You didn't really think I wasn't going to rave about this month's DLC, did you? Well, there you go.
Shuckers.
A woefully underpowered car and 20 kilometres of the finest German corners... Wait, this
isn't Gran Turismo?
With the addition of the least powerful version of the BMW Isetta ever offered, Turn 10 surpassed Polyphony in the race for the
least likely vehicle featured in a driving game. Don't let the cutesy looks of this Italo-Bavarian bubble car fool you: it doesn't drive like a fridge... But much
worse. The 300cc, 4-stroke, single-piston engine is absolutely asphyctic, and the weird layout makes flipping almost as easy as it'd be in a Reliant Robin. And that is part of its unexplainable charm. The Isetta is a car so slow and unsporting, you can only cruise around, enjoying the sights and thinking about the reason you're wasting seventeen minutes to complete a lap around the Nordschleife... In a videogame.
Of course, if that isn't your cup of tea, you can still drop a turbocharged 13B in and try to get it to the end of a 1/4 mile strip... This
is Forza, after all.
I wasn't really expecting the original 124 - the one with the Pininfarina body, powered by the venerable Lampredi "Bialbero" twin-cam engine - to make its way into the game.
I feel like there's not much that I can say to sell you this classic masterpiece. It's pretty - not even the US-spec bumpers can ruin Tom Tjaarda's masterpiece. It's red - if you got yours in another color, sorry,
you're doing it wrong. It has a mean-but-not-spiteful snarl that is the best soundtrack you could ask for. The handling's great, with just a hint of understeer - but it must be said, there isn't much power to put the chassis to the test. Just enough to keep things fun for all the FIAT fans out there.
Don't call the 570S the
baby McLaren. It may be less expensive, less powerful and more cutesy than the 650S, but it's fast enough to seriously threaten it on the track. You won't miss the 90hp that have been removed from the twin-turbo V8 at all as you'll enter the next corner sliding on all four, hopefully making the most of the chassis immense capabilities.
I am sure that in real life, and on open roads the 570S has many other advantages over the 650S - it was designed to be a more practical, comfortable and civilized grand tourer, after all. And I know I'd likely walk past the more edgy, larger 650 and take the keys to this baby instead, if I had the chance. But looking through the limited window of a racing sim is enough to see how the latest, newest product from Woking is making all others look a bit redundant and unnecessary.
With the addition of the Clint Brawner-built Hawk III, Forza now has a vintage Indy car again. And what a car it is! Coming from an era of wild experimentations both with the strictly mechanical and the aerodynamical components, this iteration of the STP Oil Treatment Special features an asymmetric wing layout, and a Ford V8 (thanks
@L8 Apex) engine which is fed highly-compressed air by a turbocharged placed in the oddest place.
Replacing the even more outlandish - but extremely unreliable - turbine-powered Lotus 56 in Andy Granatelli's stable, the Hawk would go on to win the 1969 Indy 500 with Mario Andretti.
On the track, it surprises with an amazing amount of grip for a car this old and powerful - compared to the Coyote that graced us with its presence in the days of Forza 5, it's easy to drive on the corners at full throttle and down the back straight at speed in excess of 300 kilometres per hour. But as any other car of its era, the Hawk will punish any driver mistake by promptly crashing into a barrier. And you will, eventually, make one. Oh, well - enjoy it while it lasts?
It took long enough for Turn 10 to give us a TC1 car that could go head-to-head and shoulder-to-shoulder with the WTCC Civics. Unsurprisingly, it isn't a Lada or a Citroen, but a Chevrolet Cruze that joins the list of touring cars present in Forza.
The car - presented as fielded by Roberto Ravaglia's ROAL Motorsport and driven by fan-favorite Tom Coronel in the 2014 season - doesn't drive any different from the aforementioned Civic, nor does it go any faster. But considering how much effort goes into making the field of the World Touring Car Championship as level as possible, that is not a bad thing at all. If anything, it will make pitting the two cars against each other much easier.
As usual, don't forget that it's a 380hp FWD car. Push the throttle pedal too early, and you'll only cook the front tires. But it's otherwise a fun, fast, precise ride that doesn't really lose its composure even when the getting gets rough - kerbs and collisions will do little to stray this Chevy from its path.
This Jaguar is not the fastest GT3 car in the game. Fair enough. But it still does something incredible - it makes the McLarens and BMWs and Lamborghinis of this world look
mundane in comparison.
Built in Switzerland by Emil Frey Racing - a team which has a long history of collaboration with Coventry's carmaker - the XK hasn't been an overwhelming success; but it doesn't
need to be. It exudes charisma and the charm of an era of racing long gone; and that, alone, makes it a distinguished and unforgettable competitor. Which makes the fact that it will likely be replaced by the brand-new Lexus RC F for 2017 more than just a bit sad.
And besides, don't discard it as a slouch - it is still a well-planted GT, even through it suffers, perhaps unsurprisingly, from a bit of understeer. In capable hands and in the right conditions, it could even be a force to be reckoned with.
I was honestly expecting more of an oddball in its place - but I'm glad my expectations were wrongly placed now.
Finally, let's deal with the elephant in the room. And in this case, the idiom may almost take a
literal meaning.
Many of us - me inclued - have been waiting for racing trucks to come to Forza since the days of FM5, when the famous car groups "leak" happened. And finally, a diesel-powered mean giant is sitting in our garages.
This Mercedes-Benz Actros truck may look like something you could see on any European highway - trucks racing in the ETRC are production-based, after all - but it won't let you think even for a second that it's slower than your old-and-tired Vauxhall Astra. After all, the engine's producing something in the ballpark of 1000hp and 5000Nm, enough to propel this
big muthatrucker at a blitzing pace. Well, relatively speaking, of course.
With plenty of grip to go around, and a short-geared 10-speed gearbox to handle the monstrous torque, the Actros is easy to drive, and will dart around corners with surprising agility and finesse.
Did somebody say
"spec racing"? Or is it just me that wouldn't mind seeing a grid full of these beasts?
