My FM5 Review

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Forza 4 is one of those rare gems that still holds its own despite a newer version being released. Not because of content willy waving, but because fundamentally it still feels good. Plus you can drive Porsche.
I agree, I still go back and play it quite often.
 
When you start a new race series and you're asked to buy a car it is auto upgraded to the top of that class, instead, back out and go and buy the car from the dealership and it will be stock

Also if you do buy the car in the series you can also go to the upgrade screen, press the select button and restore upgrades to default.
 
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The thing with the content is completely reasonable to me. They started all over again to develope for next gen. And there wasnt a big amount of time. They could also have done it as PD and put 70% of old recycled stuff and upscaled it but thats not how its supposed to be. I am glad they took the decision to start everything from the scratch for next gen. FM6 maybe will bring what FM5 missed. Its a good launch titel.
 
I agree that anyone who has been into GT but wants to check out Forza should pick up a 360 and get Forza 4, not too expensive if you check eBay. When I'd pretty much finished GT5 I did this and was blown away by Forza 4. It has tons of tracks and plenty of cars, plus the physics for me feels a lot better, the cars feel weightier and pitch as they should, and the grip model is very rewarding, sometimes for me cars in GT feel a little like hovercrafts, the way their tyres seem to squeal on every corner as they drift outwards.

I used to love collecting all the cars in GT5, then did the same in Forza 4 but also took a lot more time with each car, testing them on the Top Gear track. Now I am playing GT6 and honestly it feels like something of a chore at times, I don't feel motivated to buy any more cars than I need, and some of the tougher races are just irritating but I still feel I must Gold them all. Finally, I know GT engine sounds are arguably more realistic and varied than Forza but as has been pointed it in many other threads they are just too smooth and muted at times. Forza 4 at least does the slightly lazy trick of washing everything in a little distortion, but real engines miss and "distort" too, and to be honest, it sounds awesome and adds a lot to the excitement factor.
 
The thing with the content is completely reasonable to me. They started all over again to develope for next gen. And there wasnt a big amount of time. They could also have done it as PD and put 70% of old recycled stuff and upscaled it but thats not how its supposed to be. I am glad they took the decision to start everything from the scratch for next gen. FM6 maybe will bring what FM5 missed. Its a good launch titel.

Yeah, that makes complete sense.

Although little nuances like muffler upgrades not showing up physically or lack of proper pit stops along with longer races and realistic tyre wear/fuel usage is something they could have easily worked on, even with no night driving or weather effects. They seriously ought to ditch the "Motorsport" title.

Sheer laziness? Oversight? Inadequate dev. time?

It would be VERY interesting to see how Horizon 2 or FM6 turns out. Frankly, since FM4, both titles have somewhat fell short.

It's new console technology, OF COURSE there are going to be better graphics, audio and physics. But that's about it, isn't it? More of the same, only prettier.
 
I agree that anyone who has been into GT but wants to check out Forza should pick up a 360 and get Forza 4, not too expensive if you check eBay. When I'd pretty much finished GT5 I did this and was blown away by Forza 4. It has tons of tracks and plenty of cars, plus the physics for me feels a lot better, the cars feel weightier and pitch as they should, and the grip model is very rewarding, sometimes for me cars in GT feel a little like hovercrafts, the way their tyres seem to squeal on every corner as they drift outwards.

I used to love collecting all the cars in GT5, then did the same in Forza 4 but also took a lot more time with each car, testing them on the Top Gear track. Now I am playing GT6 and honestly it feels like something of a chore at times, I don't feel motivated to buy any more cars than I need, and some of the tougher races are just irritating but I still feel I must Gold them all. Finally, I know GT engine sounds are arguably more realistic and varied than Forza but as has been pointed it in many other threads they are just too smooth and muted at times. Forza 4 at least does the slightly lazy trick of washing everything in a little distortion, but real engines miss and "distort" too, and to be honest, it sounds awesome and adds a lot to the excitement factor.

Wow.. I almost blindly agree with just about everything you said!

Except for that part where it says "GT sounds being arguably more realistic". Sorry mate.. way off base there. FM4's sounds feel more natural and true to life as you go up and down the rev range, this is particularly evident (and VERY pleasing to the ear) as you downshift, especially on stock engines.

And you got that right - engine/muffler sound distortion is very much present in real life, thought it's not going to be present under all racing/driving circumstances. Especially noticeable though, when you start making heavy mods to your engine. Furthermore, the PGR guys they hired to do the engine sounds for FM4 said they introduced distortion deliberately into the game so as to do justice to the real engine sounds. By contrast, you have the other way of doing things - programming and synthesizing them for a game, based on actual sounds (GT route). I really don't know what went wrong with the PD guys; engine sounds were actually pretty decent right up til Gran Tursimo 4.

Not looking to spark a debate or anything, just my two! BTW, how do you feel about FM5 engine sounds?
 
I don't have FM5 and have just watched a few videos, will probably wait until FM6 before I get an Xbone as the lack of content, for me personally, puts me off (unless some other Xbox exclusive I really really want comes out in the mean time)

Regarding the GT vs. Forza sound debate, I was always under the impression that PD did a more thorough job of sampling real cars, but then when they process and synthesize this the loop is necessarily very short and when repeated makes it sounds whooshy and too smooth. I thought that T10 instead just used a likeness of the real engine sound, with added distortion, but not necessarily sampled from the real thing. I guess neither approach is totally realistic though, but I prefer the sound of Forza, that's for sure.
 
GT's sound are completely synthesized - they listen to actual engine sounds (at least I hope they did) and then attempt to code that into the game by synthesizing and sampling it.

Forza - cars taken to the "pipe room", put on a dyno, and while attempting to simulate real track conditions, place microphones in all locations possible inside and out.

^^ That's how they got the engine and exhaust notes so eerily realistic.
 
I cant believe people are still defending GT's sound..

Who is defending it? Have you read the posts properly? In both of mine I said I prefer Forza's sounds, describing them in my first post as "awesome" and way more atmospheric and exciting than GT's. Settle down, sheesh.
 
Well, I suppose it isn't a priority at the moment.
Project CARS is going to put up some stiff competition. I hope it does on consoles. Perhaps then T10 will step up their game.
 
It works but poorly rather than great.
Not sure I am following you. I was almost out of gas after 13 laps at Lemans (I was trying to get the Bone dry achievement), and the tires were nearly shot and car was sliding around every corner. The only reason I didn't lose all my fuel is because I slid around a corner, and pretty much totaled the car...the gears were hosed and the car would only do like 2 mph :(.

For most of us, the fuel and tires wear works great.
 
Not sure I am following you. I was almost out of gas after 13 laps at Lemans (I was trying to get the Bone dry achievement), and the tires were nearly shot and car was sliding around every corner. The only reason I didn't lose all my fuel is because I slid around a corner, and pretty much totaled the car...the gears were hosed and the car would only do like 2 mph :(.

For most of us, the fuel and tires wear works great.

In what car with what tyres? Soft race tyres might be starting to wear out after an hour, any moderately road legal tyre probably won't be.
 
In what car with what tyres? Soft race tyres might be starting to wear out after an hour, any moderately road legal tyre probably won't be.

Hennessey Venom factory.

I have had tire wear and fuel depletion in every car I have raced to date. It's not limited to the Hennessey Venom. Factory tires on the Nissan R34 GTR were gone after 12 laps at Alps.
 
Hennessey Venom factory.

I have had tire wear and fuel depletion in every car I have raced to date. It's not limited to the Hennessey Venom. Factory tires on the Nissan R34 GTR were gone after 12 laps at Alps.

See, road tyres shouldn't be gone after 12 laps.

I've got Star Specs on my MX5, which is about as soft as a road legal tyre gets, and after about 25 laps at Philip Island on a track day they were nowhere near gone. And that includes the drive there, 2 hours each way. I'm still using them 10,000km later, and they're almost gone now although I did another track day at Sandown as well.

An MX5 is admittedly a light car and doesn't wear it's tyres that much, although I'm hardly kind to it (I do not in any way shape or form slide it around roundabouts and industrial estates when the roads are quiet...that would be an AUP violation :D), but the difference between the wear in GT6 and the wear on real road tyres is marked.

Race tyres may wear at more or less the correct rate in game, endurance racers seem to change their tyres every hour or so. But road tyres don't wear appreciably in an hour, unless you're doing an hour of burnouts. Even the softest road tyres aren't dead after a day at the track unless you're just doing stupid ****.
 
I got an xbox one a couple of days ago and am loving this game. It's a huge step up from GT6. I have not owned it long enough to touch on the comment but I Have played it a lot and still have a TON of races left to do. The online is also 100 times better then GT6 which will add immensely to the resale value.
 
See, road tyres shouldn't be gone after 12 laps.

I've got Star Specs on my MX5, which is about as soft as a road legal tyre gets, and after about 25 laps at Philip Island on a track day they were nowhere near gone. And that includes the drive there, 2 hours each way. I'm still using them 10,000km later, and they're almost gone now although I did another track day at Sandown as well.

An MX5 is admittedly a light car and doesn't wear it's tyres that much, although I'm hardly kind to it (I do not in any way shape or form slide it around roundabouts and industrial estates when the roads are quiet...that would be an AUP violation :D), but the difference between the wear in GT6 and the wear on real road tyres is marked.

Race tyres may wear at more or less the correct rate in game, endurance racers seem to change their tyres every hour or so. But road tyres don't wear appreciably in an hour, unless you're doing an hour of burnouts. Even the softest road tyres aren't dead after a day at the track unless you're just doing stupid ****.

The Venom doesn't have road tires for one, nor does the R34.

My tire wear and fuel wear is accurate pretty much to spec cars. The person in question said it doesn't exist in a realistic fasion. But it does, and it's actually better than the experience had in FM4 and previous GT's. In fact, Sim Racing also confirmed the accuracy.

Considering I have raced in real life for many years, I am fully aware of tire wear and fuel consumption.
 
The Venom doesn't have road tires for one, nor does the R34.

Er, an R34 on factory tyres has road legal tyres. I think Bridgestone Potenzas? But anyway, road legal and almost certainly not the absolute softest compound available as a road tyre.

Bridgestone Potenzas will not be gone after 12 laps, even in a GTR R34. I doubt they'd be gone after 12 laps of the Nurburgring. Street tyres just don't wear out that fast.

The Hennessey I'm not even going to try and find out what it came from the factory with. It could have been anything, and it could very well have been not road legal. Whatever it was might have been gone after 12 laps. I doubt owners would have been very happy, because it would mean replacing tyres pretty quickly even with street driving, but if you can afford a Hennessey you can probably afford some more tyres for it every few thousand km.
 
Er, an R34 on factory tyres has road legal tyres. I think Bridgestone Potenzas? But anyway, road legal and almost certainly not the absolute softest compound available as a road tyre.

Bridgestone Potenzas will not be gone after 12 laps, even in a GTR R34. I doubt they'd be gone after 12 laps of the Nurburgring. Street tyres just don't wear out that fast.

The Hennessey I'm not even going to try and find out what it came from the factory with. It could have been anything, and it could very well have been not road legal. Whatever it was might have been gone after 12 laps. I doubt owners would have been very happy, because it would mean replacing tyres pretty quickly even with street driving, but if you can afford a Hennessey you can probably afford some more tyres for it every few thousand km.
Well, FM5 has been very realistic in the case of tire wear and fuel consumption in my (and many other's experience). Other than showing screenshots of the fuel and tire monitors after certain laps with certain cars to show the wear and tear, there really isn't anything else we can do to convince you. I am not about to do that, as I don't have the time or desire to. I would rather just race and enjoy the game.
 
The Venom doesn't have road tires for one, nor does the R34.

My tire wear and fuel wear is accurate pretty much to spec cars. The person in question said it doesn't exist in a realistic fasion. But it does, and it's actually better than the experience had in FM4 and previous GT's. In fact, Sim Racing also confirmed the accuracy.

Considering I have raced in real life for many years, I am fully aware of tire wear and fuel consumption.

How far off is FM4 then in terms of inaccuracy?

I haven't really gone the distance you see.
 
Well, FM5 has been very realistic in the case of tire wear and fuel consumption in my (and many other's experience). Other than showing screenshots of the fuel and tire monitors after certain laps with certain cars to show the wear and tear, there really isn't anything else we can do to convince you. I am not about to do that, as I don't have the time or desire to. I would rather just race and enjoy the game.

I'm not querying that what you say is happening in the game is actually happening. And I'm not querying the fuel consumption either.

I'm saying that a GTR, in real life, does not chew it's factory tyres in 12 laps of anything short of the Nurburgring, and probably not even then. 12 laps of the Alps is what, maybe 25 minutes of driving? You said you had real life racing experience, have you had an experience where a street legal tyre was shot after 25 minutes of ordinary track work? Barring obviously things like tyre failures, big brake lockups and smoking the tyres.

I've got no particular problem with how T10 choose to do the tyres, but I will pipe up when someone quotes it as realistic if it doesn't appear to be.
 
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