Forza Motorsport 4

[MisterNoisy]

So, the demo is up and the game looks predictably amazing.  Nice visual improvement over FM3 and as a nod to those of us that spent too much damned time in the decal editors, you'll be able to import your FM3 work directly into 4.  Worthwhile use of the Top Gear license, including the TG studio as a locale for photo mode stuff and Clarkson recording audio for the 'Autovista' mode, along with the TG test track as a racing venue.







Unfortunately, I think I was the only one here that played FM3 significantly, and after the titanic disappointment of GT5, I can't wait for another in-depth console racer to occupy my time until SR3 releases.

Anyone else picking this up?

[Miasma]

I would buy it, but it is xbox only and the last three have died on me so fuck that.

[fuser]

Unfortunately, I think I was the only one here that played FM3 significantly, and after the titanic disappointment of GT5, I can't wait for another in-depth console racer to occupy my time until SR3 releases.

Anyone else picking this up?

I still play Forza 3 a fair bit and already have the preorder for the LCE FM4.

Did you get your preorder unicorn car yet?

[HaemishM]

It's one of those I'll probably get later in the year. I spent a good bit of time in Forza 2 when I first got my 360, and the demo for 4 was just as good.

[MisterNoisy]

I still play Forza 3 a fair bit and already have the preorder for the LCE FM4.

Did you get your preorder unicorn car yet?

I've got the LCE ordered as well - looking forward to the 11th.

[fuser]

Embargo is down on reviews, pretty much going to be all that and a bag of chips. I need more times to race with in rivals mode send me a friend invite GT: binfuser

metacritic reviews

Edit:

[jakonovski]

It's no doubt an incredible game, but I burned out on FM3 way before I got into the good stuff. This particular sub-genre has stood unchanged for too long. The only reason I still play GT5 sometimes is because with fast cars it's so in your face difficult.

[WayAbvPar]

Damn that is pretty.

[Azazel]

Yeah, that first pic got a "holy fuck" out loud from me. And I'm not even into the whole Forza thing.

[fuser]

It's no doubt an incredible game, but I burned out on FM3 way before I got into the good stuff.

FM3 had a horrible problem that in tuned cars you decimate even the hardest AI. They fixed it now thank god that AI will race tuned cars also.

We (friends in private lobbies) try to keep it fresh with crazy modes or unique stuff you can on the Fujimi Kaido track. Downhill races in lower classes with hard AI. We do d-b class cars that are either untuned or lightly tuned against hard AI that might be a class above. Uphill races in super cars and try to kill the AI cars generally you almost kill your car before winning the race.

[Yegolev]

I seem to have had the opposite reaction.  I played a lot of Forza 2 and really enjoyed it.  I then heard F3 was just MOTS in a Box and skipped it.  I was also on the "GT5 will be shit" bandwagon... until I got it last Christmas and started playing it.  GT5 did disappoint me in some key areas but it's pretty engaging when I don't compare it to the Ideal Racing Sim that I keep in my head.

I downloaded the Forza 4 demo right on schedule, but when I started it up it only showed me two things:
1. Rewind function
2. Looks worse than GT5

The above shots are obviously from photo mode.  Which I'm sure is a ton of fun.

What I really wanted was for the demo to show me the awesome things I was hoping were in F4 (and aren't in GT5).  Like some indication of how neckbeardy I can get while tuning, or the paint/decal system.  I suppose if I had not frowned so much that I stopped, deleted it and went to go play F.E.A.R. instead, I might have taken the time to observe how the damage system was implemented (not that it would be difficult to outperform GT5 there).

I'll hold off until some of the local gearheads get it.

[MisterNoisy]

BMW 635 on Camino Viejo - lots of other gameplay videos as well.

[MisterNoisy]

My 1-day impressions:

Customization (both tuning and decoration) are much the same as in 3 - you can tinker with pretty much everything, replace parts and do full drivetrain swaps.  They've added new community-selected primitives to the decal editor, some of which are genuinely useful.  Physics feel a fair bit better - at the very least, it's more communicative.  Audio and video are quite a bit better than 3.

The biggest change to customization comes from the career progression, oddly enough.  In FM3, your progression through the game was tracked with driver XP and car XP - win enough in a particular car, and you got discounts on upgrades from that car's manufacturer, etc.  The driver XP is still much the same, but now you get car XP for everything you do, both in and out of the career, and the car XP has been changed to manufacturer XP, with the upgrade discount topping out at 100%.  Basically, if you do about 6-10 races in a Ford car, you get free upgrades for ALL of your Fords.

On top of this, the cars you win during the career mode (you get a choice of one of 3-5 cars with every driver level gained) are automatically upgraded to the top of their tier (if you win a D-class car, it'll have a few upgrades on it to bring it to 350 rating, etc.), and all of the AI drivers are running top-of-class cars as well, so the racing throughout the career mode is much more competitive.

Between those changes and the new World Tour mode (races are offered based on what you're driving and what's in your garage), you never have to upgrade just to be competitive in the career - you can now do your upgrading based solely on what you want to drive.

Photomode is pretty slick now, too:


There's even a 'big shot' option which outputs 3840 x 2160 bitmaps, but it's very time-consuming and clunky to use - why I can't just save to a damned USB stick to transfer to the PC is still beyond me.

[WayAbvPar]

I don't have nearly enough time to even begin to play this and yet I am sorely tempted. You bastards.

[proudft]

I got this as my first Real XBox Game (just got a 360 last month).  Driving with the controller is not as impossible as I had feared (I also turned off steering assist and rewinding, those struck me as being pretty lame).  Seems pretty fun so far, though I sure put a lot of dents in everyone's cars while elbowing my way to the front.

I'm almost to the end of the third 'career' thing, on class C/B cars, but when I go look at my stats it says I am 0.6% through.  

So far the Mad Max car is my favorite, though I think our 'real' car will be showing up soon (Subaru WRX).

[MisterNoisy]

So far the Mad Max car is my favorite, though I think our 'real' car will be showing up soon (Subaru WRX).

Heh - buying my 'real' car in the game was the first thing I did after the intro race.  Been having a blast with that and a 1970 Mustang I'm currently tinkering with for drag racing.  Being able to try out all of the possible configurations of parts/drivetrains/engines without having to burn in-game cash on them makes tuning much more entertaining.

Only real gripe is that I'd like to be able to shut off the announcer completely.

[fuser]

I love this game the handling of cars is so much more responsive and the lean/rolls in turns is really nice. Try a lotus elan and see how crazy it leans and the nasty counter-steer snap. Drifting the muscle cars is my new passion, here's my current D build.


I'll add you tonight MisterNoisy!

[Yegolev]

Giggity.