FM3 Reviews by GTP members

  • Thread starter Bogie 19th
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Bogie 19th

Bogie 19th

4,038
United States
United States
Now that FM3 is gold, and released in every country, I am thinking that many of us now are sporting a shiny new copy of FM3 on our gaming shelves.

If you are interested in offering your reviews or impressions of the game here, that would be cool. I am really interested in getting everyone's impression of the game.

I have been a Forza gamer since the release of Forza 1. My only other "sim" experience is with GT5p and Race Pro 09. So my experience is now FM1, FM2, GT5p, Race Pro 09 and now FM3.

I picked up my pre-order on the way home last night from Gamestop. I received my LCE Edition. Very nice packaging. I haven't looked over the USB key or keychain yet, but I will do that soon.

The first thing I had to do was redeem the codes for the 3 different cards that I received. The R8 car from Gamestop, the Track/VIP/Legends packs. I believe that was about 550mb of content total before everything was downloaded.

Then I put in disk one of two of the FM3 package, and did the 2nd disk 1.9gb install onto my 120gb Elite. Once that was complete, I installed disk one to the HDD as well. By the time all the packs were downloaded, and both game disks were installed, it must have been "about" an hour.

You know how hard it is to wait ANOTHER hour for a game that you have been waiting for since they announced it? That was some serious overkill to get a game started IMO. Oh well.

This review will be short, as I am only working driver level 5 and car level 5 of my Fiat.

The announcer isn't bad. When I first heard about it, I wasn't keen on the idea. But it hasn't ruined the experience any so far. I like that you can disable future tips from him after you hear them for the first time. I chose to use Season play and follow that to a "T" and see how that pans out. So far, it's been a joy.

I have chosen to go "Expert" with every assist off, and with AI at medium and using cockpit view. This gives me a +85%, which is pretty good. My first car was the Aveo. I only used the aveo until the Fiat was awarded to me, and never looked back. Right now, in my season, I just finished the second "weekend" championship, and I am starting my second 2 week session.

To me, this title is night and day better than FM2 in most areas. The cars feel heavier, they feel better connected to the ground, and I have found the oversteer and understeer to finally be represented properly. So much so, that it's pretty close to Race Pro 09 in respect to oversteer/understeer.

I have to preface by saying that I have not looked to see if the wheel/pedal settings can be adjusted. But as is, the braking is like FM2. Way too sensitive, requiring you to feather your brake pedal (where as in Race Pro, you can hammer the brake just like a real car when needed). I am not too excited about this. Granted, I have only toyed around with a few cars (Abarth 500, Aveo in career and 2010 Camaro and Veyron to dink around on the high speed ring). My hopes are that the settings can be changed, otherwise I will need to get "adjusted" again.

The feed back in the MS Wheel on some rumble strips is not as effective as other rumble strips for some reason, at least in my experience. Once I was doing a chicane and used the rumble strips, and felt nothing. No bump, no vibration. Yet in another chicane, I got some excellent FFB. Bug? Intentional? (doubt it), but I hope this gets addressed (I don't think it will).

I can't comment much on the engine sounds, but of the 4 cars or so that I have driven, those sound good. I don't know what a real Abarth sounds like. However, I have been in an Aveo, Corvette ZR1 and 2010 Camaro and they all sound spot on. I didn't notice much difference (if any) between the screeching sounds of the respective tires. Either it's not there, or I need to listen a little harder next time.

I found the AI to be far improved over FM2, probably the best yet on console, but I am still not too happy with it. I lost count the number of times that the AI spun me around or tipped my tail out from behind. Granted, I am pulling the inside turns quite a bit as they are coming from the outside, but they seem to being taking me out a bit too much. I guess I will need to change my driving line. I do love the fact that I was on a couple AI's tails for a long stretch, and it made them nervous and they screwed up in the turn. That is how I react in racing as well in real life, so it's a pleasure to see this added.

Graphically, overall considering the awesome physics in this game, it's very good. Car models do not look as real as the GT5p models...but it's damn close. If I had to put the realism on a scale for consoles, with 100 being the best, GT5p would be 100, and FM3 would be about 95. Cockpits are where FM3 loses at least 3 points to GT5p (exterior loses 2). Don't get me wrong, I love that FM3 added cockpits (it's the only way I want to race), but the details and 3D are just not there compared to GT5p. I don't give a crap about the shifting animations, as I wish we could turn the wheel and arms off anyway. The environments are the best though. I am madly in love with the track choices this year. Represented the best, and it's representing exactly what the community wanted. Even the artificial track at Sedona is awesome. Highspeed ring will end up getting countless hours of time from me.

I went through and did many of the acheevos. Made a very custom Aveo with a sticker on it, made a 30 second movie clip, bought something from the storefront, got air for 5 feet, drifting for the 1000points, etc. You name it, those were easy to whip out. But the one thing that bugged me was the video/movie maker. With encoding a 30 second movie AND uploading it to FM.net, it took about a half hour. That is something I just won't have time for. More power to the people that elect to use this feature, but that is way too time consuming for me. Not to mention, your Xbox 360 is getting MAXED out of RAM during the encoding. When you try to pull up your Xbox 360 min-guide during the encoding, it struggles to allow you to even scroll through to access your friends list, etc. Be prepared to grab a cold one while you wait, just an FYI.

I took some quick photo..(I love photo mode) to get the acheevo quickly. I do not recommend using your MS Wheel in photo mode. Pain in the butt. Use the controller for the win, please.

Storefront...is pure awesomeness. This can't be touched by anything I have ever seen on any console game in regards to community. There is so much love and sweetness there. The different options, sorting, all the content, liveries, vinyls, custom cars and tunes, paint jobs, photos, videos, it's just beyond what I expected.

I am glad that the loading is faster than than the loading that the demo experienced (noticeable), but it's still not fast enough for my tastes. Also, during one of my hot laps (or maybe I was testing drag), the game decided to rewind on me all by itself. I was like..WTF, what is going on here?! Speaking of rewind (and this isn't a thread for rewind and sim debate), I used rewind a couple times already in my career. I will be the first to admit it. Both times are when the god damn AI took my back end out and put me into a wall. I thought to myself, literally, the guys at GTP would cringe if they saw me doing this. But you know what, it felt DAMN GOOD to get back into that turn and avoid the AI. Call me a non-sim racer or what you want, but I was happy to have it for that.

There is so much more to cover, and I have so much more racing to do, but I have to say, this is my favorite racer of all time so far. Just my 2 cents. And thanks to those who bothered to waste a few minutes in their life to read my little review. :)

Edit: Added Race Pro to my experience. I forgot about my favorite redheaded stepchild. :)
 
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9/10, even with the horrid matchmaking in this moment.

Perfect score deducted because of no qualifying in both carrer and online, no day/night changes, no options for different times of day, no weather changes (even fixed would do), lack of driver animations and full-car-interior modelling in cockpit, and poor decision to limit photos on 100kb, resulting in heavy JPG compression and overall bad photo quaility in more than decent PhotoMode.

However, everything else is great, and I really like this game more than I ever thought I will.
 
Awesome reviews. Hopefully i'll be getting an Elite and Forza 3 today... didn't get around to it yesterday. Will definitely share my impressions once I do finally get it. :)
 
amar212
9/10, even with the horrid matchmaking in this moment.
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I only did one public matchmaking, and it was for drag. I was in a Lamborghini Reventon, and the other 7 people were in like 1970's Nissan Sentras (or something that was super old, foreign and small). They were heats where you race one person at a time until you race all 7 others. Those little cars SMOKED...and I MEAN SMOKED my lambo in the quarter mile. One was by 2 seconds.

Ah....the love of tuning...and BEATING the snot out of Bogie 👍
 
quick score:

Graphics: 9.2
Sound: 8.9
Features: 9.4
Online: unrated(silver account only)
Physics: 9.0 (tested only with controller as i have not got my turbo s yet)
New features to genre: 7 (this is the hardest thing to do at so many generations of the same game)
Finishing the product: 8 (no major bugs put some things are just half done like cockpit animations)

Overal this game seems much more appealing to than forza 2 that i did not even play through.

i agree with amar and would also add that menus could still be better. Like when you are in race screen you have quick tune option but why not link to normal parts shop. Also there was a lot of press footage about drifting but i have not found any mention in game from drift modes or something like that.(maybe i have not played enough season mode) Load times are also quite long even with hd install :)

Biggest disapointment was lack of any proper animation in cockpit mode. Why even put it in game if just looks so out of balance compared to other features. No 900 degree animation, no any shifting animation and also driver looks very lifeless.

So there is still something to be improved for next edition. And wait is not long if t10 keeps up this release frquency.
 
Raitziger
Also there was a lot of press footage about drifting but i have not found any mention in game from drift modes or something like that.(maybe i have not played enough season mode)
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Other than the drift points (kudos) which is enabled by clicking to the left on the d-pad, the 1,000 and 100,000 point drift achievements, I have not seen anything else in regards to drifting.
 
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I forgot to add, I love that fact that Turn 10 has an option to TURN OFF the rewind tip on the screen. I like me a clean HUD.
 
Here's my review and to be honest I'm not really seeing the hype, it is a good game but I don't see it as a benchmark game overall.
To be fair I should state that I do not have a wheel for the 360, I have a DFPro and I'm not buying a second wheel at this point in time.
Anyhow, here's my review.

The graphics are beautiful, very nice, but they don't look realistic. The colours are too bright and the textures are flat. The lighting isn't brilliant either, all in all this makes for a very pretty game but it doesn't look as real as a certain rival on a rival console. But then I think we all knew this already.
Graphics 8/10

The car selection dissapointly is almost the same as Forza 2's + Forza 2's DLC, but it is still a decent selection and there are a couple of new additions. The tuning options have improved, what I really like is that the drivetrain swaps are not tied into the engine swaps this time, so you arn't forced to change your drivetrain to get the engine you want. Also you can now do an aspiration conversion so you can chance non-turbo cars to turbo, twin-turbo in some cases, or supercharged. It's all very nice when you're deciding how to tune your car. The livery editor is similar to Forza 2's but they've changed the controls a little. This is the area where Forza 3 beats the competition with a big stick, and then beats it again just for good measure.

There are not that many tracks, I've had the game a few days and I'm racing on the same tracks an awful lot. Tonnes of variations, but not many tracks. The tracks are well modelled for the most part though and although I've only had one race on it, the Nordschliefe does seem to be much improved. It's not much more than 2 cars wide for the majority of the track. Though as I've said, I've onl had one race on it so far and I've not really compared properly.

The season play is good, it feeds you with new events to try, and there are plenty to try. There are no prize cars for completing events anymore, in a way this is a good thing. You only get prize cars for improving your driver level 1-50 now, and the events are meerly a means to increasing your driver level and making credits to buy and tune cars. So I've found that there's less pressure to win and because of this I'm playing at maximum difficulty and not being tempted to use rewind for every mistake.
Gameplay 9/10

The sounds are for the most part vey good. They're better than GT5:P, but it's not day and night though I suppose this can depend on what your speakers are like. The engine noises sound right and there's plenty of other noises in the mix.
Sounds 9/10

Physics, this is where I'm miffed about the hype most. The physics are good but the fars feel safe right on the limits. Now I said at the start I should point out I am using the pad and I have not played this game with a wheel yet so I may just be experincing hidden driver assists for pad users. The cars feel okay though the cars don't pitch and roll very much and that doesn't translate weight shifting too well. But the cars just feel too safe, a TVR Sagaris should not be this easy to drive without some serious rubber on the wheels. If this is down to hidden driver assists then the effects have been vastly over applied, and surely selecting expert difficulty and turning every other assist off should suggest to the game that you want to tone any hidden assists down. The cars are enjoyable to drive, don't get me wrong, but (with the pad at least) there's not enough involvment at or near to the limit. To me the driving in this game is good, whereas in GT5:P it's great.
Physics 8/10

Overall 8/10
 
Thanks for adding all these reviews guys.

Dave A: Controller vs. Wheel. I think I mentioned it here on the forums once, but I am not sure. But Dan G did an interview on Major Nelson's podcast (both from Microsoft), and Dan G said they programmed some "buffers" and something else into the controllers (in order to attempt to simulate something), but the wheel experience is different because they don't have that artificial coding, so the wheel experience is optimal choice according to him.

I have NO idea what the hell he was talking about, but I just figured I would relay that.
 
I think most racing sims usually have hidden assists that switch on to allow people to drive well with a pad and they are to a degree neccesary, but if that's all it is I'm experincing in Forza 3 then thoes assists are far too profound. I have no interest in owning two wheels, or replacing the perfectly good wheel I already have at this point in time. The physcis feel solid, but they're just far too safe when you start to push. Unfortuantely, be it hidden assists or not, that still boils down to the gameply experience of the in game physics, and for that reason they fall short compared to other sims.

This was honestly the difference between 8/10 and 9/10 for me and even if I got a wheel today and found the experience to be much improved, the fact that this is how it is with a pad (ie how the vast majority will be experiencing the game) would mean that I would leave it at 8/10.
 
I'm not sure why there is a tendency to think that a car can not be easy to drive when pushed towards the edge. The better the car, the easier it should be to drive it on the edge. The cars with street treads tend to be more predictable on the edge than full race slicked cars.

In that case, I think Forza may be better than GT5P in physics even in the pad. I was racing the GT500 (the same car I race in real life) in a spec as close as I could get it to mine, and it felt "on" at Road America. It will tend to snap loose if you try to overdrive the car but if you are pushing right on the edge and in most cases slightly over it, the car is predictable.

The slower cars (Fiesta) might be a tad numb but they're pretty good and once you get to the faster (Clio and above) cars, they feel pretty good.


The interior is a bit weak but its better than nothing. All of the gauges work including the turbo/supercharging gauges.

The outsides of the cars seem a bit rough in terms of polys but they are a slight improvement over FM2.

The upgrades are finally pretty darn correct. I would like to see the ability to swap engines between makes. Only other big issue is the tire compounds. Maybe someone can verify this for me but did they take out being able to select different brands?

Tracks = Awesome I thought that when I saw how many tracks were truly unique (i.e. Not different layouts of the same track) that it might be boring but so far up through the C level world championships, they aren't repetitive.

Photomode is pretty good but I haven't tried the movie part.

AI is pretty good except when it has its heart set on getting to its line like at the first turn at Tsukaba (sp?) and the exit to the first corner at Mugello. It will just nail you.

Car selection is not bad but its for sure gunna take a while to get all the cars I want because they are actually real costs (like 20 Mil for a 250 GTO.)

The season play is pretty fun. Its for sure not a full PC-esque sim but its the best console racing game I've played.
 
r8man
I was racing the GT500 (the same car I race in real life) in a spec as close as I could get it to mine, and it felt "on" at Road America.
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I live in Madison, WI. God I loved going to Road America. I have been to many tracks (mostly NASCAR), including Watkins Glen, Indy, etc. But Road America is the BEST IMO.
 
Bogie 19th
I actually really like the MS Wheel. It's not a G25, but mine works and feels great.
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Yea I tried it at the store and it beats the crap out of Logitech's wheel for the 360...

@ Road America part, I've been racing off and on at Road America for a few years and been going there as a spectator since I was 8 and really really love it.

And since you live in Madison, you get all those bad storms that we miss down here. :D
 
r8man
I'm not sure why there is a tendency to think that a car can not be easy to drive when pushed towards the edge. The better the car, the easier it should be to drive it on the edge. The cars with street treads tend to be more predictable on the edge than full race slicked cars.
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It's not that a car can't be easy to drive fast and I think fast is the word you are after because to drive a car on or close ot the limit is not easy, be it a 200bhp hot hatch of a 400bhp sportscar getting close to the limit without exceeding it requier a lot of concentration and skill in knowing how the car should and will behave at each moment. It's the ease of control you have around the limit in Forza 3, you can flick the car however you want and all you'll get is a mild, easilly correctable slide at most. Within the limits the cars feel fine, but as soon as you push them then instead of feeling on the edge of out of control or even out of control as pushing the limits in real life can often lead to, it just feels easy.

In that case, I think Forza may be better than GT5P in physics even in the pad. I was racing the GT500 (the same car I race in real life) in a spec as close as I could get it to mine, and it felt "on" at Road America. It will tend to snap loose if you try to overdrive the car but if you are pushing right on the edge and in most cases slightly over it, the car is predictable.
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Slightly off topic, but have you got any proof that you race a GT500? no hard feelings but this is the internet and all.

The slower cars (Fiesta) might be a tad numb but they're pretty good and once you get to the faster (Clio and above) cars, they feel pretty good.
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I'm in and past thoes, the faster more powerfull cars are better but they're still tame or numb as you put it in my personal experience, liek the Sagaris for example, yes you get it sideways easilly in the game but it's always easilly corrected. There's not much risk involved if you try to take a corener faster than normal because you'll either go off a little or the car will slide a little, it's just all a bit easy.

I would be very interested to read Scaffs opinion if he has had the chance to play the game properly, or even to have played it at all, because he works in the motor trade and has a lot of knowledge and experience of cars and how the drive and feel etc.
 
Yea, I got proof, I've been questioned here about owning the car in the first place about two years ago.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y61/r8man/ShelbyatAutobahn/

spencer_.jpg
That's me in front of the cars.

and racing at Blackhawk and RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nlZMhSh88M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n95-pZLSNhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55dNaHLsk60

I'll respond to the rest of your response in a few mins.
 
I've taken a few corners too fast in forza and have paid the price via the tire barrier like in the last corner at Sebring and one corner at Sedona but yea overall you can tend to take a corner too fast at first and if you are good enough you can steer and brake and gas your

I think I forgot to mention the whole being able to be on the brakes completely while turning in. You can't even do that with ABS on in most cars.. Sometimes you the game does that correctly but it depends on the tightness of the corner.
 
I guess you're a lucky guy eh racing a GT500. Regarding Forza 3, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's miles off, it was the difference between an 8/10 and 9/10 for me, that's all. It's just thoes little bits that all combine, it probably is mainly down to hidden assists for pad users being a bit too strong. Like I said, I don't think the physcis are terrible, I wouldn't have given them an 8/10 if I didn't like them, but they could be better and arn't genre leading imo.
 
yaywalter
Awesome reviews. Hopefully i'll be getting an Elite and Forza 3 today... didn't get around to it yesterday. Will definitely share my impressions once I do finally get it. :)
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Completely Jealous about you, i Want an 360 :nervous::nervous:
 
8.5 out of 10
Because of the matchmaking and overall dumbing down of the game overall.

The matchmaking is the most retarded thing I have ever seen, it has never worked in any game very well. Why they broke a good part of the game I don't know.

The game overall seems dumbed down for people that don't know what they are doing, very good but I don't need every single thing spelled out for me.
 
Here goes: (using xbox 360 wheel)

I'll skip the graphics since I don't have an adequate TV to judge, although I do like the addition of cockpit view and the track details are very nice.

Career:

It's a better structure than Forza 1 and 2, although the season mode will be a disappointment to those expecting a tailored system as hinted at in previews. The fact that all the cars are instantly unlocked is a blessing and a curse - yes you have freedom of choice but now there is little achievement once you complete events. Car rewards for every driver level give you some incentive to plough through the career, but you can't help feeling something is gone with event specific rewards.

Compared to Forza 2 there's a good rotation of tracks so events (so far) don't seem like a chore. The AI is functional, however you'll feel like you're hotlapping with obstacles in quite a few of the races due in part to having to start at or near the back of the grid every race in the beginning stages of the career. Things like this plus the still absent qualifying can pull you out of the illusion of being in a race captured by games such as the Race Driver series and Shift. This seems be systematic of these types of driving games, so it would be unfair to knock on Forza 3 for only continuing the trend.

Car selection is like Forza 2 Plus. The Plus includes many interesting additions (250 TR, 500 Abarth) and some....not so interesting ones. Such a list was probable due to the game being released only 2 years since the last one, but you may feel disappointed about the lack of changes to models already seen in 2007 (the same Zonda, the GTO being the /64 variant.)

As mentioned before, tracks are a welcome improvement over Forza 2. The original tracks are mostly interesting to drive whilst the real world tracks benefit from the addition of Barcelona and La Sarthe. While I find Sedona a grind there's something for everyone here - tight and twisty street tracks mixed in with F1 specification circuits and a little bit of touge thrown in.

7/10.

Multiplayer:

Disregarding the current state of matchmaking/custom lobbies, it's a fun experience. Drag racing is addicting and the Benchmark course provides plenty of opportunity for mucking about. Online racing is still a step behind in terms of features (no qualifying, bad corner cutting system, 8 car grids), but with an improvement in collision physics and paintable racing cars racers should be happy.

Storefront is a revolution, with vinyl groups and entire designs available for all cars and the leaderboards are as comprehensive as ever. One personal niggle is all tuning setups are no longer available from the leaderboards; not sure what the option to upload tuning setups is put in for. Auction House is back but one casualty from F2 is Tournaments, which were never much more than a laugh when it came to it. I'd have liked some integration with the single player career, or perhaps a revamped Tournament system - perhaps time was an issue again and it's something to look forward to for Forza 4.

7/10

Physics:

It's no magic carpet anymore - cars definitely feel like they have mass and you can feel this every time you accelerate, brake and corner. What they've gained from this is an increase in accessibility and, more annoyingly, a drastic increase in stability. Whereas you felt disconnected with cars in Forza 2 you know feel somehow overly connected with the road, with tyres gripping beyond expectation and seemingly always breaking into understeer or a easily containable slide once past the limit.

The upside to this is you'll feel like a racer after a few solid hours. The bad news is once you start driving different cars you realise how remarkably similar they are. An MR2 poses no problem even when pushed enthusiastically and powering out of corners is reduced to a waiting game rather than throttle modulation - an area Forza 2 feels stronger in.

AWD is the new Lotus Elan, both off the line and during cornering. Conversions are available for a lot of the cars so it wouldn't be a surprise to see these dominating leaderboards. The clutch is an interesting addition although a flawed one. Providing a performance boost to all cars, even those with an SMG at the touch of an extra button while shifting highlights the lack of depth to the feature. Stalling and neutral isn't even possible - questioning ISRs statement of the "most realistic clutch setup yet".

7/10

Overall, an enjoyable game and a fine effort for a developer obviously under pressure to reach a deadline date. The multitude of modes and superior online interface will keep people playing for a long while, and once multiplayer is patched (it's already being worked on) it will surely be another reason to keep this in your 360 drive.
 
KSaiyu
Here goes: (using xbox 360 wheel)


Physics:

It's no magic carpet anymore - cars definitely feel like they have mass and you can feel this every time you accelerate, brake and corner. What they've gained from this is an increase in accessibility and, more annoyingly, a drastic increase in stability. Whereas you felt disconnected with cars in Forza 2 you know feel somehow overly connected with the road, with tyres gripping beyond expectation and seemingly always breaking into understeer or a easily containable slide once past the limit.

The upside to this is you'll feel like a racer after a few solid hours. The bad news is once you start driving different cars you realise how remarkably similar they are. An MR2 poses no problem even when pushed enthusiastically and powering out of corners is reduced to a waiting game rather than throttle modulation - an area Forza 2 feels stronger in.

AWD is the new Lotus Elan, both off the line and during cornering. Conversions are available for a lot of the cars so it wouldn't be a surprise to see these dominating leaderboards. The clutch is an interesting addition although a flawed one. Providing a performance boost to all cars, even those with an SMG at the touch of an extra button while shifting highlights the lack of depth to the feature. Stalling and neutral isn't even possible - questioning ISRs statement of the "most realistic clutch setup yet".

7/10

Overall, an enjoyable game and a fine effort for a developer obviously under pressure to reach a deadline date. The multitude of modes and superior online interface will keep people playing for a long while, and once multiplayer is patched (it's already being worked on) it will surely be another reason to keep this in your 360 drive.
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I do agree with your view regarding the physics- it's a good improvement over Forza 2 but even with the wheel, I'm not getting the same feedback I'd get from sims like GTR2 or even Prologue. The difference in handling between similarly powered FR (ie. Corvette Z06) and MR (Ford GT) isn't quite as apparent as I would have expected. Using Fujimi Kaido hillclimb to test out both the car balance and the rear tire grip and while ultimately the Ford GT was the better car for most of the switchback sections, the Z06 front tire was surprisingly just as grippy. Using the same two cars in Prologue (although this time with a G25 which is a better wheel) and Eiger reverse, the difference between the two vehicles was much more readily apparent. It might've been that the one in Prologue was a tad exeggerated but to me, a bit more convincing. Still, I have to say that the physics and the FFB feels much closer to Prologue than Forza 2 ever was.
 
KSaiyu
Here goes: (using xbox 360 wheel)


Physics:

It's no magic carpet anymore - cars definitely feel like they have mass and you can feel this every time you accelerate, brake and corner. What they've gained from this is an increase in accessibility and, more annoyingly, a drastic increase in stability. Whereas you felt disconnected with cars in Forza 2 you know feel somehow overly connected with the road, with tyres gripping beyond expectation and seemingly always breaking into understeer or a easily containable slide once past the limit.

The upside to this is you'll feel like a racer after a few solid hours. The bad news is once you start driving different cars you realise how remarkably similar they are. An MR2 poses no problem even when pushed enthusiastically and powering out of corners is reduced to a waiting game rather than throttle modulation - an area Forza 2 feels stronger in.

AWD is the new Lotus Elan, both off the line and during cornering. Conversions are available for a lot of the cars so it wouldn't be a surprise to see these dominating leaderboards. The clutch is an interesting addition although a flawed one. Providing a performance boost to all cars, even those with an SMG at the touch of an extra button while shifting highlights the lack of depth to the feature. Stalling and neutral isn't even possible - questioning ISRs statement of the "most realistic clutch setup yet".

7/10

Overall, an enjoyable game and a fine effort for a developer obviously under pressure to reach a deadline date. The multitude of modes and superior online interface will keep people playing for a long while, and once multiplayer is patched (it's already being worked on) it will surely be another reason to keep this in your 360 drive.
Click to expand...

I do agree with your view regarding the physics- it's a good improvement over Forza 2 but even with the wheel, I'm not getting the same feedback I'd get from sims like GTR2 or even Prologue. The difference in handling between similarly powered FR (ie. Corvette Z06) and MR (Ford GT) isn't quite as apparent as I would have expected. Using Fujimi Kaido hillclimb to test out both the car balance and the rear tire grip and while ultimately the Ford GT was the better car for most of the switchback sections, the Z06 rear tire was surprisingly just as grippy. Using the same two cars in Prologue (although this time with a G25 which is a better wheel) and Eiger reverse, the difference between the two vehicles was much more readily apparent. It might've been that the one in Prologue was a tad exeggerated but to me, a bit more convincing. Still, I have to say that the physics and the FFB feels much closer to Prologue than Forza 2 ever was.

I do have to add (while I'm a GT fan, I'm hardly a boy) that perhaps because FM3 tire physics and specifically the feel of how well the tire grips the road, to me it feels much more realistic than Prologue. And the even when the car is sliding, you can feel the tire gripping the pavement and the whole sensation is enormously realistic.
 
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Just got it. Initial impressions are... totally awesome!

Will definitely keep me entertained until March. :)

I've only done a couple races so far... I'll get back to you guys once I've gotten deeper into it.
 
I borrowed and Xbox and rented this game.

So far I've liked it quite a bit. I really want an Xbox cause of this game. Overall better than GT5P, in big part cause of the car choices and tracks of course.

The tracks are pretty and decorated with colorful trees and scenery and such. A good selection of tracks, and different and in many ways more interesting tracks then any Gran Turismo game. GT4 did seem to have more I think though. I'm pretty happy with them though.


The cars are pretty diverse and interesting. I like the Cayman, Cadillacs, and Bimmers (e30,E36,E60). Some cars are missing that I expected though. The Accords, Sls, new S4, new mustang,Lambo SV etc etc. I want more cars, but I'm glad for a lot of the cars in the game.

The way the career goes is odd, but what ever, I'm more a test driver anyhow. Its still fun and interesting. My favorite part I think is the point system. It makes things much more interesting. The assists and bonus are cool too.

The upgrading is pretty good and easy.

Physics, are generally good, but still lacking. Like someone said, the cars are too easy to drive. Compared to GT5p, the cars seem really easy to drive. Its great up to a point. Its rewarding for me cause I can get in and drive a fairly dynamic game. It just gets to be a kinda not worth my time after a while. Maybe I need to play more, but even GT4 was more involving (specially at the ring).

I guess I better play some more.
 
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I'm going to do a review when I get off of work tomorrow and get some more play time in. I'm stuck using the controller with the 360 but I should still be able to give some valuable insight on the physics of the game 👍 I also need to pick up a new hard drive for my Xbox so I can save my progress though :ouch:

After playing for around an hour or two earlier today, the biggest advantages in terms of driving quality in comparison to Prologue would definitely have to be the sound quality (engine and tires) achieved by Turn 10. This really helps to add life to game as well as providing much more thrill and immersion.

I took the F40 GT1 out for a spin around Circuit De La Sarthe and just about had to change my pants afterwords...the engine note and the turbo spool quality/richness blows anything heard in Prolouge out of the water! Simply put, Forza sounds like a game should sound approaching 2010...while Prolouge sounds like some crap from 2000, if even that :crazy: PD is SERIOUSLY lacking in the sound department...I just hope to god things are drastically improved for GT5! Otherwise people are going to be left wondering...WTH is this crap!? 5 generations later...

The braking realism is also much better in FM3 in comparison to Prologue...which I'll elaborate on tomorrow. The tire model definitely seems to be much more active and forgiving, and less rock hard in FM3 which makes the cars much easier to drive approaching the limit...but the physics (especially off throttle) are a bit dumbed down from my early time in the game. Although the low speed physics and on power oversteer characteristic are more realistic in FM3 vs. Prologue...but controlling the on power oversteer is the easy part of driving at the limit :) The true test and realism of the physics will be tomorrow when I take one of the older Porsches for a spin tomorrow, which are infamous for snap oversteer if not driven correctly :P I can already say (and most sim guys would probably agree) I enjoy Prologue more for the realistic physics as it is much more challenging and rewarding and gives a better representation of driving a real car at the limit...even if it is a bit more difficult than it should be. Anyways, I'll be back tomorrow :cheers:
 
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