Fun With Learning Curves

I got Forza 2 when I got my xbox 360. I waited to write a review until I had played a few other games, so that I could review the game without also reviewing the system. About six months in, this game is still sitting in my 360, and I get in a few minutes with it most days. Before going any further, however, clarification is in order. This is a racing simulation. It is not an arcade racer, like the Need for Speed or Project Gotham Racing (PGR) franchises. The real meat of the game lies in figuring out the exact gear ratios of the transmission, weights on each spring in the suspension, etc. There is a steep learning curve, and this is not a game for a quick play when a friend comes over. It is, however, quite possibly the most immersive experience offered in any game of any genre, because it simply does what it does, and has few bells and whistles.
The career mode goes from driver level 0 to driver level 50. At level 0, about a dozen cars are available to you, mainly in your home region (North America, Asia, or Europe, chosen when you begin a career). I chose North America for my region, and began my career in a Chevy Colbalt SS. I've now reached level 50, and have completed all but a few of the higher races. Most of the 300 cars in the game are available. Yes, you read that right; there are over 300 cars in this game, not counting downloadable content adding five tracks and three car packs (one of which is free-the Nissan tournament pack).

Buying a car, however, is only part of the fun. The real joy is in the upgrades and tuning. In addition to licensing virtually every auto maker I can think of (Alfa Romeo is missing, and I'm sure a few others are as well, but the list is very exhaustive, and includes both Lamborghini and Ferrarri, a rarity in games), a good number of aftermarket parts companies appear in the game. Cars are upgraded in four categories: power, chassis, tires, and body (aero kits). As a car becomes more capable through parts upgrades, its Performance Index (PI for short) rises. Street cars are divided into six groups by PI, and a lot of work goes into finding a car that fits well at the top of the various classes, especially if you're planning on playing the game online, where the title really shines. After choosing parts, you can either take the car out on the track or you can begin tuning it. I usually opt to tune a car a good bit before I debut it in a race, just because I want to have a pretty good idea what the car's strengths and weaknesses are. The suspension tuning is especially good, and the help dialogues are already on-screen, explaining what each setting does in plain english for the uninitiated (that's me!). The only additional source I needed was the definitions of the words oversteer and understeer. Everything else was quite intuitive, and the cars are "good enough" without tuning that they are at least fairly competitive just adding untuned race parts. These parts of the game are great, but it really comes into its own online.

There are essentially three parts to the online game. One is the auction house, where players can sell their custom-painted cars. The game includes an amazing livery (paintjob) editor, which my artistic talent uses to turn a red Ford Focus into a blue Ford Focus. However, there are some phenomenal painters out there, and I'm constantly amazed at what some of them can do.

The second section of the online game is the scoreboard function. Small communities have come up around these scoreboards, and often create challenges in which certain cars must be used on certain tracks, and top lap times are compared, called "hot laps." I participate in a group primarily devoted to old American muscle cars, but there really is a group for any taste.

The third section, and the most enjoyable if you can find a clean race, is the actual online racing. The above caveat is a significant one. There are few things more frustrating than working on a car, tuning it in a certain class for a certain track, and going online to find a game using that class on that track, only to get rammed off the road. Some norms have developed to prevent this, such as calling your passes vocally over the XBL chat. As a side note, it's important to have a headset if you plan on playing online, since a lot of room masters will automatically kick players who don't have one in the interest of maintaining clean racing. It's pretty obvious that this game was developed by Microsoft exclusively for the XBOX 360, because the online play is great. Only eight racers play at a time, but that's a gracious plenty for my tastes. I even enjoy rooms smaller than that, and have been known to start a race with three or four racers who are about my level.

While this game is great, there are a few glaring flaws. First, this is not a party game. If it were not for Xbox live, there would be no need for a multiplayer mode at all in our household, as no visitor can pick it up easily. Evne spotting an old college buddy an entire class of performance (usually comes out to 2-3 seconds per minute of the race in advantage) and turning on all of the assists, I still wiped the floor with him repeatedly. He couldn't even keep one of the better-gripping cars on the track on first try, and right out of the box, neither could I. However, I could see multiple teenage boys playing on the same system having fun with it.

Second, and perhaps on a similar note, the game is very involved. The allure is in playing with suspension settings and gear ratios, not power sliding through a turn at 140 mph. In fact, power sliding through a turn usually costs some time, as breaking traction will usually do in the real world. As such, a modicum of technical skill is required. I learned from scratch, but I'm just now getting to the point that I can drive a car, feel the problem, and fix it, and I've had the game almost six months.

Third, while the PI system is good, it's far from perfect. Especially in the lower classes, cars seem to be divided into technical track cars and straight line speed cars, or "grip" and "missile" builds, in the vernacular. As a result, there are a few cars that dominate the leaderboards. In the lowest class, the technical tracks are dominated almost exclusively by the VW Golf MK2 (which, in all fairness, is a great race car, and still shows up regularly at SCCA events and the like) and the speed tracks are dominated by the 1970 Chevelle. At launch, one grip car, the 1972 Lotus Elan, had a glitch that allowed the user to keep adding grip modifications without an increase in PI, eventually resulting in a scoreboard wipe.

Finally, while online play is a strength from a technical standpoint, it can be a weakness just because of the sheer number of options out there. Finding a room running a particular class or track can be difficult. One running D class rear-wheel drive cars from before 1975 around Tsukuba Short? You may as well create the room yourself, because otherwise, it's not happening.

In conclusion, this game is great, and terribly addicting. Completing the dozen or so categories of races to gain 50 levels is time consuming, but fun. I highly recommend it, but be careful, because it can devour an afternoon pretty easily.