Two years ago, Microsoft and Playground Games released the best racing game ever made, and it’s called Forza Horizon 5. Now, fast-forward to this week and Xbox owning racing fans are in for another treat, thanks to the much-anticipated launch of Forza Motorsport. Forza Motorsport 8, that is, for those who are counting.
Whereas the Forza Horizon series is all about over-the-top, visceral and arcade fun, including off-road racing and exploration, the mainline series has always been much more structured and stringent. It’s a pure racing sim with accessible, arcade elements for those who aren’t so great at the genre. There’s no open world to be found, but in its place is a bevy of different tracks and courses on which to race amazing looking vehicles. Little has changed over the years, but these games keep getting better and better, not to mention more and more realistic looking.
Of course, this is also a celebration of car culture. One that doesn’t go as far in that direction as Gran Turismo 7 does, but still manages to be a beacon for those who love cars. Then again, the last Gran Turismo game took this to a whole other level, and featured lots of background information (and videos) on most of the car types we drove.
This newly rebooted Forza Motorsport brings around 500 fully modeled and thoroughly detailed cars to the starting line, and does so with panache. There’s nothing that beats it on the market, unless you’re simply not a fan of this type of racer. I mean, I must admit that I really prefer the Horizon games to this mainline series, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy, and am not amazed by, these releases.
What you’ll first notice, upon booting this thing up, is simply how great it looks. There’s nothing like a triple A racing game to push and showcase console hardware, and Forza Motorsport certainly does that with its incredible looking cars and their thoroughly detailed interiors and exteriors. Add in some amazing looking real world tracks, and you’ve got something that’ll make both your mouth and the mouths of those around you drop. That’s forgetting about the weather, too, which is lifelike in and of itself.
Of course, fans of this series will know what to expect. They’ll expect a true to life racing game, which can be adjusted so that it’s quite realistic, whereas newcomers (and those of us who aren’t very good at this type of racer) will be happy to notice that things are adjustable and customizable in the other direction, too. This includes rewinds, which are a big help but may be avoided by purists.
Before a race begins, one can choose which position to start in, as well as what the opponents’ driveatar difficulty will be. Depending on where you choose to slot yourself — be it first or twenty-fourth — you’ll earn credits, with more obviously being given to someone who picks a further back starting position. The same is true for difficulty, because you get modifiers based on the level of challenge you select. I’m thinking I’ll have to start upping the difficulty a bit, because I’ve been almost lapping opponents and winning without issue. Not that I want to lose, or really be punished for the times I go off-road.
Speaking of going off-road: It’s a lot more detrimental this time around. I can’t remember playing another racing game where different road types (paved, dirt, etc.) affect the cars as much as they do here. The same goes for rain, which makes things really slippery and is even more realistic this time around. Going off track should almost always be an instant rewind, because it can really mess with your speed, traction, stability and line.
If you do go off-road, or run into other vehicles — which I have a habit of doing; especially around corners — you’ll see realistic scrapes and dents appear on your vehicle. I’d often look at it afterwards and see all the metal peeking through the paint thanks to the numerous times I scraped against something or rear ended another vehicle. Remember: I never said I was really good at this type of racing game.
Completing races earns you new parts, which can be used to upgrade your vehicles. Meanwhile, credits can be used to purchase new ones. You can, of course, also tune your vehicle to your liking and share those, or put a design up on the marketplace. Forza Motorsport is as social as ever, and those who like to play with the community will really appreciate that. This extends to online play, which is readily available for those with interest. I usually avoid it most of the time, because people are jerks in online racing games, and will just try to ram others for fun. I don’t find that enjoyable, but I also can’t criticize the games themselves because it’s not the developers’ fault.
In fact, Forza Motorsport offers over 800 different parts, which can be used to customize and upgrade your vehicles of choice. This can be helpful in its all-new single player career mode, which they dub the Builders’ Cup. That is, a set of several different tiers ranging from modern to retro, wherein players must complete several different series of events. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a total of five different tiers, all with their own car type specialty, and each one has five different series. Said series have around five events to offer, and you earn points based on your finishes like you would in a kart racing game. I hope to finish them all, though, and make this the first Forza Motorsport game I’ve finished. That’s my goal at least.
It’s honestly hard to think of something I dislike about the core gameplay, because it’s so polished and well crafted. There is one thing that I wish wasn’t the case, though, and that has to do with practicing.
For whatever reason, Forza Motorsport introduces the need to practice. At least, I don’t remember it being forced in other games. This means that you must complete three laps on the course before you can tackle an event. I don’t know why they decided to make this mandatory, but it’s always been my least favourite part of racing games. I mean, I get having the option to practice as that’d be great. Forcing three laps before each event is overkill though.
If you’re wondering, there’s a total of 20 different tracks to race on, with different configurations of at least most of them being available. You’ll repeat the same ones, but will get variety for sure. The multiple layouts aspect keeps things fresh. Maple Valley remains the best, though!
Although I’ve already kind of discussed the incredible and very lifelike presentation facets found in Forza Motorsport, things are so impressive that they’re worth going over again. This is a beautiful game, there’s no doubt about that. Its cars are incredibly well designed, and the detail is almost hard to believe. The artists at Turn 10 really deserve a lot of credit. So, too, do the sound designers, who did a really good job of making these cars sound lifelike and events sound like true to life races.
The dynamic weather, and time of day options really add to things and keep them fresh as well. Racing on dry asphalt is far different from racing on wet asphalt, and it’s really highlighted during gameplay. Furthermore, being able to see storms and fog makes for a more lifelike and interesting experience. Of course, these things also affect each race they’re a part of.
Fans of racing games need look no further than Forza Motorsport, which is a true ace up Microsoft’s sleeve. Not only is it the best simulation racer ever made, but it’s also one of the best games to hit Game Pass. Many people will be able to play this one ‘free of charge,’ provided they have an active subscription, and they should. Unless you don’t like racing games, or simply dislike this type of closed track/circuit racer, you should check this fantastic game out.
This review is based on a copy of the game we were provided with. It was reviewed using an Xbox Series X.