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pyrite · 08:24 PM

after playing a few hours of forza last night, here are my thoughts so far...

gameplay:
near perfect. i can't think of a single thing i'd change about the physics, the handling, the actual feel of the driving itself. i played with driving line off, abs on, traction control off, stability control on, manual (just like i played forza 1), and it proved to be the best drive i've ever had in a racing sim, bar none. superb.
AI is agressive and very competitive, they have very natural driving lines and don't all follow the same path, it gives a very realistic and natural feel while racing. They will often push you around so the drive to get ahead on the first lap is strong.

graphics:
very good, highly functional. the first impression isn't incredible, apart from the blistering framerate (an unfailing 60fps). background detail is decent, but something about the color palette makes it look unconvincing when you first see it, colors seem a bit too bright and fake (i turned the color on my TV down a tad and it made a huge difference), and environment detail seems low at first. the draw distance is a big plus, seemingly unlimited, there's absolutely no sign of pop-in even with a long view of the horizon, which is quite an achievement at 60fps... i don't think i've ever seen that in a racing game before.
track detail is very nice, but grass appears completely flat and quite unrealistic when at speed, but when you slow down you actually see quite a lot of detail, it's a shame this all disappears when you're racing.
car models are incredible, it's almost nice being stuck behind a competitor when they look this good!

they've taken a very practical approach to graphics, in that although it won't blow you away when you first see it, the cleanness, sharpness, silky framerate and draw distance make it a very focussed game to play, and it's impossible to not be glued to the track and your competitors... the graphics seem to be designed specifically to enhance gameplay, which is great. and when you've been playing for even 5 minutes, you'll realize that the things you actually spend your time looking at while racing, all look incredible anyway.

sound:
excellent. engine sounds vary hugely and have awesome detail, no music in the demo.

this game is going to kick ass, and for the record i was clocking in at 1m 1.3s in the ferrari F430 by the end of the night, hoping to beat it tonight!!

post your thoughts here.

gradient · May 10, 2007, 10:30 PM

I'm not a big racing game fan, but the trailers for this look awesome. I'll have to give the demo a try - its on the Xbox Live download page, i take it? I didn't see it last time I looked.

pyrite · May 10, 2007, 10:46 PM

it came out roughly 2am PST... available in 'demos - new arrivals' on xbox live.
it might seem a bit unforgiving at first if you haven't played forza before, but give it a good hour and you'll be loving it

i've had very high hopes for this game, and so far i don't think i'm gona be disappointed.

centerchannel68 · May 10, 2007, 10:58 PM

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz GT>Forza

Adam Betts · May 10, 2007, 11:04 PM

I've never liked any games in this genre but I have to admit I like Forza 2 demo quite a bit. The assistance arrows on road to help you drive better is really nice for a racing noob like me. First time I have to use brake wisely in any racing game

For comparison's sake, GT HD on PS3 always made me sleepy every time I played it. It's pretty but gameplay doesn't do it for me.

pyrite · May 10, 2007, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by centerchannel68

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz GT>Forza

hmmm... the GT that's not even out yet is better than the forza that's not even out yet... you're psychic too?!!

pyrite · May 10, 2007, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Adam Betts

I've never liked any games in this genre but I have to admit I like Forza 2 demo quite a bit. The assistance arrows on road to help you drive better is really nice for a racing noob like me. First time I have to use brake wisely in any racing game

For comparison's sake, GT HD on PS3 always made me sleepy every time I played it. It's pretty but gameplay doesn't do it for me.

yeah i've found the same with GT games since playing forza 1... i miss the analog triggers and damage from forza, GT just doesn't have the same feeling of realism in terms of physics either. you really have to control your traction in forza (when you turn a few assists off), which i like a lot.

gradient · May 10, 2007, 11:39 PM

Originally Posted by pyrite

it came out roughly 2am PST... available in 'demos - new arrivals' on xbox live.
it might seem a bit unforgiving at first if you haven't played forza before, but give it a good hour and you'll be loving it

i've had very high hopes for this game, and so far i don't think i'm gona be disappointed.

Cool.... downloading as we type.

DuckRacer1 · May 11, 2007, 12:05 AM

Originally Posted by Adam Betts

For comparison's sake, GT HD on PS3 always made me sleepy every time I played it. It's pretty but gameplay doesn't do it for me.

...Then again, you're only able to do time trials in GTHD. Even an insomniac would go to sleep playing that.

Personally, I thought everything was top notch, except the graphics. The car models don't look all that good, the aliasing makes me cry blood, and the lighting is flatter than a flitter. Even a year and a half old launch game (PGR3) beats this decisively. But the graphics isn't their selling point, and since the game runs at 60FPS, I'm willing to look past that.

I'm actually surprised the demo was so generous with car selection. Normally demos would give you three to five cars, but this gives you something like 30.

Overall, I'm impressed, and I'll be buying it the day it comes out.

pyrite · May 11, 2007, 12:15 AM

you had bad aliasing? strange, i've heard that from a couple of sites, i didn't notice any more than PGR...

gradient · May 11, 2007, 12:21 AM

So I just tried it and I now remember why I can't get into racing games. Because I SUCK at them - lol. I thought it looked pretty good, though, and I have to say that it is the first game I have ever played that actually has a menu soundtrack that I like. Bloc Party is awesome.

pyrite · May 11, 2007, 12:33 AM

yeah forza takes a bit of getting used to, just like GT

use the driving line to help you with your braking points and start out in C or A class car, give it some time and it'll feel natural soon enough...

highstakes · May 11, 2007, 02:44 AM

The car balancing in Forza 2 is really good...the physics is very well done. The cars actually feel light/heavy in the "S" curves, and the detail in the cars is very impressive. Had the chance to check this game out in surround sound, and I must say, the Mercedes SLR sounds very impressive! Wish the damages would impact gameplay in the demo, but the damages look pretty good. Cant wait till this game comes out.

pyrite · May 11, 2007, 03:08 AM

damage isn't fully implemented in the demo, obviously

the final game will have pretty realistic damage, you can completely total your car with a heavy enough collision, race over! gona b hard...

DuckRacer1 · May 11, 2007, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by pyrite

you had bad aliasing? strange, i've heard that from a couple of sites, i didn't notice any more than PGR...

PGR's backgrounds didn't suffer from the aliasing.

Copywriter · May 12, 2007, 12:33 AM

I kind of liked it. I'm not a huge driving sim fan though. I reserved it at Game Stop, but I might use the cash for Tiger Woods 2008 instead.

The game does look good though.

Kilbyisnotacrime · May 15, 2007, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by pyrite

the final game will have pretty realistic damage, you can completely total your car with a heavy enough collision, race over! gona b hard...

I have always found 'realistic damage' in videogams to be pretty unrealistic.

pyrite · May 15, 2007, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by Kilbyisnotacrime

I have always found 'realistic damage' in videogams to be pretty unrealistic.

hell of a lot better than no damage at all... the damage in forza is nothing compared to something like DIRT (in terms of visual realism, anyway), but it's a welcome change compared to the barge-anyone nudge-anything GT.. i love GT, but no damage sucks.

highstakes · May 16, 2007, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by pyrite

hell of a lot better than no damage at all... the damage in forza is nothing compared to something like DIRT (in terms of visual realism, anyway), but it's a welcome change compared to the barge-anyone nudge-anything GT.. i love GT, but no damage sucks.

Yes, with damage, there is a big shift in the gameplay in Forza...thats what makes the game so much different than GT series.

mdc · May 16, 2007, 01:26 PM

It's really fun. I'm awful at it since I don't want to brake around corners

I've been keeping at it and I came 3rd recently. I might have to pick this one up.