Okay, i'll get to what most people ask, which is how this game compares to Gran Turismo. Gran Turismo is the only real competitor for the Forza series. However, Forza 3 itself has no real competition. It came out when there was no Gran Turismo on the PS3, and Gran Turismo 5 didn't come out until a few months ago, so it should be compared with the upcoming Forza 4, not Forza 3. Forza has a few things nto in any other true racing sim. First, it has a nicely detailed level of customization to each vehicle, including the ability to swap out the actual engines of certain vehicles. You can paint your car, add vinyls, etc. There isn't a Need for Speed level of body modifications, but you don't really expect that with a racing sim as opposed to a more arcade racer like NFS. Second, there is a very nice selection of cars. Adding a real-life drivability to the Italian car line-up is easily one of the greatest draws of the game. The Ferrari's, the Lambos, the Porches... virtually every person who has ever driven a car has wanted to sit in one of these. Then the cherry on top comes with the Le Mans prototype cars; really sweet. There are a lot of nice tracks. GT4 had Nurburgring and Le Mans too, but Forza is the first place i've seen to include such great tracks like Road America and Sedona. Here's the rub I have... the economuy of the game is a little unbalanced. It takes a lot of money to finance a robust garage. With the level system attached to the cars, it is as if they encourage you to buy new cars once you max the level of one. The problem is that you barely get any money from winning races, so doing this is a quick way to find yoruself out of money when you need/want to buy a new car for a new race. Part of this is obviously personal matter of how you play the game, but overall it doesn't seem there are races that you can do to get a whole lot of money. Gran Turismo, especially as you got late in the game, had races that you could get a whole lot of money from. Doing a handful of races could get you millions of dollars. It's not quite that easy in Forza, which is both good and bad. It adds some challenge and forces you to play the game, but it really is a nuisance to not have a more convenient way to make money late in the game when you'll be spending millions on cars, or when really interesting cars like the are priced at over $10 million. The recreation of the driving characteristics of most cars is very good. They don't seem spot on, but they have an acceptable level of accuracty to them. The same can be said about the various tracks. But the internal rendering of dashboards in a lot of the race cars and high-level cars is laughable, with some generic blue digital layout. The mapping of the vinyls and paint can sometimes be a little off. I had a '95 Eclipse with an aftermarket front bumper, and then went and painted it. On the left side there is a big area of white just in front of the front wheel. Just a little quality check item that got overlooked, but seems to happen routinely. Finally, if you want all of the best features and best cars, you better be ready to shell out extra cash for dlc and for Xbox Live Gold. The Storefront in the game lets you buy and sell tuning setups, designs, and vinyl groups. The Auction house lets you buy and sell cars to other players. Neither can be used without the Gold membership. An in-game mode disabled for Gold seems wrong. A Fun game, but it's not quite as good as GT, IMO.Read full review
I'm a fan of the Forza series, but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed in Turn 10 this time around. The new tracks are good, Amalfi is a huge challenge, and Fujimi Kaido will definitely appeal to all of the drifters. While I like the idea of now having a clutch, I hate that they have reversed the shift control on the thumbstick. Shifting up through the gears should naturally be an upward motion, but instead it's down and vice versa for down shifting. It's just counter-intuitive. Also, I'm not really a big fan of all of the DLC. Most packs are 400 MS points, save the VIP Car pack which is 800. And having to pay for the Nurburgring GP pack is really an insult. That's a track that should have been included from the get go, NOT something I should have to purchase. Still the mechanics are solid, and the handling of the cars is very realistic. On a bright note, they did give us the chance to finally race the Veyron, and WOW, what a ride. Hitting 215 220 on the back stretch at Leman, is a heckuva rush. I was able to top it out at 235 on the Benchmark test track before any upgrades. I'm a HUGE fan of this car. I also like what they've done by adding the concept of seasons. it really gets you into the idea that you are racing in a career more than just systematically going from race to another. The tracks do, as previously, tend to get a bit repetitive after a while, but the races are also a little longer, so you actually spend more time racing than just jumping in and out of an event. I like that the championship races are usually more than 10 miles in length, and in some cases, depending on the track and type of car you have, you will have to contend with lap traffic. If you choose the quick upgrade option the majority of the time, you can almost guarantee that you will start either in the back or the middle of the pack, which is nice because you now have to work at getting to the front rather than just starting there to begin with. For fans of racing games, this is a must have, but be ready to shell out another $30 in MS Points to get the full experience. I give Forza Motorsports 3 a 4 out of 5!Read full review
This is my first Forza game since the original came out for the old Xbox. As an adult, casual player who doesn't have time to go through the whole game, I really appreciate two features that Forza 3 offers. One, the game lets you go into an arcade mode if you like, so you can pick nearly any car or track you wish. This allows the casual player to access more of the game. Two the game is made more fun because of features such as auto braking and traction control that can be left on or switched off. Hard core players like to switch these aids off, but I prefer to play with them on. Some people prefer a more 'realistic' game mode, but I've found that the aids make the game more enjoyable, more like the arcade games from the old days. Making the game more 'realistic' with a driver's wheel/pedals and turning the driver aids off only frustrated me. Without real seat of the pants feeling of speed and g forces, you really can't tell what a car is doing, so the 'unrealistic' arcade mode is more fun. The only thing I don't like is the long load times, but this seems to be the case with a lot of Xbox 360 games.Read full review
Realistic simulation racing here. Phenomenal graphics in the tracks, cars, etc. Physics engine still needs some tweaking. Finished the single player career mode in about 15 hours. Plenty of extra side races and achievemnets to extend gameplay to close to 30 hours. One of the great features of this game is the rewind ability. It can be disabled if you choose, but it is actually quite nice. If you mess a turn up or lose control, you can rewind the game at about 2-3 second increments to try it again. This becomes very helpful on long or endurance races. Overall probably the best racing game on XBOX 360. If you like the Gran Turismo series on Playstation, give this game a shot.
I have been a very big fan of Gran Turismo ever since 3. Forza 1 + 2 just did not cut the cake at all when it was compared to Gran Turismo. Gran Turismo had such more detail in every aspect of design, menu layout and car detail, such as moving parts (spoilers) and catless exhaust backfire. Though Forza 3 still does not have those two details, the physics and track detail ARE AMAZING. The physics feel spot on. The ability to do engine/drivetrain swaps are awesome and the graphics are to die for. Turn10 really stepped up their game and really went for the checkered flag on this one. They are now saying this is graphically better than Gran Turismo 5 which is releasing soon. As a long time Gran Turismo fan, I can sad gladly that you won't be disappointed by Forza 3.
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