The Forza Motorosport 4 demo is now available to download and already tens of thousands of gamers have been experiencing the fruit of the last two years for Turn 10. But what does it show for the game itself, which is released in just a week depending on your location?
Forza Motorsport 4 Single Player:
The first piece of good news is that Forza Motorsport 4 looks gorgeous. It’s not the kind of leap you’d get from a new hardware launch (The rumours of Forza Motorsport 5 as a launch game for the Xbox 720 are gaining momentum), but it’s definitely a sign that the Xbox 360 is being stretched as far as possible in the quest for amazing scenery and better lighting effects. Paintwork gleams like never before, and although you won’t get changing weather in the game, the lighting conditions do make up for it somewhat.
Engine noises sound great, although the demo soundtrack has a particularly irritating electronic soundtrack which may have been inspired by mid 90’s ringtones.
The single player races feature a choice of cars, with the 1970s Mercury Cougar representing the American muscle cars, the 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STI for Japanese 4-wheel drive fans, and the 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia for Supercar lovers. And there’s a packed field to race against. For instance, in the muscle car selection, you’ll be up against:
- 1971 Ford Mustang
- 1970 Chevrolet Camaro
- Hurst Olds 442
- 1969 Dodge Charger
- 1973 Pontiac Trans Am
- 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle
- AMC Javelin
- 1969 Pontiac Trans Am
- 1968 Shelby GT500
- Ford XB Falcon
- 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS
If you choose the Subaru, you’ll race against:
- Mazda FD3S RX7
- 2005 Acura NSX
- Mitsubishi Evo X
- 2010 Mugen Civic
- Infiniti G37
- Honda S2000
- 2003 Nissan 350Z
- 2010 Mazda 3
- Hyundai Genesis Coupe
- Mazda RX8
- 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse
And supercar fans face:
- McLaren MP4-12C
- 2010 Nissan GTR
- 2008 Dodge Viper SRT10 ACR
- Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (C6)
- Audi R8 5.2
- Lamborghini Gallardo
- Mercedes Benz SLS AMG
- Ford GT
- Alfa Romeo 8C
- Mercedes Benz AMG SL65
- Aston Martin DBS
So most importantly – what is the handling like? In addition to the traditional driver aids of Traction Control, Stability Management, and ABS Brakes, you can also now choose between Normal and Simulation driving modes, with Normal helping to keep things under control a little more.
Having spent some time with the demo, the choice of the Bernese Alps track definitely lent itself more to the Normal driving option, as the bumpy rollercoaster nature of the fictional circuit is enough to unsettle the supercars in particular. As always, the best experience is to turn off as many of the driver aids as possible (We’ll maybe just about allow ABS if you really need it), and going for it.
And it’s a pretty familiar Forza experience in general, with perhaps a slightly easier handling model for Normal, and a slightly trickier one for Simulation when compared to FM3. We’re really looking forward to trying Sim handling on a flatter race circuit to see what it’s really like…
And completing the good news – load times in the demo at least are significantly quicker than the eternity between races in Forza Motorsport 3!
Forza Motorsport 4 Demo: Rivals Mode:
Now this is where it gets interesting, given that Career, Community and AutoVista aren’t selectable. The Rivals mode sees you select from a range of challenges (three in the demo), and taking a nod from Need for Speed’s Autolog, it automatically selects your nearest friend as an automatically selected rival.
Driving the Pagani Zonda you’re given a straight time trial challenge versus the ghost of your rival, or anyone else manually selected from the global leaderboards. But the BMW M5 and Ferrari 458 options both see you competing with an additional challenge in the form of an endless supply of slow traffic. Suddenly the Bernese Alps resembles the M25 in rush hour as you frantically try to find a way through in your M5 before the ghost of your rival disappears into the distance – and to add insult to injury, any clean lap automatically ranks higher than anything involving contact or going off-course (including four wheels across the yellow track boundary lines).
And it’s addictive. We’ve already seen the effect of Autolog in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit and Shift 2: Unleashed, but Forza’s implementation rivals it nicely, and without some of the additional faffing around that the EA games require to locate your nearest rivals. Even downloading the rival ghost doesn’t take that long, although that may change if it’s a lap of the Nurburgring coming up!
Has the demo worked?
If the purpose of the demo was to get everyone we know excited, get the top Forza players competing to head the leaderboards straight away, and made sure that our pre-order has been checked, double-checked and triple-checked, then yes.
We still have a few concerns about various elements of FM4. Namely, have they dumbed it down too much, why are we still lacking great European tracks, and how many additional car parks do we really need once unofficial tournaments and leagues are under way. Plus the idea of yet another ‘complete every single race in first’ achievement already fills us with depression. But the cars look amazing, the handling is certainly on par with previous Forza games, and some additional cars and tracks all add up to enough to convince us it’s worth the asking price.
So what do you think?
Do you agree? And how are your times coming along in rival mode? We’re slowly getting the hang of clean laps through traffic, rather than chuckling as we punt yet another hatchback out of the way as if the BMW M5 is an ice-breaking ship rather than a high-powered saloon. Currently Dan’s generally in the top couple of thousand, Don’s a lot higher, and at least one or two friends of the site are in double figures in the rankings… Let’s see how much we can improve before the weekend!
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