My first impressions.

[peterjford]

I finally played Forza 4 for the first time yesterday. I am not sure how much I got completed. It seems that while I was doing the World Tour I completed 7 parts of the Clubman (Cup?). I tried to use my first car (Citroen C1) for as many races as I could but later I stared using the Lotus Elan.

The first thing I noticed was that it was really easy to toss that C1 around, and when using the controller and "normal" steering setting I could easily counter steer when the back end started to step out. This made it really fun, but it didn't punish me for careless and overly aggressive driving. I am hoping that when the racing gets tougher I will have to use a smoother, cleaner approach to win races.

Another thing that really stood out was how poorly the AI would sometimes drive, and how many times it seem they would deliberately PIT you. At Laguna Seca I would not attempt to pass anyone near the Corkscrew because any car that was behind me would spin me off the track.

I liked that on "limited" (I think, may have been "light") damage, you would get charged for the amount of damage done. I finished one race with 1 Cr of damage... I guess that one could be "buffed out".

I am not going to do any GT5 vs FM4 comparisons except for 1 thing. Turn 10 got the color of the grass right at Laguna Seca. I have never seen green grass there, its always brown.

 

[HAL20XX]

Not that the AI is particularly good at any point in the game, the AI in World Tour is hard to gauge skill against since it adjusts to your previous race. If you did bad in your last race, the AI skill is lowered. As you do better, AI skill increases (but after a series of 10 good races and then 1 bad one, AI skill starts dropping again).

Professional level AI puts up a decent fight but they are still overly aggressive and brake at inopportune times.

 

[Patrick]

Once you get to high powered car you'll get punished for over agressive driving. Especially with race cars.

 

[ALAN ULTIMATE]

The A.I cars will usually only spin you out if you reduce your speed too much when approaching the corkscrew if they are that close behind you in the first place.

Depending on the driver they will not necessarily be looking to slow down as much as you in this section as they tend to stick to the so called perfect racing line most of the time.

Unless I am totally mistaken

 

[imported_phillkillv2]

When you are driving against AI just check your corner because I noticed that most of my incidents with the AI were caused by me.

 

[Wolfe]

Welcome back, glad you're enjoying the game.

It seems that while I was doing the World Tour I completed 7 parts of the Clubman (Cup?).

Racing in World Tour rarely completes anything, actually. It plucks events from the Event List but unless the selected track matches exactly with one of the races in the actual event, it doesn't count.

Unless you're having fun with World Tour and/or want the achievements it gives you, you're better off working from the Event List. 👍 The AI is more consistent and far more challenging there too.

The first thing I noticed was that it was really easy to toss that C1 around, and when using the controller and "normal" steering setting I could easily counter steer when the back end started to step out. This made it really fun, but it didn't punish me for careless and overly aggressive driving. I am hoping that when the racing gets tougher I will have to use a smoother, cleaner approach to win races.

From my experience the game never really punishes rough driving. You'll lose time compared to doing it right, but even Le Mans prototypes drive like a tuned D1GP special when you light up the rear tires. It's ridiculous fun, but something's not right when the Shelby Cobra can make you feel like an invincible drift master. You just can't go wrong.

I'm sure it's different if you have a wheel and you're not quick enough keeping up with the car, but it's not the controller's fault that you can hardly ever spin from rotating too aggressively. Countersteer can catch nearly anything!

Turn 10 got the color of the grass right at Laguna Seca. I have never seen green grass there, its always brown.

Back in the FM1/FM2 days I thought it was weird and inaccurate how brown the trackside was. Then I visited California one summer and it all made sense.

 

[tomcat66]

you're better off working from the Event List. 👍 The AI is more consistent and far more challenging there too.

I just want to point out that you can change the AI difficulty in every race in the Event List by yourself. Opposite to the "Career Mode" where the game select the AI for you (based on your former races).

 

[sennafreak]

The first thing I noticed was that it was really easy to toss that C1 around, and when using the controller and "normal" steering setting I could easily counter steer when the back end started to step out. This made it really fun, but it didn't punish me for careless and overly aggressive driving. I am hoping that when the racing gets tougher I will have to use a smoother, cleaner approach to win races.

Another thing that really stood out was how poorly the AI would sometimes drive, and how many times it seem they would deliberately PIT you. At Laguna Seca I would not attempt to pass anyone near the Corkscrew because any car that was behind me would spin me off the track.

Tip of the day; after you had some practice put steering on "realistic", then the physics are almost on the same level as GT's, it makes a lot of difference.

AI are a tad agressive yes, but at least they put up a fight, and in many instances you are fighting for the lead until the last lap. Which is good.

Laguna Seca looks nice and dry, indeed... in GT it looks almost like you are driving somewhere in Germany .

 

[imported_phillkillv2]

Laguna Seca looks nice and dry, indeed... in GT it looks almost like you are driving somewhere in Germany .

Having been there... It's dryer than a Brillo pad.

 

[Wolfe]

Tip of the day; after you had some practice put steering on "realistic", then the physics are almost on the same level as GT's, it makes a lot of difference.

The steering mode doesn't change anything in physics; it just changes how the game processes your steering input.

With the 360 controller, "Normal" is like GT5 and basically any other game out there. "Simulation" tries to let you mitigate understeer by yourself but boosts the hell out of countersteer for some strange reason; it's hardly "assists off." It's generally quicker and better for low-speed maneuvering but IMO it makes your virtual driver too spastic.

I assume "Simulation" was meant to remove all assists for experienced wheel users but from what I've read that's not entirely the case (?).

 

[sennafreak]

The steering mode doesn't change anything in physics; it just changes how the game processes your steering input.

With the 360 controller, "Normal" is like GT5 and basically any other game out there. "Simulation" tries to let you mitigate understeer by yourself but boosts the hell out of countersteer for some strange reason; it's hardly "assists off." It's generally quicker and better for low-speed maneuvering but IMO it makes your virtual driver too spastic.

I assume "Simulation" was meant to remove all assists for experienced wheel users but from what I've read that's not entirely the case (?).

To be honest i wouldn't know if you are right or not, could be that the physics don't really change, but the effect of your thumb on the knob would be different, but the cars feel totaly different tough.

Either way "normal" steering is to forgiving, you can throw the car around without any hustle, but in simulation you have to be a lot more careful and the weight seems to shift a lot more, making it easier to loose control. It's definitely more realistic that's for sure .

Having been there... It's dryer than a Brillo pad.

Germany?

 

[Wolfe]

I mentioned the Shelby Cobra before -- on the Top Gear Test Track, I can still throw it around and recover from nearly anything even when simulation steering is enabled. Part of it, I think, is that lift-off oversteer isn't as strong of an effect as it should be, but the game also seems to have super-magic countersteer. If you pull a low-speed burnout and quickly swing the tail back and forth, the front end seems to "pull" itself out of each slide and into the next. Any angular momentum you had just disappears.

In my experience, "simulation" simply makes countersteer snappy and imprecise; it's more likely to catch you with overcorrection than allow you to lose the rear end outright. I agree that it's more challenging, but I think it has more to do with control than physics, that's all.

 

[hennessey86]

I mentioned the Shelby Cobra before -- on the Top Gear Test Track, I can still throw it around and recover from nearly anything even when simulation steering is enabled. Part of it, I think, is that lift-off oversteer isn't as strong of an effect as it should be, but the game also seems to have super-magic countersteer. If you pull a low-speed burnout and quickly swing the tail back and forth, the front end seems to "pull" itself out of each slide and into the next. Any angular momentum you had just disappears.

In my experience, "simulation" simply makes countersteer snappy and imprecise; it's more likely to catch you with overcorrection than allow you to lose the rear end outright. I agree that it's more challenging, but I think it has more to do with control than physics, that's all.

Do you run 900 degrees of rotation

 

[imported_Da-bomber]

With the controller you can still put simulation steering and have the dead zone changed to your liking to make it turn quicker and not under steer like usual.

 

[Wolfe]

Do you run 900 degrees of rotation

I run a 360 controller. I have two Logitech G25s -- my shifter malfunctioned and they sent an entire set to replace it under warranty -- so I won't be getting another wheel for a long time.

With the controller you can still put simulation steering and have the dead zone changed to your liking to make it turn quicker and not under steer like usual.

I never noticed any settings like that before; I might have to go looking for them to see if I can tune "simulation" to be more intuitive.

 

[IceMan PJN]

The first thing I noticed was that it was really easy to toss that C1 around, and when using the controller and "normal" steering setting I could easily counter steer when the back end started to step out. This made it really fun, but it didn't punish me for careless and overly aggressive driving. I am hoping that when the racing gets tougher I will have to use a smoother, cleaner approach to win races.

You're using "normal". It helps you handle the car. If you switch to simulation you won't get help from the game.

Another thing that really stood out was how poorly the AI would sometimes drive, and how many times it seem they would deliberately PIT you. At Laguna Seca I would not attempt to pass anyone near the Corkscrew because any car that was behind me would spin me off the track.

If you're earlier into the game and/or not doing terribly great, the game uses a lower AI difficulty setting. With lower AI settings, they make more mistakes, just like more amateur people would make more mistakes in reality. If you keep winning and doing so for long enough, the AI ramps up and they make fewer mistakes. On the highest setting, they make virtually no mistakes.

 

[ImaRobot]

If you're earlier into the game and/or not doing terribly great, the game uses a lower AI difficulty setting. With lower AI settings, they make more mistakes, just like more amateur people would make more mistakes in reality. If you keep winning and doing so for long enough, the AI ramps up and they make fewer mistakes. On the highest setting, they make virtually no mistakes.

Is there a source for this information, because to be honest while playing on professional, it has never felt any different win or lose. They even still make careless mistakes.

I just had a race today when going down the straight on Mugello, barely launching off the line halfway to the first turn, a Camaro swerved right severly and almost rammed me into two other cars, even though no one was stopping or braking in front of him, and with no turn even remotely close. Some even try to take inside corners and end up flying off track. I now know that if I am coming into a corner that requires me to downshift all the way to second, that I should always take the most inside line because if I dont, the computer will, and they will ram me off track. Happens 100% of the time.

 

[Corsa]

I've always appreciated The Forza series, although I only started with 3.
I never played 1/2.
Used a controller all the way in 3, and up to level 30 in 4.
I recently hooked up my CSRE and now I'm ridiculously addicted. My god how a decent wheel transforms this game. It really is night and day.

I also found a sweet spot with my Vizio led. If you set it to "movie"
add a little color, take away some sharpness it looks fantastic!

Thank you Turn 10 for putting out an amazing product.

 

[imported_phillkillv2]

I've always appreciated The Forza series, although I only started with 3.
I never played 1/2.
Used a controller all the way in 3, and up to level 30 in 4.
I recently hooked up my CSRE and now I'm ridiculously addicted. My god how a decent wheel transforms this game. It really is night and day.

I also found a sweet spot with my Vizio led. If you set it to "movie"
add a little color, take away some sharpness it looks fantastic!

Thank you Turn 10 for putting out an amazing product.

+1

 

[shawtyoner]

I also found a sweet spot with my Vizio led. If you set it to "movie"
add a little color, take away some sharpness it looks fantastic!

Hmmmm I never thought about switching those preset screen settings, gonna try it tonight.

 

[Tyger]

Just got Forza 4 today, having been a diehard GT player since GT1 (though I did also have the first Forza on my old Xbox).

My first impressions (and this is not a comparison to GT, well mostly not!):

- I found it odd the way it kinda throws you straight into events (well actually a very assisted race in the 458 first, what was that about?) and it isn't clear if you will lose out if you break this cycle. I "finished" the first world tour thinger and it seemed to want to reward me with free cars along the way but I stuck with my old Ford Ka. It then launched me into another series, the sombre-sounding fella whisking me off someplace else. And what was the Top Gear knocking down the pins thing about? That was just surreal and really out of place.

I'm still using the Ka, though for Laguna Seca it recommended some upgrades so I went with it. Now I have about 4 more cars in my garage but having enough fun in the Ka for now, it's all good. It's not too clear what the two other options are before each stage of the series though, which are often model-specific. Are they part of the same series? What happens if I switch cars? Can I come back to all this later? It just seems very vague somehow, but it's not a big problem.

- It also says nada at any point about installing the content from the second disc. I found this out in the very brief "manual" in the box.

- Engine sound, much discussed across at the GT forums. I usually defend GT, I think it gets it wrong sometimes but the sounds when isolated are usually the most realistic around, they coulda just played with acoustic effect though, just made things a bit more gnarly-sounding. Forza, in contrast, seems to go too far the other way. My stock Ford Ka sounds like an absolute beast, like Louis Armstrong gargling nails. They've totally added distortion and clipping, as do most racing games. Still, I am looking forward to some of the more exotic and muscular cars later, had fun with the 458 and Cougar in the demo. Ultimately it is a game after all and i'm liking the sounds, the crunch when contact is made with other cars is a lot more weighty too.

- Which brings me onto the physics. I really like this, the cars feel much heavier and roll more than GT, and you can feel the tyres biting or giving up when the surface changes. It's also arguably forgiving a lot of the time (i've run all aids off except ABS and simulation steering on from the get go) yet you can still go into a slow death-roll and spin the car out, whereas in GT you can usually recover and not lose much time.

- The credits, rewards, affinity etc. is a tad confusing for now and a little overcooked I think, comes across a little like Shift and less of a simulation, but there are still some nice ideas thrown in. Not sure I liked the kinda fruit machine random bonus thing though, seems a little childish.

Anyways going back to it now, at race 5/7 in the second series it throws you into, at the Nurburgring GP circuit which I know very well. Will finish this and the next race, then probs do the disc 2 install, then I guess pick an event out, as then it won't throw me into another world tour thing? Again, really unclear, but what they hey, this is a superb game