Allow me to clarify my statements now that I am not working and the time to better explain myself.
-Tracks are unrealistic: As I stated, outside of the real world tracks, Turn 10 has alot to work on. A majority of the tracks feel competely unnatural. The turns feel forced, and the roads themselves do not have the flow that can be found in GT. Even the ambient surroundings have a picture perfect look to some of them, all the while avoiding the gritty dull look that alot of venues represent.
-Class System is broken: Take a look at the Euro GT Cup. It features the BMW Z4 (Class B-438) and a Ford Mustang (Class D-289) among it's cars that meet the class requirements. Make the GT4 cup racing modifications to each car in Forza 3 and look at the disparity in ratings and performance. In the real world, these cars compete against each other in the GT4 Euro Cup. Take a look at how Gran Turismo 5 Prologue sets it's cars based on performance. There is no broken letter grade that affects leaderboard times.
-The Racing Tires: My main beef with this is my favorite car of all time is the Pontiac GTO. In Forza 3, they have a late 60's model featured in game, and when I put racing tires on it, the car is moved to C class. It cannot compete due to weight of the vehicle with several of the C class cars. Using my GT4 Cup as the example again, adding racing tires shoud never take a car out of class. There is no "threshold rating system". They use similar cars in performance. They add Pirelli tires to each car. I didn't have the time to look at every car that's on the approved list for the GT4 Cup, I would be curious to see how they rate on Forza 3.
- The permanent auto steer: I don't care how "marginal" anyone say's it is. For a game that is considered a simulator, auto steer should not be forced. I take my 2004 Pontiac GTO (Class 425) on a few of the oval's in Forza 3, and when making my turns, I can detect the auto steering pulling my car slightly. To me, that's an unexcusable offense. How am I to accurately tune my car to it's potential if I can't get an accurate reading? On the Laredo Test Track oval, I can feel the car jerking to
outside as I move on the racing line and make my turn towards the
inside. Watch some of the leaderboard video's for proof. Perhaps you can race yourself. Or, you can excuse it as not being bad at all. It matters not me.
- The auto setting transmission: Yes, you can manually set the final drive and each of the gears once you install a racing transmission. Congratulations. I don't have an issue with that. However, I do have an issue of when setting my final gear ratio, gears 1-6 do nothing. That's right, no matter how close I make the gears, they do no not change. Once again, there is no excuse for that. The final drive ratio is not some miracle cure all system that operates independantly from the 1st through 6th gears. Take a look at GT5 Prologue, and you'll see that adjusting the final drive affects the individual gearing. Perhaps "auto" wasn't the proper word for it, how about "locked into position", or "irrelevant"?
- The AWD conversion: This is a fiasco. Anyone can become a Turn 10 apologist and defend this or as some cases, just ignore it. To me, it's a game killing problem. An AWD car brings advantages to the table. A RWD car does the same. In fact, RWD automobiles are the most widely used drivetrain in motorsports. There is a reason for that. What this did was compromise the integrity of this game being considered a simulator. I was honestly proud of myself for getting my 2004 GTO (C Class-425) into a 500th position out of 350,000 on an oval track. Then I realised the futility of it all, and the AWD dominance ahead of me. It was a joke.
The aerodynamic issue: Staying in Honor of Jordan's victory in GT Academy, I used the Euro GT4 approved Nissan 370Z (Class B-441) as my example. I ran an experiment with parts to prove my statment as either the in game wording/numbers as being broken or modification system being a failure. Why put an arcade numerical value of the cars in the first place??
Baseline Nissan 370Z (B Class-441)
SPEED - 6.6
HANDLING - 5.6
ACCELERATION - 5.5
LAUNCH - 6.4
BRAKING -5.3
I installed racing tires which increased the handling to 5.7, the launch to 6.6, and the braking to 5.5. All good here.
I installed a racing transmission to the car, and the launch decreased to 4.5. That's a numerical drop of nearly 2 of Forza's points. Say what?
I installed the Nismo aero kits, and the speed went up to 6.7, and the launch fell once again to a 4.4. What's the problem here?
You can add the "Forza" rear wing to the car, and watch the speed take a half a point fall. You can't defend the logic in that. The aero wing does not hamper your speed that much. Now granted, I am do not have a degree in aerodynamic engineering, nor do I work as a professional racer/member of the pit either.
-The numbers between Forza 2 and 3: Anyone can fool themselves in believing that the game is ok when comparing the 6 month numbers between the titles. Take a look at the online community of Forza 3. Last weekend, on a Saturday night, there was 100 people playing the game. Low numbers if you ask me, especially for "definitive" simulator.
- In closing: Forza 3 is a game that attempts to please everyone instead of maintaining a simulator approach first. Things like this bother me. Things like this are the reason I do not play the game anymore. Things like this are the reason Gran Turismo is where it is today, and that's head and shoulders over everyone.
It only gives me more reason not to buy it. If I bought Forza 3 now, it'd be dropped and never picked up ever again when GT5 comes out later this year, which would be a complete waste of money.
