results are often noticeable.

If you keep this thing well within your grasp, it can hit so many turns, so perfectly. Rio de Janeiro's full course is a labyrinth and yet the 037, apart from feeling rather shaky on bumps, took it in its stride so well. I even afforded myself a little slide on the wider bits where there really wasn't much threat of anything going wrong at all.

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In Forza 6's economy it is sadly rather impractical. Quite apart from being slightly down on power, it costs a substantial 200,000 Cr. And even if you get one freshly powered up for, say, the Modern Sport Legends race, it seems a little outclassed by the cars around it...as I've found to my cost with the one I have.

I would have gone and put mine in a Martini livery but sadly I didn't find one good enough for my liking. So I have one in a ZX Spectrum livery instead. It looks great, and the paintjob looks like naked carbon...which is awkward, since the 037 is made of kevlar reinforced with fibreglass.

But to worry about such practicalities is to miss the point of the 037. It's built for rallying, for crying out loud...and who cares if you can't do any such thing in this game, because the 037 was always best on tarmac anyway. So you know where you are with this car.

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Some day I will make the one sitting in my garage closer to the Group B model that we all know and love. Some day I might take an 037 even further and see just how crazy I can get it to be. For now though, I'm just happy I can drive it in this. That's the thing with Forza 6...it's got everything you really want to drive.

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Now bask in the beauty of the car in some of these pictures above...oh, and Rio's not bad either.

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GMC Vandura

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A somewhat popular joke car theme that occurs in games is vans. This is one that Forza has gone for, the GMC Vandura.

It's even more jokey than usual because whereas a modern van would just look relatively normal, this is an older van and so it looks even more out of place than usual.

This particular one looks like a chest freezer in white. Or indeed any colour at all really.

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Of course to drive it is pretty hopeless. It's far too heavy to go fast at all on either a straight or a corner. Still, it has plenty of torque...although without it, it's hard to say whether it would move at all. The sound is also as you'd expect, a very ordinary rattle that hints at the engine trying its hardest to do something but ultimately not succeeding. It just turns its power into noise, but not a whole lot of movement.

Another amusing aspect of this car is the hood view. As you've probably guessed, there's not much of a hood view at all because the hood in question is not really there. This does however make it usable, so there's that...also inspection of the chase cam reveals the loading space to be completely empty...and that's wrong. Never should the back of a van ever be empty...

...or indeed plain. Sure, the white van craze here is a thing and there are many white vans driving around the country getting many things done. But there are plenty with branding down the side to go with the company they do stuff for. So I thought I'd do the same to my Vandura. Unfortunately there wasn't the time to go and make one myself, to make one for a chest freezer company...with the Vandura itself being the freezer. So I had to go look for one instead. It was difficult, and if you've seen some of the liveries a little...well, morbid, actually. But I had one eventually...

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...Yeah, not entirely fitting of an American van, is it?

Still, among joke cars this is right up there as one of the silliest. But there have been examples of vans that can be even more laughable. Colin McRae Rally 3 featured a Ford Transit which was not only somewhat fast (not in the context of that game, but relative to this...) but actually had stuff in the back - which naturally would fall out if you cocked up enough to open the back doors by smashing them to bits.

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That's that though, this is Forza 6 and here, if you wanna have a little fun, there's no harm in trying this silly box of a van. Even GMC is somewhat of a joke over here, even if this series has proved they made some good stuff. But hey, what am I saying. There's only one thing it really is for...



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MG Metro 6R4

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Group B produced some pretty wild cars. Some met with success. Some didn't. This one fell into the latter camp.

The 6R4 was obsolete before it was even fully developed. But it was still ludicrously fast thanks to its mid-mounted 3-litre V6 and four-wheel-drive. Indeed, when Autocar magazine tested a race-spec 6R4, the car proved to be the quickest machine it had ever driven, capable of sprinting to 60mph in little more than three seconds - a record which it held for years afterwards.

The available performance helped little though; the cars proved virtually unsaleable on the open market.

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The name probably had something to do with it. The Austin Metro this was based on wasn't really a well-looked-upon car here. The Jaguar XJ220 had this problem when it took the engine from this and people just said, "It has the engine from a Metro."

Yes, except the MG Metro was a world away from the supermini to which it bore only a superficial cosmetic resemblance. The competition car effectively only shared the name of the production Metro.

It had a good start in rallying with a respectable third on its debut at the 1985 RAC Rally, but it was not ever repeated, not completing a course before Group B was banned and only achieving limited success afterwards.


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Still, the recipe should still add up to a great car on Forza 6. And I was very much looking forward to this. If I'm honest, I'd spoiled myself a little with this one. I had seen a video of it in action and it looked great, so I expected a great drive to come from it as well.

So as I set off, very briskly thanks to that 4WD and some very short gearing, I flew into the first corner...and promptly flew off the track.

Truth be told, it wasn't quite as good as I expected. But still, I quickly got the hang of it. And then it was not bad at all. Sure enough, you can drive it quite madly, with the 4WD keeping the car in check even if the 250bhp engine you can see in the back of the chase cam is trying to fling the car about.


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And fling it about it does. It slides around all over the place, but it's not ever threatening...most of the time. Sometimes the Metro does snap back horribly onto you which can end badly. But this tends to be the exception rather than the norm.

Best of all in the whole experience is probably the sound. The engine properly roars away and is good enough by itself, but what you also notice is the sounds the mechanicals make as you move through the gears. That makes the whole experience much more authentic, and that makes the Metro here even more likeable.

The gearing, as mentioned above, is really quite short, as you'd come to expect from a rally car. The result is, whilst acceleration is even more brisk than usual, you won't be going more than 120mph. Luckily, Lime Rock Park's front straight is very short, so you don't ever quite hit the limiter. Plus the engine sounds even better the further into the redline you go...all the more reason to drive it quickly!


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While the Metro wasn't quite what I was expecting, it is still more than good enough as a car in its own right. Relative to cars that perform like it, it is rather left field but still very rapid in its own way. I can certainly recommend you buy one for 100,000 of your credits.

I'm taking mine with a Computervision replica livery. Fortunately, there are some really good ones around...


 
GMC Syclone

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I first found out about the GMC Syclone through Forza 4, actually. I read up about it on the website describing all the cars.

They made it sound like a fantastic proposition. The Syclone was dubbed a 'mad science experiment' done on a Sonoma pickup truck. With a turbocharged V6 under the hood, and an all-wheel-drive system, it sounded good for me already.

The Syclone was stated to be genuinely fast and remarkably grippy. So I thought I'd give it a shot right now.

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Sure enough, as I got off the line the AWD made it brisk straight away...but no more than that. Indeed, the engine only makes 280hp, which isn't quite sporty enough for a pickup truck by modern standards. 1991 yes, but here...not really.

And then I got to a corner, at which point all became clear; a pickup truck, no matter how sporty you make it, is still a pickup truck.

It just cannot turn at all. In fact, most of the time the brakes are nowhere near good enough to even get you stopped for the first corner at high speed, which on a course like Indianapolis...sort of matters.

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The engine sounds alright enough and it seems to make some fairly interesting noises but it's when the engine isn't making any that the Syclone just struggles so much.

And sure enough, there isn't even any real speed for you to use anyway. There isn't a great deal of power behind it and down the straights here it kind of shows.

Frankly, the Syclone disappointed massively and it proved that what Turn 10 was talking about is a load of rubbish.

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It looks rather good to my eyes, at least. But no matter how much I praise the looks of anything, it doesn't change how well it does in this game and it certainly won't make the Syclone any faster around a race track.

I was planning on saying I was disappointed the GMC Typhoon didn't make it into the game, as had I liked the Syclone, I reckon that would have produced the same sort of thrill.

Instead I find myself realising that, as the heavier car, it would be even worse. And I'm afraid I can't really recommend the Syclone as a car to drive in this game, either.

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To be fair, your description sounds like the real truck, at least compared to what Car and Driver writes about it. It accelerates great, but only until around 80 where aerodynamics come into play and the brick shape slows it a bit. It also only has a grip rating of around .80g combined with a torsion bar front/leaf spring rear suspension, which explains why high speed handling isn't the best. Did you run it with abs on?
 
Lovely Vandura review. Had many chuckles reading it. :lol:
Maybe a Subaru BRAT review? :P

Thanks very much.

I won't be touching any Subarus in Forza 6. Let's just say it'll live up to its name and call it a day.

To be fair, your description sounds like the real truck, at least compared to what Car and Driver writes about it. It accelerates great, but only until around 80 where aerodynamics come into play and the brick shape slows it a bit. It also only has a grip rating of around .80g combined with a torsion bar front/leaf spring rear suspension, which explains why high speed handling isn't the best. Did you run it with abs on?
I suspect that'd be it.
I do run with ABS on, mostly out of habit from the last GT games if I'm honest, where it was quite difficult to go without.

Another 6 reviews are coming today, but at a later time than the last two days since I'm working this morning/afternoon.
Also if you wondered why the gap between the Vandura and Metro reviews, I was getting lots of connection errors with GTP and a couple of bone-headed decisions from me also meant I lost the first Metro review I wrote up. It's much the same as the one you see here though, so...eh.
 
Peugeot 905

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The first car I drove in my one and only session of Forza 4 was this Peugeot 905.

I wasn't very good at it. The person who owned the copy in question pretty much said I was going without any of the driver aids I probably needed to drive such a thing in the game. So I crashed it, quite a lot.

Also I couldn't make anything out over the deafening sound of the Ferrari 333SP he drove. So I wanted to give undoubtedly my favourite race car a shot by myself.

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I first found the 905 out, quite naturally, through GT4. There it looked so...funky. And fast, which it was. Although not by GT4 standards thanks to a severely crippled gearbox. But they got it fixed and it was a very fast thing by the time, say, GT6 rolled around.

The technical side of the 905 is also worth giving pause to. How they make something look like this and make it weigh a staggering 750kg is beyond me. The aerodynamics behind it are maddening and its semi-automatic gearbox was the culmination of technology in the Group C era.

This was the last great Group C car, the last Le Mans winner of the era and nearly the last Le Mans racer that has met with success which I like. Put it this way; since the era ended, take a look at the winners of the race outside of Germany. McLaren won in 1995, but the F1 GTR packs a BMW engine in the back, whilst Bentley are owned by Volkswagen Group and only won because Audi stopped with works teams for a while. Which means that since this there, Germany has only been beaten here once. We'll get to that once in due time. This is the finale to one of my favourite eras of motorsport.

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Before talking about the drive it should be said that whilst GT's 905 is the 1992 winner, this is the 1993 winner...which have no real difference between them so let's get to the car.

When you take off, you have to reel it in straight away. The 641bhp V10 buzzes up past 11,000rpm behind you making the sound not too dissimilar to an F1 car of the time...as it would do when the engine in question got slotted into one after 1993. It's a mad engine and it keeps you on your toes all the time. This 905 demands full concentration to drive, as anything with this sheer level of speed would.

The car rattles down the Mulsanne at terrific speed, an experience to enjoy in any of the onboard, hood and bumper views. In the latter most of these the road moves so quickly it's hard to process it. But to really drive the car fast you have to see what all of it is doing in the chase cams. No matter what though, it's always something to enjoy.

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Unquestionably the best part of the car is the brakes. They're staggeringly good, as they would be when they're this powerful and only stopping 750kg of car. You can leave your braking so late, and it's quite possibly the main source of this car's speed. Sure, it inspires you to go faster, but you have to know just how fast this thing can go...else it'll end very badly for you, and it.

And that semi-auto really makes all the difference. Shifts are near instant and it keeps the car moving at an even greater rate, more of the time. You'll certainly want it off the line though, as after bouncing the car madly off the limiter from the start (it really bounces off it), the car and you writhe for control through the long first gear before it finds the far shorter second, a challenge you overcome a lot through slow corners as the 905 spins the back wheels all the time.

This is all that you'd expect from driving a truly, truly fast car anywhere and it is highly, highly thrilling. The 905 racks up very well in this regard, and you really can't go wrong with choosing it.

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And at the end of the day, it will always be my favourite racer at heart. That's what you do with these sorts of things. They're all fast, so just pick the one you like.
 
Renault Clio Williams

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Renault always come good with hot hatches, it seems. This was one of the first examples of that, the Clio Williams.

Williams didn't actually have anything to do with the design or engineering of this car. This was all done by Renault Sport, who are behind just about all of the great hot hatches Renault have come up with.

This is very much one of the simplest they made, with a 2-litre straight-4 in the front making 142bhp. 2 litres is quite big for a car of this size, mind.

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Indeed, despite its simplicity, the Williams is consistently rated as one of the best hot hatches ever made. And since I've always loved a hot hatch, no matter how extreme, I was quite looking forward to a drive in the no-frills Williams.

The sound is quite noticeable, a lovely little roar that does suit the car rather well, even if it's another amped-up example from Turn 10.

The speed you're really going in a hot hatch such as this is never important; all that matters is you can thrash it about quickly. So I tried that with the Clio Williams...but found it understeering wide into Hockenheim's first turn.


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But as I turned off onto the short circuit, I lifted off the throttle and found it moving quite nicely, so I was thinking, "Aha, lift-off oversteer! It's one of those sort of cars." So I went for the same tactic into the next corner, and though I was coming in at some pace, the car...understeered wide again. Hmm.

Indeed, the Clio was quite confusing to figure out at first, and I was at first left thinking that it was just far too disobedient for me. But then I realised it would be, because it's not really a car for me.

It's probably surprising to hear this, but this Clio Williams can only thrive with a very good driver to hand. Because if you can hit a line perfectly, it'll get through a corner perfectly. But if you try to attack it heavily, it'll just be like "Nope" and be as front-wheel-drive as it gets.

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It's not a learning tool this, though. You won't learn anything because it merely punishes you for your mistakes. Instead, though, it's quite a good way of telling you just how good you are. Most of the time, I was rubbish.

So despite looking remarkably ordinary on the outside, the Clio Williams actually turns out to be a highly challenging car to drive. It's not bad by any means, but if it's anything to go by, I'm probably a bad driver. If you have confidence in your skill, you'll probably love it. But otherwise...

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Audi RS2 Avant

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I first heard of the RS2 in a feature on some quattro concept. Within it was a piece going through every important car to be given Audi's trademark four-wheel-drive system. This was stated to be one of the most pure examples of the breed of fast cars that have come about from it.

However, the RS2 also gave birth to another Audi trademark - that 'RS' on the front of it, to signal the very fastest of their road-going vehicles.

This is often regarded as the car that finally established Audi as a producer of practical high-performance vehicles: its estate body, seating for five and quattro made it a comfortable daily driver and a halo car all in one.

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Of course, aside from that I think it also looks terrific. Not as terrific here as it could have been, mind, since I bought it in the wrong colour.

The grey looked in the menus like the silver I wanted, but it wasn't. Which is why you might find an awful lot of these pictures have been taken in the sun to brighten it up a bit. Should've just played it safe...it looks fine in blue or red too.

The engine is another Audi signature, a straight-5 turbocharged engine which in this instance makes 311bhp. That was great in 1995 but here, particularly compared to some of the cars Audi make today, is surprisingly lacking. It doesn't feel too fast down a straight and even the acceleration feels a little sluggish past 1st gear.

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In many ways though, this is better. Partly because it makes it easier to take care of - something I was doing since I didn't want to hit anything - and partly because it makes you appreciate the cornering more.

At the pace I was going the RS2 was fantastic in the corners. It hugged the racing line very simply and effortlessly, and when pushed hard it never once felt shaken or out of reach. You can just loll around in this very easily, and it's very inviting as long as you take it easy.

Indeed, unless you push it very hard, it just grips and goes, although the last corner of this Bernese Alps circuit did give it a little trouble. But then it seems to do that in many cars I drive round here.

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Speaking of the circuit itself, it's also very hilly, which brings us back to the engine. Naturally the speed going sharp downhill was profound, but it struggled a little bit with the most uphill inclines. Again, this goes to show the engine isn't quite all there these days.

But the sound of it is terrific. It's exactly like every Audi straight-5 you and I know, and it makes all the sounds you expect. The turbo makes itself known constantly, and the higher up the rev range you go the better the whole thing sounds. There might even be a couple other sounds within inside the RS2.

Frankly, the RS2 has everything going for it. It's very cheap, looks great, drives well, drives remarkably easily - seriously, you can do just about whatever you want while driving it - and sounds like something you want to drive. The lack of power is relatively inconsequential if you're someone like me - someone who just likes a nice, good drive.

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Land Rover Defender

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The last Land Rover Defender rolls off the production line next month. After 68 years one of the most loved vehicles in the world is going to slip into history.

The Defender has suffered from the same disease that the Mini I reviewed had; they've forgotten to stop making it. Except this has been going on for even longer...

Flaws in the modern day have included the inability to fit airbags, making this illegal in America from 1997 onwards. Incidentally, that's when this model originates from; Turn 10, as Americans, are America-centric but the Defender has gone on after that blow in Europe.

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And now petty bureaucrats running emissions regulations have done it in finally here. But to be fair, the Defender never got out of the 1950s. You could fit something from the 1958 model onto this, and by all accounts it is pretty hopeless in the real world today - slow, draggy, uncomfortable, the heater still not really working and you having to shout so your passenger could hear you.

Naturally, being out of whack in Forza terms as well, it does nothing to change this. The V8 makes plenty of noise but ultimately doesn't have the power to shift the considerable weight of the Defender, which in turn also leaves the car with very little real cornering prowess.

Unfortunately, the Defender does not get to show in this game the reason it has the fanatical fanbase that it does - invincibility. Specifically, invincibility in the worst of conditions.

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Forza 6 does not have anywhere the Defender can show its true prowess, which is off the road entirely. The Horizon games may give us such an option, but at some point I want to see the main series get some proper dirt, mud, gravel and snow action in so we can put not only more cars in for a good reason, but to also put some cars in a completely different light. The Defender would be one of these, without question.

But if they wanted to go full on historic with this particular piece of significance, then they should've gone with either the newest one - effectively the model of the last edition coming to an end - or the first one from 1948. They went that way with Willie's Jeep, so surely a bit of light rivalry was there for the taking...

Instead though we've just been left with one from a time when even the Range Rover, which had long overtaken it in 1970, had gotten a new model itself. Even the Discovery had been knocking around for a long time by then.

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However, while the Defender might cease production, it's unlikely to be killed off. Hundreds of companies make components for it, and the army owns many thousands of Defenders, so parts will not run short in our lifetimes. Land Rover is discussing a replacement — a “lifestyle” 4x4 to carry on the great traditions of the Defender. But is the Defender replaceable?

Well when you look at Land Rover when the Defender started being a thing and compare it to what Land Rover is now, it's not really gonna return to its roots.

However, whilst a technological Range Rover goes further through the rough these days than a Defender, when a part of it breaks, you're not likely to find someone who can fix it...where you are. Whereas earlier this year an AA patrol fixed a classic Land Rover’s broken condenser with a potato and cable tie.

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But none of this has much to do with Forza. Because sadly you can't do here what it was meant to do.
 
Mitsubishi GTO

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No car I've seen seems to divide opinion more than the Mitsubishi GTO.

Many have tagged it as the joke car of the gentleman's agreement period of Japanese cars, with people saying it was ahead of its time...in that it was massively overweight before the majority of sportscars became fat and bloated, that they're all now mostly perpetually broken project cars...


I'm in the opposite camp, one of people who like the GTO. I thought it was a pretty small camp though until I stated that I was probably the only person who liked it.

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Then many people came out and said they had a soft spot for it, and that they wished Mitsubishi did something like it today. And suddenly I felt not so alone.

One common like for the GTO comes from what a legend it has been in Gran Turismo, which is of course why we're on this forum. (Shh.) Everybody reminisces about the mad power that GT1's GTO came with and how it won them a ton of races. And having driven one there, they're right. The speeds that thing managed were biblical. Even in the current game, they still are.

I liked it for rather more than that though. This was one of the cars born from Japan's sportscar frenzy, named after the Galant GTO. Though outside of Japan it was the 3000GT by which it was often referred to.

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Earlier GTOs were complex and gizmo-laden machines, but this one is from 1997, by which point they'd mostly been stripped out. The look had changed in that time too. Before 1993 the GTO looked a world different, with a vastly different front end featuring pop-up headlights. They were rid of and the face on this model was introduced, though the spoiler has changed in the meantime. Rather than the flatter, original spoiler or the madly done wing on the last models, this one packs the curvy spoiler. It's elegant, but rather boring, if I'm honest. I prefer the biggest of the spoilers, personally.

With all-wheel-drive, acceleration is often pretty great, and with 320bhp actually underneath the twin-turbo V6, it keeps on going rather well up the hills of Road Atlanta's long straight. With that in mind, it'll be even better without the hills, so keep that in mind.

If I'm honest though, the weight does make itself known often. The result is that it drives about what you'd expect - and unfortunately all the negatives are accentuated. 4WD keeps plenty of grip but it's not enough to get the large, heavy body moving quickly enough. Braking also proved a danger, sometimes.

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However, the GTO will only really go wrong like this if you really wring its neck. If you just keep it calm and steady, it'll do perfectly alright. So that's just what I did. And there, it was perfectly fine. The soundtrack from the V6, coming out of those four exhausts, also made it a damn sight better, with the sound getting better as the car slowly but surely worked its way up the revs.

I'd go out and say you should all buy a GTO and try it at some point, if you even remotely like it. It's just a shame that so many don't...the poor thing.

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Mitsubishi Evo VI

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I've gone on in previous reviews just why I love the Mitsubishi Evo so much. In short, it's all down to my childhood.

That said, though I'm in the know about all ten, Forza has limited us to a choice of just four. And the VI here is the oldest - which is not quite right for me.

I've changed my opinion quite a lot on Evos over time and right now I'd call the Evo VI my favourite of the three that came from its generation - 4 through 6. This is also bundling in the Evo '6.5' that the Tommi Makinen Edition is referred to. It looks right, feels right, and sounds right - and of course it was part of the peak of the Evo's competitive brilliance.

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But Turn 10 have somehow managed to miss an entire block of the cars. Surely they could easily squeeze in the original Evo, or do me a favour and fit in my favourite of the original three, and the most important of that bunch - the Evo III.

But no. The Evo VI is the earliest we're making do with, so let's see what's what.

Having gotten plenty of colours wrong recently as mentioned with the RS2 (I thought the Defender's white was silver too, if I'm honest), this time I wasn't even given the luxury of choosing my favourite colour as Lance Blue is not an option here for whatever reason. I can get something close to it, yet that still looked wrong. So I stuck with the darker blue here.

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But after getting over this annoying oversight, I got down to business. The acceleration away was, as expected, speedy. And after that, I just went to try and do what I always do with an Evo - just drive.

And it did just that, without any real complaint. Whereas some cars can't handle your input, or others throw you about if you try, the Evo just lets you get on with the job at hand.

If you take it easy and precisely, it rewards you by being a perfectly well-balanced. But if you take it up a notch, it lets you do that just fine. It always stays on the black stuff, and when you turn it up, it just says "OK" and does just that.

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Frankly, that's just what I want from a car. No fuss when I want to do what I want. The Evo fits the bill perfectly.

That said, this isn't quite my favourite Evo. That is up ahead and I dare say that it will be even better to drive. This one can understeer a bit, though not stupidly.

The speedo also can't keep up with it. The gearing does seem rather higher than an Evo would get, and indeed the car shoots well past the 180kmh (112mph - the Japanese limit) readout here. Weirdly, the GTO above has the same readout but despite clearly saying kmh, it actually responds as if it were reading in mph. Oops.

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But this Evo here still proves just why I love the breed so much. It just does what it asks of you, at a brisk and sporty enough pace to do things in this game. If you haven't tried one yet, where have you been looking?
 
Renault Clio V6

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If the Clio Williams I reviewed was a paragon of sensibility, this is the complete opposite.

Rather than merely giving more power to a Clio, what Renault did with this is took the engine out altogether, got a 3-litre V6 and put it in...the back.

It would help to say that nothing like it had ever been seen...but of course, it had. Because Renault had done it 20 years before with the 5 Turbo.

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Whilst that actually went rallying though, this Clio V6 did no such thing. It just went about being the maddest hot hatch yet seen. And by the time this Phase 2 model had replaced the original, it was the most powerful hot hatch in the world. Incredible considering the base Clio isn't even a full size hot hatch.

But of course it should be quite unlike any hot hatch to drive. I mean, you wouldn't see anything like this in the modern age...although Renault has put the Twingo's engine in the rear now so maybe they'll do something with that instead.

The V6 sounds just as menacing as you'd expect, so there's nothing wrong with the soundtrack. And as it produces 251bhp, it's about as fast as you could reasonably expect it to be in a straight line.

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But the real reason you'd take this car is for that mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive experience you wouldn't get in a hot hatch, through the corners. And here...it's not what you'd expect.

Through slow corners, it has quite a lot of understeer. This isn't a surprise in itself - many a rear-wheel-driver still has understeer, and you just use the throttle to get it through the bends instead. Except this remains resolutely planted no matter what you do, which means that actually you really struggle in turns like these. Which is a shame.

That said, through faster corners it goes like a rocket. In fact the only thing that really fazes it is quick changes of direction, which will get it to slide sometimes. Unfortunately, it really doesn't like this, for whatever reason. Every time I got the back end out of line, instead of staying still once I'd got it back, it just refused to stop and kept on going until I'd spun it. Very annoying.

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The Clio V6 is a very odd car to work out. Chiefly this is because it doesn't offer anything you'd reasonably expect from anything with its engine in the middle. And it's probably not that bad a car, but only in some specific situations. Because judging by this drive, the faster you go in it, the faster it goes.

Therefore it'll probably be happiest on whatever course has the fastest corners in it overall. Sadly every course I know here always has a slow one in balance, and there...well the Clio is rather doomed. So while the car itself is certainly likeable, it's also rather limited in its capabilities. If you know what they are, it'll be great.

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Maserati MC12

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The Maserati MC12 was literally one of my poster cars. Well, not a car on an actual poster but rather one I owned as a model. I still do actually. In a rather worse state than it came in, admittedly, but whatever.

That model was a cool one. You could lift up the bonnet containing that big engine and you could take the roof off as well. I've lost the roof now, though. Also one of the wheels isn't really on it and the spoiler has come off.

But never mind, because the thing just looked so damn good. And why wouldn't it, being one of the top supercars at the time.

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The MC12 was basically conceived as a reason to make the Enzo Ferrari go racing. It has the same chassis, a slightly modified version of its V12 engine making 624bhp, and other internals. But crucially it looks nearly completely different. It looks absolutely mad. And the largeness of the car makes it even clearer.

This road car got rather mixed reviews in real life, it must be said. As a supercar turned up to 11, the inherent problems with a supercar were made very clear with this. But practicalities are of no concern in Forza 6. This thing is here just to go fast and be a good racer. And if it's a racer you're looking for, this looks very promising...given what it actually did in racing.

I'm no fan of racing dominance; in fact, it often makes or breaks a series in my eyes. The MC12 was sadly party to a great example of this. In FIA GT1, it won a championship in literally every season it competed in. It's worth noting that FIA GT1 is no longer with us, sadly...and one suspects this might have done a lot of the damage.

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But you can't argue with the facts. And though that was the full racer, rather than the homologation version here, you'd expect some of that ability to be translated to this base car. And isn't it just.

The stability of this car is hugely impressive. It is rarely undone by any speedy manoeuvre you take through a corner, and it makes it so, so much faster. If you want to get around a track quickly, this is a superb choice.

Sure, though the V12 might have been impressive back then and is still rapid here it's not quite as fast as modern standards. Up the Kemmel Straight it's a little hard-worked, and the aerodynamics quite obviously limit it down the straights.

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But what it loses in the straights, it seriously gains in the corners. And the V12 is providing the song you'd expect it too, albeit at a lower pitch than might be expected. It's only properly loud well into the redline.

Speaking of which, you can even force the MC12 into that if you try. While it's not naturally given to spinning the wheels through a turn, you can make it happen if you push it hard enough. And while it's not perfect in a slide, it's not hopeless in one either.

If you go at a perfectly reasonable racing speed, the MC12 shines. It's a highly, highly commendable machine even though it's 11 years old. Wow...this thing is 11 years old. Sure doesn't feel it...

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You really, really ought to give this thing a go because it will reward you so well. It can make you go fast without even trying. Other cars like it are difficult beasts to handle but the MC12 feels no more perilous than sunbathing. And with that you can go like hell in it no matter what. The price is high - over 600,000 Cr - but it can pay off its price tag, for sure.
 
Mitsubishi Evo VIII

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The Evo VIII was the one that really started my Evo love, because that's what the rally car model was. Sure it might have been at a time when Makinen was gone and when Mitsubishi was left rather high and dry, and at a point when the WRC was on the highway to hell from which it still hasn't gotten off, but still...what a wonderful thing it was.

As a result, the Evo VIII has by and large always been one of my favourites...and possibly my favourite ever. But around the time that love was building, the Evo X had come about. And since then it has, quite naturally, been the Evo I've been closest to.

So my favourite has constantly flickered between these two. And I still haven't been able to call it. I suspect Forza might give me an answer, though...and this has both of them in it.

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Also, yes. The IX is here too but I've never really thought that was great. It was cool in GT5:P, but you had to use it there. And not even the wagon made much of a difference, chiefly because it was never sold outside of Japan. Also there wasn't an FQ400 of that, but there was of this. So I'm afraid I'll be politely ignoring it for most of the time in this game.

The VII, meanwhile, which was the first form of this Lancer generation, took me a while to even get interested in at all. But I've since come to like that in certain guises, and the GT-A has always been a nice change from the norm. That's not here though. Let's just get onto the VIII.

The principles that the Evo has are all here on display. Swift acceleration (if it doesn't bog down on you), turbo noises absolutely everywhere you look, and great cornering.

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Indeed, sure enough, the factors that made the Evo VI so good are on show here too; you can do whatever you like and the Evo VIII will stay on the road while still going at a pace fast enough to do what you want in this game; win races. But the Evo VIII goes a little further than that...

Whilst the Evo VI merely kept you on the black stuff, the Evo VIII doesn't just do that. It can keep you right on the racing line without even trying. And that makes it even faster.

An effortlessly fast car was already good enough. But this manages to be effortlessly fast, competitive and effective...to a level further than anything I've yet seen in this game.

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It gets even better. On the Prague circuit's kinks, you can go in at absolutely undiminished speed and you'll come out completely unshaken. The Evo blitzes through turns like these, making it faster still. And this is over Prague's awkward surface, too.

Bear in mind that Prague is also a ridiculously wide circuit in general and your chances of crashing in certain points are absolutely nought. Even in the tighter bits, you're still all in control, and that's exactly where you want to be.

Most of the Evos could probably manage something to this effect - as seen in the Evo VI - but the Evo VIII performs to an even greater extent than any other. And of course, it's even faster than the rest before it...

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Indeed, all the Evos are available as first cars for you to buy in this game. Naturally, I went for one without hesitation. But which one would I get? The X had less PI than the the others, I didn't particularly fancy the IX and the VI was worse off in three categories than the VIII. So the choice was clear; the middle ground was what to go for. I'm happy to say it has served me very well so far, and whilst that Evo has always been slightly modded, based on this stock performance it looks like the X will have to do quite a lot to match it.

Oh, and of course upon buying it I also found out I could choose my livery for it. And though it's one Evo ahead, based on how much I love it, what else could I pick?

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Oh, how I wish they could bring the CT230R back...
 
TVR Sagaris

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TVR started to make a lot of stuff very similar to everything they made from the 2000s onwards, as their financial woes became more and more clear. This was the only car to come out after TVR had supposedly been 'rescued' by a Russian owner, except we haven't heard from them since.

The Sagaris is certainly my favourite and certainly the maddest looking. I mean, it's got side-exit exhausts! And everything else about it looks almost comically aggressive. That hood, those slashes on the side and indeed on the front as well, the asymmetrical roof...and you can take it in the typical TVR paint, the fantastic colour shift 'Reflex Spice'.

That said, compared to most TVRs it is well balanced. Which probably says more about the other TVRs than anything.

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It seems to pack rather more speed than a typical TVR too. The trademark 4-litre straight-six engine makes 406bhp here, and of course with a short fibreglass body it weighs next to nothing. Its speed is all clear for you to see.

But being as it is, can it stay sane? Well...yes.

Acceleration is a little hard to gauge, since everything seems to rummage around off the start line at Daytona. But the way it slewed about off the line was noticeable. It didn't turn out to be much cause for alarm, but immediately it gives you some idea of just what the Sagaris is like.

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And, sure enough, the Sagaris is just about holdable. In fact it's quite a bit more than that. For a slidey car, it's rather good.

Cars like this are either hard to reign back in from a slide, or take more effort than is ideal to break traction. The Sagaris just slides out of corners in one slick, controlled move, and in that regard it's far easier to keep it under control.

Of course, you can't just go out and do whatever in it. Obviously you have to pay attention to where it's going or else it'll just spin you around. After that it's a little hard to get it back in a straight line. You can do donuts aplenty in this, be assured.

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At high speed, you also can't take too many chances when braking. Daytona's chicane makes you sit up and notice that, and you can't throw it into that either else the Sagaris tends to misbehave a little too much. This is especially noticeable when you consider just how much speed that engine gives it.

It really does go down the long straights, and here it's just what you'd expect from a muscular beast like this one. In that regard the Sagaris is a success, for sure.

The Sagaris is as outrageous as its unusual and quirky looks and statistics suggest. While it's not one for the lazier driver, if you're sitting up and paying attention you can really make the TVR work. If you're serious about this game, you'll find a great package in this British bruiser.

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Now to wait and see if the company finally comes back...
 
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