The Forza games are arguably the most underrated games available on the Xbox and 360, mainly because they don’t seem to have a fixed direction of where they way to go. They don’t seem to know whether they want to serious or they if they want to be fun. The original Forza; available on the Xbox, was a big hit with people who wanted to take their cars, customise and paint them to their hearts content. When Forza 2 came to the 360, Developers Turn 10 were really pushing to compete against the endlessly delayed Gran Turismo 5 with improved graphics, vehicle choice and racing physics. They hadn’t forgotten about the customising options that made the first so popular; they just brought a bit more substance to party.

Forza 3 was when the series really took on big hitter status; well-timed as well as this turned out to be the release that went head to head with GT5. What Forza 3 did well was it made everything so easy for you; all cars were available from the outset (revolutionary in a driving game), all you had to do was earn the money. The massive online community of both gamers and customisers gave you the opportunity to create your own set ups, decals and designs, sell them on the in game market place, and then race with the ones you’d bought. The graphics were so gorgeous and fluid that it was often more like watching an actual motor race than a computer game. And then the games party piece; when playing in helmet-cam mode, you could enjoy the interiors of all the cars you’re driving as these had also been scanned and replicated during development. The tragedy of Forza 3 however was that it was all mouth and no trousers; the equivalent of hearing the roar of an exhaust, only to turn round and see a teenager in a ruined Vauxhall Corsa. The driving physics were horrendous; you would approach a corner, brake and, like a swan landing on a frozen lake you would just hope for the best. It seemed that, despite the talk of it being the ultimate racing simulation, the series had swung back to favour being all about making something beautiful than doing something exciting.

And this leads me on to Forza 4. Following my disappointment with Forza 3 I was a little sceptical when I first put the disc in, as I feared it would be yet another step away from the racing sim that I wanted and one step closer towards a Need for Speed style modification fest. I thought it would be exactly the same as Forza 3 with the gimmick of the Top Gear branding and Jeremy Clarkson’s voice over work tacked on. It turns out I had seriously misjudged Turn 10 and what they’d brought to the table as, on the fourth time of asking, what they’d created was something truly wonderful. It really is like they’ve looked at what made each of the previous versions successful and taken all of the best bits in equal measure. They’ve thrown their weight about trying to make the vehicles even more beautiful, particularly if you look at them in the Autovista mode; a special walk around of a chosen vehicle where you can zoom in and highlight specific elements of the car for more detailed information.

Mercifully, it looks like the head of Turn 10 has taken his developers into a small darkened room, smacked them about a bit and told them to sort of the driving physics, as when you’re driving it actually feels like there is some sort of interaction between you and the road. Moreover, you notice the way that your car responds to the road differs depending on what and how you’re driving; cruising around in a Alfa Romeo Brera everything is grippy and relatively serene, whereas thrashing a Ferrari 458 you can feel the back end struggling to cling on and the engine revs slipping as the wheels desperately try to spin up. I know it’s a game but I find myself actually fully immersed in my driving style, something that hasn’t happened since I was playing Sega Rally in the arcades as a lonely and entranced teenager.

That brings me rather neatly on to the choice of vehicles available. There are literally hundreds available to choose from. What Forza 3 made essential in all vehicles being available from the outset has actually been improved in Forza 4; on your first sign in the game checks your profile and brings selected vehicles that you’ve purchased/unlocked from the previous game with you. As fun as driving around slowly in some of the class F cars (normal road cars like a Ford Ka or Fiat 500), for those of us who’ve already learned our craft from thousands of laps around the Nurbergring it’s nice to have the option to have a thrash around in something a bit quicker. What it also does brilliantly is sync stock vehicles and the endless supply of DLC almost seamlessly, but clearly marks out whether you’re going to have put your hand in your virtual wallet or your real one. To be crude for a moment; this game is car porn. There are so many to choose from and each one is beautiful. I find that half the time I spend on this game is spent racing, the other half going through the ‘Buy Cars’ menu looking for new additions. And the variety! As I said you still have the class system of F up to R1 (for Le Mans racers), but within that structure you have favourites such as the Ford Escort Cosworth (the Essex boy in me wept tears of joy at this), classics ranging from beautifully rendered old Ferraris to Dodge Chargers, to the unexpected such as the Hummer H1 and, bewilderingly, Transit Vans.

There are a couple of minor faults but I should stress, they are minor. Firstly, unlike its predecessors, there’s no Porsche presence except a solitary RUF branded 911 unless you buy the Porsche expansion pack. Some people like Porsches. I don’t but if it’s going to be an issue for you you’ll need to put your hand back in your pocket. Secondly, the Kinect connectivity is largely pointless. The camera turns with your head, which frankly I found a waste of time as I wasn’t looking at the screen when I turned my head. I really think that, for all its potential, the Kinect has no place in a racing game.

Lastly, there are some worrying additions in the online play. Whilst the mini games like car football are all clearly part of the Top Gear branding that comes with this game, this isn’t the sort of thing that Forza is known for or what it specialises in. Deep down the Forza series has been a racing simulation and, like the harbinger of Forza Horizon and its more arcadey feel, to me these are the first hints of where the franchise may be heading.

Forza Horizon is the first in the series that I haven’t bought. I played the demo and, whilst it was great fun, was nothing I can’t get from Need for Speed or can wait for in GRID 2. Whilst all the noises are that Horizon is a spin off and Forza 5 will be a return to the racing sim, I worry that this is the last truly great racing game we will see from Turn 10. They’ve actually achieved perfection in Forza 4, and with that comes a hint of sadness that I may not actually get a racing sim quite as good as this again.

 

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