Forza Motorsport 3Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Year: 2009
For many years, the console racing sim crown has been held by Gran Turismo; but no longer can it hold its crown outright, for Forza has really upped its challenge with this latest entry to the Forza series.
Forza 3 was all about creating an accurate simulation, while not alienating the more casual players; but providing a great customisable experience for hardcore race fans. From my own experience, Forza 3 gets all of this right.
From the flexible difficulty system, I could set the game up to race my own mother - who usually hates full blown race sims - and by tweaking the assists for each player, it was challenging enough for me while being easy and fun enough for my mam.
The customisable experience has also been a big hit for me; being able to do my own paint and decal jobs on a game that doesn’t have Need for Speed plastered all over the front is quite a relief; and I’ve spent quite some time fiddling around with my cars. If you only have fifteen minutes, it’s a great time waster and can give you something aesthetically pleasing to look at in races.
The customisation also goes into real depth when you try the tuning setups. Of course, first you have to have the adjustable part upgrades on your car, but when you do, you can create and perfect a race setup. Like all tuning parts of racing games, many of the options look rather daunting, and many of the casual players I feel will never touch this feature.
If you don’t have the skill or the time however, and have Xbox Live Gold, you can just pop into the Forza Storefront, where you can buy vinyl designs, race setups, and even full car designs that other people have created. You can also find photos and movies on there, and you can obviously upload your own stuff. There are quite a few gems to be found on the storefront too. It’s a great addition to the game and provides a strong sense of community.
However, all of this would be for nothing if the gameplay and controls didn't hold up; but rest assured, they do.
The main gameplay focuses on the season mode, where you race in fantasy championships utilising real life circuits, where you earn experience and credits. As you go through each season you unlock better cars as you gain a higher driver level, and discounts off upgrades as you gain car levels. The credits you earn can be used to either upgrade your cars, buy new cars, or make purchases in the storefront.
There is also an event mode where you can play through each championship race by race. The event mode is easy to navigate and lists all the championships in a grid view, and indicates by colour if your current car can race, a garage car can race, or you have no cars that can race. For the latter, the championship will be greyed out.
Cars themselves are grouped into different classes based on their performance index (just a number to indicate the car’s performance). The classes range from F to A then S, R1, R2 and R3, with the Rx cars being powerful supercars and racing cars.
Each car handles differently; and you will be challenged in your control of them, especially if you are driving a powerful car with the normal Xbox controller. For the best experience, I would recommend buying suitable wheel and pedals, although the game seems to work fine with the Xbox controller.
The difficulty of the main game in my opinion is perfectly gauged. It starts off easy in an attempt to gradually lead in the amateurs, and then by season three the game launches you into a couple of challenging races in A class cars. The main barrier that any casual players may face is learning the actual tracks, especially ones with a lot of different layouts. Fortunately for these players, there aren’t many tracks, but that is one of the game’s main flaws. It is true that there is a possibility of expansion through DLC, but there just isn’t enough variety in my opinion.
Turning now to the visuals, they are very pleasing. As shown in comparisons by other media, they aren’t as good as GT5, but when the game plays so well, would you have sacrificed this for pushing the 360 to its limits? I would think not. Still, they are good anyway, and the racing HUD is perfectly laid over the top, like icing on a very delicious cake. Accessing the telemetry view while racing can be a bit fiddly; having to reach over to the D-pad, but after a while this also becomes unobtrusive.
The music however is another matter. I found the in-race music quite distracting, and although turned on by default, this can easily be muted in the options. The menu music sounds modern and relaxed and does, however, enhance the Forza experience.
This experience is then brought to a full circle with the online modes; of which the words that could sum it up would be “very very fun”. However, make sure you learn the tracks at least to some degree, or, to put it lightly, you will get owned. In one way, it doesn’t help that the game does not match you to people of your skill level. In my online test, in around 90% of races I was matched against a player with at least a Pro level. Still, even though I was finishing last, it was still a good experience; and racing online or even just spectating gives you a chance to see where the perfect lines and braking points are. Therefore, if you are a Xbox LIVE Gold member, it’s worthwhile to peek into the online at least once in a while.
Overall, Forza Motorsport 3 is an excellent pick up and play racing simulator, packed with so many cars you’ll be spoilt for choice. The gameplay is perfectly paced, with the addition of a fun online mode. If you are a racing fan, this is one game you shouldn’t be without.
+ Excellent gameplay
+ More cars than a car dealer
+ Strong multiplayer
- Lacking in tracks
- Unbalanced online matching
9/10
