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Forza Motorsport 2


Labeled With  forza motorsport 2 xbox360 microsoft
Written by DM on Thursday, June 14 2007

The Xbox360 has had its share of racing games, that’s for sure. What is interesting though is that each of these games was actually a different type of racer, be it arcade, sim, quasi-sim, or RPG street style. There is even an MMO racing game for the Xbox360, Test Drive Unlimited, which is doing very well considering it is the first of its kind. Where does Forza Motorsport 2 lie in all of this? Well, it is about as simulation-like as you can get on the new MS console. It also happens to be, give or take, the single best racing game to date on the Xbox360.

If you consider yourself a lover of cars in any way, shape, or form, then you are going to like Forza 2. I can say that without hesitation because even if you feel you will be disappointed with the lack of included cars in the game, you will be thrilled by the amount of customization and tweaking that the game lets you do. I know many of you have heard that claim before, but this time, it is for real. I am talking about tweakage of things like the fuel-to-air ratio, and the angle of the pistons. I’m talking about stuff that regular Joe’s like me would never bother touching, especially in real life. Put it this way, my brother, who is a mechanic in real life, only plays about games a year on his consoles. It would be even less than six if I did not force him to try a game here and there. Well, when he picked up my review copy of Forza 2 about a week ago, I had to go out and buy another copy to review because he has been playing non-stop ever since.




Each car and car manufacturer in the game has its own distinct feel. The cars from Toyota have a certain way about them, and you will notice that Microsoft has gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that all the cars from a certain maker (even the maker’s secondary label, like Toyota makes Lexus), have the same feel when driving. With more than 300 cars included in the game, this is no small feat. On top of this feature, each class of car has its own distinct feel as well. The low end hatchbacks will never feel the same as the high-end Euro exotics, no matter how much you change under the hood. The Forza 2 team really went to the extreme to make sure that a different car means a different car – something that is sorely lacking in many racers these days.

The game’s actual developer, Turn 10, have gone to great lengths to improve the physics engine, the real backbone of the game. The original Forza was no slouch in the physics department either; it was one of the most realistic racing games on the Xbox. The game runs at 60fps, but if I understand the technicality of it correctly, the physics engine runs at 360fps. In other words, the engine is calculating any change needed in response in a near-instantaneous fashion. Of course, this results in an extremely realistic and responsive racing experience. The engine also factors in almost every little aspect on the car and track when deciding how to make the car react. The hat of the tires, the car’s damage, the airspeed, the condition of the ground beneath the wheels, the state of the engine oil, and hundreds of other factors are added into the game’s physics equations. The math on it is mind-boggling, for sure, but it results in a hyper-realistic racing environment.

Realism in all aspects of a game like this is something to strive for certainly, but keep in mind it does create a minor drawback or two. First and foremost, there are no day/night or weather changes in the game. This is the most gaping omission, for sure, and one that I would have liked to see included, no matter what the physics hit would have been. Turn 10 has apparently revealed that this omission is due to their commitment to make the physics as realistic as possible, and there just wasn’t processing power left to add things like wind, rain, snow, and night-time temperature changes. Another trade-off was made in the draw distance of the game. If you glance off into the horizon while racing, you will notice jaggies and blocky shapes. This is because the items that are far off are either not drawn well, or replaced altogether with blocks. The jaggies, believe it or not, seem to crop up here and there in almost all graphical aspects of the game. Even the car models have a few jaggies here and there, some more than others, though. The reflections also are a bit skewed at times, and you will notice a mis-reflection here and there. The last trade-off is one that has many hardcore sim-racer Xbox360 Wheel owners up in arms – there is no dashboard cam view. There are two outside the car views, and two inside the car views. One of the inside views shows the car’s hood, but you can forget a behind-the-windshield view with gauges and all the accouterments. Sorry, folks. Turn 10 traded all these minor addition off for a serious amount of physics power, car damage graphics and ratings, and a seriously steady frame rate. When you are racing, you will not notice these omissions. Trust me folks, these things missing sound much worse on paper than they really are in-game.

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Forza Motorsport 2


 
 
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