In the past few days, since Forza 4 hit the shelves, I have devoted a rather large, and probably unhealthy amount of time to it. As a young car guy who enjoys video games I was indescribably excited for the game’s release. So after a decent amount of hours played in the game I am ready to share my thoughts.    

Fist off I will say up front that Forza 4 has done well to succeed Forza 3 as probably the best racing game around. While Forza 3’s physics were very decent, the overhaul for Forza 4 has brought the whole experience to a new level. I like to say that the cars no longer feel “floaty” at the limit, and really behave just like an actual car on actual rubber now. Turn 10’s partnership with Pirelli has most definitely paid off.

There is also a new steering setting called “simulation” where you are no longer assisted by the computer for smooth inputs. That means moving the wheel from lock to lock is just a thumb-twitch away. On a normal controller I find it a bit twitchy so I haven’t really put in the time to learn it, but it is an interesting idea to be sure. I’d assume its a lot better with a steering wheel controller setup or Kinect, but when it’s just your thumb it requires an annoying amount of finesse, so for now I have stayed on “normal”.

The graphics in Forza 4 are nothing short of incredible. Turn 10 says the cars now consist of over 1 million polygons, compared to around 400,000 in Forza 3. The difference is quite clear and the whole look of Forza 4 is nothing short of immaculate. This is even more so in the game’s Autovista mode where around 30 cars have been literally assembled part for part in the virtual world for you to explore. Jeremy Clarkson, as well as some other British guy, do some narrations on various aspects of the cars, and you can open every part of the car, from the doors to the trunk and the engine bay. Autovista is a really nice touch to the game, a part that lets you just sit back and enjoy the cars you love just as if you were in the room with them.

As far as the races go, there are now four AI difficulty settings, as well as an option to let AI cars be modified to fit the class. This makes for much more intense and challenging racing. Good players will still have little trouble in “Professional”, but will find the races much more interesting than in Forza 3 (where by the last lap in most races you would have a substantial lead over everyone). The game seems to keep your opponents much closer in more races, which I like. Also, in Forza 4, AI opponents do not have power taken out of their cars based on their level, but tend to have less confidence when entering a corner. This was a fantastic change because it is much more realistic.

As far as winning money goes, you seem to get paid smaller sums, more often. This means there is no huge check at the end of an event series anymore, but the difficulty bonus has been raised, there are event perks that help earnings, and as you race with the same make of car you get paid by the manufacturer for leveling up. I recently got a $75k bonus from Ferrari because I have been racing many of their cars. Turn 10 has also lowered costs in Forza 4. Once you reach Affinity level 4 for a manufacturer, upgrades become free for their cars (as opposed to spending a few hundred grand to fully upgrade many cars in Forza 3). So overall I would say the earnings system in Forza 4 is far superior to that of Forza 3, which felt very limited after a while.

There is also money and Manufacturer Afinity to be earned in racing online, and there is a new section called Rivals Mode where you race other player’s ghosts and try to beat their time or score. In Rivals Mode, there are bounties based on what percentage bracket your opponent is in; lower levels are just a few grand, but once you are in the top percentage ranges you can win $100-150k before bonuses apply, so the big checks do come in online play if you can compete. Overall I would say the online play is vastly improved over Forza 3, and that is rather addictive.

Now, one of the biggest issues for me, in any racing game, is the car list. A game can have all the physics and graphics possible, but if your favorite cars are not in it, then it is far less fun. With that said Forza 4 has one hugely obvious shortcoming; Porsche is no longer present. This was all caused by the executives at Electronic Arts (who own the rights for Porsche in video games) and their bitchy, high school girl attitude; so Turn 10 is really not to blame for this huge hole in the roster. Having mentioned Porsche’s absence though, I must say that Turn 10 has filled out the rest of it’s roster to an astounding degree, and I am extremely pleased with all they have done. There is a much more complete list of Muscle Cars and BMWs, along with many other aditions. I was most pleased to see the Pagani Zonda Cinque (as they had lacked a current road going Zonda) and the Ferrari 365 Daytona. So the car list, aside from Porsche, is nothing short of phenomenal.

One more touch on the Porsche issue though. They have included RUF to offset the absence a bit, however there are only 3 RUFs in the game (all of which are 997s). Turn 10 desperately needs to add the Caymen variants as well as the 996, 993, and 964 models (Yellow Bird) if Forza players are to be even remotely compensated for the lack of our beloved Porsche. I like RUF, and they should stay in the game, but honestly if there is any way possible for them to smooth things over with EA and then add the full Porsche lineup in DLC then it should be done without question. So Turn 10 really needs to fill out the RUF lineup, or add Porsche in a DLC pack (or preferably both) because right now this lack of some of the greatest cars out there is killing us enthusiasts. It really is the only legitimate problem with Forza 4 at all.

Overall Forza 4 is fantastic, and is definitely the best racing title out there still (in my opinion Gran Turismo doesn’t hold a candle to it). Gameplay, physics, and overall enjoyment are all vastly improved over (the already great) Forza 3. The addition of Top Gear and all of it’s features makes it even more fun for car people, they really nailed it there. I hope Turn 10 will work to fix their problem with Porsche and right a vast wrong, but in the mean time it is still a great game. If you have an Xbox and you like cars, then go out and buy Forza 4 if you haven’t already. It is a great time.

-Nick