Forza Motorsport Impressions

Microsoft officially announced Forza Motorsport for the Xbox today. However, we were able to get a look at the game prior to today's official announcement to get a better idea of what it will have to offer. While the Xbox is already home to an impressive assortment of racers such as the RalliSport Challenge and Project Gotham games, its software library has lacked a proper racing simulation. Forza Motorsport is being groomed to fill that hole in a big way with an ambitious feature set and Xbox Live support.

Forza Motorsport has quietly been in development for the past two years by a team at Microsoft Game Studios, whose experience includes the Gotham games and the original RalliSport. In addition, the game’s development is receiving input from Microsoft's research crew over in Cambridge-land of books and smart people--who are pitching in to help give elements such as the game's artificial intelligence an extra bit of kick. The game's focus is to give players the chance to own, customize, and race their favorite cars in a realistic driving simulation. Now if all this sounds rather Gran Turismo-esque, well, it is to a degree. Forza definitely falls into the same sim category as Gran Turismo, however, the team is focused on offering as many options as possible by including vehicles from over 60 top manufacturers, like Mazda, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and Dodge. Once you have your car you will be able to tweak it in various ways by using your earnings from hundreds of races to buy upgrades and aftermarket parts so you can transform real production cars into high-performance racecars. You'll be able to trick out sport compacts with real-world body kits, rims, spoilers, decals, side skirts, fender flares and hood scoops, or add motorsport decals and team paint schemes to supercars, GT racers, and exotics. However, your tweaking isn’t going to be just superficial paint and decal job stuff. You'll also be able to take your car to the garage and install alternative engines, suspension kits, bolt-on superchargers, brakes, rims, racing slicks, fine-tuned gear ratios, fuel-mapping, forced induction pressure, tire temperature and pressure, and ignition timing. Thanks to the game's Xbox Live support, you won't be doing all this tweaking for fun. You'll be able to take your handcrafted baby into the wilds of the Internet and take on all challengers.

The game mechanics will rely heavily on a custom physics engine that simulates authentic car performance. Cars incur damage and wear, which then impacts car performance. Advanced tire and suspension models respond to heat and pressure changes as well as weight transfer and aerodynamic load. The input from Microsoft's Cambridge posse helps power the unique AI system. While the catchy name used for it--Drivatar--sounds as though it's some sort of prehistoric creature or lost Transformer, the concept behind it is a cool one. You can train your personal AI minions in the fundamentals of racing or specifically show them how to race the way you do. At the same time, your opponents make use of the same tech for their behavior on the track and offer a tough challenge that will keep you sharp or it will consistently hurt your feelings.

As far as game modes go, Forza Motorsport will feature a single-player career mode as well as various multiplayer options that include split screen, system link, and Xbox Live. You'll find over 16 track environments that mix real-life locales, such as Germany's Nurburgring Nordschleife and the streets of Rio de Janeiro, with original tracks that are more fanciful in their layout.

The graphics in the game are looking very good, and the polygon count for the cars is high. One of the best showcases we saw was the new model for the Enzo Ferrari, first seen in Project Gotham 2, which has a more detailed look than its PGR 2 debut. The game will feature a broad offering of graphical effects to bring its virtual world to life, including real-time reflections, specular highlighting, light blooming, lens flare, heat shimmer, and various filters and camera angles to help give the game a TV-style presentation. Fine details such as unique road textures, surface irregularities, persistent oil and skid marks, and scraped walls help the game create a very immersive experience. The cherry on top of the whole package is, of course, a very impressive sense of speed.

Forza Motorsport looks to be a promising addition to the Xbox's already impressive selection of racing games. The impressive graphics and deep gameplay coupled with Xbox Live support should make it one to watch when it ships this holiday season. Until then, look for more on the game from the E3 show floor and in the coming months.