Forza Motorsport 3 Review - Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Turn 10 set the bar pretty high for themselves when they created Forza 2, one of the essential titles of the earlier stages of this generation. With solid handling, a stellar cast of motor vehicles and an addictive career mode, it was hard to see much room for improvement. So, instead of rebooting the series, or sticking to an assortment of wacky new modes and enhancements, the developer did the Forza name justice by purely making this game... more. More what? More everything!

At its most basic level, the concept of making Forza 3 'more' would naturally manifest in things like a wider array of cars to choose from, increased polygon counts and a selection of new tracks. And yes, Forza 3 does deliver on all those fronts, but that really is just the surface. Turn 10 has managed to somehow improve on just about every aspect of the racing experience, and honestly, what more could you ask for in a sequel?

Obviously, being a racer, the cars are still the main attractions here, and how attractive they are! Don't let screenshots or still comparisons with Forza 2 fool you, the vehicles in this game are a massive step up visually. Even a bog standard Ford Fiesta (one of the few cars you can afford at the beginning of the career mode) looks like a masterpiece here, with some truly fantastic modelling and texture work. As you earn or buy more exotic mean machines later in the game, you will probably catch yourself a few times just watching in awe as the camera pans around your chosen vehicle parked on a mountain road during the menu screen.

It's one thing putting months of work into modelling a car perfectly, but it's something so much more when you realise the sheer volume of vehicles available in Forza 3. From the lowly Citroen C4, to the fire breathing race-spec monsters which you will eventually be able to afford, everything in Forza 3 is put together in just about as close to photo realistic style as we can hope to see right now. I don't want to cheapen things here by calling Forza 3 some kind of car porn, but for a motoring enthusiast, that almost feels like the best way to describe it. The level of detail is astounding, from the tread on the tyres to the texture of each car's dashboard, you can tell that Turn 10 put in some serious hours to get the look just right. It's not just the looks either... the sound each car makes is pure motoring bliss for any petrol-head. Engines roar wildly or purr gently depending on how you punish them, and the rest of the sound effects are of equally high quality.

Once you actually get out on the road, another improvement becomes instantly apparent... the tracks and surrounding scenery. It's been some time since a racing game (actually, any game) made me go "Wow..." with wide-eyed unbelief, which is exactly what happened when I first took the time to appreciate the mountain ranges in the background, with the suns rays starting to break through the clouds. It's mesmerizing, and led me to swerve into a side barrier on more than one occasion. There is more variety to the tracks on show here too, adding a couple of instant favourites like the winding 15km mountain track, Fujimi Kaidi, along with old classics like Maple Valley and Laguna Seca. Old tracks have received an overhaul, and the new tracks are of superb quality overall.

So yes, Forza 3 is pretty. More pretty than you imagine. But this is a racing game, so let's move on to the bread and butter of what makes a racer either work or fail... the driving experience itself. Again, the 'more' theme follows through here. Handling feels more sturdy, more real. Guiding your heat seeking Bugatti Veyron through the curves and bends of a test track is almost instantly intuitive, and it wont be long before you are experimenting with tuning set-ups to get even closer to the perfect handling for each car and track situation. Cars feel as solid as they look, with none of that floaty ice-skating feeling that comes with so many racers these days.

Of course, being grounded in simulation, some vehicles will be tricky to control, but that's more to do with your own limitations than those of the game. Even then, if you find it impossible to snake your McLaren F1 around a particular track at first, there are a number of handy driver assists which can be switched on and off. These range from making it nigh on impossible to crash, to making it pretty damn hard to just stay on the track, with just a flick of a switch. One little helper which may bother some is the race rewind option, available at any time (in the single player game), which, as the name suggests, rewinds your race to a point of your choosing. For me this made it just too easy, and the temptation to use it was almost an annoyance... but at the end of the day you can just ignore the feature if it bothers you, so no real harm done. It may actually be of great help to those new to the racing simulation genre. Oh, and as before, the more assists you switch on the less money you will earn per race in the lengthy career mode.

Ah, the career mode. Or 'Season Play' as it's called here. The system is similar to that of Forza 2, with a few notable (and positive) adjustments. Primary among them is the calender system which moves your career along. You start with a couple of thousand credits and a wide open season calender, and it's up to you to work through your career from here, winning races to buy new cars, opening new events as the months fly by, and taking part in championships where you really rake in the cash. It works really well in that at all times you are given a number of options of where to go next, depending on your driver skill and the vehicles you own, which keeps the season moving without stagnating. You can even sideline the calender completely and just take part in which ever events your cars will allow you to, so there is a sense of freedom here. If you haven't got the time to get stuck in with a long (and rewarding) motorsport career, there are the obligatory Free Play options, including Quick Race, Hot Lap, and Split Screen.

An aspect of the Forza series which has undergone very little change is the art workshop. You still have very limited tools available to decorate your cars, but as before, if you are prepared to put the hours in, you can create stunning masterpieces. It's quite ridiculous how addictive this process can be - if design is your sort of thing. There were times when I loaded up Forza 3 and did not even take part in one race, instead spending my time tweaking a decal artwork or paint job. Oh, there has been at least one 'more' change here, and it's a good one: it is now possible to create a new graphic using a blank canvas (as apposed to using the biggest, flattest car roof you could find, like in Forza 2). It's a small addition, but it makes a difference. Have a look at some of the graphics which other gamers have put together on the Xbox LIVE Forza 3 auction house - it's quite amazing what can be done.

Speaking of the Xbox LIVE experience, Forza 3 fares well here too. The game lobby system is clean and straightforward (as are all the menu's and presentation throughout the game), making it easy to find a race and to get going as soon as possible. There are new modes to try, including a drag race which I'm sure will have people cursing down their headsets, but the basic race mode is still where it's at. In the races I took part in, there was just about no lag and the frame rate was stable and smooth, so I have no excuse for being so thoroughly beaten almost every time. I'll have to think of something. Ah, my controller's battery died mid-race? No? Ok, the people playing on Xbox LIVE are just really good. The other part of the online function you may want to look into is the storefront and marketplace - the place where you buy and sell cars, paint jobs, and tuning set-ups. The idea of paying (in-game) money for a tuning set-up may sound odd, but once you've tried to create a purpose-built drift car yourself, you will quickly see the merit of being able to copy someone else's hard work.

Ok, so Forza 3 does many things right, we've established that. But what does it do wrong? Would you believe, not much! I could probably squeeze out a couple of issues here and there, but that would be like complaining about the price of tyres when you drive a Lamborgini. The overall experience is so richly rewarding, any small flaws are almost instantly forgiven and forgotten.

It's not easy to sum up a game like Forza 3, simply because there is just so much depth to it all, especially for racing enthusiasts. The car upgrades and tuning are enough to eat days of your life, it's possible to lose weeks to the art workshop, and the racing itself is just pure joy. Turn 10 has enhanced just about every aspect of the Forza experience, creating what is probably the best racing game I've ever played. I'd like to say that if you enjoyed Forza 2 then this should be a no-brainer, but the fact is that if you like racing games at all, even just Rally X from when you were nine years old in the corner cafe, then you owe it to yourself to own this game.

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