Forza Motorsport Review: Rebooted and Resuited

[Tornado]

It's a racing game?

It sure is. Sounds like a pretty mid one, too. Maybe Steam Winter Sale fodder for anyone who owns 7, or something to try if you already have Game Pass.

What kind of gameplay loop are you looking for?

After six years of development and the fake airs that concepts like "franchise reboot" and "from the ground up" are deliberately intended to evoke, a fair bit more than "Forza 7 with some quality of life adjustments amongst all the carried over content; and exponentially increased GaaS-style player commitment to enjoy the game in liue of even giving the player something to do." Hell, if Turn 10 had actually had the balls to try and do something like Enthusia did for game structure like people were trying to compare when details of the CarPG system first came out, it would be immediately evident what the game offers over 7 beyond "taking up your time".



Great to hear that really simple things like "make sure one AI driver isn't way faster than everyone else" that have been an issue with the series for over half of its ebtries weren't addressed in all that six year ground up rebooting, too. But oh man, the steering wheel in cockpit view rotates 360 degrees, even in the models ported from Forza 3. Play this gamre now!

We race... and we race... and we practice... and we race...

It's a racing game.

Yeah yeah I inow. "Says Forza on the box 9/10" blah blah blah. Just because it's tinted green this time doesn't make it any more novel than back when it was Zer0 or Saidur Ali or maxpontiac or Tenacious D (or any of your other posts of the past decade); though at least back when GT5 launched the home teaming were somewhat fresher.

 

[FordGTGuy]

It sure is. Sounds like a pretty mid one, too. Maybe Steam Winter Sale fodder for anyone who owns 7, or something to try if you already have Game Pass.


After six years of development and the fake airs that concepts like "franchise reboot" and "from the ground up" are deliberately intended to evoke, a fair bit more than "Forza 7 with some quality of life adjustments amongst all the carried over content; and exponentially increased GaaS-style player commitment to enjoy the game in liue of even giving the player something to do." Hell, if Turn 10 had actually had the balls to try and do something like Enthusia did for game structure like people were trying to compare when details of the CarPG system first came out, it would be immediately evident what the game offers over 7 beyond "taking up your time".



Great to hear that really simple things like "make sure one AI driver isn't way faster than everyone else" that have been an issue with the series for over half of its ebtries weren't addressed in all that six year ground up rebooting, too. But oh man, the steering wheel in cockpit view rotates 360 degrees, even in the models ported from Forza 3. Play this gamre now!


Yeah yeah I inow. "Says Forza on the box 9/10" blah blah blah. Just because it's tinted green this time doesn't make it any more novel than back when it was Zer0 or Saidur Ali or maxpontiac or Tenacious D (or any of your other posts of the past decade); though at least back when GT5 launched the home teaming were somewhat fresher.

I literally read nothing here that explains what more gameplay loop a racing game is supposed to have.

I have played for two hours now, it's way beyond a "mid" racing game.

 

[EnzoRacer]

Personally from all the previews & reviews I've seen, I'd give it a 3/5 or 7/10.
... bad AI, the bad progression system, the lack of tracks & odd graphical issues...

bad AI and progression systems are in gt7. and graphics in gt7 is past-gen, but with some glamour for ps5.
fm is about interesting battles on tracks

 

[RedRockValley]

It doesn’t seem super awful but… 6 years for this? 6 years for no Nordschleife on launch, amongst so many other things?
Call me “ungrateful” or whatever, but surely I’m not crazy for expecting a better launch than this? 😅

 

[Apple Slipper]

Here are the cars from Forza Motorsport 5 to Forza Horizon 5 (XBOX ONE era) that are not in Forza Motorsport (2023) at launch.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I literally read nothing here that explains what more gameplay loop a racing game is supposed to have.

I have played for two hours now, it's way beyond a "mid" racing game.

You’re focussing too much on the racing, your practice/race gameplay loop thing. There’s a lot that hasn’t been done, the Ai is the same as before, the builders cup isn’t interesting enough, rivals lacks content, there aren’t enough tracks and without anything else interesting going on, it’s a mid racing game.

What’s more disappointing is the first trailer pointed towards an entirely new concept for the game. The earliest tests indicated that even more strongly, what we’ve been given, is Forza 7 with a slightly different career mode, less tracks, less events and slightly better physics.

 

[SuperSportX]

It's a racing game?

What kind of gameplay loop are you looking for?

We race... and we race... and we practice... and we race...

It's a racing game.

Yeah it's a pretty big improvement over FM7 in my opinion, couldn't get the game to work earlier but after Midnight it booted right up.

 

[R55NA]

Here are the cars from Forza Motorsport 5 to Forza Horizon 5 (XBOX ONE era) that are not in Forza Motorsport (2023) at launch.

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That is incredible.

What a truly sad sight.

 

[TokoTurismo]

It's a racing game?

What kind of gameplay loop are you looking for?

We race... and we race... and we practice... and we race...

It's a racing game.

I love the sense of progression it gives you when leveling up your cars. Each level gives you a reason to build up your cars and them competitive, further enhancing that loop. It's not for everyone, but FM really needed a fresh take on the formula of building cars. Though I recommend T10 to bring down the customization levels, as they are waaay too high for my liking. And levels should be shared between duplicates for sure.

Overall, I enjoy the racing, and the leader AI teaches me to drive faster to chase it down (my fav btw!) Haven't got into Featured Multiplayer yet, and will still practice before heading online.

 

[Moglet]

That Known Issues list is scary!

So much for a QA team?

If they are known issues then that points towards the QA team doing a very good job. They've identified lots of issues and have communicated them with the rest of the team, but they haven't been fixed, likely due to needing to hit a launch deadline.

 

[dirtydog]

Is it true this has the same bad AI as previous Forzas? One car races off into a big lead until you catch and pass them, then they meekly submit and back right off for the rest of the race?

 

[Rocket Racer]

Is it true this has the same bad AI as previous Forzas? One car races off into a big lead until you catch and pass them, then they meekly submit and back right off for the rest of the race?

Absolutely yeah. At least on difficulty 6/8 you have the frontrunners disappearing into the distance at downright implausible speeds, while the backmarkers are rolling obstacles and not even trying to be fast...
Meanwhile the cars in the P4-P8 range will actually behave realistically and give you a really good race.

Which makes it all the more sad, because the potential is obviously there. They just decided to have a ridiculous spread of pace between AI cars for some reason.

Oh, and they still make an absolute mess of the "racing game Turing Test" of parking your car on the racing line (in the direction of travel, leaving ample space for evasive action). A small number of cars actually swerves, most just slam into you absolutely unfazed lol.

Not that relevant for normal gameplay but still telling.

 

[Famine]

I enjoy the racing, and the leader AI teaches me to drive faster to chase it down (my fav btw!)

Good lord.

 

[Tornado]

I literally read nothing here that explains what more gameplay loop a racing game is supposed to have.

I have played for two hours now, it's way beyond a "mid" racing game.

And I'm sure Zer0 and Saidur Ali and maxpontiac and Tenacious D all thought they should be taken seriously in such matters too.

 

[United6694]

Was looking forward to reading the review, however I should have known it was never going to get a fair crack when compared to 'GT7: Return of the king'.

 

[Famine]

Was looking forward to reading the review, however I should have known it was never going to get a fair crack when compared to 'GT7: Return of the king'.

Excuse me?

What do you believe is unfair in my review? Are you aware that I didn't review GT7?

 

[Seikenfreak]

I had this idea last night to fire up Forza 4 as a way of satiating the questionable thirst to buy FM'23.

It's good in the way Forza has always been. And gameplay wise it, it did indeed look just like the newest entry. Regardless of car, anything from a FWD econo-box to a Le Mans prototype, you turn in, the rear comes around, then you counter, then it pushes etc etc. You basically drift around everywhere. It also didn't sound "bad" but always annoyed me how every car sounds like a race car. The tiny little 2dr Toyota 70hp or whatever it was car sounds like it has no exhaust.

I was enjoying myself a bit which then made me think "maybe I should get FM'23" which is the opposite effect I wanted lol But by driver level 5 I was kinda like eh okay I'm done for now. So I'm on the fence. I think it'd be interesting for someone playing FM'23, who hasn't played an older entry in awhile, to go back and see how much of a difference it feels like.

Unfortunately, I don't have an Xbox One anymore as I lent it to a friend and then just let him keep it since it never got used but I would've been curious to try FM6. Apparently I never owned FM5. Which I think says I was already tired of how barely iterative the games were back then.

Spoiler: Drama Llama

As a side note and not to stir up drama.. I did then immediately fire up GT5 which I haven't played in.. maybe 10 years I dunno. Wow the [premium] cars still look pretty great. Really cool going back and looking through the dealerships, amazed at how everything looks, getting mad about cars that aren't in GT7, and then driving a few things around. And even if the Standard cars don't look the best, I'm happy they are there so for so many more unique car choices. Many of my Favorite'd cars were standards. Also the image looked surprisingly sharp compared to Forza 4 and had up to 7.1 surround support and "Virtual Surround", whatever that was back then.

 

[nestarion]

Was looking forward to reading the review, however I should have known it was never going to get a fair crack when compared to 'GT7: Return of the king'.

The review seemed very fair to me. I read a lot of reviews and Famines arguments are very similar to the majority of them. It’s 8/10 after all, about the same as the metacritic score of 84.

 

[fast2ghl]

Excuse me?

What do you believe is unfair in my review? Are you aware that I didn't review GT7?

I think your review was basically spot on man. I keep telling my friends this; "Its better and worse at the same time" - and I truly think that's the case atm. Its like some parts of the game are better than FM7 and previous entries, but then other parts of it are baffling design choices or just downright stupid.

I've been with Forza since day one in 2005 on the OG Xbox. I own and have played every single game (including horizon series) all the way through till now. I'm also a big fan of GT and GT7 for the most part imo has been quite good. To say I was excited for a new entry in the Motorsport series is putting it lightly. I have come away from my first day playing it (took the day trip to New Zealand yesterday, was great fun) a little disappointed.

There is no reason my bone stock Mustang GT should pop flames, yet it does in Forza 23. GT7 took care of this, cars that shouldn't pop flames with stock exhausts, don't. I don't know why T10 cant get a handle on that. Its stupid little things like this that I don't understand. The wheels on cars when spinning look atrocious, yet PD in GT7 figured out a way to make them look beautiful and real.

I cant change the offset of my wheels like I can in Horizon and GT7, I cant reduce the wheel size like I can in GT7, I can't turn the high beams on or off like I can in GT7, I can't even rotate the car model around when I'm trying to install new wheels in the customization menu like I can in Horizon and GT7 (Thou GT offers several different views, not just using the right stick to freely rotate). The worst offense thou in all of this is the friggen upgrade, customization, paint menus. I have no idea who thought it'd be good to have all the cars in darkness. Its like there isn't any direct light on any of the models in the menus, this makes it super hard to even see the wheel design you are attempting to put on your car, you literally almost have to guess what it looks like. And I'm playing this on a 4k HDR TV - its not my settings, its the damn game. The paint / design menu is even worse imo, if I want to paint my wheels, I cant zoom into them to see what section of the wheel I'm painting with the advanced painting options LIKE I CAN IN GT AND HORIZON!!

The list of nitpicks I have with Forza 23 goes on and on. The actual driving on track is decent. The foundation is here to make this great, but for god sakes have they got some work to do. I'm just disappointed - we waited 6 years and still it feels like not much has actually changed overall... like really look a the game, other than rebuilt tracks, and some new cars, a new car progression system.... not much has actually evolved. At least PD went out of their way with GT7 in many respects to evolve it, I change the exhaust on a car, it changes visually, stuff like that. I expect that now in modern games, I don't see the excuse T10 has at this point.

I'm here for the long run and willing to give them the chance(s) they need to add/correct things. Lets hope it gets better.

 

[Famine]

I cant change the offset of my wheels like I can in Horizon

I actually missed that completely

 

[TokoTurismo]

Good lord.

No Fam, unfortunately I am not lord. But thank you for your concern though.

 

[fast2ghl]

I actually missed that completely

Yeah - I really miss this feature and I was hoping we'd see it in Forza 23 but nope.

 

[McLaren]

That is incredible.

What a truly sad sight.

Sad as it may be, there's also various reasons behind why much of it is missing from purposely trimmed cars like the Warthog to licensing issues like with Stellantis.

It also is not entirely truthful. It says the 2013 Dodge Viper SRT GTSR is not in, except in FM23, the car is there as a 2014. The Sian Roadster? It's a Sian coupe. The list also claims the 2019 Porsche 911 Speedster is missing when it isn't; it's available for 135,000 credits. The 1998 (996) GT1? That hasn't been in the series since Forza Motorsport 6, so that's hardly worth throwing a fit over now a near decade later. Then, you have oddities like the Subaru SVX that was last seen in Motorsport 7, but hasn't been in a Horizon game since FH3 according to the Forza Wiki. The 911 Sport Classic disappeared from the franchise altogether after FM4 until FH5 brought it back, so that's another car much fuss (except me personally as I loved it) wasn't made over.

I wouldn't take this list at face value. It is a lot of cars, but there's valid reasons for why much of it isn't there or likely hasn't been around (like the 996 GT1) for a long time.

 

[Famine]

No Fam, unfortunately I am not lord. But thank you for your concern though.

I'm aware - but then I'm aware that this is also you:

those annoying or frustrating events PD sometimes makes, like the chase the rabbit races (hopefully doesn't continue in the next title)

Just make sure the rabbit races are done and over with, I hate them so annoying.

I say "driving simulator" that pretends to be one that has boring gameplay, atrocious sounds, horrendous career mode that became 'chase the rabbit' etc.

Not even GT League is fun to play since it was all slapped together to form an "offline mode". It feels lifeless and no care was put into it. No rewards like in previous GT games, and it's all just chasing the rabbit...

GT7's pathetic attempt at a "career" mode (which I won't even call it that, because there is next to no engagement, effort, and progression put in to it, just dumb "chase the rabbit" arcade races anyway)

I could choose my own positions in the career mode, and not freakin' be forced in the back of the pack just to chase the damn rabbit (and yes, I'm very sour about that because nobody asked for that)

I enjoy the racing, and the leader AI teaches me to drive faster to chase it down (my fav btw!)

I haven't seen a case of rationalisation like this in years.

Personally I think it's **** game design in GT5, GT6, GTS, GT7, FH4, FH5, and FM23.

 

[DonkeyDoctor]

Is there an Auction House in this one? And what are the custom wheels selection like?

 

[D4N-D3MANN]

I actually quite enjoy the relief from the GT7 endless grind. And especially no lottery 🤣

 

[Famine]

Is there an Auction House in this one? And what are the custom wheels selection like?

No(t yet), and pretty much FH5's.

Although since every car is priced at 450,000cr or less (except the four single-player reward cars and paid add-ons) I'm not sure what an AH would be good for.

 

[McLaren]

Is there an Auction House in this one? And what are the custom wheels selection like?

No auction house "at launch" is what I think T10 has said.

 

[Gulyo]

My scores:
Graphics - 7,0 ( expected more on xbox x )
Sounds - 8,5 ( pretty good sounds )
Handling - 6,5 ( i hope they will fix it! )
Menu system - 10 ( beautiful and clean menu system, love it 😍)
Content - 8,5 ( lot of races, nice multiplayer)
Car building system is interesting idea. Like it so far. If they fix handling and tire modell, the game will be very good. Race cars on race tires has much better handling than road cars on road tires. Of course.
All in all i like it so far!

 

[TokoTurismo]

I'm aware - but then I'm aware that this is also you:







I haven't seen a case of rationalisation like this in years.

Personally I think it's **** game design in GT5, GT6, GTS, GT7, FH4, FH5, and FM23.

Not that I'm praising the AI, but don't how you have such a great memory... Stop saving my posts on to your computer!