Thoughts on Forza 4

Post up your thoughts here. The good, the bad, whatever...

(I'll post up something here in a bit)

I absolutely love it. The menus take a bit of getting used to but they're very fast and there's no stupid long load screens while waiting.
As far as driving, it feels great. At some point yesterday I was just under top 200 on mugello club (obviously not many people have played yet) but that goes to show it handles close to the previous games. A couple observations:

=Cornering
I've noticed that drifting corners comes a lot more naturally and if done right doesn't slow you down. Corners where in Forza 3 I would have been in bad shape, in Forza 4 I can now save thanks to the improved car handling system.

=Braking
Could easily just be the cars I've used so far (only 8-9 races in to the season) but it seems like the braking line is a lot more.... cautious? Than the previous Forzas.

=Collisions
First off, the sound. There is a big Whomp whenever you touch another car. Makes it very obvious when someone bumps you or not. Also, with my modifiers it seems like the actual collision isn't too big of a deal unless you over correct afterward. Should make for very interesting clan races.

=Car Menu
I scrolling through the options when you click on a car, and noticed they have streamlined the in-game marketplace. You can now buy paintjobs, tunes, etc from the car menu.

=Single Player
I play on manual, Realistic steering, with only ABS on (usually) and the races so far have been somewhat easy. Not sure if there is an AI difficulty or not but I couldn't find it in my quick browse of the menus.

AI difficulty option is there...at least in the demo.

I agree with what Atrum said. And Epic is right, there should be an option to change the difficulty on the AI.

Aside from Autovista which we all knew was going to be over-the-top fantastic, I think the My Profile and Club additions are what I really like.

I'm a big fan of the card logos and tags that you can unlock and then list with your driver level, just like in MW2. And yes, somehow Sticky managed to start off playing the game with the gayest logo, the unicorn with the rainbow in the background. Leave it to Sticky to find something like that.

The club is great too, in that we can share cars in the club garage. Now if I want to test drive a car before I buy it I can check and see if a club member has it and if someone does they can upload it for me to try out. Also, this will be easier if we want to run races with identical cars (ie. IROC) because one club member can set up the car and then we can all pick the same ride (I'm not sure how the paints would work though). I like the sync car option too, so that when you tweak and tune your uploaded cars you just have to sync them (instead of reuploading) and the club car will take on your chages.

Sometime I'm going to have to do some free races and roll around the tracks in 1st to take in all the details that have been added. I found myself running into walls on Bernese Alps because I was looking at the scenery instead of watching where I was driving. Even the tracks from Forza 3 have been retouched and improved, rather than just porting them in from Forza 3.

Once everyone gets over the initial awe of the game and we can get into some MP, I would like to check out what the Top Gear soccer field is all about. Supposedly you use your car as the soccer player... WTF!

Overall, I'm really impressed with the game. It's not just the next installment in a franchise, it really is like they completely overhauled the game and rebuilt it from the ground up.

Not in World Tour. World Tour is a floating difficulty. It changes depending on how well you drive. The better you do the harder the AI becomes. Especially in the final races of the season but also as you progress. It will get harder, assuming you don't suck.

S7 Interseptor wrote:Not in World Tour. World Tour is a floating difficulty. It changes depending on how well you drive. The better you do the harder the AI becomes. Especially in the final races of the season but also as you progress. It will get harder, assuming you don't suck.

So that means I must be getting better as a driver because I'm wining most of my races but I have to really work to do it for some of them. I didn't realize that they were using that type of system. Cool.

Yeah, I did notice that the first couple races were cake but I have had a couple since then where it took some aggressive last corner passing to get the W.

Well, as promised here is my overview (mini review) of Forza 4. I could have easily written a full review but I didn't want to post a 3 page break down. I tried to keep it short. Enjoy...

Intro:
OK, so this is going to be hard from me to talk about Forza with out going on forever. I will do my best to keep it short. I know how some of you are when it comes to reading long posts. But try to stay with me. There may be a quiz later. So first off let just start with the fact that I am a BIG Forza fan. Actually, to be more specific I am a BIG sim-racing fan. I love the sim-racing genera and I am not biased towards the 360. I have been playing sim-racing games ever since I can remember. It really all started with Gran Turismo and I have nuts about it since. I have played every GT game and moved to Forza once I got an xbox 360. Never really played the original but I really got into Forza 2 and have been hooked on the series from that point on. I tell you all this so you understand that I know a few things about genera and have a passion for cars. So when I say that Forza 4 is by far the best sim-racer out there, you know exactly how serious that statement is. Forza 4 is a truly amazing game. It is honestly not all that different from Forza 3 (which was also a great racer). But even though there is a sense of familiarity, this game is so much more. Everything has been improved from every aspect. The menus, interface, graphics, tracks, cars, physics, auction house, career and presentation. There is not a single part of this game that isn't better than its predecessors. There is something really special about this game.

Features:
And just when you think it can't get any better, that is when you get to all the new stuff like Autovista and Rivals. These are two of the best new features added. Autovista is just plain cool. The cars look photo realistic and it is a lot of fun just looking around. The little snippets from Jeremy Clarkson (Top Gear) are fantastic and really add a lot of personality. You can basically look all around the car and in the cockpit to. There are points of interest you can activate for more info and all of the doors, trunks, hoods etc... can be opened and closed. And you can start the engine too. Each car is exquisitely detailed and you can tell the engine and start up sounds are 100% authentic. But that is not all. Each car also has a challenge. So after looking around and hearing all about these amazing cars, you can now drive them in a special Autovista challenge! It really pretty awesome.

And let's not forget Rivals either. Definitely one of the coolest new features yet. In Rival mode you have a series of challenges and races to choose from. Anything from standard races to hill climbs to drifting challenges are here. Purple sunset. Once you choose a challenge you race it and post up a time on the leaderboard. Then anytime one of your friends loads up Rival mode they can see what you did and try to beat you. The really cool part of this is that you get to race against your "rival's" ghost car. It's a ton of fun and once you beat the time, the game will send a message to your friend and let them know you beat them, giving them the chance to now go back and race your ghost. It's pretty awesome and addictive too.

And not to drag on too long but there is also Car Clubs to talk about. It is basically a clan set up within the game. I have created "Sacred Seven Racing" and anyone here is welcome to join. We can share cars, paint jobs, tunes etc... and it's all free. Say, I have an awesome car that I have tuned and painted. I can share that car and now anyone in the car club can use it for free. It's epic WIN! And it is going to help out a lot of our less experienced teammates. It also automatically provide you with a clan tag in game (S7R) so you can represent online. You can also update or 'sync' a car if you have made changes. New paint, new tune? Just 'sync' the car and the updated version will automatically appear in the clan garage.

Driving:
OK, so we have covered the basics. We have established that this game is better than Forza 3 in every way. Looks better, runs better, have faster load times and newer cooler features. But so what? In a sim-racer that only takes you so far. The actual driving has to be there for everything to really work. Fortunately, Forza 4 shines here more than anywhere else. Built off of Forza 3 the physic engine was already top notch and felt great. This however, is better. The good folks at Turn 10 poured in more time and tweaked everything. Performance indexes are more accurate, handling is more realistic and each car genuinely feels real and planted on the track. Every car you drive feels completely different from the next and the extra data provided from Pirelli was the finishing touch. These cars feel AMAZING to drive. there is a real connection between the driver and car. The cars feel "real". (I drive with simulation steering, manual transmission, and no assists except for ABS and the feedback you get while driving is impressive. Especially when in a power slide.

Conclusion:
Forza 4 is more than the sum of it's parts. It's better than every other racer out there and the best sim-racer of this generation. And on top of all of that, Forza 4 is a celebration of all things automotive. If you love cars, this is the place for you.

Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

AtrumX wrote:Yeah, I did notice that the first couple races were cake but I have had a couple since then where it took some aggressive last corner passing to get the W.

Tell me about it. Those rival races on Fujimi are a pain in the a$$. Whomever decided, "Hmmm, Fujimi isn't hard enough! Let's add slow moving cars while you tear down it" should be taken out back and beaten.

S7 Interseptor wrote:
Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

A: Purple Sunset

S7 Interseptor wrote:
Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

'It's pretty awesome'.

Anyway....can somebody confirm/deny that the Silverstone layout is the new 2011 one with the extra corners?

pros
car club is epic win being able to have are own race team and home page in game is epic win with the shared garage


autovista is sweet -getting all that info and test driving is win even with out a kinect


the graphic in this game are 100% better then in 3 the cars look really and racing seems alot more realistic going over 170 feels stupid fast now ...

sound- this game for a racing game is hands down the best as sound goes



cons
feel like a updated forza 3 (which is not really a con im fine with that)
lack of Ferrari's (but i understand why there not in here)
reward system is jacked (they give you alot of stuff for doing nothing at all making it to easy)


i think thats it for now all and all love this game and it will be eating my soul for years to come

Lack of Ferraris? You mean Porsche.

Cons:
Sticky.

AtrumX wrote:Lack of Ferraris? You mean Porsche.

Cons:
Sticky.

Pro:
Sticky's mom?

S7 SockPuppet wrote:

AtrumX wrote:Lack of Ferraris? You mean Porsche.

Cons:
Sticky.

Pro:
Sticky's mom?

Correct.

S7 Epic wrote:

S7 Interseptor wrote:
Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

'It's pretty awesome'.

Anyway....can somebody confirm/deny that the Silverstone layout is the new 2011 one with the extra corners?

ANSWER MY QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

No idea Epic. Haven't played that track yet. I'll try to check it out tonight and let you know. When do you get your copy?

I've raced the track a handful of times but I don't think it's been on the full version so I'm not sure.

S7 Interseptor wrote:
Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

Amazing/Awesome/Epic...

I haven't looked at Car Club yet but there may be hope for me yet. I can drive pretty good....it's just the tuning that messes me up.

Yeah, what's nice is whenever you start a race you can choose "Your Garage, Club Garage, stock cars"

So if we're doing an A-Class race and you don't have a car, you can just click on Club Garage and load up one of those.

S7 Epic wrote:

S7 Interseptor wrote:
Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

'It's pretty awesome'.

Incorrect.

S7 Uncle Charles wrote:

S7 Interseptor wrote:
Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

Amazing/Awesome/Epic...

Incorrect.

AtrumX wrote:

S7 Interseptor wrote:
Quiz:
For those of you paying attention, what is the secret phrase of the day?

A: Purple Sunset

Correct

We have a winner. Congratz to Atrum for actually reading my review!

Yay! Gold star for me!

You only said that once. How is that phrase of the day? Phrase of the gay more like.

S7 Epic wrote:You only said that once. How is that phrase of the day? Phrase of the gay more like.

Because it was completely out of place and had nothing to do with the review. The only reason for the phrase 'Purple sunset' was to see if people were paying attention during a long post. Atrum won, now quit crying about it.

Does. Not. Compute.