The Original Forza Motorsport: A New Challenger Approaches

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

The Original Forza Motorsport: A New Challenger Approaches
Good games come and go, but the best have staying power. They redefine their genre and force the competition to take notice. Twelve long years ago, Forza Motorsport accomplished exactly that...

This article was published by Adam Ismail (@glassjaw) on October 8th, 2017 in the Features category.

 

[deththrasher]

Back when Forza Motorsport actually deserved the name.

 

[Edzgt5]

The first two games were pretty good, now they are jsut milking it for the money

 

[ryzno]

The first two games were pretty good, now they are jsut milking it for the money

Could the same not be said about GT and every other Racing/Sports game?

Many games could follow the Truck Simulator series. 1 game, that they continue to update. Not a new game every year or two cause they want to add something...

I can understand a new game per system but multiple games which are practically the same is ridiculous.

Yeah I'm also looking at you 2K whatever year/sport.

They act like everyone has a bottomless wallet!

 

[VXR]

It took some serious chops to not just step out of GT’s shadow, but stand alongside it. As the article says, it was so very playable and in my opinion, the handling just felt that much more interesting than GT4 did.

 

[Edzgt5]

Could the same not be said about GT and every other Racing/Sports game?

Many games could follow the Truck Simulator series. 1 game, that they continue to update. Not a new game every year or two cause they want to add something...

I can understand a new game per system but multiple games which are practically the same is ridiculous.

Yeah I'm also looking at you 2K whatever year/sport.

They act like everyone has a bottomless wallet!

I wouldnt say the same for gt, I'd rather they made more than they do but not as many as one per year and lots of paid dlc with it,
The only other games that have done similar to forza is need for Speed a few years back, and the f1 games, f1 rarely has paid dlc ( just classic cars every now and then)

 

[ImaRobot]

I wouldnt say the same for gt, I'd rather they made more than they do but not as many as one per year and lots of paid dlc with it,
The only other games that have done similar to forza is need for Speed a few years back, and the f1 games, f1 rarely has paid dlc ( just classic cars every now and then)

Well you better prepare yourself for lots of paid DLC with the upcoming GTS.

 

[JohnBM01]

In becoming part of GTPlanet, I came here to learn of Gran Turismo 4 and follow its development. This Forza Motorsport was an upstart to try to steal Gran Turismo's thunder. I still remember finally being able to play the Forza Motorsport demo long ago. Based on that, I was like... "THIS is better than Gran Turismo?" I thought then people only cared about Forza since online play was dropped in GT4 and that many people were disappointed with the lineup of cars in GT4. You know, "50 Skylines, 25 Lancers, countless kei cars..." "no Ferrari, Porsche, or Lamborghini..." "still can't damage my cars..." and stuff like that. And let's not forget that there were people who forgot other world-class car companies then. There were even those who were very disappointed about the much-promised online play in GT4 being eventually scarpped. I always thought the game has to be great in single-player before even considering pushing the experience further with online multiplayer. Even at the expense of getting ridiculed because my opinions were left of the GTPlanet mainstream, I didn't care. And surely I remember well those who antagonized me just because I didn't think on the same wavelength as others.

Most of you who know me know I eventually grew to respect what Forza Motorsport is and why I respected it. I grew to love the customization aspect and even a good amount of the action. Most of my experience came from playing FM1 at a kiosk at a Sears store. The full game was on it. And to be honest, one of my reasons for maybe finding a secondhand XBOX (or maybe an XBOX 360) was to play FM1. I actually still want to spend more time with the Forza series. Just like I still consider GT1 the best Gran Turismo, I sort of see FM1 as the best Forza. This is even if FM1's graphics were horrid and with even more horrid music (just because you can put in your own music doesn't give FM1 a free pass on the music front).

You can make your claim as to if GT or FM is better, but we all can agree- Forza Motorsport has come a long way from being a Gran Turismo XBOX gamers can be proud of to being its own top-flight simulation racing game series. It had to begin somewhere. So I would surely pick up and play Forza Motorsport 1 if you are bestowed with an XBOX or maybe an XBOX 360. My main memories mostly were my thoughts of Forza's promises vs. Gran Turismo reassuring fans why they even cared to continue playing GT games.

 

[Lawndart]

Forza 1 followed Gran Turismo 1's formula to a T. All the way to 3? GT ditched all their leading immersive features in exchange for car count. That leading feature was building up each car into it's race car counterpart. GT tried to bring it back in more recent installments but fell well below the original, Literally, GT 1 had every car most kids drove then and all of them could become race cars, a real pipe dream experience for that day and age. So effective it fed car culture.

 

[GBO Possum]

Forza 1 astounded me for two reasons

1. Through a secret handshake, one could switch on multi-screen support
2. Said multi-screen support even works perfectly when Forza is running in compatibility mode on an Xbox 360

Thus began a long path of 3-screen experiences for me. Support was formalized in FM2, 3, 4, and when Turn 10 dumped that function in FM5, FH1, (FM6 and now FM7), I dumped Turn 10 and moved to GT5 and GT6

Ahhh, those first four Forza games even had an option to display prior lap times to help practice for consistency. FM2, 3 and 4 even had an 8.3 megapixel camera! Those were the days!

 

[SPhilli911]

I loved Forza Motorsports 1. I jumped ship from Gran Turismo all those years ago because, to me, it was a better game. The one thing that mattered to me was how fun it was, not necessarily how realistic it claimed to be. Who woulda thought that 12 years later I'd be playing FM7 and haven't touched a GT game since.

I do wish they would tone it down with the rapid launches though, 7 games in 12 years is a lot. Even the most die-hard fans are getting burned out from the series and it's hard not to feel like it's become a cash grab more than anything.

 

[JohnBM01]

Oh, a lot of people were like, "there have been _-many Forzas between GT_ and GT_." As if Gran Turismo has to be like the Madden games, like they have to make a new GT every year with here-and-there refreshes. I sometimes think people WANT to find something to hate rather than appreciate what solid games there are. You want the best possible game but then be disappointed when it doesn't meet your lofty expectations. There is no worse feeling than having super high expectations bring you to shame. I think my cnly complaint with GT4 was that while there was Scion, there wasn't the tC. I wasn't boycotting PD because they didn't have Ferrari or whatever in GT4. I kind of got sick of the complaining regarding GT4 at the time, as if GT4 was the biggest letdown or disappointment of the series.

We all can agree Forza Motorsport has been Gran Turismo's biggest competition EVER. SEGA GT did not very much to rattle Gran Turismo's boots. Not many other racing game titles went toe-to-toe like Forza did with GT. Forza is a an excellent franchise for a reason. Now that I think about it, Forza 1 did have one graphical advantage over GT4 and Enthusia Professional Racing- 3D drivers for all vehicles. I even still fancied seeing the open circuits (like Pacific Shipyards) and that Alpine Raceway(?) track. I mean... Forza 1 has just so much. And it is the only real Forza I've played through even if briefly and even if on a store kiosk.

 

[KingK76]

Great article.

 

[Allek]

Where else can you get 600~700 premium cars on console?

 

[The_Paladin]

I knew Forza Motorsports was going to be a big thing when I saw the trailer at E3 2004 and started to read the previous, they were doing things that I wanted for so much time in a Gran Turismo type of game, with the ability to drive Ferraris and Porsches and other supercars (which was a lacking area in GT), I cant stress enough how much I wanted to drive Ferrari F40 in a simulation, and how good it sounded (hated many GT sounds like tyres) , damage and customization was amazing, the AI too and track selection was awesome, I loved those fictional tracks.

For me Forza one change it all and also made Polyphony realise that they had to evolve GT series.

 

[Anonanon]

I had a huge problem with Forza dropping prize cars for player level rewards starting with Forza 3. The leap in car model quality, menu presentation, player storefront, modeled interiors were fantastic at the time of release. But looking back, I am willing to give up all of those and that's why I picked up Forza 2 Platinum Hits containing every piece of DLC, all for a couple bucks on Amazon. Not to mention Forza 3 completely neutered body damage where you absolute obliterate your car and it's just some paint scratches and a wobbly crumpled body. In Forza 2, a simple love tap can leave a bumper on the road. It was obscenely ugly for a 2007 Xbox 360 game, the same year when Project Gotham Racing 4 achieved photorealism, plus 8 lap races with no music could put me to sleep with no rewinds. However, mechanically speaking back then everything was an upgrade instead of a downgrade, which seems to be the current trend because Turn 10 is creative bankrupt so they have to lock random older cars behind VIP and DLC and mess up driver assist into gimmicks, all just for the sake of switching things up for a new release. It is extremely worrying to me when sports games start to look more promising than driving games.

 

[Dopplegagger]

I wish this game was on PC. Don't get me wrong, I like FM7 and it's a superior title but, I often wish I could play this looking its best and above 30fps. Plus I kind of miss the original tracks that never made the jump to the newer installments. Oh well. A fella can dream.

 

[GTvsForza]

There's always DLC.