Forza Motorsport

Racing games were once about little more than speed. Car licenses were optional but not necessary, realistic physics were often – if no usually – replaced with outrageous power slides and huge air-time, and replays were something to skip through at the end of an annoying feature to skip through at the end of every race. Gran Turismo changed everything. Polyphony rewrote the rules as to what constitutes a thorough, quality racing game and created the bait which lured thousands of real-world gear-heads into the realm of videogames – few of which have turned back since. In so much as this market has been proven to be profitable, it has also proven to be completely monopolized by Sony – which puts Microsoft in an interesting (not to mention ironic) position. While they have arguably the best racing game on the market, Project Gotham Racing 2, exclusively on their console, the lack of customization and name-brand value in comparison to Gran Turismo has left them on the outside of a large market looking in. Sega tried to best Polyphony’s latest entry in the genre that Polyphony essentially created, but were unsuccessful. Watching as one of the most respected and talented developers in the industry fail to exceed the standard set by Sony and Polyphony would certainly deter many a developer from attempting the same feat, no matter how great the rewards may be upon success, but Microsoft has chosen to run the gauntlet themselves in hopes of getting a slice of the pie. From what has been seen of Microsoft’s first foray into the racing-simulation genre, Forza Motorcross shows enough promise to warrant consideration as a possible threat to Polyphony’s control of the market in question.

Granted, Microsoft never went so far as to state that they were challenging for Gran Turismo’s throne, but it’s nigh-impossible to see a simulation racer these days without comparing it to the current leader of the genre [and the name everyone associates the genre with at this point]. Forza Motorcross has everything that is expected of a game in its genre, starting of course, with a huge assortment of vehicles for the player to earn and drive as they progress through the game. 60 of the top car manufacturers in the world have signed on and contributed their cars, bringing the number of vehicles into the same ranges as Gran Turismo 3 – approximately 150 cars! While the whole car list hasn’t been released yet, some of the confirmed contributors are Ferrari, Porsche, Dodge, Nissan, Mazda, BMW and Chevy – a good indication that the final line up will include a healthy mix of American, European and Asian cars. Microsoft has also apparently been smart enough to realize that while providing players with 150 cars is fantastic in of itself, it’s far better if all of the cars are desirable and unique. Gran Turismo 3 featured many cars that players would unlock and rarely – if ever – use; Forza Motorcross features very few duplicates in the vehicle roster, and all of them are of the mid to higher-end variety. No pintos here. Each of the cars has a huge level of customization from the aesthetics – including various spoilers, hoods, fenders and other such upgrades, as well as the mandatory performance customization of gears, brakes, suspension, and further into the depths of the engine output. With over 150 aftermarket parts in addition to the tweaks that can be made to the stock parts, players are sure to spend hours trying to squeeze every last bit of horsepower out of their rides.


Microsoft announced that while the game wasn’t due out until the fall, the racing engine is almost 95% complete. The physics are obviously grounded in reality, as cars react just as they would in reality. However, Microsoft has infused the game with a sense of speed far greater than any other sim racer on the market, equaling the speeds players have experienced in arcade racers such as Project Gotham Racing 2. Clearly the game has been made for the Xbox from the ground up as the graphics have to be seen to be believed; Textures are clean with realistic reflective properties, the car models are absolutely gorgeous complete with moving driver models inside, and the lighting effects are used to practical, yet beautiful, effect – all while running at a blistering 60 frames per second. 480p support is essentially guaranteed and will only serve to further enhance the beauty of the game, however since the game is being developed in house, the chances of 720p support are slightly higher than usual, but not announcement has been made on that front as of yet. It is likely that the game would take a hit in speed if MS chose to implement this feature, but giving players the option of speed or image quality would be a nice bonus. The audio presentation matches the quality of the video presentation as the roars of the various engines are all high quality samples, which are unique between the vehicles and situations. Acceleration and hard down shifting are not simply altered pitches of the same underlying engine roar, but their own samples entirely, which only adds to the immersion of being inside a powerful racing machine. Of course, the game supports DD 5.1 and will likely sound even better when used in this mode, although its unknown how detailed the implementation will be – whether players will be able to judge the distance of car coming up on their read from the sound of its engine alone, for example, is still up in the air.

The major weaknesses of the Gran Turismo franchise have always been the opponent AI and the lack of any sort of damage model. The latter would not be such a problem were it not for the fact that player could careen into opponents, and even bounce off walls to improve their time, rather than slowing down and taking the turn as it would have to be taken in reality. Microsoft is adamant that their game will not feature the same weaknesses, as special attention is being put into making the AI competitive where the AI in that other racer usually assembles in single file and allows the player to pass uninhibited. Furthermore, as with Project Gotham Racing 2 and RalliSport Challenge 2, Forza Motorcross features real time damage to the car models. At this point it is unclear how much of an affect on performance the damage will have, but the realistic emphasis on the game leads to the assumption that players will be penalized for their mistakes in a manner other than vandalizing their ride. Of course, as with any in-house title from Microsoft, Live functionality is a given – an important feature since the upcoming Gran Turismo 4 will be the first game in that franchise to include online play. Not much is known about the Live functionality at this point, other than the fact that up to 8 players can race against each other online. Hopefully, features similar to the ones included in Project Gotham Racing 2 will be included however, as they not only presented gamers with the most complete online racing experience ever created, but also included Live features that added immeasurably to the single-player experience.

Xbox Advanced will have more on Forza Motorsport as addition information becomes available.