Overview

Although Forza Motorsport is primarily a simulation game, it is also possible to participate in arcade races. I'll quickly go over these, where you'll have to win a series of races to unlock new tracks. Let's move on to the career part, where you start with a capital of 20,000 credits. Your first choice will be your region of origin, Asia, North America, or Europe. This choice will influence some vehicles' prices, but you will always be able to unlock all cars. When you create your profile, you can remove any form of simulation thanks to several options that make driving easier, such as ABS, ESP, or by adding a curve system that suggests the best trajectory. Damage is present and can be very penalizing in case of a road accident. It is also possible to choose only a visual impact or even to suppress it altogether. Fortunately for those who doubt their skills, it is possible to change these settings later.

Another important point concerning the difficulty, the higher it is (depending on your settings), the more you will win. It is now a question of spending your 20,000 credits correctly by choosing from the twenty or so vehicles available at the start. Are you done? Have you finished looking at your Golf R32 from all angles? Do you want to take it? Well, it seems to me that we can go then. On the track!

Gameplay

The number of challenges is impressive, respecting either the levels or a limitation of power, manufacturer, or vehicle type. There are also atypical races such as the ones that require the racers to go from one point to another (understand that there are no laps) or the endurance races, a real ordeal for the nerves. In the maximum difficulty mode, you'll have to hold on to finish everything.

The game works on a level system starting from zero and going up to fifty. The points won in races allow you to pass the levels, which unlocks races and partnerships with manufacturers to buy cheaper upgrades. Yes, we're getting into the most complex but exciting part of the game: customizing your vehicles. If having a powerful car is good, having a tuned car is better. As we enter the career part of the game, the one that will, of course, hold all our attention, you will realize that among the 230 vehicles available, the choice is not only about cars to win a race, you must also choose a vehicle that suits your driving style and prepare it well.

Whether it's rear-wheel drive, front-wheel drive, or four-wheel drive, whether it's light and maneuverable or heavy and powerful, as they say, the choice is yours. Each race, depending on the curves and straights, may require different preparation.

Also contributing to modify the difficulty, the AI is quite surprising, capable of the worst and the best. Let's take overtaking as an example. In the maximum difficulty, a small opening inside a corner can quickly be fatal (or rather deadly to your ranking), since out of the seven other drivers in the race, the best ones manage to slip through mouse holes very cleanly. But opponents can also make gigantic blunders, such as a disastrous overtaking attempt from the outside that takes half the cars off the track. The races' pressure becomes stronger, and the chases follow each other but are not the same.

Forza MotorSport had to meet a significant challenge: to be sharp but playable. It's a real success in that respect. Each vehicle requires a new approach, yet the sensations sought by the purist are always alongside the speed seeking of the average player. The triggers of the Xbox pad come into their own in the fine-tuning of braking and acceleration. It's an absolute pleasure to know that simply getting off to a good start with a powerful car requires a certain amount of skill and that it's not enough to press the gas pedal down while waiting for the green light. Simply brilliant.

Gameplay & Sound

Very clean, very fluid, the scenery is superb, but what about the vehicles - they are as dreamy as in reality. For a game, Forza impresses, especially when we know that a powerful physics engine is running behind it. With a customizable soundtrack and realistic sound effects, you can feel that the whole production has been mainly worked on. And it is impressive.

Conclusion

Perfect playability, well-balanced difficulty, full of good ideas, a good AI and physics engine, and without a doubt the best racing game on the Original Xbox.