So I got bored this weekend and purchased FM7...Thanks Nate

[SDotJoe]

While waiting for Hurricane Nate to come and blow over my patio furniture I decided to get FM7 to kill some time.

Thoughts so far:
1. Crates...Am I supposed to be buying these?
2. Useless off-road vehicles....Polaris RZR, Rockstar Trophy Truck, Raptor....what is the point of these, this is a circuit based racing game. Are they only here to get the count over 700? If so...where in the deuce is the '15 Z28 and other road cars from previous FM titles that would've better fit the bill.
3. Homologinization(sp?)....I get it, it looked a bit ridiculous to see a LaFerrari, Koenigsegg, P1, etc get beat on a circuit by a modded 82 Datsun. But is there a way to turn it off?
4. Design Editor....How can I paint a car that I can't see...the screen is too bleeping dark. Is this a side effect of their new dynamic lighting?
5. Driver gear, I mean, do I really give a care as to what my driver is wearing, will it make more sense once i'm driving an open roof car.
6. Cars behind barriers, yes there are over 700 cars but the ones I really want are behind some kind of purchase barrier, Looking at you 991.2 GT3
7. Sounds....much, much better than FH3 and FM6

Preliminary verdict:
In a way its better than FM6 as I was in the camp of the swaps and mods were getting way out of hand in FM6/FH3. T10 is on their way to bring this game back into the real world but I feel that there are two camps in play over there. 1 camp that wants to be serious and the other that wants crap like limo bowling and BMW Iseta's. Hopefully the serious camp wins out and for FM8 we get a more serious-like game devoid of the childish stuff.

Also, I hope the spoiler glitch on the 458 speciale cost someone their job, simple QA testing should've identified this issue.

 

[Snorevette]

1. Crates...Am I supposed to be buying these?

It's not necessary by any means, but you need to open the mod crates to get new mods, which I'd highly recommend because they pay for themselves pretty quickly especially if you use them on longer races. I heavily disagree with their inclusion but that's another story.

2. Useless off-road vehicles....Polaris RZR, Rockstar Trophy Truck, Raptor....what is the point of these, this is a circuit based racing game. Are they only here to get the count over 700? If so...where in the deuce is the '15 Z28 and other road cars from previous FM titles that would've better fit the bill.

The off-road vehicles are holdovers from Horizon 3. As for the Camaro, we already have the 2012 and 2017 ZL1 as well as the 2016 SS - I'd rather have a bunch of interesting if impractical vehicles over another one of them, if I'm honest. I agree that there's a lot of cars that are missing but I think the off-road vehicles aren't replacing them so much as they were included just because they already had the Horizon 3 models prepared.

3. Homologinization(sp?)....I get it, it looked a bit ridiculous to see a LaFerrari, Koenigsegg, P1, etc get beat on a circuit by a modded 82 Datsun. But is there a way to turn it off?

Right now there's no way to avoid it in the Forza Drivers Cup or in Multiplayer, but you can use non-homologated cars in Free Play if you mess with the settings I think.

4. Design Editor....How can I paint a car that I can't see...the screen is too bleeping dark. Is this a side effect of their new dynamic lighting?

I know a few people have been having problems with lighting, I think you may have to wait for T10 to patch that because I haven't had any issues with the lighting whilst lots of other people have it really bad.

5. Driver gear, I mean, do I really give a care as to what my driver is wearing, will it make more sense once i'm driving an open roof car.

Driver gear is mostly just to show off how much money you've spent on loot boxes when you get a podium spot online, but I still appreciate it since it means you're not forced to wear a modern racing suit all the time. You can wear vintage racing gear if you're in one of the early grand prix cars, you can wear a leather jacket and a skull bandana in a classic muscle car, and if you're lucky enough to get it you can wear a tuxedo in an Aston Martin and pretend you're James Bond.

6. Cars behind barriers, yes there are over 700 cars but the ones I really want are behind some kind of purchase barrier, Looking at you 991.2 GT3

Again, this is also something I hate about the game. For what its worth a lot of the locked cars are available in the showcase events which you'll unlock as you progress through the Forza Drivers Cup (and you unlock more Showcase events after you complete the final cup and unlock the Elite cups, so I've been told).

Preliminary verdict:
In a way its better than FM6 as I was in the camp of the swaps and mods were getting way out of hand in FM6/FH3. T10 is on their way to bring this game back into the real world but I feel that there are two camps in play over there. 1 camp that wants to be serious and the other that wants crap like limo bowling and BMW Iseta's. Hopefully the serious camp wins out and for FM8 we get a more serious-like game devoid of the childish stuff.

I agree that engine swaps in particular were way out of hand in FH3, but I disagree that the game should go the complete opposite direction. It wouldn't make much sense for T10 to drop what is essentially their main selling point (which they've pretty much usurped from Gran Turismo) in favour of trying to become a direct competitor to more hardcore sims such as PCars and Assetto Corsa, and in any case for every 'silly' car there's at least fifty proper cars so it's not like they're impossible to outright ignore if you don't like them.

Also, I hope the spoiler glitch on the 458 speciale cost someone their job, simple QA testing should've identified this issue.

I think that's a bit harsh. I doubt they model the generic Forza aero specifically for every single car, and I'd estimate there's a good 400 cars that use that specific wing. Simple QA testing would probably be just that - simple, just making sure the game runs smoothly and as intended - and probably wouldn't involve going through the upgrade process for every single vehicle to check the aero. Even if they did that and someone somehow managed to miss it, I don't think they should lose their job for it; they might've only noticed it at the last minute been rushed by Microsoft to get the game out on time, and in any case it's just a relatively minor bug for a single car.

 

[deththrasher]

1. yes, sadly

2. yup they already had them modelled in FH3 so they might as well use them, hopefully they'll be an offroad expansion? wishful thinking.

3. it ****ing sucks and you can't turn it off, ruins the career for me.

4. not sure what t10 were thinking here, it's almost like they didn't play the game before shipping

5. more unnecessary ******** for lootcrates

6. you have to buy a load of cars you don't want to get to the cars you do want, it's a **** system which again ruins the career for me.

7. yes the engine sounds are very good for the most part, not quite raceroom racing experience level but they are getting there.

 

[RikkiGT-R]

1. Well they want you to buy them, but you don't necessarily have to.

2. Agree. I've yet to buy any of them, and will never use them unless I need to complete a model-specific race.

3. The only part that annoys me is when I HAVE to buy the homologation parts for a car. I want to tune the car myself

4. I've yet to experience this issue (I play on a 55in 4K screen).

5. Another one I don't mind. Currently wearing the Nürburgring suit that I finally unlocked and I love it.

6. I have around 150 cars so far, have maybe driven 50. There's so many cars this one doesn't bother me.

7. Played through an Onkyo/Kef surround sound system and the sound is outstanding.

FM7 takes me back to FM4 (and even GT4). Loads of cars to drive and countless races to win. I love the old-school car collector/completionist feel to the game.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

3. The only part that annoys me is when I HAVE to buy the homologation parts for a car. I want to tune the car myself

Other than the fact the car may cost a little more I do not see an issue with it and not even sure the game is charging you for the parts.

You can of course tune the car your self and race it I've did this in career mode, just go ahead and let the game do its thing then go in and set the car up the way you want just stay within the limits for the class and it should be fine.