Forza Motorsport Updated Hands-On

The Xbox has not lacked for racing games. Between excellent racers such as Project Gotham Racing 2, TOCA Pro Race Driver 2, and Burnout 3, Microsoft's console has had an embarrassment of riches among both the simulation and arcade-flavor racing genres. What the console hasn't had, however, is one title designed to be the all-in-one racing and driving simulator similar to the PS2's Gran Turismo series. The upcoming Forza Motorsport, developed by Microsoft's in-house Team 4za, looks to fill the GT-shaped hole in the Xbox's lineup and push the console's technical capabilities to its max. We spent some with the preview build of the game, and we're excited about its potential.

I feel the need...the need for dramatic camera angles.

From the outset, Forza will feel familiar to anyone who has an affinity for the driving genre. You begin the game by creating a profile that will be saved to your hard drive and updated as you progress through the two main modes: arcade and career. The game's arcade mode features races against artificial intelligence-controlled opponents on more than 30 tracks, only four of which are unlocked to begin with. There are a mix of real-life tracks, including Laguna Seca, Silverstone, and the suddenly ubiquitous 13-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife; real urban locales like New York City, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo; and fictional courses.

At each race event, you'll choose from one of six car classes in which you can race: D Class, which includes modestly powered machines such as the 1998 Nissan 240 SX SE and the 2000 Mazda Miata MX-5 1.8I Sport; C Class, B Class, A Class, S Class (supercars), and all the way up to the pinnacle of speed, which is R Class and features purpose-built racecars, such as the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup or the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, decked out in full race trim. Within each class you'll be able to choose from a number of vehicles, some of which need to be unlocked through race wins. Any cars residing in your garage (purchased while playing the game's career mode, naturally) will be available to you in these arcade mode races as well.

The build of Forza we played was not a particularly stable one, so we would regularly crash the game when racing on Maple Valley II, one of the fictional tracks. Because of these software crashes, we could not progress far enough into arcade mode to unlock extra tracks or cars. Nonetheless, what remains obvious in this mode is that the game's aggressive AI opponents will both test your driving skills and force you to make the correct car choice when starting a race. The flip side of that is, because the cars in each class are assigned numerical ratings for attributes such as speed, acceleration, braking, cornering and rarity, you'll garner a distinct advantage over the AI by simply picking the most powerful cars in each class to race.

Go ahead and stare--the Subaru WRX STi is used to it.

Like Forza's arcade mode, the career mode is nothing new to console driving fans. The premise is the same: You participate in races to earn credits to pay for upgraded parts for your current ride or to purchase brand-new cars for your garage. The number of race events found in the game's career mode should keep fans satisfied, both with the variety and by the sheer number of events. Career mode races are divided into six series: amateur, point-to-point, professional, championship, endurance, and online. Each series consists of anywhere from 10 to 26 individual race events, and each event is comprised of a number of individual races and is often subdivided by car restrictions. The amateur series, for example, contains a race event for front-wheel/front-engine cars only, as well as a series of North American races in which only cars originating from that region are eligible.

Depending on the current car you are driving, you may only be eligible for a few races within each series. To complete an entire series, you'll need to expand your garage to include car makes and models throughout the auto roster. There are well over 200 cars from manufacturers all over the world. To help you in your purchase decision, Forza includes a handy compare feature that will allow you to easily compare two cars side by side using a wide range of criterion, including top speed, acceleration, make, model, as well as more specific attributes, such as red line RPM, boost pressure, and torque.