Forza 3: Gameplay

Camino Viejo de Montserrat in Spain

In this blog, I will review the overall appearance and the game play. First off, the graphics are simply stunning on a HDTV but still looks nice on my standard TV compared to some of my other games. The background is very detailed and each track is modeled very accurately including every tire mark and bump on the track. The cars received the same treatment as well both on the interior and exterior. View the photos below and the difference between Forza 3 and real life is barely noticeable.To compliment the amount of time spent on detail in this game, there is a photo mode where you are able to use various settings like brightness and contrast to make the cars seem as realistic as possible. Some of the photos I will be using in future blogs will be taken by me in game. The menus are sleek and organized making it very easy to navigate throughout the game.

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 Although I do not have much experience behind the wheel of a car, the physics have been praised by many credible gaming sources such as IGN.com and Gamespot.com. The cars seem to handle a lot more realistically than other racing games I've played in the past such as Need for Speed Underground 2 and Test Drive Unlimited. When assists are put on, the cars feel generic at times as the handling is virtually the same for all cars. Turning the assists off is a different story. When you turn the assists off, you can actually feel the different handling properties of each car and there are no two cars that feel the exact same.

While playing this game, there are some faults that I have found or experienced which i will explain. The car model while racing seems to be lower quality than the models used in other parts of the game. When buying rims, you are only able to look at the car from the side rather than a complete 360°. If an opponent is behind you and you're exceeding 100mph (known as drafting) it invalidates your lap time which doesn't make much sense as it doesn't alter your lap time. On my standard TV, the font is too small so there should be an option that increases the font size. When quick race is selected, you are unable to choose the number of laps or what cars your opponents use. Other than these minor issues, the game is pretty solid and well presented.