Forza Motorsport 3 – Xbox360 racing goes up a gear

I’ve been partial to the odd driving game ever since I had my big toenail surgically removed back in 1997. Luckily I had the sublime Gran Turismo to keep me company while I was off my feet for a week and it’s pretty much all I played 8 hours a day.

These were the days before online leaderboards when I was the fastest driver in the world, the choice of cars was immense, the handling sublime and the replays jaw droppingly beautiful, making it a defining game for the Playstation® brand.

Fast forward 12 years (Jesus, has it been that long?) and we’ve been waiting patiently for the latest instalment of Gran Turismo. If I’m honest, Prologue didn’t really set my world on fire, it just felt a little stale, and what I’ve seen so far looks very clean, lifeless almost.

Then in the summer I had the pleasure of playing the outstanding Colin McRae Dirt 2 – a slice of arcade driving heaven. Fast, exhilarating and with the best addition to a driving game in years – the ability to rewind if you screw up that all important last corner.

So 2009 has been a great year for driving games and in my opinion it just got a whole lot better with the addition of Forza Motorsport 3. Microsoft® studio Turn 10 has played a blinder getting this released before Gran Turismo 5 setting a new benchmark for driving simulation – it really is that good.

The game is huge, spanning 2 discs featuring over 400 fully customisable cars from 50 manufacturers and over 100 tracks from around the world.

The level of detail on each car is amazing (each car is built with more than 10 times the amount of polygons of Forza 2) and the track vistas are beautiful. You start the game choosing which type of gamer you are from casual to serious petrol head. Each level refines the handling by turning on or off the various driving aids. This was really useful when letting my 4 year old have a go. His initial reaction to the game was that it was ‘mint’ with auto braking keeping his mum’s red Ford Fiesta (naturally our first selection of car) firmly on the track. Turn 10 has also, shall we say, ‘borrowed’ the rewind feature from Dirt 2.

Within a couple of races I was awarded with the Fiat 500 Abarth, the handling was excellent and gave the game a really nippy feel. I suppose my only slight criticism is that in the slower vehicles there isn’t much of a sense of speed unless you switch to in-car view. This is addressed, however, when you upgrade to the faster cars a little later in the game, and of these, the awesome Bugatti Veron really stands out.

So, if you’re looking to recreate those heady days of 1997, you don’t need to wait for Gran Turismo 5; Forza has well and truly set the bar leaving Turismo well and truly in its slip stream.

Will Gran Turismo have the necessary to overtake? Who cares? Enjoy this while you wait.

Great! – 4.5 out of 5

Buy Forza Motorsport 3 at Play.com

“Forza Motorsport 3” is rated PEGI 3+ for Everyone

Images © 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox Live, the Xbox logos, and/or other Microsoft products referenced herein are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

3 Responses to “Forza Motorsport 3 – Xbox360 racing goes up a gear”

1. CoolGamer says:

   October 25, 2009 at 3:55 pm

   I wasn’t really a racing game fan. I thought GT was Ok but didn’t float my boat that much. Went to a friends yesterday and we played Forza 2 and now I’m hooked. Can’t wait to play Forza 3!

   Totally hooked!
2. Jam1 says:

   October 25, 2009 at 3:58 pm

   This game looks epic
3. David Parkinson says:

   October 27, 2009 at 5:20 pm

   Gran Turismo 5 will be better, you’ll see.

Click here to cancel reply.

Name (required)
Email Address (will not be published)

• Launch of DARKSIDERS on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 approaches
• We Love Getting Down And DiRTY – COLIN McRAETM: DiRTTM2 Wii Gameplay
• Return to Ostagar – Downloadable content for DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS
• Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes Comes to the Rescue This September
• Sony to showcase 3D home experience to consumers throughout Europe