Forza 3 is the new racing simulator from Turn 10 Studios, exclusively for the Xbox 360. This studios life is Forza and their only previous work has been this series since their start in 2003. When the first title came out for the original Xbox in 2005, it made a huge splash and great ratings. Then two years later, its sequel came out for the Xbox 360 and once again made another great coming out party and introduced several community features that still put other games to shame. And now, like clockwork, we have Forza 3. Will it carry the same great tradition its previous predecessors carried or will it wipe out on the track?

Forza 3 starts out with a basic question, what kind of racer are you? From your response, the game changes to suit your needs. If you are new to racing, tons of assists will be turned on and complex things will get toned down. If you’re a seasoned veteran the opposite will happen. Everything will be exposed and no punches will be held back. The second thing you’ll be asked in the beginning is if you want to install disc 2. This content includes extra cars and other assets to the tune of 2.1GB but is not necessary. It seems weird that you’d need to include a second disc but this game is feature rich. There are as many cars in a single class as there are in entire other games. Same thing goes with the levels, especially if you buy the game new and download the retro levels from the first two games. The assists in the game run the normal spectrum like anti-lock brakes and traction control but one is interesting. There is a break assist which will automatically break for you so you just have to follow the driving line on the road. It kind of takes the assists a little too far but it’s there at least if you have a young one who wants to enjoy the game. Then on top of that, for everyone, you have unlimited rewinds. It doesn’t seem to penalize you for using them which means you’re never forced to attempt to drive perfectly because there are no consequences. That is kind of disappointing, takes an edge off of the game. Turning off the other assists and increasing the driver difficulty will net you added experience and money. Then you can take this money and buy new things from new cars, paint jobs/decals, or upgrade an existing car. There is a full system for upgrading your car and you can upgrade any part you desire and it’s well balanced. Since each class is based upon a certain performance index, you’ll constantly bump over unless you plan right and take only the essential things you need. For those who don’t want to delve into a myriad of options, you can do a quick upgrade. The game will look at how much money you have and what is available and give you the best option. What’s even cooler is that these upgrades will affect the look of the car and if you get something that can be seen outside, it’ll look like fresh from the store. You’ll have to reapply decals and paint it accordingly if you want more than just the basic paint job.

Before the race you have a variety of options before you start. You can see the race lineup and load tuning setups. But the interesting one is that you can hire a driver before the race. This feature sounds awesome, especially at the length of games like this, but you’re forced to watch the race. There is no way to skip it or fast forward it. Then once you’re done with fine tuning everything you begin the race. You’ll be starting in the rear until you make your way through the ranks which isn’t as cool as basing it on the performance index of the cars but the difficulty isn’t that hard. I don’t play racing games that much but I struggled to give me a challenge. I turned off most of the assists and have the driving AI set to medium and I win every time but the minor switch to hard and it’s too difficult. I wish they made the difficulty more gradual. Turning off assists and setting the driver AI has the effect of boosting your experience and money within the season play. You will get driver and car experience. When you level up in the driver category, you’ll get a new car. When you level up your car, you will get a price reduction in upgrades. The system works nice and is addicting enough to push you through to see what the next level might bring. The racing physics are great as usual which means if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can screw yourself in an instant. This is usually the looming tension over your shoulder but this game has unlimited rewinds. You don’t appear to lose experience or have any ramification for using them which is disappointing. It’s not even an assist you can turn off to get more money or experience. And the rewind feature does not feel that robust compared to other games in the genre. Instead of choosing how far you rewind, the game tries to intelligently pick how far you want to rewind so sometimes you overshoot where you want to be by a good margin. It works, but would’ve been a lot nicer if you were in control of it rather than the game.

After every race, you’ll have the option of watching and saving the replay just like any other racer but there is a very distinct twist. Here you’ll be able to take pictures and even record videos for others to see in the storefront and on the Forza website. It’s really neat to find the perfect shot, tweak it a little bit, and then upload it to the internet for all your friends to see. The tweaks include all the basics from brightness and contrast to some more advanced options like aperture and focus. The videos can be up to 30 seconds long and up to the resolution of 720p. But other than these, the replay system isn’t that robust. You can’t quickly fast forward, you click fast forward and it reloads at another point down the line which is disappointing. You can use the triggers to go forward and backwards for the perfect shot but it doesn’t go faster than real-time. It’s kind of clunky but the amazing photo mode makes up for it, especially with how beautiful the game looks. As well as online, these items will also appear on the Forza Storefront within the game. This place is your one-stop shop for your car. Using money you earn in the game, you can buy complete new paintjobs or just purchase a design to use on your car. Plus, some of these items have no cost. They are completely set by the person who made it. Looking through the store is fairly quick but loading in the content takes some time. Even when you scroll back, it’ll have to reload the content. It’s hard at times to say what is more fun, racing on the track or messing around with the robust features off of it but there is something for everyone.

When you’re ready for multiplayer, you have several playlists to pick from. Most of them having you select from a particular class of car but the more casual ones are pick any class you want. The noticeable absence here is that the only selectable classes are the top tier ones, which is disappointing. The early single player has you investing time and resources playing in low-class cars only to not take that enjoyment online sans a private match with friends. In private matches you can augment pretty much every aspect of the game from overriding certain assists to restricting the playfield to only certain cars. You’ll have the choice of literally dozens of beautiful maps and game modes but once again, if you want to play any of the more fun ones, you’re going to have to find friends. In matchmaking you’ll at least be able to vote to change map and kick troublesome people. Once you’re in the game, it’s just like being in the single player, except the other drivers are real. The biggest issue you’ll have is the collision model which basically ensures if you crash (or someone crashes into you) you’ve probably lost the match. You can change this in private matches but in matchmaking, you’re stuck. Getting into games is quick with you being able to join lobbies while the game is in progress. Once a game is completed, a minute countdown starts and then the next game starts right up. It would’ve been neat if the host of the room could start it sooner or extend it because once you have your car, you’re already ready. But if you haven’t chosen your car, it can take a decent length of time to find what you want to race in because there are just so many different cars. The meat of the game seems to be in private games through. You’ll be able to customize your experience to a great degree and have access to some of the more whacky game types which will help change of the pace of pure racing every time.

The views in this game are simply beautiful. You’ll find yourself looking off in the distance and marveling at all the detail. Then a competition flies in your face and you start to marvel at all the detail in the car. It’s outstanding. When you’re in replay mode you can inspect every aspect of the cars and environment and the blemishes are few. The biggest thing you’ll notice is the copious amounts of aliasing around the finer details and the long loading. Installing the game helps a little bit but it still feels too long. But the cars are simply awesome. The detail on them almost makes the game feel like a tech demo for some new graphics processer. When you upgrade your car, not only will you feel it, but sometimes you’ll also see it. The in-game car views put every other racer to shame. Not every gizmo in them works unfortunately but the basics like the speedometer definitely do and it’s a nice touch. The point where I knew they were awesome was when I looked up in the rearview mirror, just like in a normal car. And then sometimes you’ll have a European car which will put the driver on the other side and it’s just as disorienting initially as if you did it in real life. They’re so good you almost wish they finally did away with the HUD or hid it creatively in the dashboard of the car. The ability to customize your car in the paint shop rivals even some computer-based image software and those who use Photoshop will feel at home with the layer-based system. The graphics and customizability are amazing, they do take a little patience at time to see but in the end it’s well worth the wait.

Music takes a back seat on this ride to let the awesome car noises shine. Each car sounds distinctive and great. The squeal of the tires make you feel like you’re right there. Crashes sound like you’re right there. Contrasting this in the menus you have a nice British voice over for tutorials which sounds good and helps explain what’s going on. He’s only there for as long as you want and can prevent him from popping up in the future. For music, you can go into the settings and make it the focal point but it’s nothing special. The car noises are what makes this game and what makes you feel like you’re really inside the car.

Forza 3 is another great addition to the series. It takes everything that Forza 2 did and builds on it. The levels are more distinct, the game has more soul, and the features are ratcheted up a notch. This is the Call of Duty of racers, sure you have games that are more realistic and some they target the casuals more, but Forza 3 has such a nice blend you won’t miss them. If you’re a hardcore racing fan, you can turn the game into a simulation or if you’re a more casual player, you can rip out all the extras. The game has an amazing flexibility and intelligently caters to what you want. If you like racing, this is the game you get.

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