Forza Motorsport 3 (XB360)

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[iPeter]

It's probably immature of me to say any of the following, but I would wager good money Forza 3 will be my game of the year. At the very least, it's the best sim racer ever. I've only had it since Tuesday, but I am already totally hooked on it way more than I am Modern Warfare 2. Forza 2 was already my favorite racing sim of all time, so what did they do to improve on the formula?

Event selection
You're given three events to choose from. I love this! I would spend way too much time deciding which event I wanted to sink my cash into and participate in. It's crazy, but taking away those dozens of options really helps keep the focus on racing. After your first few events the three options are subtitled with brief descriptions like, "See new tracks," or "Drive a different car." It's so simple and smart. "Hmm, I would like to see new tracks," or, "You know, I'm really digging this car, let's keep going with it."

Quick upgrades
I'm still a little worried about this option because I don't want to spend money on a minor engine upgrade and then more money on the next event for a slightly better engine upgrade, and so on. I haven't run into that problem yet, but I could see it manifesting later in the game. But there are major upsides to this feature. In FM2 I would wait until I could pimp my ride out with the best parts so I wouldn't be buying upgrades piece by piece. One downside of this method is that once I preformed an upgrade it was bye-bye to the competition. Quick upgrades only gives you what you need to be competitive, so you can spend fewer dollars and still have a great day at the races. And for me, money management can be a difficult task in racing sims. Now I'm not turning my Mini Cooper into a 450hp beast because I don't have to, and that's saving me buckets at the shop. And if you'd rather be racing than buying parts, Quick upgrades is genius.

Interface
The days of back and forth from garage to upgrade shop to event selection, a huge problem with Gran Turismo, are gone. The game knows what to provide so you can get back on the track as soon as possible. The game seems a little hot with all the whites, but that's a small knock.

Racing
It's Forza 2, only more detailed. The greatest addition of which is in-car view. I've never played a game with an in-car view like this. It took about two races to get used to, and once I did it was home. The view adds so much to the experience that it takes you from feeling like you are controlling a car, to you are driving a car. I don't know how else to describe it.

And for the record, I haven't come across any drifting challenges.

[Geese]

I've never played a game with an in-car view like this. It took about two races to get used to, and once I did it was home. The view adds so much to the experience that it takes you from feeling like you are controlling a car, to you are driving a car. I don't know how else to describe it.

I think that's a perfect description of it.

[Xx Jester 76 xX]

I've heard a lot of people complain about changes made to the online portion of the game.  I can't remember specifically, but I thought I read that a lot of Forza regulars thought they broke the match making system.  Any truth to that?  I really loved Forza 2, but have been reluctant to get this one because of all the complaints I've heard.

[iPeter]

I've heard a lot of people complain about changes made to the online portion of the game.  I can't remember specifically, but I thought I read that a lot of Forza regulars thought they broke the match making system.  Any truth to that?  I really loved Forza 2, but have been reluctant to get this one because of all the complaints I've heard.

I've yet to play an online race.

Another plus I've discovered is that the cars you own now have a special icon when you go shopping for cars. Once you get a good stable, it's tough to remember which auto you own. I went back and forth from my garage to the buy cars screen so many times in Forza 2. No longer. I haven't noticed if they've added that to the auction house. I kinda don't think they have. Maybe next time. I think it would also be nice if there was a filter in the auction house for "Find a car for this event" so I won't have to search through so many autos to find the perfect one.

I really liked Forza 2 and played the hell out of it.  But I'm a little concerned by the video of all the cars doing that "Tokyo Drift" shit.  If this game starts focusing on that type of racing, I won't be purchasing it.  I'm hoping that was just for demonstration purposes...

I haven't come across it yet, but the Game Informer review did mention some drift challenges.

I recently started a series where my car was 200 PI higher than the next highest competitor. I figured I'd try the hard difficulty setting. I almost lapped the last place guy, but ended up only a few seconds ahead of the second and third place racers. Makes the hard difficulty setting seem broken to me.

[RuFfNeCk]

For anyone that didn't get the Forza 3 LCE -  I've got one set of LCE DLC codes, as well as one set of the extra car pack (included with new copies of the game) for grabs.

Pieter - want the LCE stuff?

[iPeter]

That would be very cool, Chris. Thank you!

[iPeter]

Random photo taken to earn an achievement.

[Bryan]

Nice shot, P!

[Failsafe]

Random photo taken to earn an achievement.

I got this game for Xmas! Gift me your best cars, please and we'll play some!

[iPeter]

I sent you an Alfa Romeo and a Bugatti. The Bugatti is the fastest car I've driven in the game. And I haven't even upgraded it to its fullest potential. Enjoy!

[Bryan]

Car Whores: Two New Dopes.

[iPeter]

Car Whores: Revenge of the Shift

I'm getting pretty close to finishing this game and feel compelled to reiterate how awesome this racer is. I still haven't had one online race, but the single player has been more than enough.

[iPeter]

This is a Lambo I bought at the auction house. I love the simplicity of the paint job. It looks evil.

[Xx Jester 76 xX]

It looks like a Stealth fighter plane.  Pretty awesome!

[Geese]

Forza 3 looks awesome. But I just can't get into it. I played the crap out of Gran Turismo 1-3 (heck, I even imported GT1 which was entirely in Japanese - I had no idea what I was upgrading - I could just see the HP meter go up!) I bought a steering wheel and built a seat/harness for for GT3.

Anyways, I really enjoyed the whole racing/car upgrade thing...and then Burnout 3 happened. I think that was the game that made vanilla racing games seem a little...well...vanilla.

I really *want* to enjoy Forza 3 (I've only played the demo), but just normal racing doesn't seem to do it for me any more - which is too bad (for me), because Forza looks awesome.