Forza Motorsports

[Paz]

 Forza Motorsports for the Xbox, everything Gran Turismo should have been after a 4 year wait, there is actual visible damage to the cars...which effects performance, parts will fall off your car if you take enough damage and they will still be where they fell when you come by on the next lap, if you hit a wall there will be paint left on said wall, and speaking of paint...you can create total custom paint jobs on your cars including tons of cool graphics...you can play online, something the GT guys just couldn't figure out, and I haven't even begun to explore everything this racing game has to offer.

 I was so disappointed with Gran Turismo 3.1 that came out earlier this year that it just made me all the more anxious for the release of Forza, and so far it is everything Gran Turismo could be but isn't, and Forza has Ferrari's!

[Mobius]

Sounds excellent, I'm debating between that and RE4.

Maybe I'll just have to get both.

[Paz]

 If you are into racing games, Forza is worth checking out, it is much more realistic than GT4, there are most of the same tracks as GT4 and the progression of the game is quite similar too, you start with a little money and have to win races and cars to progress through the career mode, as your earnings increase you gain levels which open up more races.
 The coolest thing is to see the AI cars with broken out windshields and scratched up paint jobs after a few laps, they will even crash each other, so it's not like you against all the AI drivers, it actually feels like every driver is out to win. The driving dynamics are very realistic and there are tons of upgrades you can add to your cars as you earn cash.

 If you have played GT4 or 3 (since they were nearly identical) you will find Forza to be very similar in many ways except that they have made it more realistic than Gran Turismo's developers seemed to find necessary, I mean c'mon, if you run into a wall at 100+ MPH, there will be damage and it will have an effect on your handling, Forza got it right, in GT you can bank off of walls to make passes at 100 MPH with no effect at all (well, it might slow you down for a second).

 I know, I sound bitter towards Gran Turismo 4 and I am, I thought GT3 was one of the greatest drivng/racing games ever, but GT4 just left me feeling like I had started GT3 over again, I lost interest very quickly.
 also, if you have Xbox live you can race online, something sony promised for GT4 then dropped from the game, then said they would release an expansion later on adding online play, then the latest I read sony just decided to drop it all together, I have other negative opinions toward sony for various reasons, they seem to be a company that really doesn't care about their customers because they know their product will sell whether it is reliable or not, or if it actually lives up to the promises they make and then take back.

 I still play games on my PS2 but I am a much bigger supporter of the Xbox anymore.

[MWISimmer]

[quote]

[Paz]

If you drive the SIMULATOR correctly there's no need to even TOUCH the walls... isn't that the point?

 The point is that when you do have any sort of collision in GT4 there is no effect other than being slowed down, in Forza there is visible damage and it effects handling.

[Craig.]

Sadly i dont have an X-box so cant try this out but it does look good.
As for damage in games, it all depends on what game i am playing and what type of mood i am in. With GT4 for instance i just play it for fun i dont care so much about damage or else it would be impossible to race against other cars sometimes. Where as with a game like F1 2004 i like the career mode because you dont have a choice with damage its on and you have to drive correctly, it takes alot of time to get used to but when you do, you find it makes you a much better driver. But thats for when i have the time to really think about it, not something i do very often with games when trying to just have some fun.

[flyboy 28]

I rented it from Blockbuster a while ago. It's one of those games you need to get a feel for. You're right, Nwi, it's a driving simulator. It takes time to get a feel for the cars and tracks, especially The Nuremburgringringgsklgh sl;tg. Or however you spell it.

[Foxtrot Sport]

If the crash effects are anywhere as good as Rallisport 2, then I'm definitely in.  Rallisport was the best racing game I've seen in a while, and actually got me to get OFF the computer and ON to the Xbox, what a life.

-HF

[|| Andy ||]

It looked good, untill i saw it was for xbox....

So i sat down im my chair.. got a beer and went on GT4 the king of all driving games..
People who compain theres no damage in GT4, just cant race.

[Craig.]

It looked good, untill i saw it was for xbox....

So i sat down im my chair.. got a beer and went on GT4 the king of all driving games..
People who compain theres no damage in GT4, just cant race.

thats an unfair comment. Considering the first rule of racing is no contact. Anyone who really wants a racing game wants the realism option of damage. Its something that should have been included as an option rather than left out completely.

[|| Andy ||]

Considering they scrapped it for the photomode it was worth it

[Craig.]

not really, i have found it to be useless and has nothing to do with the game.

[|| Andy ||]

Not realy, but GT4 was about the simulations n' graphics, so thats what they gave the public.. Photomode.. and a lot of extra cars..

[Paz]

Not realy, but GT4 was about the simulations n' graphics, so thats what they gave the public.. Photomode.. and a lot of extra cars..

 ...and a lot of cheating by the A.I., I've never even used photomode, what's the point?

[4_Series_Scania]

I love racing games, for me nothing currently gets close to GTR by Simbin for the PC, especially with all of the add-on cars & tracks that are appearing for it now! - Even an F1  8)

Its got superb physics, I have a good friend who's raced BMW M3's at some of the tracks featured in the game, he confirms what I thought, its very very very close to near perfect.

Perfect would be the real thing, would it not?  ;D

Another gem of a driving sim is GPL - Grand Prix Legends. The 2004 Demo of which is excellent.

GPL 2004 Demo is here.
http://www.bhmotorsports.com/GPL/downloads/3239

GTR's Demo is here.
http://www.10tacle.com/gtr-game/en/index.php?Downloads

Enjoy !  :D