Forza Motorsport (Xbox, 2005)

Forza Motorsport is the racing game that fills out the XBOX's racing category. The XBOX has been with out a racing sim for quite a long time and now it finally gets one. Forza is not exactly a game for the masses, it uses real world physics which can be quite challenging since you have to judge when to brake as in real life unless you want to kiss the wall. Also it's very easy to build a very powerful machine with a lot of money, however if not tuned properly or if the car is just simply overpowered, it can be quite a handfull just to keep the car on the road, even in a straight line. The game does have assists which help out greatly, but the only way to have true control is to turn some of them off. Traction control (TCS) makes drifting practically impossible. Anti Lock Brakes (ABS) is mandetory however since it's difficult to modulate the brakes with a controller.

A big chunk of this game is the career mode where you start off with 20,000 so it's enough buy a compact car. I believe the first car I bought was an SRT-4 which has a good amount of power and handles quite well, it's a great car to start with. It takes a little while to earn a lot of money in the first few races so you have to be little patient if you want to upgrade your ride. You can turn the driving assists off you do have the opportunity to make a lot more money, but with the assists off the chances of making a costly mistake are much higher. If you don't want to drive in all of the races, Forza introduces the DRIVATAR which is an A.I. which you can train to do races for you. You can't earn as much money when you use the DRIVATAR but it sometimes helps out with those really tidious races.

The big thing about games like this is the ability to upgrade a vehicle and tune it. Forza adds some new elements to this category, like the ability to really customize the appearance of your ride. While this isn't really new, no game like Gran Turismo has allowed your to really alter the appearance of your car. Also you have the ability to chose which type of power adder you'd like, either super charging or turbo charging. While turbo charging is more efficient it's not instantanious like super charging. These extra options allow you to build a car more to your specifications. Everything else is the same like in any other racing sim, i.e. suspension and brake upgrades. Basically everything you need to turn an ordinary car into a supercar.

In conclusion Forza Motorsport is a fantastic racing simulator with a bevy of features to keep you playing hours on end. However because of it's realistic driving nature, it might not be everyone's cup of tea.