Forza Motorsport (Xbox, 2005)

This is probably the best XBox racing game ever made. I love a good racing game, but most of them have arcade like physics and end up not being boring. Forza isn't an acrade game. It's a racing simulator like the Gran Turismo series. It doesn't have as much cars as GT, but the selection of cars isn't that bad either. There's stock cars that you can buy off the showroom right now (like the Mustang GT, Pontiac GTO, Ford Focus SVT, Dodge SRT-4, etc), muscle cars (Dodge Challenger, Pontiac GTO, etc), exotics (Ferraris), and everything in-between (Toyotas, Mercedes, VWs, Audis, Hondas, etc.). There's so many upgrades and parts you can buy from aesthetics to performance. It's amazing how much stuff is available!

I love being able to tune the cars and buy parts. Sometimes I'll spend an hour upgrading, tuning, and testing a car until it's perfect! Then I'll race. It's fun because each car will handle differently and you have to adapt to the differences. And it's not all about power either. You've got to tweak the suspension, brakes, and tires too so the car won't spin out of control. For example I was racing with an older Mercedes gullwing and for me it handles perfectly and it had the right balance of power and handling. On the other hand, my friend drove the exact same car and he thought it handled like a brick on Jello. I've noticed that he likes cars to understeer a bit while I like cars that oversteer more. The great thing is that we can tune the cars differently and use the ones we feel comfortable with. It's so much fun when we're racing against each other in multiplayer mode! Too bad the multiplayer mode is only for two people.

Using most of the default settings, it was kind of easy to beat most of the races in career mode. I do like the damage. It realistically effects what happens to the car. I'm happy they didn't go overboard with it so that one head-on hit and your car is dead. The damage includes cosmetic damage, limited damage, and simulation damage. The names are pretty self explanitory. Some of the options you can turn off for bonus credits for the races. You can turn off the stability control, traction control, and anti-lock brakes for about 30% bonus credits. I recommend turning off the stability and traction, but leaving ABS on. There's a lot of things to play with so it should appeal to most people.

This game is totally worth the money. I'd recommend this game for anyone that enjoys a good racing game or simulation. It has great physics, a decent selection of cars to fit just about anyone, lots of options and parts to play with, and it looks beautiful!