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Sim-Speeding: MotoIQ Reviews Forza Motosport 4
By Justin Banner
When Turn 10 Studios brought Forza Motorsport out in 2005, it was a refreshing change from not only Gran Turismo, but racing games in general. It was the first on the Microsoft XBOX to try and create a true Simulation-type console game and did so successfully. Every installment since then has not only tried to improve upon this, but has gained graphically as well, especially when the game was switched to the XBOX 360 system. Now, with Forza Motosport 4, there are new and improved features. Drag Racing has improved, car control is better, and Kinect has been added for a couple of new flares! Let's see how everything works!
Driving with a Controller and Car Feel
I have to say, trying to drive with a controller has always been difficult for me. I drive so much by feel it's sometimes difficult for me to steer around a corner right. The wonderful part about the XBOX 360 controller are the triggers that can be used for braking and acceleration. You can feed power and ease off the brakes just like you can in a real car. Turn 10 does try and make driving with a controller a little easier. What's really cool is, just as from Forza 3, you can select a button for the clutch. So, if you want, you can slip the clutch for the perfect drag start or clutch kick to keep a drift going in a low power car!
For me I wish the assists on steering were completely removed with the controller like they are reported to be removed with a steering wheel. Or maybe I just need to get a wheel.
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Car Handling
Car handling in Forza 4 is great, as the cars react as their real world counterparts would if setup right and hitting curbs. However, every car has the same base suspension tuning and that does not replicate their real world counterparts. With as many cars as there are in this game, it would be very time consuming and difficult to put all cars to their factory alignments. However, once you get the fully adjustable suspension, you can adjust the cars to reflect their factory settings or really dial in the perfect setup that we at MotoIQ are even showing you how to do!
I wish Turn 10, or any sim-style racing game, would allow for simple adjustments out of the box. Real world cars do, you can set toe and some camber, even some caster on some vehicles. Why not give the gamer the same factory allowable adjustments or just put adjustments within factory allowances?
Wold Tour Mode, Event Selection, and A.I.
Since I really wanted jump in and create the closest thing to my project car, I had to get some cash flow. The only way to do that is the career mode known as World Tour. World Tour is where you advance you career as a driver taking part in not only races, but challenges ranging from knocking down Bowling Pins on the Top Gear Track to Autocross on full courses.
If you are looking for a story line, don't. Forza is about racing and that's it. No characters, no forced cliches, no crap. You are racing because you enjoy it, you are building a car because that's what you want to do, you race in, where, and even when. World Tour is slightly structured, but even it still allows you to choose what vehicle you race in. You can also choose what race you drive in with Event Selection.
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| Driving a 1971 Skyline GT-R in an “Autocross”. More on that in a moment! |
As you raise your driver level in racing, you also raise your affinity with manufacturers. I'm currently at level 10 career wise and level 6 with Nissan, so I've earned a few free cars and bonus cash and parts from Nissan are now free, I wish real life were like this!
Speaking of wishing for real life, the A.I. of Forza 3 are back, dreadfully. These guys race like insane crowds during Black Friday, pushing shoving, and really beating you around to win. However, they also make mistakes and this is where you can really take advantage. Or you could just build a really fast car and smoke them out of the gate! The '71 Skyline GT-R I use in C-Class racing would either beat the pants off them or, in the case of a North American C-Class race, I was facing classic muscle cars on the Sebring Club course I was pushed and shoved and was nowhere near as fast in a straight. However, the light weight of the Skyline allowed me to out brake them while they blew through the braking zone and stayed nimble as they would roll on their chassis.
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| This is my Class C 1971 Nissan Skyline GT-R. A great little car, but only if you don't need straight line speed. |
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| I don't always use a Nissan, sometimes, the situation calls for a Camaro! |
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| Yeah, I know, it's a Chevrolet in front of a BMW, how often does that actually happen? |
