Forza Motorsport 7 One Year Later: The Biggest Racing Game (Still Needs Direction)

[UKMikey]

It might be a purely cosmetic detail but it's important nonetheless. The whole livery editor thing is also purely cosmetic, but imagine how angry fans would be, if it wasn't in the game. Now details like these wouldn't matter if the racing itself was excellent, but the problem is it isn't, far from it actually (don't even get me started on the atrocious online racing). So when they can't get the most important thing right, it becomes really hard to overlook those "trivial details".

That doesn't really make sense to me. If fundamental things like the racing need work they should concentrate on those instead rather than concentrate on pit stops. I'm not sure any of the three big racing releases on console last year were perfect at launch.

 

[SPhilli911]

Good article. I love FM7, and the Forza franchise as a whole, been playing since day 1, but it's not a perfect game (and by that I mean, it still feels rough even a year later). I look forward to any changes, improvements and additions to the game in the future.

I can't be the only one hoping for more tracks above all else. I dunno if that's too far fetched an expectation at this point, though.

 

[Scraptacular]

I play both FM7 and PC2. I think that the FM series does a fabulous job of "driving the dream." PCars does a better job of simulating a racing weekend. They both have their places.

 

[Veinz]

Good article, I was a long time player of this series but I had way too many gripes with the other recent FM games to buy FM7, lack of direction was one of the big gripes.

I do not regret switching to PS one bit.

 

[StealthVel]

We had DAMAGE from very first Forza.Makes it more REAL than "real driving simulator" itself i guess

Because that is definitely not the fault of licensing issues.

 

[Dopplegagger]

Good article. I love FM7, and the Forza franchise as a whole, been playing since day 1, but it's not a perfect game (and by that I mean, it still feels rough even a year later). I look forward to any changes, improvements and additions to the game in the future.

I can't be the only one hoping for more tracks above all else. I dunno if that's too far fetched an expectation at this point, though.

I still have to learn the tracks in the game, and you're asking for more...

LOL

Seriously, more places to drive would be the second thing I want to see. The first is getting rid of the tire walls. People are still cutting corners, might as well let them go all out (and give them no credits for their time doing so).

 

[th3o]

I got myself FM7 at launch for Win10 and immediatelly was put off by how buggy it was and it still is not everything ironed out to this day which i find really embarassing for a developer with this sort of resources like Turn10 via Microsoft.
Having said that, here is what i think of FM7:

I think that the article hit it perfectly: FH4 is basically a bigger competition than ACC, AC, PCars 2 or GTS just because the handling is not that much more different in the Horizon series (i reckon both games use the same basic physics engine) and i go to lengths stating that in part i find Horizon 4 with everything set to off or simulation more believable to drive than FM7. That really strange snap-oversteer is way too aggressive in FM7 and the speed sensitivity is set way too high, you feel limited not by the phyics but by the baked in speed sensitivity when you want to steer into corners in FM7. It's a honestly disgusting feeling when i compare it to the likes of PCars2, AC, ACC or GTS. All these games offer you more controller freedom and still manage to be accessible (AC and ACC to a lower degree, i reckon you have to adjust there yourself a bit). So the driving feels a bit numb to me when compared to other racing games, thats the first minus and it's just so sad because i would love to want to enjoy the massive amount of cars more, but i honestly love to drive the same track/car combination in AC or ACC more just because the driving feels so so visceral and real. Whereas FM7 is more like the super hot girl but with bad breath when you come closer.

And that is by the way the next thing that still bothers me: FM7 does not look as good as the Forza games used to look compared to the rivals. At least not on the PC. Everything maxed out, setting a nice time of day, i honestly think that GTS, PCars2 and now ACC and in certain aspects even old AC look better. Most of all look better in terms of lighting engine. FM7 has great car models and textures but it lacks in the lighting engine department, it lacks in contrast and reflections and ambient occlusion. Opponents are sometimes looking even matte, very odd.
My speculation is that there were limitations of what they could do because this game was supposed to sell the X, not max out a high end gaming PC. And that shows when you compare a maxed out FM7 to a maxed out ACC or PCars 2. It shows in actually every aspect of the game. Physics, Lighting and even car models.

FM7 strong suit is without a doubt its accessibility, the huge roster of cars (but really, we need more 2017+2018 cars, get the licenses please ) and the track list.
It's weak suit is the not so well aging forza tech engine, the sounds and the too numb controller feeling.

 

[SoapBoxRacer]

Being connected to Forza servers is very vital part of the game (rivals, specialty dealers, hoppers, leagues, paint shop, tunes, daily payouts, Forza rewards, auction house, gifts), but based on what I'm seeing in Forza forums there is a whole bunch of people who can't connect to servers. Either some or all online content is inaccessible. This has been going since mid-July and it took Turn 10 a good month-and-a-half to acknowledge that there is an issue. They are still investigating, but there hasn't been any reports about progress.

I've contacted Turn 10 on few separate occasions about this and other issues I've had with FM7, but never gotten any reply. I hate to say it, but they have done piss-poor job with customer support regarding FM7. Actually I didn't hate to say that, because that how I honestly feel.

 

[Corsa]

There is not a single game that I did not have tinker around with FFB to make it right.

And there never will be which is a good thing as FFB is a very personal preference.

After hundreds of hours racing not much more the rFactor2, I am loving both Forza games.

FH4 is a breath of fresh air, just plain fun.

FM7 I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit. There are a few things that need attention such as lack of FOV adjustments and lift off oversteer should not be occuring when slicks and downforce are involved on a dry track.
I can't hit my apexes at speed in fear of the snap oversteer unless there is some setup help out there someone would care to share.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

It's unfortunate that there needs to be a reminder here: this is not a us-vs-them, "my preferred franchise is better than your preferred franchise" thread. We're doing retrospectives on the big games that came out last year, and the PCARS2 one had none of these issues.

Yet here, not even 10 posts in, we have a member with a history of misconstruing features of the site, or creating an intentionally misleading "official" Instagram, encouraging this behaviour with some flamebait.

We cover multiple racing games. We have positive and negative things to say about all of them. Get used to it.

 

[Silver Arrows]

It's unfortunate that there needs to be a reminder here: this is not a us-vs-them, "my preferred franchise is better than your preferred franchise" thread. We're doing retrospectives on the big games that came out last year, and the PCARS2 one had none of these issues.

Yet here, not even 10 posts in, we have a member with a history of misconstruing features of the site, or creating an intentionally misleading "official" Instagram, encouraging this behaviour with some flamebait.

We cover multiple racing games. We have positive and negative things to say about all of them. Get used to it.

What do you expect? This is a site where GT is the focus, and Forza fans are the minority. For the most part, Forza fans have been relatively respectful, and keep to their own section of the forum. More often then not, it's GT fans who come into this forum with an axe to grind like its 2007 all over again, or somebody tries to pull out a gotcha against Forza fans by saying it has a feature that isn't the case (micro transactions) or by trying to say that GT has this one feature that Forza doesn't.

In my time spent on this side of the forum, it's been Forza fans that have been respectful, and have been relatively forthcoming with the shortfalls and problems of both FH and FM. The problem begins to arise when you have GT fans coming in to snipe from the sidelines.

 

[ImaRobot]

What do you expect? This is a site where GT is the focus, and Forza fans are the minority. For the most part, Forza fans have been relatively respectful, and keep to their own section of the forum. More often then not, it's GT fans who come into this forum with an axe to grind like its 2007 all over again, or somebody tries to pull out a gotcha against Forza fans by saying it has a feature that isn't the case (micro transactions) or by trying to say that GT has this one feature that Forza doesn't.

In my time spent on this side of the forum, it's been Forza fans that have been respectful, and have been relatively forthcoming with the shortfalls and problems of both FH and FM. The problem begins to arise when you have GT fans coming in to snipe from the sidelines.

To be honest, you can't really say "GT Fans" as a general term as more often than not, as the years went by here those end up being one and the same as "Forza Fans" as the two intermingle so much now. If your a fan for either or it's likely that you're going to enjoy the other side as well. There seem to be just the same bunch of people doing what you're pointing out, though they tend to weed themselves out.

 

[beyond72]

As someone just recently coming from GT6, FM4 and Shift 2, this game is amazing to me, like a perfect mix of the 3.
I'm still shocked to see certain cars during races and the fact you can earn money from the free play, but only once you own the car, is a great hook!

 

[SlipZtrEm]

What do you expect? This is a site where GT is the focus, and Forza fans are the minority. For the most part, Forza fans have been relatively respectful, and keep to their own section of the forum. More often then not, it's GT fans who come into this forum with an axe to grind like its 2007 all over again, or somebody tries to pull out a gotcha against Forza fans by saying it has a feature that isn't the case (micro transactions) or by trying to say that GT has this one feature that Forza doesn't.

In my time spent on this side of the forum, it's been Forza fans that have been respectful, and have been relatively forthcoming with the shortfalls and problems of both FH and FM. The problem begins to arise when you have GT fans coming in to snipe from the sidelines.

I understand your intentions here, but you're still doing the us-vs-them thing. Just the other way around.

Yes, numbers-wise, the Forza community here on GTPlanet is smaller than the GT one. Also, by dint of this being GTPlanet, there's a higher chance — though this certainly isn't always the case — that a Forza player here most likely has experience with the Gran Turismo series in some form, whereas that doesn't seem to be the case as often the other way around.

But there are cases of problematic "gotchas" in either sub-forum. We don't tolerate either.

The really funny part of it? The "battle" — and I'm using air-quotes here, as I type it, to show the ridiculousness of it all — is fan-made. I've spent time with both Sony and Microsoft people the past year. Sony folks have asked me for tips on Forza 7 and gushed about the car selection. Microsoft people have told me the story of how nervous they were to meet Kaz at E3 one year, as he was the man responsible for putting them on the path to making driving games.

There's people on both sides of the aisle (and the other aisles, like SMS, Kylotonn, and other devs I've had the pleasure of meeting) that just love what they do. They also want to see the other teams out there do well. Why? Because it pushes them to improve, and because better sales of racing games across the board means this genre thrives.

 

[beyond72]

I can't help but think GT fans who totally dismiss the Forza series have never actually played any of the games.

 

[ImaRobot]

I can't help but think GT fans who totally dismiss the Forza series have never actually played any of the games.

You're not entirely wrong. The most vocal few still think Forza Motorsport 7 has Microtransactions.

 

[bf3]

I can't help but think GT fans who totally dismiss the Forza series have never actually played any of the games.

I stopped playing GT after 4 (played all 1,2,3 way to much),then i tried Forza 2 and never looked back at GT,especially after GT5 fail (still have disk tho so i can remember all Poly promises and what we got).While Forza is not real sim,at least they never put "real driving simulator" on they game boxes.
GT and Forza kinda needs each other - kinda like Intel/AMD or Nvidia/AMD,so none of them will stagnate.
Most of the time i see GT fans trying to undermine Forza,but they forgetting that Forza beat GT in they own game basically.
As for sides - personally dont care,i buy games i like and enjoy.

Because that is definitely not the fault of licensing issues.

If MS can get "license for damage" for they very first Forza,why Sony couldnt for how many games? It wasnt only licensing thing

 

[Joey D]

Homogilation killed FM7 for me since the rules around the racing were too exact. I liked taking a D class car and building it to run with A class cars all day long, FM7 took that away. As a result, I became bored with it.

In terms of fun, I think the Horizon series is way above the Motorsport series and I'm glad to see FH4 on track to get a ton of love.

 

[ImaRobot]

Homogilation killed FM7 for me since the rules around the racing were too exact. I liked taking a D class car and building it to run with A class cars all day long, FM7 took that away. As a result, I became bored with it.

That alone caused a good bit of displeasure for me. A class was my spot and I always liked choosing the lower D and C class cars into that class. It was so enjoyable when you find that one gem that's able to compete fairly well with anything else you'd see in that class.

It also completely killed the Rivals section for me too.

 

[PzR Slim]

Why does it always have to be Us v Them? I play every single racing game I can get my hands on, why can’t it just be us, racing game fans?

 

[TokoTurismo]

I remember back in FM4, how there was a no class restriction option for all events. I would not mind this be added back in FM8.

The homogilation wasn't so fond for me either.

 

[DC2_Evan]

Question for the wheel users. Is it worth it to get a wheel for this game? I ask because I have a Fanatec wheel for my ps4, and the only thing needed to make it work on my Xbox is a different wheel rim which isn't to expensive. If it's worth it, I'd bite the bullet and go for it. I mostly play GTS with my wheel, but I also dabble in AC and PC2. Just looking for some in sight. Thanks in advance. Also for the GT vs. Forza stuff going around, I'm a fan of both lol. I've played every Forza since the first one and all but the PS3 era GT games

 

[Dopplegagger]

Question for the wheel users. Is it worth it to get a wheel for this game? I ask because I have a Fanatec wheel for my ps4, and the only thing needed to make it work on my Xbox is a different wheel rim which isn't to expensive. If it's worth it, I'd bite the bullet and go for it. I mostly play GTS with my wheel, but I also dabble in AC and PC2. Just looking for some in sight. Thanks in advance. Also for the GT vs. Forza stuff going around, I'm a fan of both lol. I've played every Forza since the first one and all but the PS3 era GT games

I think it's well worth it to get a wheel for Forza. I wouldn't play the title without one.

 

[DC2_Evan]

I think it's well worth it to get a wheel for Forza. I wouldn't play the title without one.

I've just heard so much about it being hit and miss. I've played all the games with a controller so I know my pace would suffer a little bit at first, but the single player of the FM games is so much better than GTS, and using a wheel is much more fun lol

 

[Dopplegagger]

There is room for improvement, it's not like the PC sims where you'd feel everything, but the game isn't completely numb and vague. The road feel is missing, and I tend to need to adjust my DOR when I am running some cars (Race cars like Formula E, F1, LMP or some of the track ready cars like the Radical RXC ect…) but outside of that it's not much different than a couple of the sims I play. It just isn't as detailed. One thing though. You will know what direction the tires want to go. The Pneumatic trail effect in FM7 is pretty good.

I do think that Turn 10 should have had FFB worked out by now, but I am hopeful that they will address it soon enough. Heck, if the EMUwheel crew can get proper FFB through using the Data out on PC, then I am certain that good FFB can be extracted by Turn 10.

As far as pace. You already know that you'd be slower at first, and that once you get the hang of running with a wheel, you'll feel more rewarded setting similar lap times. I've viewed it as needing more concentration and skill to set those times. But now I am to the point where I'd be terrible if I used a controller.

 

[DC2_Evan]

Good to know. I'm gonna do some more research and talk to a few of my wheel using buddies. I'll probably end up getting a new wheel rim at some point regardless

 

[-Fred-]

I liked the concept behind homologation, and in some divisions it worked pretty well and genuinely made things more competitive (the Forza GT class comes to mind), but the overall execution could have been better thought out in some other classes.

When I purchased the game last fall and played it for a few days, I genuinely didn't like it very much, as did a bunch of us. Complaints were made, and T10 had no choice but to get into damage control mode and fix some of the things. I'd say that the gaming experience has improved dramatically after each update and honestly, you really can't compare the game when it came out and how it is now. Of course there's still some stuff that could be better, and I hope that the continued support they've announced will bring the game to another level. As it stands right now, with all the changes that have been made, my very unpopular opinion is that it is now a better experience than FM6 and FM4, which were the standout titles for me.

 

[RPM Bibblefish]

I liked the concept behind homologation, and in some divisions it worked pretty well and genuinely made things more competitive (the Forza GT class comes to mind), but the overall execution could have been better thought out in some other classes.

When I purchased the game last fall and played it for a few days, I genuinely didn't like it very much, as did a bunch of us. Complaints were made, and T10 had no choice but to get into damage control mode and fix some of the things. I'd say that the gaming experience has improved dramatically after each update and honestly, you really can't compare the game when it came out and how it is now. Of course there's still some stuff that could be better, and I hope that the continued support they've announced will bring the game to another level. As it stands right now, with all the changes that have been made, my very unpopular opinion is that it is now a better experience than FM6 and FM4, which were the standout titles for me.

I prefer the homologated divisions so much more than the class rivals. I understand why people wanted them back but i really don't care for the missile cars that seem to come hand in hand with them

 

[palqo]

And there never will be which is a good thing as FFB is a very personal preference.

After hundreds of hours racing not much more the rFactor2, I am loving both Forza games.

FH4 is a breath of fresh air, just plain fun.

FM7 I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit. There are a few things that need attention such as lack of FOV adjustments and lift off oversteer should not be occuring when slicks and downforce are involved on a dry track.
I can't hit my apexes at speed in fear of the snap oversteer unless there is some setup help out there someone would care to share.

And that's the thing. "Personal preference" is just the byproduct of people trying to get the FFB right. If it was set up correctly from the start, most people would not try to "personalize", as it would feel right.

Regarding lift off oversteer, I know exactly what you are talking about. I had the same problem and it really frustrated me. Since I set up the FFB with help of that video, it's gone. After I tuned it a bit with the STi, I went out to test the BAC Mono, which I know how should behave from PC 1/2 and I was having a blast with it

That really strange snap-oversteer is way too aggressive in FM7 and the speed sensitivity is set way too high, you feel limited not by the phyics but by the baked in speed sensitivity when you want to steer into corners in FM7. It's a honestly disgusting feeling when i compare it to the likes of PCars2, AC, ACC or GTS. All these games offer you more controller freedom and still manage to be accessible (AC and ACC to a lower degree, i reckon you have to adjust there yourself a bit). So the driving feels a bit numb to me when compared to other racing games, thats the first minus and it's just so sad because i would love to want to enjoy the massive amount of cars more, but i honestly love to drive the same track/car combination in AC or ACC more just because the driving feels so so visceral and real. Whereas FM7 is more like the super hot girl but with bad breath when you come closer.

There is room for improvement, it's not like the PC sims where you'd feel everything, but the game isn't completely numb and vague. The road feel is missing, and I tend to need to adjust my DOR when I am running some cars (Race cars like Formula E, F1, LMP or some of the track ready cars like the Radical RXC ect…) but outside of that it's not much different than a couple of the sims I play. It just isn't as detailed. One thing though. You will know what direction the tires want to go. The Pneumatic trail effect in FM7 is pretty good.

I do think that Turn 10 should have had FFB worked out by now, but I am hopeful that they will address it soon enough. Heck, if the EMUwheel crew can get proper FFB through using the Data out on PC, then I am certain that good FFB can be extracted by Turn 10.

Settings, settings, settings. FFB is fine, it's just the mapping for specific wheels that nobody in the genre bothers doing. This solved my problems

 

[Corsa]

And that's the thing. "Personal preference" is just the byproduct of people trying to get the FFB right. If it was set up correctly from the start, most people would not try to "personalize", as it would feel right.

Regarding lift off oversteer, I know exactly what you are talking about. I had the same problem and it really frustrated me. Since I set up the FFB with help of that video, it's gone. After I tuned it a bit with the STi, I went out to test the BAC Mono, which I know how should behave from PC 1/2 and I was having a blast with it





Settings, settings, settings. FFB is fine, it's just the mapping for specific wheels that nobody in the genre bothers doing. This solved my problems

You have to have adjustability.

If FFB was locked to a universal setting the devs deemed correct for everyone there would be tens of thousands of negative opinions across dozens of different wheels.

What feels correct to me on my old Fanatec CSR would be far too powerful on my brothers OSW mige, or too light for the T150 user.

There has to be options to dial in our gear.

Take for example one of my only Motorsport 7 complaints, FOV.

The devs gave us no adjustability here, probably as it greatly affects FPS but wouldn't you like to fine tune it so that dashboard is perfectly lined up behind your wheel?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you're thoughts but I think the real gains for us all here will be in improved physics and tire model.