While at PAX 11 in Seattle, Washington on the weekend, I had a chance to check out and get some hands-on time with Forza 4. Unfortunately, they did not have any play kiosks set up with a wheel so I had to play the game exclusively with the controller. The only track available was the new Alps track and three cars: the Ferrari 599, a Subaru WRX and an older American muscle car that I completely ignored.
Naturally, I started out with the Ferrari. My settings were auto transmission, simulation steering & damage, ABS and traction control on. I realize there’s some sense of machismo in turning these “assists” off but, frankly, since the large majority of these modern day cars come with these features on by default I had no problems using them in a game.
The first thing I noticed when playing the demo was how smooth the frame rate is when using the in-car view. Forza 3’s frame rate suffered when using this view but not this is not the case this time around. Simply put, Forza 4’s in-car view is silky smooth. Typically, I prefer to play racers in either the hood or bumper view as I get a greater sense of speed and control. I tooled around with the hood and bumper views in the demo I played but for the first time in a long, long time in any racing game I see myself playing this one from the in-car view.
In terms of driveability, the first thing I noticed about Forza 4’s handling in the Ferrari is how much more progressive it felt. Over steer feels like it follows a far more natural progression instead of being snappy. Perhaps this is some fine tuning of how the game controls with a regular controller, I don’t know. It felt damn good though and very functional with the regular controller. For you fans of racing wheels, when quizzed about what the team at Turn 10 prefers to play with; it was all about the Fanatec wheels. Start saving your lunch money if you’re looking for a new wheel to play with come October. I for one will be saving up.
For the second race I played, I drove the Subaru with the same settings as I mentioned earlier. After coming to grips with the game in the Ferrari, the all-wheel drive of the Subaru I felt like I could put this car anywhere on the track with no risk of wrecking it. Right off the start, I was able to use the Subaru’s great handling to pass a couple of cars on the outside of a long left hander near the start of the race. This race also showed off the variability in the cars. Starting down the back straight of the course, it was neat to see the power of a Cadillac CTS-V as it was able to pull on me down the straight. Perhaps it was the AI being set on Medium but the Cadillac broke early and I was able to out brake him to take back the lead going in to the turn.
The AI set on medium was not as difficult as I envisioned. I’m a pretty competent racer and had no problems finishing first in both of the races the very first time I put hands on this game. I’ll definitely be playing this one with the AI set a bit tougher.
I’ll finish with some thoughts about the Alps track. I normally prefer real world tracks in racing games. I often find the fictional tracks don’t have a great flow that real world tracks with proper design do. But Alps is a fantastic exception to this. What a fun track. There’s a series of s-turns that I especially liked. I was able to navigate these turns in the Subaru without braking but it will be a real test depending on what type of car you’re driving.
Later in the day I played Forza 3 in another booth. I was there to check out the headphones but ended up being more focused on how much more impressive Forza 4 was visually than its predecessor. To sum things up, as much as I love racing games, I haven’t really dug in to many of the latest ones in the depth that I normally would. My time with Forza 4 at PAX has me eagerly anticipating its arrival in October.
