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Forza Motorsport 7 Review | Culture of Gaming

Opening Thoughts

Being a devout gamer and owning over 90 titles on Xbox One alone I have kind of lost my passion for new and upcoming games. After looking through a couple of upcoming games lists and contemplating what I could pre-order, if anything, a couple of titles caught my eye.

While looking over the promotional material for Forza Motorsport 7, I decided to have a crack at reviewing and subsequently owning the game. After spending a couple of days playing and analyzing the game, I am not disappointed with the final result that Turn 10 Studios has put out. Sure, It’s not perfect, but it’s a very solid entry in the Forza Motorsport series!

Graphical Upgrades

Forza Motorsport 7 is around 68gb to download, taking around 4 or so hours to fully complete downloading and become playable. In this time I was still able to start up the game and watch some of the intro cutscenes as well as take part in a few randomly generated races. The game starts off with a narrator explaining what being a race car driver is about and what it takes to become a professional.

In between her explanations you are put behind the wheel of several vehicles. From a Porsche 911 to a Trophy truck. The vehicles and tracks in general throughout Forza 7 are breathtaking, crisp and a delight to your eyes. Depending on what time you choose to race, different weather elements will be present and noticeable. If for example, you are racing in the wet, different densities of mist and rain are present throughout the race.

Different weather conditions and areas of track provide different obstacles to the racer, whether it’s sand from the deserts of Dubai or the ice-covered tracks of the Bernese Alps. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to the graphical capabilities of Forza 7. I came across 2d style trees and what looked like cardboard cutouts of people when racing on some of the 32 tracks available to the player. This was a slight disappointment as it seems not much effort was put into the smaller details of the scenery and environments.

A pleasure to the ears

The first thing that caught my attention and made me begin falling in love with the game was the audio and sound effects. Now, this may sound like a super basic thing that doesn’t really contribute towards a final score or thoughts on the game, but hear me out!

The first car that Forza Motorsport 7 drops you into is the new Porsche that was unveiled at E3 2017, now this car isn’t really anything too special, but the deep throatiness of the engine and simple power that the car has, really captures the players imagination and makes you as a racer think that you are actually driving the car for yourself. I truly can’t fault the audio throughout the game at all. Its crisp, clear and all cars and vehicles sound completely different to one another. I even googled an actual sound of a certain type of car and could hardly tell the difference between Forza 7’s version. And the real deal! It’s just that good. Throughout a race you will hear the crowds cheering at increased levels depending on where you are on the track, there are echoes when entering tunnels as well as all the other small details you can find in real life.

The good and the bad

Unfortunately, here is where the games bad tendencies begin to show. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not all bad. The intro was one of the better intros I have seen in a racing game throughout the years. In Forza 7 it details what exactly you are tasked to do and why you must do it. The intro of the game is highly reminiscent of Grid 2 which is good due to the quality and information it gives to the player.

You begin your career by entering the Forza Drivers Cup. This is comprised of 6 championships and around 12 events of 4 races each. Showcases have also been added which comprises of 3 or so events per series. These can range from car bowling, to head to head challenges against professional rally driver, Ken Block. Each event follows the same age-old procedure of, buy a car, enter the race in the correct car class, and win wherever possible.

A couple of new features Forza 7 has introduced are selectable racing gear, Choosable assists while racing, and added mods and collector’s collector’s tiers throughout. The racing gear option is a nice little feature that allows the player to choose from hundreds of different cosmetic designs and colours before, during or after any race. The racing suits are unlocked as you play through the campaign and take home winnings and different types of prizes.

Choosable assists in the race is an appreciated add-on due to being able to change from manual to auto mid-race, or disable traction control while in the wet. Forza 7 has to be praised for the realism of its physics and car handling. Once again. Turn 10 Studios have upped the ante by giving the player added options such as disabling traction control, ABS, and all that other juicy content that adds to the experience of racing.

Mods also make an appearance again here allowing the racer to add a selection of mod cards to their profile before a race which can be fulfilled by completing challenges while in a career event. These challenges can range from, staying on track for a lap, passing 8 cars perfectly, and a selection of other smaller tasks. Depending on the card selected, your award can differ.

During my time with Forza 7, I have had a variety of issues. The most prominent of which is when participating in a free play race. If you wish to change your car, you can’t simply quit the race and return to the starting line with a new vehicle. The player must quit to the race menu, then return to the main menu, enter free play again, select your track and preset all your options for the second time. Only then can you select a different car of a different class.

The reason why this issue is present is because of a double class feature that Forza 7 has implemented. This feature makes the player select a car not only by the typical, A,B,C etc. But, also by selecting the car by its common or uncommon value. Different cars have different values. For example, A Mazda MX 5 is classified as a common car and if you quit a race and return to the race menu, you can’t select any other type outside of a common vehicle. Likewise, with a Ferrari F40, that is classed as a rare car and you can’t rent or purchase any other class unless returning to the main menu. I found this very frustrating and a complete waste of time on my behalf.

Multiplayer fiascoes

On my second day with the game, I decided to give the online multiplayer a shot and see just what Forza 7 has to offer. What the Multiplayer offers is a pretty basic affair with a select few series such as classic muscle, Exotic, etc. I was kind of expecting more when it came to the online element. Something along the lines of what Burnout uses could have been nice with a selection of modes and challenges that you can compete with friends or against random people.

There isn’t anything special about the multiplayer element and it seems to be the standard fare that Turn 10 Brings to the table every year. The split-screen modes are also the standard lot that was in Forza 6, however, I did come across a few small little bugs when playing Split Screen with a friend. When we first attempted a race. Only one car’s audio worked. There was no engine noise or other sound effects emitted from player vehicle. Upon attempting the race again, the driver’s line on player two’s screen was flickering constantly and would not maintain a constant line. These small bugs are what shows through with Forza 7 and it’s a shame more effort wasn’t put into the game. Another issue that was present throughout the menus, was small menu text. The text is barely readable and is a pain to try and read. I found myself leaving my couch multiple times to get closer to my TV. This is also a simple issue that could have been fixed before the game was released.

Final Verdict

Overall Forza 7 is another solid title in the Forza series, Its strong gameplay, audio, and replayability make this a better title than Forza 6. It has a strong campaign mode as well as a selection of single player and customization options to choose from which make it a unique purchase. However, small issues like flickering racing lines, small menu text and frustrating car selection may have let this title down.

Review Summary

Overall, Forza 7 is another solid title in the Forza series, Its strong gameplay, audio, and replayability make this a better title than Forza 6. However, small issues like flickering racing lines, small menu text and frustrating car selection let this title down.

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