On Oct. 10, the game Forza Motorsport was released. I was able to purchase the game and try out racing different tracks and cars in the game.
I use the Xbox One for all of my motorsport games. Forza Horizon 5 is easier to play in terms of driving, but Forza Motorsport is much more realistic. I have driven a handful of different cars, including the Honda Civic Type R, a few different IMSA cars, the Bugatti Chiron, Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Ford Mustang to name a few. I have found that the game is somewhat realistic when playing on a controller.
If I drive onto the grass, it is extremely difficult to get back on the track without spinning, and it is tough to break without sliding sideways. If your steering movement is too erratic, you will lose control and slide or crash into a wall. The crash physics are not very realistic, but they are far better than Forza Horizon 5. Your car will roll much easier, but if you are on a banked track, such as Indianapolis Motor Speedway, crashing will not propel you into the air, which happens relatively often in real life.
Using a controller for this game puts you at a significant disadvantage compared to users who use a wheel and pedal simulator setup. In using a controller, oftentimes you have to commit to a steering angle or throttle input because it is extremely difficult to do the proper amount of such techniques.
Another issue that I found is that some of the curbs are inaccurate to how they are in real life. The main example I noticed was that the turn 10 curb at Road America was much longer in-game versus in real life. These are minor issues.
One of the issues with the game that frustrated me most is that you are unable to play multiplayer games globally if you haven't done three qualifying events that the game has chosen. These qualifier events only happen every few minutes, and last anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour. Since discovering this, I have decided to only do short races against computer drivers because I don't have the time to commit to that many events in one sitting, especially when I don't have the credits to buy the required cars for the event.
Overall, I do find the game to be enjoyable since all I choose to do is rent cars for free and compete against computer-racing drivers at tracks that I have visited in real life. It is more enjoyable to drive a Formula car around a track against 20 competitive computers, rather than a slower car against real people who enjoy crashing into others. However, many people will have different opinions, as some people will have a better sim-racing setup and different preferences than I do.
