Forza Motorsport 2

"Decent racing sim that suits the Xbox 360 well. Rides Gran Turismo’s draft but can’t overtake it."

Forza Motorsport for the Xbox was a diamond in the rough, as it was the only racing sim to actually challenge the bestowed Gran Turismo series. Soon to follow was Forza Motorsport 2, which featured more cars and tracks than the original, and it had the advantage of being released on a next-gen console, unlike Gran Turismo 4. Even though this perk gives Forza 2 a few benefits, such as online play, better graphics, and damage models, it has a few questionable flaws that won't have the Gran Turismo fanboys sold just yet.

Forza 2 follows the same career-based gameplay as the first as you purchase cars from numerous real-life manufacturers and race them to gain cash and purchase even more cars. Newbies beware, because even though you can situate yourself behind the wheel of a exotic sports car, it's not easy. Realistic physics are taken into account such as proper braking, cornering, and stability, else you'll smash into the wall and destroy your ride. In other words, it's a “boring” racing game. Fans of simulation racing will be able to slip right in and check out what's in store from the get-go.

This game features around three hundred cars from different manufacturers, such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Chevrolet, Dodge, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ferrari, and Lamborghini (the latter three were absent in GT4). Compared to Gran Turismo 4's six hundred, it doesn't feel like a whole lot, but there's a decent selection available. Most gamers criticized GT4 for including “fifty Skylines” and numerous identical cars, which is mostly a non-factor in Forza 2. You can expect to see the basics, such as the Nissan Skyline, the Chevrolet Corvette, or the Ferrari F50. However, a good portion of the lineup consists of race-modded cars—say about fifteen or so similar handling, modified Porsches—which is a bummer. Then again, if you've wanted to drive a Porsche with a McDonald's sticker on the hood, then today's your lucky day.

Forza 2 is, first and foremost, a great racing simulator worthy of any connoisseur's attention. Car physics aside, you can race against up to seven AI or human players (via Xbox Live) and compete for first place. The AI will jostle for position and will actually acknowledge your existence and even attempt to draft you. Present in Forza 2 is car damage. Each car has its own damage model, so you can have some fun pummeling those luxurious rides. Damage is somewhat conservative—no body warping, mostly scratches, a few spoilers falling off—but it's better than GT4's absence of damage altogether. However, besides visuals, each bump and tap with the wall or the other cars will reduce your car's ability to drive, either by reducing aerodynamics or even causing the car to veer in one direction indefinitely. It instills a sense of danger and negates any wall/car-riding whatsoever. However, when damage is turned off, the worst penalty incurred for rubbing off the walls or driving on the grass is time penalties which do not determine the final standings of the race. I was hoping the physics would be more punishing to naturally prevent cheap tactics in the first place.

The career mode is similar to GT4's in which you enter a few races in each cup, earn money, buy some new cars and performance parts, and continue ad nauseum. No license tests necessary—instead, you gain “experience” by winning races which unlock more challenging races and faster cars. To compensate for players of all skill levels, you can tweak the difficulty settings before you race. You can turn off driving aids and braking lines, enable damage and tire wear, and increase overall AI skill in order to earn a greater percentage of money when you win. This is a great idea as it rewards more challenging driving, but given that the game will still credit you to winning races on the easiest settings, you may blow through the game on the easiest settings with little penalty to you. Like GT4's B-spec mode, you can “hire” a computer driver to race for you, but you must give up a large percentage of winnings to do so. It's still a highly abuseable feature, but getting less money is just too frustrating.

The Forza 2 driving engine is mostly driving sim but with a little arcade physics thrown in to spice things up. In other words, you'll have control over the car, even though you can flagrantly throw the car into a drift if you are hard on the wheel and (hopefully) return it to equilibrium. But in serious races, every car feels a bit loose, particularly ones with rear-wheel drive. It doesn't feel very realistic, especially when this happens with stock Ferraris which can't corner any faster than a Peugeot hatchback can. Granted, GT4 suffers from a bit of understeer, but throughout the whole experience, I couldn't help but think that Forza 2's difficulty was unrealistic and somewhat phony.

Another problem lies in the padded career mode and the lack of track variety. Simply put, career races will eventually tally around eight to ten minutes for no good reason other than to see how long you can race before you choke and spin out. Unlike GT4, money doesn't come liberally, as you can't just buy cars like you would packs of gum. You'll be racing the same courses frequently, too. Forza 2 boasts several real-life courses, such as Tsukuba Circuit, Nurburgring, Suzuka Circuit, Silverstone, Sebring Circuit, and New York—the rest are mostly makeshift courses that aren't that flashy or creative. The game could've benefited from courses such as Cote de Azur or Tokyo R246. The track selection has been expanded with downloadable content, but unless you're willing to fork out Microsoft Points for them, you're out of luck.

One last nuisance would be the game's garage-sorting menu. In GT4, it was as easy as picking a manufacturer and you could locate a certain car in your garage in an instant. However, Forza 2 sorts all the cars but doesn't narrow the search at all, meaning you may have to sift through hundreds of cars until you find the one you want. Maybe I'm an idiot but I didn't find it very convenient.

Even though qualms exist with the game's single player, the Xbox Live features more than make up for it. You can jump into online races against seven other people and actually earn money to buy cars in single player when you win. The latency is pretty good, enough to consider this one of the best online racers to date. Another feature is the Auction House, where you can place your rides online and bid on other people's cars with your money in a eBay-style browser. As in Forza 1, you could create intrinsic paint jobs for your cars, and in Forza 2, the same feature is present too. You can find some uniquely-painted rides online to bid on, so it can be fun to browse the cars just for kicks.

The graphics in the game pretty smooth and realistic but not overwhelmingly vibrant. Car models (damage included) demonstrate technical prowess, even boasting reflections in the windows as you whip by the environments at a high speed. Powerslides will result in smoking tires and smear marks on the pavement. The only thing I can say is genuinely missing is the pit crew—you'd swear they were invisible when you get your tired magically changed in thin air. The environments are vast, with seemingly unlimited view distance and a seamless framerate. Avid race fans line the track while waving in approval. The tracks look very realistic but not very interesting in terms of creativity. Texturing is good but up-close, it can look a little bland. But otherwise, much effort has been put in this game's environments.

This game features a wide variety of race sound effects, from roaring engines to squealing tires. Menu music consists of G-rated generic techno-rock. The sound is great but nothing new or impressionable. You could play third-party music on your console and not miss much in the audio department.

At heart, Forza 2 is a great racing sim and anyone interested in the genre should definitely pick this game up. However, some things such as the lacking track selection and unorthodox car physics really prevent this from being a knockout racer, unless you love online play or you have a deep-seeded hatred for the Gran Turismo series.

Presentation: 9/10 – Forza Motorsport 2, the racing sim laden with cool cars, slick menus, and techno music. I'm getting chills going up my leg.
Gameplay: 8/10 – Great simulation racing, but not a whole lot of tracks. Online play makes up for a bloated single-player career mode.
Graphics: 8/10 – Smooth, realistic gameplay that lacks the “gorgeous” factor. Texturing is the culprit here.
Sound: 8/10 – An array of engine sounds and electronica music. Suitable for the genre but nothing really perky.
Replay Value: 9/10 – Career mode is decent alone, but Xbox Live injects additional life into the package.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/20/08, Updated 06/23/08

Game Release: Forza Motorsport 2 (US, 05/29/07)