Forza Motorsport (2023)
Discussion
I'm looking forward to this but the reviews have me a little worried about the upgrading system. I like being able to upgrade what I like from the get go and saving up my in game money for that particular upgrade, rather than be artificially limited.
I'm currently playing FM4 on my old Xbox 360 and it's amazing how free/open it is. I can do the event list and plan out a car purchase to do a bunch of events with one car or skip straight to the world championship to get a boatload of cash. It also rewards me with 50% more credits for turning off all the assists.
The cynic in me (which is all of me) will be surprised if FM8 is better than FM4, 3 and even 2.
I'm currently playing FM4 on my old Xbox 360 and it's amazing how free/open it is. I can do the event list and plan out a car purchase to do a bunch of events with one car or skip straight to the world championship to get a boatload of cash. It also rewards me with 50% more credits for turning off all the assists.
The cynic in me (which is all of me) will be surprised if FM8 is better than FM4, 3 and even 2.
I relented and paid £26 for early access and have it on Gamepass. I've played about 90 minutes of it. It’s… not great. So far.
The upgrade system is the same as it ever was, but how it’s been implemented seems shoddy and is locked per car till you reach certain levels. It seems like it may take a while to earn any worthy upgrades. It throws credits and cars at you very quickly.
Graphically I’m using the mix between performance and visuals. So I get ray tracing and 4K. It’s nowhere near as good looking as the PS5 version of Gran Turismo 7, it doesn’t even compare. (Xbox SX on an LGC1) There are weird textures and reflections on some cars/tracks. The damage modelling isn’t great. It seems a bit washed out and blacks look more like grey. Forza Horizon 5 had a lot more going on but looked much more vibrant.
As feared some of the car models are from old Forza games. I’ve purchased an Aston Martin Vanquish and it looks pretty naff for a 2023 “built from the ground up” game. The model is clearly from Forza Motorsport 4, which is 12 years old, and the last time this particular car featured in a Forza Motorsport game. Newly modelled cars look nice. Not as sharp as GT7.
I haven’t done much in the way of career so it’s too early to tell how that has been implemented.
It does sound brilliant, Forza games have always nailed this. But, annoying voice overs that no one has asked for still pop up every now and again. Both American and British. I haven’t checked but hopefully they can be switched off.
Overall so far I’m underwhelmed. I’m hoping it will grow on me. But all I’ll end by saying I loved the first four games right from the moment I picked them up. I skipped 5, didn’t quite get on with 6, really ended up disliking 7 and haven’t had the best start with this. This game doesn’t feel like it came from that same team that made FM4.
The upgrade system is the same as it ever was, but how it’s been implemented seems shoddy and is locked per car till you reach certain levels. It seems like it may take a while to earn any worthy upgrades. It throws credits and cars at you very quickly.
Graphically I’m using the mix between performance and visuals. So I get ray tracing and 4K. It’s nowhere near as good looking as the PS5 version of Gran Turismo 7, it doesn’t even compare. (Xbox SX on an LGC1) There are weird textures and reflections on some cars/tracks. The damage modelling isn’t great. It seems a bit washed out and blacks look more like grey. Forza Horizon 5 had a lot more going on but looked much more vibrant.
As feared some of the car models are from old Forza games. I’ve purchased an Aston Martin Vanquish and it looks pretty naff for a 2023 “built from the ground up” game. The model is clearly from Forza Motorsport 4, which is 12 years old, and the last time this particular car featured in a Forza Motorsport game. Newly modelled cars look nice. Not as sharp as GT7.
I haven’t done much in the way of career so it’s too early to tell how that has been implemented.
It does sound brilliant, Forza games have always nailed this. But, annoying voice overs that no one has asked for still pop up every now and again. Both American and British. I haven’t checked but hopefully they can be switched off.
Overall so far I’m underwhelmed. I’m hoping it will grow on me. But all I’ll end by saying I loved the first four games right from the moment I picked them up. I skipped 5, didn’t quite get on with 6, really ended up disliking 7 and haven’t had the best start with this. This game doesn’t feel like it came from that same team that made FM4.
Things I like:
1. Looks and sounds great
2. Feels like a Forza
3. Menu system massively improved over FM7
4. Adjusting fuel volume before a race is great
Things I don’t like:
1 . Car points? f
k off, let me win money and spend it as I choose
2. Car levels to reach before buying certain upgrades? So I have to drive a car for X time before I can change the stock tyres? fk off
3. Mandatory practice? fk off
4. Being able to choose your start position for a bonus? What’s wrong with qualifying? FFS
5. Can’t move wheels out in arches or change offset like in horizon
6. No Lancia
6. Prices all over the place. A Miura cheaper than an Emira?
I didn’t play FH5 (wasn’t inspired by Mexico and seemingly very few new cars) but quite liked 3 and 4. I played FM4 heaps and played FM7 heaps.
This is slightly disappointing.
1. Looks and sounds great
2. Feels like a Forza
3. Menu system massively improved over FM7
4. Adjusting fuel volume before a race is great
Things I don’t like:
1 . Car points? f
k off, let me win money and spend it as I choose2. Car levels to reach before buying certain upgrades? So I have to drive a car for X time before I can change the stock tyres? f
k off3. Mandatory practice? f
k off4. Being able to choose your start position for a bonus? What’s wrong with qualifying? FFS
5. Can’t move wheels out in arches or change offset like in horizon
6. No Lancia
6. Prices all over the place. A Miura cheaper than an Emira?
I didn’t play FH5 (wasn’t inspired by Mexico and seemingly very few new cars) but quite liked 3 and 4. I played FM4 heaps and played FM7 heaps.
This is slightly disappointing.
Edited by Lefty on Thursday 5th October 09:46
Still not played it yet but I did see like you lot a few reviews pointed out the upgrade system was annoying. Not sure how I'll feel about it but I did earlier in this thread point out I was actually looking forward to spending more time with each car and working on upgrading it slowly so I think I'll get on with it.
What I found with FH5 is I'd get loads of new cars, not drive any then go through a little session of instantly upgrading them all, never once driving them "vanilla". I released this meant you didn't really get the best way to change them so I started test driving them all first then working out what they needed. But it does eventually end up with them all having the same basic mods which does kind of take away from the variety.
I'll give it a spin tonight and report back.
What I found with FH5 is I'd get loads of new cars, not drive any then go through a little session of instantly upgrading them all, never once driving them "vanilla". I released this meant you didn't really get the best way to change them so I started test driving them all first then working out what they needed. But it does eventually end up with them all having the same basic mods which does kind of take away from the variety.
I'll give it a spin tonight and report back.
It’s a massive pain in the balls.
I’m doing the first career championship, needs a hot hatch. Fine, bought a wrx, can’t do brakes, can’t do tyres. Car PI is 476, limit is 600.
Having to drive every car you own quite a lot before you can do basic stuff like brakes and tyres is an absolute joke.
Not impressed.
I’m doing the first career championship, needs a hot hatch. Fine, bought a wrx, can’t do brakes, can’t do tyres. Car PI is 476, limit is 600.
Having to drive every car you own quite a lot before you can do basic stuff like brakes and tyres is an absolute joke.
Not impressed.
It sounds very good.
Some of the cars look plasticky and blurry, hard to explain, some of them look downright terrible.
The upgrade thing is very poorly implemented.
The UI is flipping stupid - I want to paint the golf r I’m in, go to paint and I’ve got to scroll all the way to the end to choose the car I’m already in…daft.
Multiplayer is good tho, good racing, cars handle pretty well…erm, that’s about it so far, bigly underwhelming for a 6yr wait…
Edit - the ai is better..and worse. Sometimes they’ll get out of the way and give you a solid race, other times they’ll just brake on a straight or slam straight into you on a bend
Some of the cars look plasticky and blurry, hard to explain, some of them look downright terrible.
The upgrade thing is very poorly implemented.
The UI is flipping stupid - I want to paint the golf r I’m in, go to paint and I’ve got to scroll all the way to the end to choose the car I’m already in…daft.
Multiplayer is good tho, good racing, cars handle pretty well…erm, that’s about it so far, bigly underwhelming for a 6yr wait…
Edit - the ai is better..and worse. Sometimes they’ll get out of the way and give you a solid race, other times they’ll just brake on a straight or slam straight into you on a bend
Edited by Cutters on Thursday 5th October 10:43
Lefty said:
Things I like:
1. Looks and sounds great
2. Feels like a Forza
3. Menu system massively improved over FM7
4. Adjusting fuel volume before a race is great
Things I don’t like:
1 . Car points? fk off, let me win money and spend it as I choose
2. Car levels to reach before buying certain upgrades? So I have to drive a car for X time before I can change the stock tyres? fk off
3. Mandatory practice? fk off
4. Being able to choose your start position for a bonus? What’s wrong with qualifying? FFS
5. Can’t move wheels out in arches or change offset like in horizon
6. No Lancia
6. Prices all over the place. A Miura cheaper than an Emira?
I didn’t play FH5 (wasn’t inspired by Mexico and seemingly very few new cars) but quite liked 3 and 4. I played FM4 heaps and played FM7 heaps.
This is slightly disappointing.
Not sure I like the sound of this. 1. Looks and sounds great
2. Feels like a Forza
3. Menu system massively improved over FM7
4. Adjusting fuel volume before a race is great
Things I don’t like:
1 . Car points? f
k off, let me win money and spend it as I choose2. Car levels to reach before buying certain upgrades? So I have to drive a car for X time before I can change the stock tyres? f
k off3. Mandatory practice? f
k off4. Being able to choose your start position for a bonus? What’s wrong with qualifying? FFS
5. Can’t move wheels out in arches or change offset like in horizon
6. No Lancia
6. Prices all over the place. A Miura cheaper than an Emira?
I didn’t play FH5 (wasn’t inspired by Mexico and seemingly very few new cars) but quite liked 3 and 4. I played FM4 heaps and played FM7 heaps.
This is slightly disappointing.
Edited by Lefty on Thursday 5th October 09:46
I did not gel at all with FH5 and have hardly played it compared to previous releases. The above doesn’t bode well for me.
Cutters said:
The UI is flipping stupid - I want to paint the golf r I’m in, go to paint and I’ve got to scroll all the way to the end to choose the car I’m already in…daft.
Multiplayer is good tho, good racing, cars handle pretty well…erm, that’s about it so far, bigly underwhelming for a 6yr wait…
Edit - the ai is better..and worse. Sometimes they’ll get out of the way and give you a solid race, other times they’ll just brake on a straight or slam straight into you on a bend
I always thought the menu/UI systems were on a gradual decline since FM5 - with your issue about scrolling through the cars, can you no longer use the right/left shoulder buttons on the Xbox controller to skip items in a list?Multiplayer is good tho, good racing, cars handle pretty well…erm, that’s about it so far, bigly underwhelming for a 6yr wait…
Edit - the ai is better..and worse. Sometimes they’ll get out of the way and give you a solid race, other times they’ll just brake on a straight or slam straight into you on a bend
Edited by Cutters on Thursday 5th October 10:43
Yes shoulder buttons skip manufacturers
As games are moving more and more towards more freedom in what you do and when, Forza seems to be going the other way. You have to grind your way through championships you’re not interested in with cars you’re not interested in. You have to grind your way through practice, even on a circuit you know like the back of your hand. You have to grind your way through laps and laps and laps before you can buy the mods you want.
Weird.
As games are moving more and more towards more freedom in what you do and when, Forza seems to be going the other way. You have to grind your way through championships you’re not interested in with cars you’re not interested in. You have to grind your way through practice, even on a circuit you know like the back of your hand. You have to grind your way through laps and laps and laps before you can buy the mods you want.
Weird.
CKY said:
Cutters said:
The UI is flipping stupid - I want to paint the golf r I’m in, go to paint and I’ve got to scroll all the way to the end to choose the car I’m already in…daft.
Multiplayer is good tho, good racing, cars handle pretty well…erm, that’s about it so far, bigly underwhelming for a 6yr wait…
Edit - the ai is better..and worse. Sometimes they’ll get out of the way and give you a solid race, other times they’ll just brake on a straight or slam straight into you on a bend
I always thought the menu/UI systems were on a gradual decline since FM5 - with your issue about scrolling through the cars, can you no longer use the right/left shoulder buttons on the Xbox controller to skip items in a list?Multiplayer is good tho, good racing, cars handle pretty well…erm, that’s about it so far, bigly underwhelming for a 6yr wait…
Edit - the ai is better..and worse. Sometimes they’ll get out of the way and give you a solid race, other times they’ll just brake on a straight or slam straight into you on a bend
Edited by Cutters on Thursday 5th October 10:43
These changes have been known about for months. The car building thing was the main selling point. Did you watch the previews from a few weeks ago?
I noped out when I saw compulsory practice sessions for every race. One review said takes 90 mins to do one of the first championships and you only get 35k credits from it (with VIP)
One theory was they are artificially increasing the time it takes to progress to keep people signed up to game pass.
I noped out when I saw compulsory practice sessions for every race. One review said takes 90 mins to do one of the first championships and you only get 35k credits from it (with VIP)
One theory was they are artificially increasing the time it takes to progress to keep people signed up to game pass.
CKY said:
....and, how do the cars drive then??? 
Will have to wait till I play and see, maybe depends on player driving style.Watched 2 reviews by guys who are sim racers and real life racers. One moaned it was all understeery and no feel and the other said the cars were too mobile and drifty and wouldn't be like that in real life lol.
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