October 11, 2023 - Day 284 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 303

Game: Forza Motorsport

Platform: Xbox Game Pass PC
Release Date: Oct 10, 2023
Installation Date: Oct 10, 2023
Unplayed: 1d
Playtime: 36m

Forza Motorsport is a racing sim, and the latest release in the Forza Motorsport series, which is... a little confusing?

The previous Forza Motorsport was Forza Motorsport 7, not to be confused with Forza Horizon (1-5), which is a more arcade focused racing game.

It seems that Forza Motorsport is intended to be a reboot; however, I do not have enough experience with any Forza Motorsport games to provide any comparison.

I do, however, have a lot of experience with Forza Horizon because FH4 was the racing game that finally "clicked" with me.

My history with racing games goes back to the original Test Drive in 1987. For years I attempted to play racing games with keyboard and mouse, and steering with a keyboard and mouse sucks.

I never completed Test Drive.

I tried racing several more times over the years, nearly throwing a PS2 controller in frustration with Gran Turismo 4. I just never clicked with racing games.

Until Forza Horizon 4. Maybe it was the timing, the Xbox One S controller, maybe it was the arcade nature of the Horizon series, and the tunes, and the fact that most races weren't endurance events.

However, I suspect it was mostly that I could rewind when I screwed up and could finally finish a race "on the podium" instead of losing control most of the way through a race and having to do the whole thing over.

...and using an Xbox controller.

That lead to more practicing, which lead to better driving, which lead to more winning, and more fun.

However, sim & track racing still weren't my cup of tea. Rally racing was worse [scowls at Dirt & Dirt 2.0], an exercise in frustration.

When @triana suggested to me that Motorsport may have brought some of that Horizon magic to track racing, I said I'd give it a try.

She was correct. Just the "simple" addition of rating my driving in each track section, suddenly has me focusing on how better to improve to beat my previous ratings.

Adding driver assists AND talking me through the reasoning behind them (at least in the tutorial) helped me better understand how and when to brake and accelerate.

Also, it's REALLY pretty. If you love cars, Forza Motorsport renders them, and the tracks, and the environment gorgeously.

I still don't think I'm going to end up as a huge driving sim nerd, but Forza Motorsport may have hooked me. It's pretty:

4: Good

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