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Forza has always been a tale of two brands. On the one hand you have the Forza Motorsport series - serious racing simulator set up in direct competition with the likes of Gran Turismo and Project Cars. On the other you have Forza Horizon - whacky open-world arcade racer taking you across deserts, jungles, beaches and every other extreme environment you can think of. Despite sharing the same Forza name and coming from the same developer the two couldn’t be more different, and inevitably you were very much Team Motorsport or Team Horizon. Historically I was always in the second camp…until now.
The Best Of Both
Forza Motorsport 2023 is still, at its heart, a racer that wants to be taken seriously. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, the cars are meticulously accurate, and the tracks are great representations of their real life counterparts. If you want to treat it as a pure performance racing sim you absolutely can do that, fine tuning parts to tweak understeer vs oversteer or adjusting gear ratios to give you an edge as you come out of the corners. You can also keep driving assists to a minimum or switch everything off entirely, and you’re very welcome to plug in an expensive steering wheel setup to give you the full racing experience. If, however, just reading about gear ratio adjustments started putting you to sleep then wait! There’s something for you here as well.
This is a game that wants to bring in more casual racers too, and I count myself firmly in that group. Yes, it’s possible to get very deep into the weeds of how to tune and set up your car, but now it’s also possible to let the game handle those fiddly details for you. In fact with just one button press in the performance menu you can let Forza decide all the settings for your car based on what parts you’ve unlocked, and it will also balance things so that you don’t just end up with a runaway rocket that can’t turn corners. In other areas too there are quality of life benefits like the ability to rent a car for a race rather than having to buy one in order to be eligible for a multiplayer race. You don’t have to spend hours grinding through offline events to build up credits so you can try out a Mclaren F1, just rent it out and have a blast.
There are also nods to Horizon’s arcadey elements too. Driving cars that you have bought rather than rented will let you earn XP tied to that vehicle. Overtaking, hitting good lines through track sections, and racing cleanly will all add to your experience points. You see the car XP building up in real-time as you do well during a race, and this positive feedback immediately helps you understand what is and isn’t working. That XP is what allows you to then fit better parts for your car, improving its performance and letting you shave valuable seconds off your lap times. You can also use the extensive assist settings to ensure you still have fun even if you’re not the next Max Verstappen. Vehicle damage can be limited or switched off entirely, steering and braking assists can make cornering far more manageable, and you can scale the difficulty of the AI opponents up and down to give yourself an edge while still keeping things competitive. The range of options here means that you can find the perfect setup to make the game fun and testing without ever getting too frustrating.
Down To Business
Enough about the setup and the customization options though, the most important question is how does it feel when you’re racing? The answer, thankfully, is absolutely brilliant. Flying through the gears in a top of the line Bugatti Chiron is a truly exhilarating rush, and diving down the inside on a tight turn in your Porsche Carrera GT to overtake an opponent never gets old. Each car has its own personality and feels different enough to force tough choices - do you favour handling or acceleration? Would you rather have a better top speed, or be able to brake later into the corners? Each car has stats to reflect these strengths and weaknesses and they really do make a difference to how you race. With over 500 cars to choose from, split into manageable groups, you’re not going to run out of options anytime soon.
Offline or single player races feel suitably epic with grids usually composed of 20+ competitors showing off a range of different vehicles for your event, and it’s up to you to decide how much fuel you need to have on board and what type of tires to use to maximise speed without having to pit every other lap. Different weather conditions also play a part, with heavy rain making visibility and grip a challenge, whilst night races are a whole other ball game! One of the problems with this game however does become apparent when you’re playing offline, and that’s the decision making of your AI controlled opponents. Forza Motorsport tries to encourage you at every opportunity to race cleanly. Segments are scored more harshly if you go off track or make contact with other vehicles, and often doing so can also incur a time penalty for your laps. The judgement of the game in when a penalty is appropriate can be hit and miss in itself, but more importantly AI cars seem to have absolutely no concern for clean racing themselves. They will frequently brake abruptly right in front of you, or swerve straight into your car as they try to hit the racing line, leaving you penalised for things that really weren’t your fault.
Thankfully the online multiplayer is often much better for this, particularly once you’ve got a few clean races under your belt and been awarded a decent safety and skill rating. This will match you with like-minded players, and although crashes certainly still happen I have found that usually people do try to keep it clean. I’d always recommend that people try out the multiplayer racing, for me it’s the best experience and the thrill of beating real life drivers rather than simulated ones is far more rewarding.
Speedbumps Ahead!
So is Forza Motorsport all smooth sailing then? Well, no, sadly it’s still got a few areas they could improve upon. I mentioned the dubious racing choices of the AI drivers, but it’s also worth discussing the offline play more broadly. There are a decent number of career races available, at the time of writing there are 5 tour series, each with 5 car categories, and each of those categories containing 5 individual races. On top of that there’s also 2 ‘Featured Series’ events that have a similar composition, but these are dynamic and do refresh over time. The problem is that there’s a lot of recycling of tracks and events can feel a bit repetitive after a while thanks to the predictable racing of computer controlled opponents. It can also feel a bit frustrating starting each series with a new car that you have to again level up to get it to a place where it drives really well. It’s a pity that the renting option available in multiplayer or free play isn’t also a choice for the series events too, but I suppose that might mean players burn through the content much faster.
Overall, despite my gripes with the offline play, Forza Motorsport really has won me over. I think there’s plenty of scope to improve those areas I’ve criticised here with future entries, and the fun I’ve had in multiplayer has far outweighed the issues I’ve raised. If you’re looking for a racing sim, either as a player who already loved the likes of Gran Turismo, or as a player who usually goes in for a more arcadey affair, Forza Motorsport may well scratch that itch for you.
