Mach Review---Forza Motorsport

[Evolution.]

Game: Forza Motorsport
Developer: Microsoft
Platform: XBox

Preview: Forza Motorsport....the rumored "GT4's first actual competitor"...is it true? Is it better than our one and only GT4? Let's find out.

Graphics
Rating:*****/*****
Detailed Review: Wow. The graphics in Forza are stunning. From the cars to the scenery...it is a much better improvement over GT4. With my Pelican XBox S-Video cable everything is just so much more realistic and better. A good example is the comparison of Forzas Nurburgring and GT4's Nurburgring. Forza's has so much more track and scenery detail it's just hard to race when your staring at the highly detailed scenery and track. The cars are also very very highly detailed. I really love how the colors and decals blend and how certain combinations just look right. The Carbon Fiber color is a nice touch too. 👍 The damage is a bit cheesy until you really start beating down on the car, then it gets realistic. Also, with Professional Brakes installed, slow down from like 180 MPH to zero and watch your brakes glow red

Audio
Rating:*****/*****
Detailed Review: Again, wow. GT4 is obviously the worser of the 2 here. Forza is so much more realistic. The muscle cars are deep and throaty (Viper ACR or Mustang Cobra R for instance) and the japanese tuner cars like the Mitsubishi Evo and Skyline are high pitched and whiny. The Ferrari's hold their legendary "WHIRRRRRRRRR" sound that we all love while the Porsches retain their throaty, yet high pitched "mixed" sound. Tire squeals and other things are much better than GT4 too.

Gameplay
Rating: ****/*****
Detailed Review: The gameplay in Forza is equally amazing as GT4. It lacks an option like Photomode or oil changes, but it has everything else. Decals, vinyls, parts upgrades, cosmetic upgrades, realistic physics...the whole 9 yards. Very fun indeed. Much more realistic than GT4's "hey the car sticks to the road perfect!" physics. I cannot review online gameplay as I don't have XBL, but I have witnessed it/heard about it and it is supposedly very very awesome. I suggest trying it out. The damage in Forza is a bit cheesy as mentioned before, but does become more realistic. Engine/internal damage is a nice plus too.


Overall Rating

Graphics: *****/***** (5 of 5 stars)
Audio: *****/***** (5 of 5 stars)
Gameplay:****/***** (4 of 5 stars)

OVERALL GRADE:

*****/***** (5 of 5 stars) A+

-M.O.

 

[McLaren]

Actually, your review of the game's Nurburgring's are incorrect.

GT4's ring is correct because it actually is that skinny, even when you drive it in a Mini Cooper S 3 times.
Forza's is wider so it can hold more racers side by side on Live.

Other than that, not a bad review.

 

[a6m5]

The damage is a bit cheesy until you really start beating down on the car, then it gets realistic.

I'm not a beliver in the damage system. Now, I've never played Forza, but how accurate is the damaging? From what I've read, I'm under the impression that you can still finish a race in Forza after a crash that's serious enough to critically injure the driver, or worse. Engine failure is a plus though. 👍

I liked the review, and some of the features touched in this game sounds great. I hope P.D. will copy some of it on the next Gran Turismo.

 

[Evolution.]

I'm not a beliver in the damage system. Now, I've never played Forza, but how accurate is the damaging? From what I've read, I'm under the impression that you can still finish a race in Forza after a crash that's serious enough to critically injure the driver, or worse. Engine failure is a plus though. 👍

I liked the review, and some of the features touched in this game sounds great. I hope P.D. will copy some of it on the next Gran Turismo.

The Damage really is pretty pathetic at first. But let me go into drastic detail:

If you start crushing into walls at 60 MPH, it does somewhat minimal (yet costly) damage to the body of your car and minor internals. If you have constantly beat down on the car ast high speeds by "showing the walls who's boss" then you definetly notice the changes. The body damage in most cases definetly affects the aerodynamics...a little story:

I was running @ Nurburgring in the Tiger Racing Mustang and got a bit of air on a bump. I lost control and hit the wall VERY hard. My car was pretty damn mangled but I just threw her in reverse and returned to the track. I was coming down the last big stretch at the track and my car started going ALL OVER the place when all I had was body damage. I could hear a difference in the wind how it passed over my car.

On with the review...after constantly crushing your cars exterior, you'll start hurting internals. Camber, driveline, steering, brakes etc. get affected by this. In some cases the engine is hurt but this usually only applies to hard hits in the frontal area. If you revv up and redline for too long your engine WILL start to fail on you. I failed to realize this and redlined for the full 3 seconds of starting before a race and really f'd up my motor. It would randomly stall under stress and wouldn't carry the car like it usually did. Major difference.

The internal damage is very detailed indeed, but until you start thrashing your car everywhere, it's not that great on the outside.

 

[Mr. Boy]

Cars in GT4 can become kinda difficult to drive when you use Normal tires (Economy, etc). So it should be equal to Forza in that area.