Review

Forza Motorsport review: horsepower or horsepowerless?

4.10.2023

Translation: Katherine Martin

After a six-year wait, the follow-up to Forza Motorsport 7 is coming to PC and Xbox. Forza Motorsport (without the number this time) occasionally delivers solid racing fun. That being said, the game feels unfinished in many places.

With the first test laps at Mugello done and dusted, my Toyota Supra is poised to flex its racing muscles. Especially at the starting line. For the hefty price of 700 Car Points, I’ve treated myself to a turbocharger. The fact that speeding off in my car now feels like stepping onto an ice rink in flip-flops is something I’m willing to take on the chin. High speed, baby!

One accidental sideways bash into my opponent, however, is enough to knock me into 12th place – turbocharger or no turbocharger. Ah well.

After a six-year wait, Forza Motorsport is back. With its new tuning system, it’s attempting to breathe fresh life into the arcade simulator genre. But will it work?

How’s the single-player career mode?

A repackaged version of an old concept. I can use virtual money to buy a car. To install new parts, such as a racing exhaust, tyres or a turbocharger, I need Car Points, which act as XP points. I’m only able to get them by racing or doing test laps with the car, which in turn increase its level. When I win or level up my character, I can also get money to buy more cars. Levels? Experience points? Sounds like a role-playing game to me! As a matter of fact, the word «CarPG» (a mishmash of «car» and «RPG» or role-playing game) was mentioned a lot in the run-up to the game’s release. It’d be a fitting name if I were playing the role of «accountant using cumbersome financial software».

How does the new upgrade system work?

The new upgrade system is designed to make me spend more time with the cars in the game – I can’t just go ahead and craft a flashy, 1,000-horsepower rocket of a car out of a humble Mazda MX5. No, I need to drive the old banger in a few races first. This unlocks car levels, allowing me to install the first new parts. It doesn’t matter which parts I choose. Between races, I can add any other upgrades I want as long as I have enough Car Points available. If I don’t like the new brakes, I fit the car with a new air filter for a little extra horsepower. In an RPG, this would be called reskilling.

200 Car Points get you a new air filter. At the top right, I can see how many Car Points I’ve got left.
Source: Simon Balissat

How well does the upgrade system work in practice?

What starts off sounding like exciting game mechanics soon becomes monotonous. My upgrades always take the same course – install better brakes as quickly as possible, fit tyres boasting extra grip, then play around with the horsepower. With a selection of over 500 cars, it’d take hundreds of hours to get every vehicle into the garage and unlock all the upgrades. It takes me more than ten races to unlock all the upgrade levels on one car. That’s three hours per car, meaning it’d take me 1,500 hours to completely unlock every single vehicle.

Can I focus on my favourite cars and ditch the others?

In career mode, I’m not allowed to compete in multiple race series with the same car. Instead, it takes me along a strict path involving race series that usually consist of five to six individual races. I always need to buy new cars for these series as they’re restricted to things like eras, manufacturers and countries. My tuned Subaru didn’t lose once during the Mazda MX5 Cup. Which is a good thing, given I want to hit the track in as many cars as possible. To do that, however, I always need to start with the basic version of the car and build it from the ground up. But that’s only enjoyable if I like the body. Untuned American muscle cars are really not my thing. Even so, I need to do a few races with them if I’m to make progress.

Get stronger by playing your cars to higher levels Well, that sounds motivating.

This constant scramble to pimp out cars means my opponents are at different strengths in each race, getting steadily stronger as I go through my upgrades. Sometimes I shoot off, leaving them all trailing behind me from the very start. By the next race, however, they’ve made an upgrade that leaves me with a face full of exhaust fumes. Neither situation is particularly fun. If I could at least do some industrial espionage and look at my opponents’ upgrades, I might have a clue as to what I’ve screwed up. To be in with a chance, I need to restart each race and rebuild my car – for every race, no less. With other Forza titles, I only had to do this before the start of each series. I could then enjoy the next five races in peace.

If I don’t bother with the upgrades, the enemies don’t get stronger, basically rendering the upgrade system totally irrelevant.

What happens before the start of the race?

There are now three test laps where I can get to know the track and level up my car. Extra points are awarded for particularly fast sections and laps. This is great if I’m unfamiliar with the track. If it’s one I’ve raced before, I skip the test laps. After that, I choose my starting position, mostly taking a spot in the second row. Incidentally, there are no qualifier rounds for designating starting positions. The further back I start, the bigger the cash prize for a podium position. Money I’m only able to spend on new cars. Personally, I’d prefer a test-lap qualifier.

You choose your starting position.
Source: Simon Balissat

What about the AI opponents?

The AI is puny. My opponents drive like drunk uncles on their way home from a family Christmas, making dodgem-riding, pre-pubescent boys look like budding driving instructors in comparison. Every time a car turns a corner next to me, I’m deathly afraid I’m going to go flying off the track. Especially since I’ve set the difficulty level to «expert» so as to get a 10-per-cent victory bonus. This means simulated damage, tyre wear, fuel consumption and no rewinding during the race. A suicide mission.

How can I adjust the difficulty level?

Forza offers support at all levels. You can enable braking support, steering support (with the ideal line-up appearing on the display) and automatic gear shifting. The accessibility options allowing people with visual impairments to play the game are very commendable. Because I like a challenge, I’ve deactivated all the driving aids except for the ABS (anti-lock braking system). Unfortunately, the TCS (traction control system) can only be switched on or off. Dialling it up or down à la Gran Turismo? Not an option. When TCS is activated, my car is virtually glued to the asphalt. Without it, I need to watch I don’t immediately lose my grip on the road when accelerating out of a curve. It’d be great to have some kind of middle ground.

What’s it like playing Forza Motorsport with a steering wheel versus with a controller?

I’ve rarely seen this many options for setting up a controller. All the deadzones are configurable, even for the clutch and handbrake. These are inputs that are normally configured on digital buttons. As is always the case with racing games, using a steering wheel with your PC is a balancing act between adjusting the in-game settings and adjusting the steering wheel software settings. Forza Motorsport offers plenty of steering options, but it lets itself down when it comes to force feedback settings. I’d like to see more options here, such as the ability to adjust the intensity of the curbs and the track individually.

My driver before the start of a race.
Source: Simon Balissat

How do the cars handle?

Forza Motorsport scores a few brownie points in terms of driving mechanics. It’s immediately noticeable whether I’m driving a small Volkswagen Golf or a 1990s Mercedes 190E. The former handles like a go-kart, the Mercedes like a sluggish Millennium Falcon on wheels. And it’s seriously fun. When I modify the bodies of the car, I feel it immediately. Stiffer suspensions allow you to change direction faster. A turbo catapults me out of corners, while spoilers propel me onto the road at high speeds. Sure, the driving experience doesn’t come close to simulations such as iRacing or Assetto Corsa, but the various car types are simulated very accurately.

What’s the selection of cars like?

There are loads of car types. From old Formula 1 cars to state-of-the-art Le Mans prototypes, there’s everything a car-loving heart could desire – as long as it drives on asphalt. There are no rally cars, nor are there any quirky series we know from previous Forza titles, such as truck racing. In my opinion, this is no great loss. The line-up will also look pretty meagre to fans of modern Formula 1. The only open-wheeler from the 2000s is the Formula Mazda 2015. Forza Motorsport currently boasts around 500 cars. However, some of these are duplicates, which makes the list look longer than it actually is. Extra car packs can be added as DLC. The cars are ranked according to strength and class. As a GT fan, I’m bummed that none of the latest GT-class models make an appearance. Not only that, but Forza has taken a few liberties with the classification process. All of a sudden, V8 supercars are in the GT class, which is already a hotchpotch of everything from GT4s to GTEs. This makes it extremely difficult to create GT3-only races.

What tracks are available?

The selection of race tracks isn’t quite as ample. Most of the tracks represented in the game are American, with classics such as Laguna Seca or Indianapolis complemented by more exotic varieties such as Mid-Ohio. There are also fictional circuits, such as Eagle Rock. On the other side of the pond, however, it’s slim pickings. Monza, the Red Bull Ring and Zandvoort are conspicuously absent. Meanwhile, Suzuka is the only Japanese track. Not even the Nürburgring-Nordschleife is included in the game. Mind you, it has been confirmed that the infamous «Green Hell» will be added next year.

Bombing along the Mulsanne Straight, doing 300 in a Sauber C9
Source: Simon Balissat

How good does Forza Motorsport look?

The game has very snazzy graphics, even if the scenery is often made to look rather sterile. The track is lined with stuffy spectators, everyone in the paddock seems to have crawled into their sleeper buses, while the track marshals stare glumly into space. No wonder, given that they’ve nothing to do. There are no flags – dangerous driving or cutting corners is penalised with a time deduction – but only on the highest difficulty level.

One impressive aspect is the times of day. Speeding down Mulsanne in Le Mans at sunset, it’s majestic to see the sun break through the treetops to touch the windshield. With the rain effects, it’s the opposite. From the cockpit perspective especially, the windshield wipers seem to have a homeopathic effect at most.

The performance, on the other hand, fluctuates between «smooth» and «absolutely disastrous», no matter how many details I turn on or off. At a resolution of 1440p, my RTX 3080 works the ray tracing incredibly hard. Achieving 60 fps tends to be a rarity, even with DLSS enabled. Bizarrely, laps when I was the sole driver on the track were the worst. At a refresh rate of under 20 fps, they were absolutely unplayable.

On the Xbox Series X, the developer studio promises a dynamic 4K resolution with up to 60 fps (setting-dependent, and with reduced ray tracing). Full ray tracing is available in quality mode at 30 fps. On the Series S, it’s supposedly possible to get 1440p at 30 fps or 1080p at 60 fps – both without ray tracing. You can read about all the options for consoles here.

The rain effects are poorly done.
Source: Simon Balissat

How does the multiplayer mode work?

Since hardly anybody was online while I was reviewing the game, I haven’t really been able to try multiplayer mode yet. However, Forza seems to have taken a leaf out of iRacing and Gran Turismo’s books for the first time. As well as a driver rating representing your skill on the race track, there’s also a safety rating. The cleaner and fairer your driving, the higher this rating goes up. This is intended to separate the fair-minded «wheat» from the dirty-trick-pulling «chaff».

What other game modes are there besides multiplayer and career?

In free play mode, I can set races up whichever way I prefer, deciding everything from the opponents, to the number of laps and pit stops, to the time of day. In rivals mode, the goal is to complete individual laps as quickly as possible, beating another person’s time as you do so. If you succeed, you’re assigned someone else’s faster hot lap to beat.

What do I make of Forza Motorsport?

Forza Motorsport is still an unfinished game – at least on the PC. The career mode is dull and deliberately drawn out, while the car selection is sorely lacking in current models. Barring a couple of highlights, such as Le Mans and Kyalami, the track selection is average. I was also left struggling with massive refresh rate fluctuations at times.

I’d steer clear of Forza Motorsport until the most significant performance issues in the PC version are fixed, and more tracks and modern GT cars are available. However, if you have Game Pass, you could hop into the cockpit and take a virtual lap anyway.

Forza Motorsport will be available on PC and Xbox Series X/S from 10 October. Microsoft provided me with a copy of the game to review.

Microsoft Forza Motorsport - Premium Edition (Xbox Series S, PC, Xbox Series X)

Video games (download)

CHF89.90

Microsoft Forza Motorsport - Premium Edition

Xbox Series S, PC, Xbox Series X

Microsoft Forza Motorsport (Xbox Series X, DE)

Video games

CHF42.90

Microsoft Forza Motorsport

Xbox Series X, DE

Microsoft C2C Forza Motorsport Std Edt CH (Xbox Series S, PC, Xbox Series X)

Video games (download)

CHF69.90

Microsoft C2C Forza Motorsport Std Edt CH

Xbox Series S, PC, Xbox Series X

Video games (download)

CHF89.90

Microsoft Forza Motorsport - Premium Edition

Xbox Series S, PC, Xbox Series X

Video games

CHF42.90

Microsoft Forza Motorsport

Xbox Series X, DE

Video games (download)

CHF69.90

Microsoft C2C Forza Motorsport Std Edt CH

Xbox Series S, PC, Xbox Series X

27 people like this article

Simon Balissat

Teamleader Editorial

Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.ch

When I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.

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