The Drive of Your Life (Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360))

Member Name: Recon

Product:	Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)
Date:	09/03/08 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great physics - Realistic, Good graphics & sound, Plenty to do, Loads of cars - customize to the max

Disadvantages: Crazy tournament times on Xbox Live for Europeans, Sometimes laggy on Xbox Live

WARNING: Long Review >_>

Back in September 2007, I bought this game as I was in need of a good racing game. Having been released back in June 2007, it was only around 3 months old, but it felt newer! When I later found out that there was a very active online community on the game and around the internet, I realised that this game was in full play. When racing, there is a 60 frame per second picture, which adds to the brilliant thrill. It has to be the most realistic racing simulator I have ever played, and you must note that this is a simulator - not an arcade racer! It is more realistic than Gran Turismo 4 and has superb graphics too. There are more than 300 cars to collect with 14 tracks to race them on along with an extra 2 tracks available for download in the Xbox Live Marketplace. This game offers the ability to buy cars and customize them to the max! You can create your own designs using hundreds of different shapes whilst adjusting their size, transparency, skew and colour. When you head onto Xbox Live, you can do anything. Auction houses, tournaments and career races are just a few things you can do online. In my opinion, this is the best racing game ever to be launched and provides a superb and realistic simulation.


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~ Simulation ~
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This game is of the racing simulation genre, and it truly lives up to its name. Take the wheel of the complete racing simulation experience. Forza Motorsport 2 raises the bar with authentic handling, bone jarring damage, lifelike audio, photorealistic graphics, real-world upgrade parts and millions of customization combinations - as quoted by the game itself. With this game, you really can fuel your fantasy! There are infinite ways to customize your car and make it special to you. The game features 10 real-world tracks (2 are downloadable) that you can take your cars onto. There are over 300 real-world cars to take advantage of that you may never get a chance to drive in real life. This game provides an excellent simulation to really make it feel like you are in the drivers seat. You can take on some of the most desired cars such as the Ferrari Enzo, Pagani Zonda, TVR Cebera Speed 12 and the Ferarri FXX. As well as these high-performance cars, you can buy everyday cars such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI and the Ford Focus SVT. This game offers everything that a simulation racer should, and it does so with quality.


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~ Gameplay ~
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The gameplay is fantastic and it offers loads to do in a variety of different modes. From the modern game menu, you can either choose Arcade or Career mode. In Arcade mode, there are a few options: Exhibition, Time Trials and Free Run. In the exhibition mode, you will race head to head against other computer-controlled (AI) drivers to unlock new cars and race series. To start, you only have access to a few tracks and cars but you unlock more by placing poll positions in the races. There are a variety of different tracks throughout this mode and it can be quite tricky to beat the other racers, so it is a good challenge.

In Time Trial mode, you have to set the fastest lap times on a specific track with a specific car. The cars and tracks are chosen and you have to try and set the fastest time. By achieving certain lap times, you will unlock medals according to how fast your lap was. Gold medals will unlock more cars for you to use in the Arcade mode. The Free Run mode is pretty good as you can drive around any track with any car and just mess around. Whether you want to test out your car or go for a drive without the pressure of other drivers, then this is where to go. Overall, arcade mode is pretty good and offers a lot to complete, which contributes towards unlocking achievements.

The Career mode is where the fun begins and this is the main part of the game. The Career mode offers 9 different series, which are all unique in entry requirements and the sorts of tournaments in them. Then in each tournament, there are a series of races that you must compete in. As you can imagine, there is loads to do as some of the races are rather long too. Here are all the different series:

~ Proving Grounds
~ Amateur Cup Races
~ Manufacturer Club Races
~ Semi-Pro
~ Rivalry Face-Offs
~ Regional Championships
~ Factory-Spec Races
~ Professional Series
~ Endurance Races

The proving grounds are for beginners really. You start here and don't use any powerful cars. There are a variety of different tournaments in this series such as the FWD Shootout, Mid-Engine Challenge and the Heavyweight Open. The Amateur Cup Races are increasingly difficult and you may use some more advanced cars here. The manufacture club races have tournaments based around certain makes such as Porsche, so you will be racing against similar cars. The Semi-Pro series offers tournaments a further step-up from the Amateur ones. Rivalry Face-Offs are really fun as similar models will compete against each other for example the Subaru Imprezas or Lancer Evolutions. The Regional Championships have tournaments for each car class, so you must take on other racers with the same class car as yours. The Factory-Spec races seem to be the hardest. You must have a certain car to enter them and you cannot mod them at all, so the upgrades must be default, however you can assign tunings to your car. The Professional series is similar to the Regional Championships, but you must race in the order that the races appear in. You can change car are each race, but that's about it. And finally we have the Endurance Races. These races are the most enduring (obviously) with many laps to complete before you cross the finishing line. None of them are as enduring as other racing games such as Gran Turismo 4, but they are quite long.

The basic Career system uses money as waypoints through the game. From winning races, you will gain money, which will advance you through 'driver levels'. Once you reach new levels, you can access more series and races as well as unlock cars. Also at the end of Career races, this money goes towards your car level, in which you can gain levels too for that specific car you used. Gaining car levels will increase the cars reputation and goes towards increased earnings in Career mode. Other ways to increase your earnings after races are too turn up the difficulty, reduce damage during races and use cars that have high rarity ratings due to installed parts and basic rarity. The money you earn is in 'Credits', which is like the currency of the game. You can use these credits to purchase new cars as well as install upgrades for the engine or towards the handling. You can also buy different tire compounds, change the tire width, and buy spoilers and side-skirts for your cars. The number of engine and handling upgrades is very good and you can buy different versions such as Street, Sport and Race versions, which will work more efficiently. The upgrades given to your cars are very realistic and will accordingly alter the sound, physics and even graphics of your car. As you upgrade your car, the class will change accordingly. There are D, C, B, A, S and U class production cars. There are then R4, R3, R2 and R1 race cars that range from heavily modified Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars to prototype race cars such as the Audi R8. These classes link to the Career mode where you can only enter certain class cars in some events.

You have the ability to then customize your car exactly how you want it. First of all, you can use the different colours to paint your car. There are also metallic colours, which give a special sparkly effect to the car as well as special colours, which are expensive-looking blends between two colours. You can then tint the car windows any colour you wish - I normally do mine black, because it looks the best. You can also paint your rims if they are ones you bought from the upgrade shop (standard rims can't be painted). On some cars, you can paint your mirrors, hood and spoilers different colours too! Apart from that, you can produce decals for your car whether they are custom-made ones or default decals. Default decals appear as anything from Shell logos to Xbox logos and you will see them on real racing cars - rather like sponsors. You can use loads of different shapes to make your very own logos, pictures and designs too! The game offers a few different styles of writing including symbols, letters and numbers. There are other categories for shapes such as nature, racing, gradients, flames, primitives, stripes, tears, racing icons and more. You can then adjust the size, spin, colour, skew and transparency of the shape as well as move it along the car to position it where you want. This provides maximum freedom to produce unique designs. Some people have managed to create life-like characters such as Homer Simpson as well as shocking designs with incredible detail. All these have been done by using the 4100 available layers with a lot of time and effort.

Racing round the track is very fun and realistic. You can race in a variety of different views with two 3rd person views and a few 1st person views too. Whilst racing, you are given a real feel for speed and realism. One thing the game lacks is a view from the drivers' seat showing the steering wheel and interior of the car, which would be fantastic. The HUD will show you your position, race times, speedometer, tachometer, current gear, boost gauge, fuel gauge and a map of the track. There are many options that you can adjust to configure these settings such as changing the speed from km/h to mph. There is also a damage-state indicator that can be popped up to show an outline of the different parts of the car and where is damaged most by using different colours to signify how bad the damage is. During races, damage can be turned from Cosmetic to Limited or Simulation. Damage can be done as in real-life to the exterior paint job and to the steering wheel, gears, wheels and engine. As you are racing, split times will give you an idea of how you are doing compared to previous laps and how far ahead/behind the car in front/behind is.

As for achievements, there are many different ones to be unlocked. You unlock them by completing the arcade modes and also career series and more! Once you reach certain driver levels, achievements are unlocked. Completing series will also unlock achievements. There are also unique achievements that can be unlocked by doing certain things for example starting a race in last position and finishing 1st. Overall, the gameplay is fantastic and there is plenty to do in the game.


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~ Xbox Live ~
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Xbox Live is the best way to play this game as you can take your custom designed cars online and show off your racing skills to players around the world. Online, you can compete in Exhibition races and Career races. You still earn money if you do well in the Career races. You can race with up to 8 people and create custom races with the most advanced options assigned from number of laps to whether stability control/traction control/antilock braking is on. There is normally minimal lag in races, but sometimes other cars seem to jump or jerk a bit. If you have a good connection, then the race normally runs smoothly. You can also head to the auction house to put cars on the market. You can choose a starting price, buyout price and also choose the length of time you want your auction to last. Your car will then go on the market (with a small handling fee) so other players can view it and place bids. You can even make your car a featured car so it will appear towards the top of the lists with a little extra fee. The auction house is widely used by members of Xbox Live with hundreds of different cars on there every minute.

Another large part of playing online is the tournaments. Here, you can qualify for certain tournaments by submitting lap times. Different tournaments are set up for different car classes. I seem to be best at qualifying with R1 cars, which have the very best handling. Once qualified, you will be set in either a Gold, Silver or Bronze bracket to fight out for the trophy. You will earn money as you go by completing races. Because these are organised tournaments, you must show up to it on time. The race times are given to you when you check out your 'current tournaments'. Everyone must be in the lobby around 15 minutes before the race starts. The bad thing about the tournaments is that the times given for them to start at are ridiculous for most Europeans! I mean, there is no way I am going to get up at 4am just to race in a tournament with the chance of winning some more money! Some of the times are OK for Europeans to race in, but they are mostly appealing for Americans. You can also watch featured races, which are based on the Trueskill rating of the drivers. If they are the best racers with the best Trueskill ratings, then the race they are in will appear here and you can watch live streams! You can also gift a car to a friend over Xbox Live as a present. A lot of Xbox Live coincides with the website at forzamotorsport.net. You can upload photos taken in the game to the site, which can then be downloaded to your computer and saved, which is a great feature.


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~ Sound ~
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The sound in this game is brilliant and very realistic. Every single car has a different engine noise whether it is high-pitched or low. The engines themselves sound very realistic and they are suited to each car specifically. High-powered cars will have high-pitch engines. The sound gives you a brilliant feeling when driving because the gear-changing is much emphasised by the sound when it occurs. There is also sound for the spectators around the race track. They will be cheering as you zoom down certain straights. The sounds for actions such as braking and skidding are excellent too and of great realism. If you are using a surround-sound system, then you are given the greatest experience ever. You can hear other cars around you and easily tell which side they are on without having to look backwards. It greatly improves the gameplay and the quality is excellent. According to upgrades and more, the sounds that your cars give off will change if you have different engine parts installed for example.

The in-game menus all have appropriate sounds too, which give a very modern feel to the game. There is also music around all the menus but this is switched off during races automatically so it doesn't ruin the realistic simulation. The music around the menus is actually fantastic, and there are some great tunes played. Songs such as 'Gone Daddy Gone' by Gnarls Barkley and Lights Out by POD are a couple of the fantastic songs. The game music is great and there are loads of soundtracks that will randomly play. You can find the playlist over the internet to see how long it is. This game appeals to young gamers very well due to the choice of music. I love some of the songs, and it's a shame that you can't customize the playlist to play certain songs.


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~ Graphics ~
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The visuals in this game are excellent and the best I have seen for any racing game yet. The cars have different looks from smooth gradients to sharp edges and fancy rims. The scenery of the tracks is excellent and when you are racing, you can enjoy this as you zoom through each track. The sky is very realistic with white fluffy clouds and a life-like look. The trees are also very realistic and detailed. The very tarmac that you race along looks great too. At Turn 10 (the creators of the game), real life replicas of cars have been made. Photos that you can see on the forzamotorsport.net website are unbelievable. They will show a real-life photo of the car produced and then the replica made in this game. It is actually hard to tell them apart as the game offers the very best graphics along with all the decals and vinyl shapes you need to recreate real-life cars. With the ability to take photos during races, in replays or even in your garage, this is where the graphics really come into place. You can zoom right up to your rims and all around your car. The graphics remain of excellent quality until you get right up close to places such as the rims where the graphics start to decrease in quality a bit. Overall, the graphics are very good and the colours are vivid too. Tracks such as the New York Circuit really bring out the bright, clear colours of the graphics.

This game also gives the player the ability to set up multiple televisions to provide the ultimate driving experience. You can set up three televisions next to each other, preferably round in a semi-circle with the player sitting in the middle. You can customize the options to make this work perfectly in the game. You will then have the car on the middle screen with surrounding graphics on the two screens either side, which seems to work very well although I don't have 3 televisions to try it out with!


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~ Controls ~
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The controls for the game are excellent and work very well. A lot of people love the controls and feel they work very well, as do I. You can either use the controller or a compatible racing wheel when driving. The controller is what I use, and it works very well. With the triggers being to accelerate and brake the car, you can slowly adjust the force put into these things, thus allowing you to slowly ease out of corners or slow down into corners. If you are driving manually, the B and X buttons are used to change gear, which work very well as they are easy to reach with your hand. The RB button just below the right trigger is used to change the car view and is right by your finger if needed. On the other side, the LB button brings up the damage/heat HUD at the click of the button. The left analogue stick is used for steering, which enables you to control how much you are steering. The right analogue stick is useful as it can change the camera angle so you can freely look around your car to keep an eye on other racers. These are the main buttons that you will use and they all seem to be in appropriate places and work well.

If using the steering wheel (recommended), you are given an even better simulation. Not only is it easier to turn the car how much you want, but it gives the game a much nicer feel and makes it increasingly fun to play. The Xbox 360 wireless wheel is recommended here and works in a similar way to the controller. It has paddles for gears and a comfortable wheel for steering. The rest of the buttons are the same as the controller in respective positions and it sits on your lap comfortably with a lap mount. Wireless pedals also work very well with good grip enabling you to smoothly control the throttle and brakes.


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~ Replay Value ~
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This game has brilliant replay value due to the amount you have to complete. I played this game non-stop everyday for around a month or so. I then played it every now and then as I thoroughly enjoyed racing in the game due to the realism. Completing the basics such as the Arcade mode and Career mode can take ages! Then, you must collect every car in the game to unlock further achievements and fill your garage. This game has infinite options with the ability to customize so many cars however you like them and then race them online against others. This game is well-worth the buy because of this.


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~ Facts ~
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PRICE: £39.98 (amazon.co.uk)
Genre: Racing Simulation
Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Format: Exclusive to Xbox 360
Rating: ESRB: Everyone (E)


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~ Score ~
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Simulation - 10/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Xbox Live - 8.5/10
Sound - 9/10
Graphics - 9/10
Controls - 9.5/10
Replay Value - 9/10

Overall - 9.3/10 - 93%


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~ Conclusion ~
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This is an excellent game and perhaps the best driving simulation money can buy. This game offers plenty to do with a range of over 300 cars and 14 tracks to race them on. You can customize your cars to the max and then take photos of them to upload them to the website and download them to your computer for admiration. The Xbox Live community is pretty active and there is a lot to do including the great auction house, which works very well. The physics of this game are excellent and really realistic in how the car acts and how it performs. For £39.98 on amazon.co.uk, it has retained a rather high price. This is due to the quality and popularity of the game being so high. If you are looking for a realistic driving simulation with many options, cars and tracks, then this is the game for you!

Thanks for reading,

- Recon -

Summary: A superb driving simulation that takes driving to the extreme with life-like physics & graphics