Forza Motorsport 3 - Xbox 360 (From Gazette)

Forza Motorsport 3 - Xbox 360

2:11pm Tuesday 10th November 2009 in

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Let's get this said straight away – this is the best racing game on the Xbox, by a long chalk.

And it will be better than Gran Turismo when it comes out. And here's why. You can damage the cars.

For some bizarre reason GT never allows it. Other race games are just too arcade.

Forza is perfect, almost. The worst bit by far is the load times for the races – way too long, but to be fair, the Xbox is getting long in the tooth, and the tracks are incredibly details, so there is a lot to load.

And the other worst thing, if there can be two? Just eight cars per race? I suspect this again is down to a lack of power in the console.

But the rest of this game is a sensation. The cars drive nicely and it will take you a while to try them all – there is over 400 of them. And 100 real world tracks, although we are talking about variations of layout here too.

Driving assist help break you in gentle – once you become the expert you want to be, turn them off. Global league tables on Live; buy and sell everything from setups to paintjobs.

My fave at the moment is my Nissan Skyline, having been a recent owner. You have all the usual setups, and tune ups, but this time the upgrade can be done pretty much in one click with the game picking what it thinks is best for a particular racing series, of which there are over 200, including some endurance which will take over an hour to complete each race. Brilliant. And there is multiplay too, plus drift events, and drag races.

It really does seem never ending and just confirms what I said at the start – this is the best console racing game around, bar none.

The funniest thing the developer has built in is the crowd – you must stop and check out some of the most bizarre arm movements ever seen in a game.