So, I just got back from Gamescom and my primary focus was, of course, FM4. I'm just trying to write my impresions down as long as they're still fresh.
Long story short: Get this game. At all costs. Don't think about the competition, because, frankly, on a console, there is none. If Forza 4 doesn't satisfy your needs, you'll have to to take it to the PC.
The not so short story, as follows:
First off, I wanted to get my hands on the hydraulic simulator rig with the tripple screen line and, thus, stood in line for quite a while (two hours or so, I think). When I finally climbed into the seat, the first thing I noticed was the high quality of the CSR Elite wheel - but more on that later.
My only choice for a car was the 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI and the only track available were the Bernese Alps. As far as settings go, I went with the following:
Steering: Simulation
Gearbox: Manual
TCS: Off
STM: Off
Breaks: ABS on
Driving Line: Full
Damage, Tyre Wear & Fuel Consumption: Simulation
AI: Hard
Reasoning: I went with ABS because it was quite noisy and I didn't want to waste the time I spend waiting due to overheaaring any audible feedback from the tyres locking up; and, as I was unfamiliar with the track, I went with the full driving line.
So, I set off for my first lap. AWD car, so launch as usual: Pedal to the metal and go like a bat out of hell. Worked decently and I jumped up a few positions already. Gotta say, as soon as I hit the first corner, I started to notice how the hydraulic rig felt a bit dizzying - I wasn't used to that at all! Anyways, I made my way through the pack, quite slowly. The AI seemed decent at avoiding unnecessary contact, even though they weren't able to do so all the time.
Eventually, I took the lead and continued to go with a rather slow, but steady first lap to get accustomated to the physics, the hydraulic simulator and the CSR Elite.
As soon as I hit the second lap, I floored it. And boy, did the STI feel alive! Push it into a corner slightly too fast, and you will be pushing wide - no questions asked, nothing to be done about it. Forgiving? No, wrong game, sir! It's not like FM3, where you were able to brake late into the corner and somehow make it through, by somehow skidding through it while almost locking the brakes. That is completely gone.
And even on the STI, with its AWD and relatively low power, flooring it out of a corner without thinking about it wasn't a good idea: The car would bite your head off. The steering felt quite alive as well, not as, dunno how to put it, 'lazy' as in FM3.
One thing stood out to me quite a bit: On the Bernese Apls, there's a fast section with a right hand corner, followed by a left hand one; I took that flat out. Thanks to the bumpiness of the track and my speed, the car was unsettled a bit throughout the first corner. I still hit the second corner quite well, but thanks to the weight shift, the STI started to oversteer like mad. The slide was pretty hard to catch, too; so hard, in fact, that I think it was pure luck that I somehow managed to catch the car again. That's how important a clean and consistent driving line is in FM4 - unsettle the car, and you're in for a punishing reaction. Again, quite unlike FM3.
Thereafter, I took up the controller on the 'normal' setups to test the M5, the 599 GTO and the STI (again). The experience, while of course nowhere near as life-like, was quite impressive, as well. Most importly, both the M5 and, even moreso, the GTO showed just how lively and snappy FM4 can be. Both cars will push wide into a corner if you're too fast and transotion to some brutal snap oversteer afterwards.
If you're not careful on the throttle, you can kiss your but goodbye as well; it's pretty terrfying how fast the cars will start to oversteer... Even though, once you get used to it, you can counteract it pretty fast and even enjoy a little drift here and there - at least in the M5. The GTO, though... That's a proper monster. Let your guard down for a second and you're gone. Period.
The STi was the easiest to control of the three (as expected), but again, you had to still be careful here. Overcook a corner, and you'll be hard pressed to recover the car from pushing too wide; be too eager with the loud pedal, and you'll be still carried out of the corner. Should the car be unsettled due to whatever reason (weight transfer, for example, as mentiooned above), and you'll end up in a decent slide. So, even with the rather forgiving STI, FM4 kept me on my toes.
Now, that might sound like "harder to control = better". Let me tell you, that's not it. Because Forza 4 is not hard to control, at all. Keep the cars within their limits, and they feel perfectly easy to drive. Even the M5 (well, the GTO... Not so much
). It all felt very, very natural to me, so natural, that I felt I got accustomated to an entirely unknown setup within a few laps - I found that to be very, very impressive. I think FM4 would best be summarized by the old phrase "easy to handle, hard to master". Drive carefully and take it a bit slow, and you'll be perfectly fine. Approach the limit of car or even try to push the boundaries, and you're in for a very rough ride.
I thin jabofu said this, too. FM4 will put your consitency to the test. This isn't like FM3, GT5 or Shift 2 where you're able to push the car to its limits and still do fine for several consequtive laps. Pushing a car to 100% will demand a lot of focus and attention, and I sure know that it seems to be far harder to do than it would be in the games mentioned previously. And all that while the game isn't "hard to control" per se.
Now, sound: The sound wasn't very easy to make out, as the noise level was fairly high. What little I could actually hear seemed good, though.
Graphics: Simply amazing. The Youtube videos around don't do the game any justice at all. In motion, it looks stunning. One might argue that GT5, for example, does this better, or that better. But, the overall image that is presented to you is simply unmatched on a console.
Physics: Dayumn. That's it. I don't think there's anything that comes close. Granted, I played GT5 with just a DFGT, which is probably inferior to the CSR elite, but still. FM4 felt insanely good. Controller vs. controller, I'd give FM4 the nod, as well. The whole thing translates quite well to the controller, without taking any of the playability away. While I'd still preffer it over GT5, the difference isn't as big as it is when playing both games with a wheel (which, of course, might be due to the CSR Elite's quality).
Of the three big simcade games (Shift 2, GT5, FM4), FM4 definitely feels the most realistic - I'm fairly positive that you'd have to go to games like iRacing to get anymore realistic.
On another note: The CSR Elite felt phantastic. The force feedback felt very natural and precise, and quite pronounced, even though itt didn't seem to be too strong, if that makes sense. I never felt like I was 'fighting' the wheel (like I felt with the DFGT at times), it just felt like I was getting a lot of information. Combined with the hydraulic simulator rig, it felt as if I could close my eyes and still know what was going on perfectly fine.
Overall, nobody who's into sim racing should miss out on this, in my opinion. I won't bother to argue FM4's virtues, to be quite honest; the game is above that. Dismiss it, and it's your loss. That simple. I don't know what'll happen when tuning starts to play a role and I can't comment on the largest part of the car lineup, but what bit I experienced makes me consider FM4 to be just about the best car game on any console.
I just hope that this post didn't come out as an incoherent mess; I tried to keep things in a somewhat structured order, but I'm not quite sure whether it worked out very well
