Forza Motorsport 7
It’s taken 12 years and seven attempts, but Forza Motorsport has now firmly set the bar by which all other racing games will be judged. As well as creating a graphical showcase for not just the forthcoming Xbox One X but the standard Xbox One itself, Turn 10 Studios has also produced a game that rights the few wrongs of the last game and truly focuses on the player experience. The result is supreme.
The first key to Forza 7’s success is the control. The cars all feel ultra-assured, responding perfectly and predictably to control inputs, and allowing just the right amount of abuse. Sure-footed, careful cornering transitions seamlessly into a slide, breaks into an acre-long drift, and eventually hangs sideways before giving up on traction altogether. With deft throttle control that’s not only manageable but an absolute joy thanks to the Xbox One pad’s haptic feedback, you can hold the car in any one of these states, provided you have the skill.
This is not a hardcore simulation like Assetto Corsa – there’s definitely some slight softening of handling principles that ease the gamer’s struggle against the track. For instance, you can save a car from a slide or kerb-ride that would undoubtedly have seen you facing backwards in Project CARS 2. The result is what some might call ‘simcade’ – a word that’s too often used disparagingly. But if it means a racing game that’s both realistic and fun, then simcade works for me. Authenticity and fun? Take my money.
So, the game makes it easier to get it right, but what happens when you get it wrong? Firstly, the series’ longstanding problem of ‘soap bar’ collisions is gone. Bumps and scrapes against other drivers look, feel, and sound right. Fenders dent and paintwork scuffs, and there’s some modest deformation of panelwork, too. Open-wheel collisions are toned down to prevent cars flipping, but that’s necessary when there are a lot of cars in close proximity. With so many cars on-track (a technical miracle), early laps are ultra-congested. Try to finish a single race without touching anyone – I bet you can’t. But this compromise between realism and fun is handled very well, and the game keeps moving as a result.
As for barriers, well – normally if you’re heading for the walls in Forza, you’d accept the inevitable impact and deliberately steer into the wall, aiming to slam the side of your car flush onto the Armco so as not to spin when you hit it. Well, Forza 7 tends to place covered tyre barriers in prime crash locations, and while they look like normal barriers, you’ll find the old method doesn’t work. The back will touch but the front will dig into soft, yielding rubber, sinking you deep into the wall’s enveloping embrace and sending tyres flying in a pleasant cascade of physics objects. This sudden stop really feels like a crash. And that makes a huge difference to how much respect you give the boundaries – especially if you switch off the returning ‘rewind’ feature.
Forza Motorsport 7 addresses every issue of its predecessor, turns the visual flair up to 11 and handles like a dream. An essential purchase.