Good point about them having Kyalami in the game but still forgetting Africa exists!
Despite that, I am looking forward to this release 
2 Likes
This will not work for me, i dont like games as a service titles, look at whats happening to gtsport, when the servers shut down next year if you havent unlocked much you are screwed, same with forza, having career mode locked to online play. what if your internet is down etc. if i go and play my OG 2005 xbox games i can play it without any concern of features being disabled, if i wanna go back ten years from now to replay career mode in the new forza it will most likely not be available.
2 Likes
The review embargo has been lifted:
Forza Motorsport Reviews - OpenCritic
| Reviewer | Score | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| EuroGamer | 80/100 | A generous and lavish racer, with thrilling driving, that wants you for the long haul. |
| Gameblog | 9/10 | Forza Motorsport is back on Xbox and PC, and in a big way. The long wait is rewarded with a game of exceptional quality, both in terms of content and technology. A must-have for any racing fan, despite a few small details that could have been improved at launch. |
| GamersRadar+ | 70/100 | The game engine here is demonstrably better than Forza Motorsport 7’s but, in terms of breadth of gameplay, presentation, general excitement, and enjoyment gleaned from racing the AI cars, the older, now-deleted Forza Motorsport 7 is clearly superior. More content including tracks and event series will be added over time, so it will certainly improve, but right now the career mode here is so sedate and one-note, it’s hard to recommend Forza Motorsport’s offline mode over any of its peers. |
| GameSpot | 9/10 | Forza Motorsport has been gone for a long time, but it’s evident that Turn 10 has used the time to reevaluate its formula and implement some striking changes that will likely ignite a new passion for simulation racing for petrolheads and bring in a swathe of new players. The inclusion of car-specific progression creates a stronger relationship between you and each car you own in your garage, with the methods of leveling each on up pushing you to hone your racing craft in the most rewarding way the series has delivered thus far. Forza Motorsport does this all without forgetting its heritage, delivering a standout simulation racing experience that looks and sounds stunning, while feeling reliably accurate and satisfying on the tarmac. It would be nice to have more locations to enjoy Forza Motorsport breadth of vehicular content on, but it would be a lie to say I didn’t have a massive grin on my face during every lap that I completed. |
| Gaming Bolt | 90/100 | Turn 10 Studios’ flagship racing series has never been better. With exceptional gameplay, gorgeous graphics, a compelling Career Mode and a swathe of options, Forza Motorsport is simply incredible. |
| Gaming Trend | 95/100 | Forza Motorsport really does create a platform that leaves an open track to expand on. This is the easiest Forza to get into and it performs at such a high level, you may forget it’s just a game. There’s nothing standing between you and the racetrack. |
| God Is A Geek | 9.5/10 | An excellent companion piece to the open-world, frantic off-road action of Forza Horizon, Forza Motorsport is the next generation of racing that I’ve been waiting so very long for. |
| IGN | 8/10 | After six long years, Forza Motorsport is off the lift and back in our lives. It looks great, feels great, sounds great, and it’s brought with it the most impressive multiplayer we’ve seen in the series so far. With 500 cars and 20 track locations it’s hardly a small start but, now positioned as a platform, Forza Motorsport has the potential to expand into a seriously rich racing destination over the coming years. If Flight Simulator on four wheels is the plan, I’m here for it. First on the list of improvements Turn 10 should focus on is revamping the new RPG-inspired upgrade system that turns progression into an unnecessarily long road ahead of each individual car, and maybe bringing back the joys of split-screen multiplayer racing to complement the excellent online modes. |
| Metro GameCentral | 80/100 | A fabulously detailed racing game with a huge car roster and engrossing single-player modes, slightly marred by forcefully encouraging you to perform practise laps before races. |
| Polygon | Unscored | Forza Motorsport is serious business. Put the time in, Turn 10 is saying; do your laps, shave off the seconds, make that one small tweak, grind out that win. I respect its focus, and its refusal to pander to fun-addled Horizon players, instead offering them a clearly articulated invitation to join its more austere church. This is a game about going round in circles, a little bit faster every time, and it’s quite unapologetic about it. That’s proven compelling enough to base an entire sport around, so perhaps that’s fair enough. But just a little more variety would have gone a long way. |
| Press Start | 8/10 | Forza Motorsport ticks all the right boxes for just about any racing fan – honing in its focus on the love of cars and offering up a balance between approachable racing and hardcore simulation. Progression changes might rub some the wrong way, and its AI drivers desperately need more practice time, but a long hiatus for the franchise has birthed a solid baseline for the future. |
| Tech Raptor | 5.5/10 | In an ironic twist, what was once a shining jewel in Xbox’s catalog, and the apex of simulation, has now become a timid companion piece to the infinitely more fulfilling Forza Horizon. |
| Tom’s Hardware Italia | 8.5/10 | Forza Motorsport is exactly what we hoped it would be: a great racing game with solid gameplay that can be enjoyed both with gamepads and finally also with a high variety of gaming steering wheels. Its sim/arcade nature makes it highly accessible for any type of gamer, from those who prefer a more immediate experience to those who want to try their hand at hard-fought races |
| VGC | 80/100 | The new Forza is the best in the series to date when it comes to the look and feel of serious motorsport racing. Its relative lack of modes means it’s something of a one-trick pony at launch, but that trick is an impressive one. |
| Video Gamer | 9/10 | Forza Motorsport’s refined handling, next-gen visuals, and responsive physics tempt you with an accessible yet familiar thrill, especially when you avoid spiraling into a bend. |
| Windows Central | 80/100 | Forza Motorsport (2023) isn’t just a new beginning for the legendary simulation racing franchise, it also represents a previously unreached peak for the series. Turn 10 Studios have done an incredible job delivering one of the best core driving experiences of any game, but not everything has been properly rebuilt from the ground up. |
7 Likes
Ah, much appreciate adding the review summaries here 
5 Likes
Respect! Thanks for sharing.
2 Likes
Here’s the video version of Luke Reilly’s IGN review. A decent watch.
1 Like
Looks like that Tech Raptor is quite the Forza Horizon fan. “…a timid companion piece to the infinitely more fulfilling Forza Horizon.” Really?!
2 Likes
Yeah, the bias is plain to see. They probably wear their cap backwards too.
3 Likes
Ermz is streaming career play through.
2 Likes
2 Likes
Watched ACG’s review video and seems to be quite impressive. Along with DF analysis confirming the same, can’t say I am surprised about the Series S quality.
I can’t say that I am sold on the progress and unlock process though, I will wait to see what the experience is like.
2 Likes
Managed to get a couple of hours in over the weekend. Initial impressions are okay to hmm.
Vehicle handling is good on both Xbox controller and G920 with all default settings. I’m sure it could be tweaked a little more but with the large variety and range of cars I’m not sure if or where there are settings to adjust to compensate for the differences between the individual cars. Good settings for the McLaren MP4/4 probably won’t work as well with a 2020 Renault Clio production car. So, a balanced setting somewhere in between is likely to be the best compromise.
Also haven’t gone anywhere near the vehicle setup and tuning options other than to notice that most of the settings are locked anyway. At least in the early career cars.
That’s another odd thing - in the career mode so far, all I’ve seen are production cars. Not sure if it’ll stay that way, but just thought it a bit odd to not have any
That could also be connected to the biggest gameplay issue I have - the weird Car XP progression system. You start each new car with a base production model, have to race it to earn CXP to level up the car, which then allows you to upgrade components. But not necessarily the parts you want to. Each Car Level unlocks specific component groups.
If the unlocks were applied to the manufacturer, or the class perhaps, it wouldn’t be so bad. But to have the progression unlocks linked to each individual car is a bit tedious. You can remove the parts from one car, regain the car points, and use them on a new car. And I sort of understand the idea behind it. It is, after all, the Builders Cup - take a stock car and gradually build it up into a mean racing machine. But for that to be more “realistic”, at least let me spend my Car XP on the upgrades and components I want to. Don’t force me to progress to Level 20 before I can do something as basic as remove the spare tyre and other unneeded things for Weight Reduction.
On the technical side, there’s been some issues on PC for me. I’ve had two system freezes, one mid race, the other when advancing after the end of a race. It is very evident that Turn 10 were told to prioritise Console over PC. PC optimisation is shite. Very shite.
The G920 is picked up as a default wheel, but none of the button prompts are - they all show only the keyboard commands - hugely irritating to have to fumble for the mouse every time I’m not sure which button to press for what.
The graphic settings are also weird. I made a couple of small changes to the defaults, went to race, all okay. Alt-Tabbed out to a browser after the race to check the rugby score - the Porras were magnificent last night against Fiji! Went back to the game to start the next race and was getting huge hitching and stuttering all of a sudden. Even in the cut scenes and transitions to the next race grid and start animations.
Graphics generally are on and off. Looking at a standard MX5 in the showroom and the car itself is blurry and out of focus - I initially thought I may have put on the wrong specs. On track, the same car is perfect. Until you go into Photo Mode that is. Then the image just won’t focus at all. The system itself is identical to FM7 and FH5s
The replay system is also a bit shite at the moment. Horrible UI, clunky controls, weird behaviour - cars floating off the grid, glitching through the track and disappearing, etc. And the replay performance is also kak. Even with only a single car in frame I was seeing huge stutters and frame drops.
Due to all the lags and stutters, desync, and generally poor visual performance, I didn’t want to risk doing any multiplayer stuff for fear of completely destroying my Driver Safety level before I’d even started. Did have a look around there though and again can’t see anything club or league racing related. There is the ability to create custom races and run them as “Private Multiplayer” events, but nothing like scheduled events and a calendar, or club-style Time Trials.
The three reasonably focussed images I did manage to grab:
2 Likes
Yeah, I am not sure how this will be when I have my hands-on but this could easily be the deciding factor for me. This progression model doesn’t appeal to me at all.
1 Like
If I’d found this video review earlier, it would have saved me having to type all of my thoughts out. 
Says 90% of what I’ve experienced - only in a lot harsher way.
NSFW - Language
I don’t particularly agree with the 3.7/10 score though - there’s still some good fun to be had in the game. I just hope there’s a Day 1 patch that will go out when the game goes into full release tomorrow that will address some of the worst issues.
3 Likes
Check this out.
1 Like
I must admit, I had high hopes for this game but there seem to be a good deal of issues. One would have hoped for better performance on PC considering how good the Horizon games look and run on PC. Hopefully a lot of the issues will be patched.
All this will cost me is hard drive space - but at nearly 120GB that’s a fair ask.
1 Like
I was somewhat anticipating this game, until this video.
1 Like
Thanks for this one. Now if only the PC graphics settings were as simple as the Series X settings! Does touch on some decent driving settings which I’ll add to the pile.
1 Like
I know how you feel. But don’t be disheartened and turned off by my experience. Your system and your understanding of the impact your wheel has on your driving are very different to mine. There are definitely PC players who are getting much better visual performance and are able to race comfortably.
Mine is just weird - like here where the view of the car behind me is better in the mirror than the car on the road in front of me. I mean, how does that even make sense?
1 Like