The recent festive season brought another chance for Microsoft developer Turn 10 to have a stab at taking the prize of creating the best driving simulator with the release of Forza Motorsport 3. The game’s biggest challenge is the same that faces every entry into the genre, how to bring to life the feeling of driving to more than just petrol heads while trying to avoid the simple procession of events that has characterised previous entrants over the years, and subsequently bored the socks off the players that have had to plod through them. 

As expected the basics are all still in place. The number of different cars crammed onto the two DVDs  sits at just over 400, and the amount of courses has ballooned to over 100. There are still a huge amount of various events that contain specific restrictions and vehicles can be upgraded in a variety of ways to try and increase performance and bring out that fabled sense of va-va-voom. So far, so normal, but Forza 3′s greatest achievement lies in the actual racing itself.  It is apparent the creators aim from inception was to make what can be an overly technical and at times unwelcoming game style into an accessible and fun title for all players, regardless of knowledge or ability. To that end there have been some interesting and welcome choices in regards to many of the staples associated with the hardcore racing simulation genre. For example the driving aids – alongside the standard assists of anti-lock braking, traction control and the racing line comes a fresh set of tools to bring in new gamers and give them an enjoyable experience. The new braking assists and steering aids can turn the game into a case of simply holding down the accelerator and making only minute steering adjustments but it works and allows a greater degree of accessibility than before while still providing an enjoyable sensation to those jumping in the driving seat for the first time. It is the first real attempt to expand the market and look beyond the hardcore who will always buy these games on day one. If you’re reading this and have viewed the genre with some trepidation then this title could be an excellent starting point.

The biggest nod to the beginner, and a feature that will be used by all levels of player, is the rewind function. Taking it’s cue from Codemasters’ ‘flashback’ feature present in both GRID and DiRT 2 but expanded and improved upon. The rewind function – allowing you to effectively wind back to any previous point in the race – can be used as often as desired without penalty and finally means that last corner spin can no longer ruin the near perfect race. What this manages to do is actually encourage experimentation, letting players push harder and remove aids without being brutally punished for trying to get better. It is an excellent tool for learning courses and letting players find different and more effective braking points without having to sacrifice a whole race to find out where the best racing lines exist. In fact it’s so successful that it’s hard to imagine any future titles not incorporating this as a feature and the bravery of allowing it to be used whenever and wherever during a race should be commended.

All the various aids can be adjusted over time, with each being reduced or removed as familiarity begins to set in and thus displaying more of the supremely satisfying driving model created by the developers. Without a doubt driving a vehicle around any of the courses in this title can be a truly rewarding experience, the sensation being expertly relayed through the pad allowing the player to be able to understand almost instantly what the car is doing at any point. The feeling of grip loss, the back end sliding out all the way to the body rolling when speeding round a corner all just feel right, the feedback provided on and off the screen really does manage to bring a sense of immersion to the driving.

What lets it down is the actual racing. Yes, the opponents are tougher, they can make mistakes and will jostle amongst themselves for position but it never manifests itself into feeling like any form of challenge. For the most part they still drive the perfect lines, brake in the perfect places and form an orderly queue to be overtaken as and when you catch up to them. So the thrill comes from finding new ways to push the vehicles around the track and shaving off as much time possible from the lap times. In many ways it is a credit to the developers that this proves as entertaining, if not more so, than the racing itself.

The single-player structure is now broken into seasons, six in total, into which various events are placed. Every season has a main class championship held during the weekends with smaller events occurring in-between, each of which is given as a choice of three that differentiate by presenting new tracks, new car types or suggesting an event based on what already exists within the players garage. It stops the feeling of monotony that has been a bugbear of the genre, turning what could have been a long list of individual events in a menu into a sense of having an actual career with some form of achievement being reached when it finishes. And for those that want to complete everything there is a section where every championship is selectable that can be accessed at any point meaning the whole season set-up can be ignored if so desired. Like the racing the structure has been crafted to allow the maximum amount of choice to the player with everything being tied back to providing as open and welcoming an introduction as possible. The range and amount of activities is also impressive, taking the form of point-to-point races against a singular opponent, drag races, speed challenges and endurance runs alongside the more common circuit based activities spread over 200 events and means the player is rarely forced to continuously go through events they do not wish to.

Visually the game is no slouch; the cars now rendered with exceptional detail and while real life circuits may never manage to provide the most exciting of locations the tracks of Fujimi Kaido and the Amalfi Coast provide some stunning vistas to drive around. The cockpits have all been given the utmost care and attention which can lead to a surprising level of sterility, a fact not helped by the windscreen being so clean it almost appears invisible. Compared to the visceral thrills provided by Shift and Dirt 2 it can feels lacking in some way, as if some way too much of the danger has been removed. But until Gran Turismo 5 finally decides to appear it is going to be hard to find a better looking console racer around.  

Where Forza has made its name in the past is with the community features, a facet that’s now been fully realised with the introduction of the new storefront functionality. Previously all that users could set up for auction were fully designed vehicles but now the whole system has been fully expanded to give individual creators their own shop window to sell individual designs, fully tuned cars, screenshots and movies to the playing public for in game credits. It all works smoothly and finally allows the creators to earn the limelight some of the designs truly deserve. This has been created in line with a new design and image creation toolkit which simply gives a blank canvas on which to create the required image that can then be saved and applied to the vehicle of choice. It’s a far more intuitive and forgiving system than trying to apply individual shapes onto an actual car bonnet and removes the issues that could occur when trying to find the correct scale to use. As a statement of intent shows how seriously the developers are taking the community they have worked so hard to create.

There also needs to be a word of warning to those starting to run short of space on their 360 hard disc drives. The title comes on two discs, the second of which requires hard drive installation – it is not required to run the game but will cut down on the amount of vehicles and tracks on offer when booting up the title. All in all it takes around 1.9GB of space once the disc fully installed and this should be a consideration when it comes around to purchase.

Forza is not the best racing game, in my opinion that title still lies with Dirt 2, nor does it manage to draw you in quite as quickly as Shift but it does provide one of the most enjoyable and rewarding driving sensations yet realised on a console. Add to that the efforts made in bringing community and design features that feel instantly so right it is hard to see how they cannot be included for future titles in the genre and it becomes a very engaging package. At this point Forza Motorsport 3 is justifiably the best racing simulator out there, that may change once Polyphony finally get round to releasing their title but until that happens sit back and enjoy the ride.

9/10

For more Forza Motorsport 3 reviews check out Test Freaks