In the interest of full disclosure, I should make it clear up front that I have always been a loyal devotee of Gran Turismo. The series helped craft my automotive knowledge through middle school and high school, helped me choose the proper spring rates for my track rat in college, and generally consumed days and days of my young life. So when Turn 10 introduced Forza Motorsport for the Microsoft xBox in 2005, I was skeptical. Whereas Gran Turismo seemed to push the realism line ever further, Forza Motorsport felt laced with traces of Cruisin’ USA or some other relic of the arcade circuit. But that was then.
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The Forza Motorsport series has matured significantly over the intervening six years, and Forza Motorsport 4 has debuted as the pinnacle of xBox automotive entertainment. With over 80 manufacturers on hand and 22 tracks, each with multiple configurations, this latest version promises to be an eruption of digital motorsports glory.
With Gran Turismo 5 currently collecting dust and wallowing in a tepid pool of disappointment, it was finally time to give Forza another shot. Turn 10 was kind enough to provide a review copy as well as a loaner xBox 360 for a week. I tried not to look my Playstation 3 in the eye as I wired up the rival machine, brushed off any traitorous feelings and hit the power button. It was time to go racing.
I’ve spent the majority of my time with Forza Motorsport 4 in the World Tour portion of Career mode, working my way from adorable subcompact hatches to brawnier sheetmetal. The progression more or less follows the same path as other driving simulators, with one big exception. With each step up in driver level, players are rewarded with genuinely interesting cars to drive.
Instead of filling your garage with 15 variations on the same obscure Japanese kei car, the crew at Turn 10 offers up a BMW 2002 Turbo or a Toyota Sprinter Trueno Apex. Even better, you can pick your victory car from a selection of similarly capable machines, so that you aren’t just stuck with a default prize or a vehicle that you already own. As a result, you find yourself having fun almost by default. The variety of available vehicles is fantastic, and each one is rendered in painfully expert detail inside and out. Visually, Forza Motorsport 4 sinks the Gran Turismo battleship.
Turn 10 has also made Forza Motorsport 4 accessible for those who aren’t diehard gearheads with a convenient vehicle class system. While we’re more than a little irritated to find no specifications for victory cars available, each vehicle is broken down on a points and letter-grade system. This means that you won’t find yourself wading into a race with a grossly over- or under-powered vehicle. At least not if you’re paying attention. All you have to do is match up the classes, pay attention to your numbers and you’re good to go. There’s no balancing out power-to-weight ratios or performance modifications, and while purists may pine for their power graphs, the truth is that you spend less time flipping through menus and more time racing in Forza Motorsport 4. That’s always a good thing.
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