Forza Motorsport 7 Review
During the 2017 E3 Forza Motorsport 7 presentation we were promised a franchise that would be ‘reborn’. It went on to show us three very different cars on three different tracks all in different weather conditions. And it was impressive. A Porsche, a muscle car and a super car all raced through the dawn, sand and the rain. What Turn 10 Studios were hinting at was a huge variety of vehicles to choose from including buggies, trucks, formula and rally cars amounting to over 700 in total. It also gave us a glimpse at the dynamic day/night cycle and weather system. All these things combined with a very robust and lengthy career mode and multiplayer that keeps you earning tiers and credits amounts to a game, albeit familiar, that is way ahead in production values than any other racer aside from the Gran Turismo series on Playstation. But with GT Sport’s release looming, can Forza stay as the undisputed highest rated racing game of it’s generation?
The guts of the game lies in it’s single player campaign. There are six progressive sections to all the races, each with an increasing number of events. As you buy new cars to race in these events, your car tier will increase allowing you to buy more elaborate cars to race. Not every race has to be completed in each section though. When you have earned enough points you will progress but it seems a shame not to participate in all that the career mode has to offer. The more races you complete and the higher you place will determine the amount of credits you earn. It’s a bit of a double edge sword as more races means more money but there will always be those events that require you buy a new car. And when you reach the third or fourth section some cars can cost over a million credits so it is important you keep a close eye on your money or you may have to replay some races over and over. There are also prize crates to contend with which, when purchased, can give you new cars, new driver gear to show off and mods that increase the difficulty but earn you some money. Eventually I gave up buying these crates as the loot you obtain from them does not warrant the amount of money you spend on them and I would rather buy a new car with what I’ve earned anyway.
In comparison to Forza 6 and it’s career, Forza 7 has way more variety in its choice of vehicles you drive. It’s nice to see that later on in the game you’re not just in the seat of a super car but you can be driving a classic Dodge or Chevrolet. It’s the variety of track and car choice along with the dynamic weather system that really sells this title. And the prospect of picking up that Forza Cup at the end of the campaign really compels you to finish all the races and compete to the best of your ability. There are over 30 tracks in total but it does seem like some tracks are being used a lot more than others and it can seem a little repetitive. The real life locations have all been scanned to give us the most accurate track layout yet. Even the puddle locations have had laser treatment and as with Forza 6, there is always a risk of your car hydroplaning and spinning off.
It’s a far cry from the arcade feel of Forza Horizon. In fact, down through the years, with all it’s installments, the Forza Motorsport franchise has aimed at becoming more and more of a racing simulator. And they have really pinned it with this one as the handling of the vehicles really differs depending on what your driving and the conditions you’re driving in. You will have to reverse steer the faster of the cars around those challenging corners even with stability control turned on. With the right amount of assists turned off though, there is a real skill in driving and placing on the podium. Seeing as you don’t have to win every race, I set the drivatar setting to expert. Just enough difficulty for cause for celebration when you cross that finish line first. On most events there are six races to complete and more times than not the same driver will finish first, making it even harder to place in the top three. The other drivers are wonderfully aggressive and will not only ram you off the track but deliberately go off track themselves just to see you fail.
It’s really the game’s production values that stand out. The sound of the engines roar in accelaration and the exhausts sputter when you slow down for a corner. The handling of the cars is the most realistic to date and the visuals are extremely impressive. The car models themselves are finely detailed and put other racing titles like Playstation’s Project Cars to shame. Although the Horizon series is a lot of fun there’s something quite compelling about racing other cars around a track. Especially when the sun is just about to set and a heavy downpour starts impairing your vision and laying down a shiny coat on the track surface. Forza 7 is as photo realistic as you can get on this generation of consoles. All the extra features that we are used to from Forza are here as well. There’s a highly detailed tuning mode that I steer clear of and you can design your own paint jobs for the cars. There’s free mode where you can drive at your own leisure and drivatar mode where you can set your best laps in any of the tracks and cars for other player to try and beat. There’s an endless amount of content to explore after you have completed the career mode.
I don’t believe there has ever been a release of a Forza Motorsport and a Gran Turismo title so close together. From what I’ve seen of the GT Sport, it looks impressive but for now Turn 10 have really laid down the bar for what racing sims can do. The evolution from Forza 6 is pretty big and with GT Sport confirming it has no dynamic weather conditions it will have a tough job topping the physics and the visuals of Forza 7. With the few exclusives Microsoft have had recently they rely heavily on titles like this to sell their consoles and Forza 7 is one great reason to own an Xbox one at the moment.[8]
