Review | Forza Motorsport 3
//Take it for a spin
As someone who doesn’t drive but does have a strange fascination with Richard Hammond’s hair and Jeremy Clarkson’s opinions, I do know a fair bit about under-steer and the rest. But the beauty of Forza 3 is that, whether you’re a car nut or not, you’ll be able to enjoy what it has to offer. Feeling sheepish around such a devilish simulator? Put it on easy, use the driving aids and follow the glowing racing line. Bit of a sadist? Then pop the game on hard and watch every twitch of the car, use your clutch wisely and master the rev limits. But it can be quite tricky to find the perfect level for your skills. Easy can be too easy, and hard is mind-blowingly tough in places. It’s lacking a little balance, which is a shame.
I started the game on easy and worked my way through the difficulties, and it’s quite clear that stepping up to the harder modes is not for the timid. The AI becomes ferociously aggressive, steering you into walls or causing you to veer off of the track and into the dirt. This in turn makes you overly aggressive yourself; several times I found myself forcing my way to the front of the pack. It’s not always a wise move, though, as damaging your car will affect its performance, and you’ll also lose money at the end of the race.
But it’s difficult to care about such problems when the handling is so tight and responsive. Playing from the bumper view feels fast and intuitive, and while it makes the race a little sluggish, the in-car view is certainly a welcome addition. However, in any view you choose, there should never be a problem with the steering that isn’t your own fault.
//You can have any colour, as long as it’s black
Forza 3’s career mode is simple. Races are arranged via a calendar in the menu screens. At first you’ll be asked to race a circuit to find out how best to tailor the game to your needs, change the difficulty and such. Then it’s time to choose your first car. Among them are the Fiesta and Yaris, so it’s a very low level to start with. With each race come rewards for boosting your driver level and car level, usually in the form of new cars and upgrade options that help with later races. You’ll also be earning credits at the end of each championship or season.
As with any racer, you aren’t going to win if you haven’t got the right car, and Forza 3 has plenty of them. 405, to be exact. In fact, the game comes with an extra installation disc just to fit them all in. You can buy the cars from the showroom or the ever-interesting auction house, which works in the same vein as eBay. While it’s great to have such a variety of cars, it almost seems pointless. Most of the time I stuck to one car and only occasionally hopped into another motor if the race’s entry criteria required it. These races are chosen by you and can easily be avoided, which makes all the hard work of adding the cars null and void.
Elsewhere, Forza 2’s art studio returns, allowing you to design your own graphics and plaster them over your car – or, if you choose to, sell them in your storefront. Already, even with the servers open to press only, there are some beautiful designs popping up, and one can only imagine what we’ll see months down the line as Forza artists get their hands on the game.
Even without this user-created content, everything in Forza 3 is ludicrously polished. The phrase “car porn” has never been more applicable. It’s a delightful package of speed, beauty and realism, one that sits right at the peak of its genre. It’s let down slightly by its awkward difficulty balance, a soundtrack that won’t please all and, perhaps, an overindulgence in the amount of vehicles on offer. But when it’s right, it’s stunning.
From the curves on a Lamborghini Countach to the swish design of the menus, this is very much a grown-up racer; a racer that delivers such realism that screaming around Le Mans at 234MPH in a Bugati Veyron causes the hairs on your neck to stand to attention. It is, quite simply, the best racing game of this generation – and on that bombshell, it’s goodnight.
9/10
Pages: 1 2
