Forza Motorsport 5 - Review

Forza Motorsport 5 takes the realistic racing sim to the next generation, and while it takes a nice step forward, it sadly takes two steps back as well.

Forza 5 thankfully does not re-invent the wheel when it comes how the game plays, but thankfully the cars are more responsive than ever. Each of the cars present in the game are beautifully designed and detailed down to the finest details.

The game provides you with various play styles depending on your skill level, so if you are like me, and not that great at these types of games you can still experience the joy of racing. The game does offer up a nice variety of cars, from classics to modern and they all feel different, but they maintain a nice similarity so that you don’t have to relearn each time you change cars.

The career mode is broken up into leagues with each offering up a variety of races on a range of tracks, and while you may visit the same location twice in a league it won’t be the same track layout. And while the main aspect of the game is racing, it's not always about coming in first. Sometimes the game will task you with coming first in a specific division of car class or perhaps they will challenge you against the Digital Stig.

The Top Gear guys introduce each league and do so with their unique charm and wit, though thankfully that’s not all they do. Occasionally you will find yourself sent to the Top Gear Test Track to compete, and while there is the chance it's a normal race, sometimes it will be something different altogether. The game will throw some challenges at you where you have to avoid what it would be like to drive through central London, by dodging bins and over-sized cardboard cutouts of London landmarks. Or perhaps you will be tasked with a car sized version of ten pin bowling, where you have to take down pins at the highest speeds you can.

Let’s get this out of the way now, Forza 5 is a beautiful game. Each of the cars looks spectacular, with so much detail located on the inside, you can spend a lot of time looking at in varying angles. In the lead up to the games release they mentioned how much detail they put into the cars, and you can believe the hype.

Each of the tracks are amazingly detailed and while you’re blazing around them you can spot some amazing scenes. The only downside to that the sun seems to spend a large amount of time in your face. The selection of tracks is on the small side, which is quite strange based on the number from the previous game. The pre and post-race scenes are always the same which is just sad, the only thing that changes is the background and the car, but the people, the positions, the camera moves are identical each time.

The menu’s for the game are designed with the same style of interface found on the Xbox One dashboard, but seem to be a little less cluttered. The overall look of the game is simply gorgeous and it makes this a game you will want to show off to your friends.

The game has loads of potential, if Turn 10 can patch the game to improve the exceedingly long load times and maybe add some variation to the time of day, Forza 5 would be a true next gen experience. As it stands, the game is amazing to play and watch, but it's broken by limited track selection and lengthy loads. 

The Score

7.5

Review code provided by Xbox Game Studios

The Pros

+Cars feel great to drive

+The level of detail throughout the game

The Cons

-The game has lengthy load times, which are not fun

-A small selection of tracks and no day/night cycle