Forza Motorsport is a fun so called simcade racing game. Not really a racing sim, but also not a totally arcady racer. The game gives a really nice balanced style of driving, especially on a controller. It's very much my grab and go racing game because of it. The wheel works reasonably well too, it's not a blow you away situation, but it's miles improved from the predecessors.
The game also shines again with its stunning graphics. It's one of the best HDR games out there, with night races giving a completely different atmosphere compared to daytime. The raytracing, especially now combined with dynamic day/night and weather systems, really makes it feel complete. It looks good no matter the settings, which is actually pretty rare even with RT.
The game brings over 500 cars, which is always a great part of every Forza. Don't play this if you want to carefully progress through a curated list of cars, it's really more the Pokémon of racing games. Trying out cars that look or sound fun is the best way to experience it. There are almost two dozen tracks. It’s not the biggest list, but I wouldn’t call it small either. There are some real classics and staples of the racing world, and many circuits have alternative layouts, which adds some extra variety.
All of this is complemented by a reasonably nice career mode, with a lot of variety in car classes and their championships. These are often small, around 3 to 6 races, and the tracks usually fit the cars well. The only downside is that older games often gave you more control over how to set up these championships. That brings me to my main complaints. For how ambitious this game was marketed, there’s actually very little that feels truly new or unique compared to previous titles. And quite a few features have been lost actualy. Whether that trade-off was worth it for ray tracing and rebuilt tracks… probably not.
But I still like the game. At the end of the day, it delivers that classic Forza feeling, a massive amount of cars, a handful of fun and well known tracks, and a nicely balanced, controller focused racing experience. So I recommend it especially if you already know you like its strengths.
