MustangSVT left us an interesting challenge in the Forza vs GT4 thread. Take a Mercedes-Benz SLR around Laguna Seca in Forza and Gran Turismo 4 and see what differences there are. I happen to have Forza and Gran Turismo 4. Well, today was sunday, so what the heck?
I thought that it would be cool for those of us with different racing games that have the same cars and tracks to take the same car, the same track, and post our impressions vs Forza. I was rather surprised at my own experience.
I set up both cars as similarly as possible, with no tuning and no assists other than ABS, with medium sports tires. Silver paint jobs.
Let me reiterate: I don't like supercars over 500hp, ESPECIALLY on medium quality sports tires, and I'm not a fan of Mercedes-Benz other than the 190, but I'm a trooper.
Gran Turismo 4
I fired GT4 up first because I was intending to spend the day with Forza, maybe even set up a Live account. And... heavenly angels sang.
The more I play Forza, the more I appreciate Gran Turismo. Because of the unforgiving nature of Forza, it did force me to be an even more technical driver. Otherwise my victories would be far fewer. Because I was getting schooled on the finer points of Forza, GT4 felt weird. I tried it with the behind the car view, but it was not only too low, it felt completely wrong, so I went back to my beloved roof cam, and...
I was in the car. It was slippery because a 600hp slab of heavy steel on sports tires would be and it took a few tries to get used to it. In fact I went off the track at the very start, so I let it go and squirreled around to watch the SLR's behavior on the grass in replay. But then I got serious.
As I got used to it, the feel became natural. I could point the car where I wanted without fishing. I learned how hard I could push it, and I got braver around turns. When I lost it, I knew why. I could hit the bumper strips almost perfectly, and my racing line was clear to me. There was no draw in. The turn markers were there when that part of the track was visible and I could see them and every aspect of the track perfectly. I could approach turns without any indecision, and I didn't fish around them except at first as I adjusted to the car and tires. Breaking and tire grip felt natural. When the tires regained grip after a slippery turn it was smooth. Force feedback is God's gift to racing games, and it helped immensely, but when I unplugged it, I could still drive almost as precisely. Shifting was slow but not a problem. The SLR sounded like an old German machine but what the heck.
On replay, when the car left the track, it looked... like a car leaving the track! The bounce and behavior was authentic. Even though there was a lot less detail on the race track, it looked... real. The angle of the sun matched the reflections and shadows perfectly. The SLR looked like it was on a live test drive on The Speed Channel, and the beavertail brake added to the effect. The multiple camera angles added a lot to the presentation. Smoke was good but you could tell it was CG. The heat distortion was kind of hokey, there in some shots but not others, but it did look good. The 60fps video was butter smooth. The replay music was great. I miss that on Forza because I can't stand music during a race, as it takes away my auditory sense of the car. Not seeing damage on the nose when I lost it in the first corkscrew attempt was rather disconcerting, after growing used to it in Forza. But I can still live without damage.
Forza Motorsport
First... it started off by crashing.
It's even funnier when it crashes during a race. A definite AARGH moment. But okay, to the hotlap.
Amazingly, the behind the car view wasn't bad, though it wasn't as good as my adopted roofcam view in GT4. It did give me a better view of the road, but I wasn't quite as involved in the driving experience. The car sounded like a supercar and not something from a machine shop.
I dialled in faster with the Forza SLR, but not as much. I could sort of feel the car, but it was vague. I could point the car but not as precisely. I did learn how hard I could push it, and I got braver around turns. However when I lost it, sometimes I had no clue. Communication between me and the car was iffy. The track was a bit more uncertain, and keeping four wheels on the track was harder. Curves were fishier and tended to sneak up on me. I could hit the bumper strips sometimes and sometimes not. Because of the vague perspective and my judgement of approaching turns, braking was problematic, so I tended to brake earlier. My driving line was harder to stay on. My laps were less consistent. With the tire noise cranked, I liked it better than GT4's. The ABS acted more like it would trying to stop a slab of heavy steel, and the tire chirp and streaky tracks were satisfying.
The turn markers drew in MUCH later than they should have, and watching them pop into view was almost alarming, plus they weren't as visible. The 30 second framerate definitely hurt there. Breaking and tire grip did feel natural. When the tires regained grip after a slippery turn, sometimes it was smooth, sometimes not. Applying power was a bit touchier, as in a tight turn if you floored it, tires tended to spin. The grip of the tires was a bit more sure footed than in GT4. Shifting was fairly quick. Force feedback would have helped a great deal, but I didn't miss it as much as I thought I would. I tended to drive very similarly, though around some turns it felt more comfortable to stay in the higher gear.
The replays were gorgeous, and the trackside detail is wonderful. I much prefer Forza's lifelike color to Gran Turismo's video look, although somehow it seemed more "realistic" than real. Having one set of replay cameras and no replay music made it less entertaining (you get music in races and replays both, or neither, so I turn it off). Particle effects like smoke were excellent, but sparks and sand flying sand looked cartoony. The 30 second framerate was flickery, and the 6fps environment reflections are almost painful. At high RPMs the cars sound remarkably similar. When the Forza SLR left the track, sometimes it looked real, sometimes not. The cars followed similar racing lines, though with less precision in Forza. Watching the speedometer, the cars drove and took turns almost exactly the same, and the racing line for me was the same, though they felt differently.
All in all, both drives were very satisfying, but just a bit more engaging in Gran Turismo 4. I quit after 16 laps in Forza because the game crashed again.
And now for the fine print, the best laps.
Gran Turismo 4: 1'33.577
Forza Motorsport: 1'33.326
Epilogue: After spending 11 months with Forza, I returned to GT4 and am loving every millisecond of it!
Forza just didn't seem to live up to the hype it was given. The handling seemed off, and the whole spinning out at every little car-car contact got really annoying.
