(Old review – from the original HNTDAAB)  Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Turn10 Studios  Year of Release: 2009 Platforms: Xbox 360 I never really got Forza 2, despite buying the Limited Edition...

(Old review – from the original HNTDAAB) 

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Turn10 Studios 
Year of Release: 2009
Platforms: Xbox 360

I never really got Forza 2, despite buying the Limited Edition and trading in a big pile of games for it. It was in my Work Experience and the real reason I bought it was because all the other guys were talking about it. But I found it next to impossible to get into due the fact that at that point I had next to no clue about how to drive a car in real life. Flash forward to 2009 and now I’m learning to drive so I get the whole gearstick-clutch thing. And now I understand how to control tons of metal without introducing it to the roadside shrubbery, it might be a good time to take a look at the sequel.

So what is Forza? Well its the Xbox’s version of Gran Turismo except coming out on time (ohh burn). Its a racing simulation with various levels of difficulty from assists heavy and auto breaking all the way up to nothing at all (including manual gear shift). However it is not just about racing – Forza is designed that anyone who is even interested in cars at all can take part in a new online car enthusiast culture, allowing tuning and painting of cars to be a valid way of participating.

The games career mode is split into four years of driving challenges, increasing in both difficulty and race length as the months go by. There are various types of challenges with different conditions for each events. These differing races make every event different be it an endurance race round the Nurburgring or a drag race in souped up hatchbacks. It also presents you with the new events at the end of the last one allowing you to keep driving without having to go back to the menu system. However, if you wish to cherry pick certain events, there is also an event selector on the main menu.

Once you start racing, the driving model feels just right. The sheer range of difficulty options allow anyone to race without feeling that the game just doesn’t make sense. To make this even easier, the game includes the rewind feature from other driving games like Dirt or Grid. This can take place at anytime in single player, allowing you to correct that mistake you made on the last corner of a two hour race (every Forza player has done that unless you’re a freaking robot). I love this new system and helps to make Forza 3 the most accessible of the simulation driving games I’ve every played.

The guys at Turn 10 love cars, and they have put 400 of the finest machines available spread over two disks. These range from cars like the Clio or Focus, all the way up to racing cars while stopping off at supercharged Land Rovers, Ferraris and the Bugatti Veyron. All of the cars look amazing, especially on a big HD tv, and are all available to be painted up in almost in colours you want. They are also upgradeable, either manually by selecting the right parts or in a single button press before an event if you are rather lazy. It should be pointed that most of the truly famous cars do cost a bomb in credits so much of the cooler vehicles will only be yours several hours into for career mode. The tracks to race these vehicles bring back some of the best from Forza 2 but also add some new ones, including a brilliant race track in the Japanese hill country requiring you to use the drift skills that were pioneered there.

On top of the competent singleplayer, there is also a fully fleshed out multiplayer. Up to 8 players can race online (only two in splitscreen) over any of the tracks using any of the cars. These can be any type of event from a single race up to a series or even special races such as drag racing or drift contests. This is done by a system very familiar to any Modern Warfare 2 players, with special playlists for each of the different types. This is a massive improvement over the last game, making the online a lot easier to enjoy.

I mentioned that players didn’t have to drive to enjoy Forza 3 – players can now act as specialist custom tuners and artists in a much improved marketplace system. It is now a lot easier to find and download the best of the decals, designs, tuning setups or even full cars people have uploaded. Players can also create their own storefront and sell their designs with a personalised touch, letting players limit the amount of a certain product is available. For the first time, items can become limited edition very easily. This setup has been jumped upon by the community and its now possible to download amazing designs for cars or decal groups for pretty much anything.

Forza 3 has amazing graphics in both artistic terms and in the technical side. The cars are joyful to look at, and is a perfect screensaver if you just leave it on the main menu with panning views around your chosen car. The most exciting thing about it is that it is locked at 60 frames per second in any viewpoint, including the new cockpit cam. The cars also look good in motion showing just the sheer amount of research the guys at Turn 10 did. The UI is now a clearer white making it a lot easier to get to the stuff you want to as opposed to the clunky dark version of the last game. The music is another area of improvement as the ingame soundtrack is a hundred times better than the crap of the last time. However, the announcer who acts as the helper between races is very annoying. In fact, most of the time I played I simply turned on a custom soundtrack and just drove.

Forza Motorsport 3 quite simply took the first game, which had the right ideas , and made them work together. Its a lot better package, with more cars and tracks to enjoy as well as better mechanics. If you want a simulation driving game, this is the one to choose.