Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

If there was ever a game to like, this is the one. Now I'm not the sort of person to bash over graphics resolution or precision technology, but I must say, the expenditure of computing brilliance that has gone into Forza 4 makes for absolutely MIND-BLOWING gameplay: Every movement of your car is nigh on exactly the same as an actual car. The only way up from Forza 4 is one of those multi-million pound driving simulation systems used by F1 drivers.

And then there's the modifying feature of the game, which allows you to tune your car up to ludicrous levels of power; fit slick tyres; enlarge the wheels to 20 inchers; and even perform complete drivetrain and engine swaps.

You can buy a Nissan Micra, which does o-60 in a minute, and has a top speed of only 100 miles an hour, and tune it up to 700 horsepower and fit a racing seat, taking up the figures to 4 second 0-60 and 212 miles an hour top end. And if you buy an Enzo supercar, you're looking at 1,100 horsepower, 2.5 seconds and 250 miles an hour.

This is the exact sort of stupidity we want in racing games, and it also means you don't need to decide between a precision racing game or a street-tuner game like Need For Speed. You can even fit bodykits on some of the cars in the game.

On that front, the side is let down slightly, because there are some cars like the latest Lamborghini Gallardo and the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz that Forza 4 can and should have had. They are also being a bit money-grabbing by making you pay real money to buy some of the cars, which are only available by XBox Live purchase. As a result, you can't have a Lamborghini Aventador unless you pay 20 quid for the pack and a further 60 quid for XBox Live membership.

But for the cars you CAN have, there is still an excellent choice, and the noises and video recording capabilities are top-notch.

Forza 4 is like a huge gleaming diamond with a tiny, microscopic sliver of baby vomit on it. It's almost perfect with only minute imperfections that prevent me from awarding it a 10.