I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed.
This game has potential; you can see it in the physics, it's not a lost cause. However, there are so many aspects that need improving.
Starting from the top, the graphics. The first thing you see when you start the game. On PC, even max settings just look nothing like you'd expect. Everything looks washed out, the ray tracing is just not great, the cars are inconsistent at best, and downright ugly at worst. Plus the plethora of graphical bugs you see on the PC version makes me question whether anyone even tested this game on the platform.
As for the actual gameplay, it is the dullest out of the franchise so far. As I alluded to, there is something here, lurking in the shadows, most of the cars drive really well and are fun to control, but the AI being ram happy, braking on straights, slowing down so goddamn much for corners you'd think they were coming to a stop. Questionable moves everywhere. God forbid you put yourself in the middle of the pack at the start of the race, you're just asking for penalties. Speaking of...
The penalty system is busted. I have rammed AI off the track, got no penalty, but no they bump into me and I get the penalty for a move I couldn't avoid? I didn't know the FIA ran these events. Plus for every track, it feels like track limits is so so inconsistent, I could get .5 seconds for cutting the track quite a bit and on another, 2 seconds for going a bit wide.
The career mode surrounding these events is super linear. You have to complete an event in a tour to move on to the next one. It offers a little choice, but nothing like the previous games in the series. Plus where are the events for actual racing cars? I get you want people to go online to race with the racing cars but your game series is built around those motorsport races at the high point of your career, this is what sets it apart from GT.
Now, lets talk about the upgrade system. You have to level up your cars to unlock upgrades by doing events, either online or single player. Which was fine, I thought, it's an interesting way to get attached to the cars you drive and adds a bit of variety to the game...first car, yeah this is neat. Second car, oh this levelling up journey looks familiar, maybe they're grouping them up by class or something, to make things easier on themselves, there are a ton of cars in the game. 3rd, 4th, 5th car...you get the picture, the upgrade paths are the same, got boring after a while. You starting to sense a theme here?
Speaking of a ton of cars though, lets talk about car and track selection. I'm not gonna talk too much on this as this is a live service game and these will get updated but car list is...fine I guess, you could say it's too heavy on the super/hypercar aspect but eh. No real standouts missing in my opinion, but nothing really too special. However, the track selection, oh boy is that weak. You see the same tracks repeated constantly in career (which adds to the monotony) and it's just not enough. Again, we are getting frequent updates (we've already had hockenheim and abu dhabi, with daytona and nordschleife on the way) so this could change, but at the moment there is not enough.
But I suppose you could say that about this whole review. This is a live service game, which will be constantly evolving and changing, but in it's current state, as a fan of the series and a fan of racing games in general, I cannot recommend more than a passing look at this. Forza Motorsport has lost its' identity, the standout feeling it has from the competition. It is boring to do anything in at best, and downright frustrating at worst. Just play GT7 if you have the means for the love of god.
This game has potential; you can see it in the physics, it's not a lost cause. However, there are so many aspects that need improving.
Starting from the top, the graphics. The first thing you see when you start the game. On PC, even max settings just look nothing like you'd expect. Everything looks washed out, the ray tracing is just not great, the cars are inconsistent at best, and downright ugly at worst. Plus the plethora of graphical bugs you see on the PC version makes me question whether anyone even tested this game on the platform.
As for the actual gameplay, it is the dullest out of the franchise so far. As I alluded to, there is something here, lurking in the shadows, most of the cars drive really well and are fun to control, but the AI being ram happy, braking on straights, slowing down so goddamn much for corners you'd think they were coming to a stop. Questionable moves everywhere. God forbid you put yourself in the middle of the pack at the start of the race, you're just asking for penalties. Speaking of...
The penalty system is busted. I have rammed AI off the track, got no penalty, but no they bump into me and I get the penalty for a move I couldn't avoid? I didn't know the FIA ran these events. Plus for every track, it feels like track limits is so so inconsistent, I could get .5 seconds for cutting the track quite a bit and on another, 2 seconds for going a bit wide.
The career mode surrounding these events is super linear. You have to complete an event in a tour to move on to the next one. It offers a little choice, but nothing like the previous games in the series. Plus where are the events for actual racing cars? I get you want people to go online to race with the racing cars but your game series is built around those motorsport races at the high point of your career, this is what sets it apart from GT.
Now, lets talk about the upgrade system. You have to level up your cars to unlock upgrades by doing events, either online or single player. Which was fine, I thought, it's an interesting way to get attached to the cars you drive and adds a bit of variety to the game...first car, yeah this is neat. Second car, oh this levelling up journey looks familiar, maybe they're grouping them up by class or something, to make things easier on themselves, there are a ton of cars in the game. 3rd, 4th, 5th car...you get the picture, the upgrade paths are the same, got boring after a while. You starting to sense a theme here?
Speaking of a ton of cars though, lets talk about car and track selection. I'm not gonna talk too much on this as this is a live service game and these will get updated but car list is...fine I guess, you could say it's too heavy on the super/hypercar aspect but eh. No real standouts missing in my opinion, but nothing really too special. However, the track selection, oh boy is that weak. You see the same tracks repeated constantly in career (which adds to the monotony) and it's just not enough. Again, we are getting frequent updates (we've already had hockenheim and abu dhabi, with daytona and nordschleife on the way) so this could change, but at the moment there is not enough.
But I suppose you could say that about this whole review. This is a live service game, which will be constantly evolving and changing, but in it's current state, as a fan of the series and a fan of racing games in general, I cannot recommend more than a passing look at this. Forza Motorsport has lost its' identity, the standout feeling it has from the competition. It is boring to do anything in at best, and downright frustrating at worst. Just play GT7 if you have the means for the love of god.