When it comes to racing, there are only a few names that come to mind. But none of them hold water against the flagship racing franchise that is Forza Motorsport. The Xbox One exclusive Forza series gets its 6th instalment and it reminds us why it’s the undisputed king of racing.
When Forza 5 launched it was criticised for having no content, and micro transactions everywhere. Turn 10 learned from this and gives us the biggest racing game on any platform bar none. 450 cars at launch, a multitude of locations and weather effects, this is what we’ve been racing towards.
Graphics
Well lets just put it out there, Forza is gorgeous. Since Forza Motorsport 4, they’ve been meticulously building every vehicle they wanted in the game to the very last-minute detail. Nowhere in Forza 6 you’ll find a vehicle with low resolution detailing. Every car has working cockpits, and can be opened up and inspected in Forza Vista.
The game runs at a rock solid locked 60FPS and Full HD 1080p. No wonder this game is the undisputed king, with every other franchise struggling to hit 30FPS, Forza sails through and gives us the most immersive and fluid gameplay experience, and you can’t get it anywhere else.
Turn 10 also brought us Weather effects and Night Driving. The rain was thoughtfully implemented in this iteration. With hydroplaning effects and the way rain sounds falling against your roof and windshield. The first time I played in the rain was when Turn 10 released the Demo and I was blown away. In the full version, now I know how badly I would perform in a situation where there is rain. I drove an all wheel drive car in the rain and could barely keep it straight while it slid down the slopes on the Nurburgring.
Night driving is a mixed bag for me. Sure the effect of driving at night is surreal and realistic, but I somehow feel that there would be more light during those races. It’s almost like Turn 10 threw a black filter over the normal tracks like in the old movies and called it a day. The skybox is disappointing and I would have loved to see the soft glow of the moon on my car as I race through the darkness of the night.
Turn 10 improved the overall look of the game as well. Gone are the white aliasing effect when you look at your car during a race, and they improved the lighting dramatically in this game. Also something that I found really nice was the dust and fog rolling across the roads whenever it rains or someone hits gravel. Tyre barriers also react whenever you hit them, and there’s nothing more satisfying than racing through a barrier just to see tyres fly across the road.
Gameplay and Career
I’m probably the first person that would tell you that Forza 5 had a terrible career mode. Forza Motorsport 6 fixes the grind fest and gives you 6 separate volumes of ‘Motoring History’. As you progress through this story, you get specialized racing events based on the vehicle class you chose. When you finish a certain number of races you get to play Showcase events that gives you a lovely change of pace. In showcase events you get to race against the Stig or experience the 1970’s Ford GT on Le Mans.
Turn 10 improved the driving mechanics and the dreaded ‘dead zones’ on the controller to the point where you don’t feel like the barriers have huge magnets in them. Turn 10 also introduced Mod Cards and now you can get to experience unique challenges with Dares. These mod packs are like those card games you buy in bulk and it’s always a surprise what you’d get inside. I’ve admittedly spent a couple million on these mod packs in search of that super rare Dare card. It adds something special to the gameplay and I like it. However I do feel like a gambling baboon after I just splashed down 3 Million credits on mod packs. I guess now I know how it feels to be a Magic: The Gathering fan.
Sound
A gigantic issue I had with Forza Motorsport 5 was the gameplay music and sound effects. The menu music was dreary and would put an insomniac to sleep if left on for 3 minutes. Turn 10 made it more bearable with music that makes you want to race those cars at 250 miles per hour.
In game sound effects were greatly improved. No longer will the gameplay sound effects cut out everytime your controller vibrates. Forza Motorsport 6 gets my nod of approval if they want to release a Game Soundtrack. And it’s the only game that gets that nod of approval.
Multiplayer
Unfortunately my Multiplayer experience was a bit broken however Turn 10 is working on a fix. However I got to play a couple of racing events thanks to me being invited to racing events by other players. The multiplayer experience has been greatly improved over the previous iteration. The lobbies are easier to understand and gives you a chance to dig into the details of each one of your foes.
However the racing itself is a huge sticking point for me. Whenever I get into a race it seems like it’s a huge bumper car convention. I can’t count how many times I would see cars flying in every direction whenever there’s a corner. If you could take pictures in Multiplayer you could compare it to the worlds most gruesome car crashes.
I would like for them to fix this somehow, however it’s not an easy fix. But it detracts from the overall experience when you drive like a civilized person and every five minutes you’re spun out on the grass because some jerk with a Nissan GT thinks the only way he can win is if he crashes into every person on the road. Turn 10 did state that they fixed this issue, but since I can’t experience the Multiplayer fully, I wouldn’t know at this moment. But so far it’s not that fun. I would still create my own lobbies and play with my friends.
Also, add a button to mute other players in the lobbies. I don’t want to listen to some guy counting with the intermission timer and asking if someone else is in the lobby.
Verdict
Forza Motorsport 6 fixes everything that was wrong with Forza Motorsport 5 and every other racing game out there and adds to the experience ten fold. Nowhere will you find a truly immersive racing experience than with Forza. If you’re looking just to sit back and casually race through all the maps, or work hard to climb up the Leaderboards to impress your cat, you’re in the right place.
Forza Motorsport is challenging when you want it to be, with every possible setting available to be tweaked. Moreover Dare cards give you a chance to really push the limits of what can be done. And if you’re really up for a challenge, crank up the drivatar difficulty to max to see how the other racers make your Bugatti Veyron seem like it’s standing still.
Forza Motorsport 6 is a definite buy, and a highly recommended upgrade if you have Forza Motorsport 5. It’s currently available to buy on the Xbox One Store.
