We're talking about the latest iteration of Forza Motorsport, so yes Forza diehards, the game is pretty freaking terrific. I mean, what else were you expecting?
Let's be clear, Forza Motorsport 6 is a video game first and foremost. However, it should be unfair, and perhaps even impossible, for a typical video game reviewer to properly critique the game. After all, statistics suggest that the common majority of gamers hardly explore the racing genre beyond Mario Kart. For a person that lacks even a trace of inclination towards automobiles, the feverish level of passion injected into Forza Motorsport 6 could go mostly unnoticed.
Forza Motorsport 6 isn't just a collection of 460 vehicles and 26 locations around the world. From the pedestrian Mazda Miata, the unobtainium Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage, to the bleeding edge Formula E racers, and even the asshat BMW M4, every single car plays a key role in the Forza 6 celebration of car culture as a whole. Insightful audio intros to all the motoring icons and historic race tracks reinforce the idea that every single element in the game wasn’t just thrown together, but carefully curated.
At first impression, Forza Motorsport 6 is sensationally gorgeous. Unlike Gran Turismo 6, which continues to carry their “standard” vehicles with a lower polygon count, every single car in Forza is meticulously recreated both inside and out. I’d be lying if i told you that I have the exact polygon count of the cars in Forza Motorsport 6, but every inch of the car and its surroundings looks smooth as glass at 60 fps in 1080p. Environmental details are utterly breathtaking. Do yourself a favor and and rocket to the top of Eau Rouge to experience the thick, hair-raising fog that lingers on the Kemmel Straight.
Forza 6 officially begins with a pretty standard issue "street level" 3-race series, where you begin with a choice of Scion FR-S, Honda S2000, Mazda RX-7, Volkswagen Golf R, and Subaru 22B STI (I went with the S2K). In truth, the first race is actually a digital evaluation of your driving skills. Coming from a Gran Turismo and PlayStation background, the driving physics are definitely something to get used to. That said, the grip levels from braking and weight transfer are realistic and perform at a remarkable level (much much more on this later). What's more, Forza understands that even in single player, racing isn't really racing if you're only racing against yourself. Unlike the single-file driving style of the A.I. in Gran Turismo, the Forza engine is capable of observing you as a driver in order to teach its A.I. what it takes to give you a hard time on the track. This is probably the single greatest piece of technology in Forza.
Racing hard against the A.I., or what Forza calls 'drivatars,' requires race craft from the players. Drivatars aren't afraid of contact around slower hairpins, but you can definitely intimidate the bot into lifting off and surrendering a position ahead of high-speed banzai corners like the Caltex Chase at Bathurst. If you aggressively tail a Drivatar to apply some pressure, the Drivatar will be more prone to making mistakes, missing its braking points, and understeering off the track in its desperation to lose your tail.
However, it's not to say that the Drivatars are without flaw. In particular, I have a major bone to pick with the Long Beach race in the Super Street Challenger Series. The final first gear hairpin ahead before the front straight could be the perfect corner for a late braking pass if it weren't for the controller-chucking epic pileups or full-stops caused by Drivatars that bottlenose the grid every single time. As proof, I've randomly embedded a video of Forza 6 at Long Beach to show you what I'm talking about:
Admittedly, about a third of the pileups have been caused by yours truly. As a seasoned Gran Turismo vet, I've been accustomed to conservative driving lines that could advise you to brake as early as 15 feet ahead of the actual threshold braking point, which gave me a lot of confidence on my late-braking passes. However, the racing lines in Forza allows for a much smaller margin for error. If you miss the braking point by a split second and you're almost guaranteed to understeer or simply run off the track.
Speaking of flying off the track, Drivatars aren't the only things that make me fly off the track- weather, namely rain, has made a real splash in Forza Motorsport 6 (let me have my one pun intended). Admittedly, rain is nothing new in racing games and racing games have had physics engine capable of simulating slippery conditions in the rain for the better part of ten years. However, Forza has completely redesigned what it means to recreate rain.
Earlier this year, Project Cars boasted changing track conditions that lead to puddle formations that significantly evolves the track with the pass of every second. However, there was still this feeling of a "blanket science" that allowed players to generally ignore the puddles and maintain consistent traction throughout the track. In Forza, rain is genuinely treacherous and large puddles on tracks like Silverstone actually causes the car to hydroplane in terrifying ways. I literally had to think twice if I wanted to commit a pass on the inside.
"So, the things that we've done in rain I believe are unprecedented in gaming," said Turn 10 Studios Creative Director Dan Greenawalt in an interview with IGN. "We've got standing water that's fully simulated on the track and, depending on the size of your tires and how fast your angle of attack is, those tires will aquaplane and you'll be along for the ride."
I was forced to rethink everything and reevaluate the racing line of the wet track. Passing at a corner becomes difficult if the alternate driving line no longer exists. Even a drafting pass is no longer possible when hydroplaning slows you down. On the flipside, if a Drivatar tries to make a pass on me, a gentle side press into the puddling water will cause them to back off. There is no exaggeration in stating that what Forza has done with rain physics will forever change the way racing sims are designed and the way they will be played.
This isn't too say that the weather engine is without fault. The lack of time change mean that races cannot shift from afternoon to night or start out in the dry before experiencing rain later on. The technology is definitely there, so hopefully this will be something we’ll see in future patches.
Finally, the last element of the Forza Motorsport 6 gameplay is the career progression and customization. Growing your car collection is laughably easy as Forza sets up an incremental “driver level” system that climbs as you continue to finish races. Once you level up, A nine-tile square will appear for you to “spin” and land on a price. The prizes range from “jackpot” prizes like 1 million Cr. or a brand-new Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, to some pretty “standard” Mods awards, or card packs, that are one-time enhancers like “+2 grid position” or “+4% brakes” that help you in the race. For the most part, I ignored the mods, but it sure feels awesome to see 1 million Cr. to buy new cars fall on your lap!
As for car customization, the platform is largely unchanged and features select options for performance, suspension, weight loss, body kits, aero, wheels, and paint and decal upgrades. While I would admit that Forza’s car customization options are far superior of Gran Turismo, especially in the custom livery department, I somewhat foresee that car customization could become a point of heavy contention in the coming year, particularly from the somewhat more arcadey Need For Speed reboot, which will crank exterior aesthetic options way past 11.
Overall, Forza Motorsport 6 is a supremely polished game with a staggering presentation highlighted by its game-changing rain-weather physics. With 460 obsessively created vehicles and 26 breathtaking breathtaking locations, Forza isn’t just a racing game, but a satisfying tribute to everything car enthusiasts hold dear. Forza 6 isn’t without its oddities and shortcomings, though. I definitely want to see a fix for that frustrating bottlenecking issue that Drivatars create in tight first-gear bends. Day-night change and weather-change will definitely promise an even more dynamic Forza 6 experience as well.
