6 years is a long time, no matter how you look at it, that’s how much time has passed since the last “serious” Forza, which was Forza Motorsport 7. Of course, in the meantime, the clownish Forza Horizon got two parts, but that’s a completely different world – those who were hungry for professional track racing had to wait patiently. To this. And even though I really want to like this game, because it basically deserves it, I don’t know, as the cover already revealed.
But before I start my flood of complaints, let’s see why you can like Turn 10’s new savior! What definitely stands out while eating the kilometers is the physics: it is easily on par with the seventh part of the great rival Gran Turismo series. With both the gamepad and the steering wheel, it provides a driving experience that very few games can, and this alone is capable of carrying the show despite its faults. Of course, die-hard simulator fans could certainly argue, but actually, on closer reflection, I don’t think it would be worthwhile: on home consoles, both the Japanese and American flagships easily stand their ground compared to reality, more serious simulators are mostly found in the centers of racing teams anyway.
In addition, the dynamic weather is a welcome and well-functioning innovation: although I didn’t see snow, we can have quite a variety of fights with the elements in addition to the other competitors. And of course the range of cars is also fantastic, it’s hard for me to imagine that someone wouldn’t find something to their liking in every class of machine – they will have to, because afterwards the delinquent will spend a lot of time with his car.
Why? Well, I have somewhat ambivalent feelings about this. With the system nicknamed “CarPG” by the people of Rendmond, the car itself collects experience points based on kilometers traveled, overtaking, lap times, etc., and this is how various improvements become available. Unfortunately, this gives a kind of grinding character to the development of our favorite chariots, but at the same time I can’t fully condemn it, because it looks authentic because we like to compete. The grind is further exacerbated by the fact that, although there is an ample selection of cars, the same cannot be said about the range of tracks: only 20 locations offer different routes. This way, unfortunately, monotony sets in more easily. The Nordschleife is sorely missed – I really hope we get plenty of new locations in a short time.
Another interesting thing is that you can’t avoid practice in career mode: you have to complete 3 laps before every race. And if it happens that we don’t have time for the race anymore, we can start all over again… But at least the car experience points gained in this way will remain. Okay, the races aren’t really long either, but it’s still not the real thing.
Before we venture into the quagmire, let’s first talk about the audiovisual implementation in a way that is not about the technical side. Do I need to say that in both cases Gran Turismo 7 is the benchmark? Well, if we rise above the things mentioned later – ahem – then we can’t really complain: it’s the small differences that make it difficult to choose a clear winner. In terms of sounds, the two works are very similar, I couldn’t really say a significant difference between the two. They come out better in graphics: in the Japanese work, the cars are a bit more elaborate, but in the American work, the track and the environment received perhaps a little more attention, and the bad weather (fog, rain) also looks better in the FM.
However, where the new Forza Motorsport clearly bleeds is the execution. Apologies to the developers and QA, but I have to ask: what the f*s is? That’s right, in this form, with the post-release patch and fresh VGA and other drivers, it’s weak even for a beta! From what I read on the forums, the game tends to crash with a low screech on Xbox too, but the PC version is currently disgraceful. I say this in such a way that I have never had any particular problems even with games that are known to be problematic (not even with Cyberpunk 2077, as I mentioned in my review of Phantom Liberty).
I wouldn’t even pick up such a small thing that I set up the controls in vain, saying: I have a Thrustmaster T248, the next time I start it, it switches to T128 again – and of course the steering wheel display doesn’t work either, despite the fact that it’s officially supported. But at least it works. Not like my Razer headset: when I use it wirelessly with surround settings, the game only sends the signal from the left and right front speakers to it… Wired, works fine in stereo.
But what makes me gag Dad: how is it possible that on the same machine, Forza Horizon 5 runs at 170+ fps in 2K resolution with the settings turned up to the max, while it doesn’t even reach 70? A ForzaTech engine drives both this and that, and although there are certainly differences, the approx. a two and a half times difference in speed is very difficult to explain – especially in light of the fact that my processor was lickt at 30% utilization from the bottom and my VGA card was just above 60%… All this is compounded by the fact that unless my team has a car with a painted color, then painting and stickering becomes very difficult. And ForzaVista tends to vacillate between total obscurity and a nice sharp and detailed display.
The artificial intelligence is pretty much okay up to the intermediate level, the most difficult ones are more about dodging rather than competing. What kind of bad joke is this? And I’m not alone: many people complain on forums and Reddit that the game runs badly regardless of the VGA chip manufacturer, the virtual 7.1 headsets produce what I complained about above, regardless of the brand, and even Xbox players tell me that it’s completely rubbish. when the game cuts them to the dashboard. The icing on the cake is that I can’t look back at two out of two saved replays, because all I see is that everyone is standing on the grid. I’m usually soft-hearted, but I can only say to this: it’s a real shame that a first party Microsoft development studio would let such a job out of hand! (And it’s especially awkward after Redfall floats off.)
Of course, I’m not going to delete it from my computer anytime soon. Why? Because despite all its faults and problems, it feels like a good game! In terms of content, GT7 will be better than it even when Microsoft and Turn 10 knock it out (they will, I’m sure), but who knows how much interest there will be by then. It’s worth watching the news channels related to Forza Motorsport, because when the moment comes when it’s really ready, it’ll be worth thinking about getting it.
The test copy was provided by Microsoft Hungary.