Forza Motorsport Preview

Ever since the Xbox's launch, the system has managed to amass a library of games that has capably spanned most every available genre. Racing has, in particular, been one of its strong suits, with strong third-party support and stellar first-party offerings, such as the Rallisport and Project Gotham franchises. However, as fine as both arcade-style racing series are, there has been one gaping hole in the Xbox software library: a racing simulation. But that gap will be a thing of the past when Forza Motorsport hits the Xbox early next year. The unique first-party game has been cooking over at Microsoft's first-party development studio for the better part of two years, and it aims to offer a sim experience that has something for everyone. While it's a tall order to serve up something that will appeal to hardcore racing sim fans and more-casual players, Forza seems poised to do just that with its robust offline and online gameplay features.

You'll find five modes to choose from in Forza: arcade, career, multiplayer, free run, and time trials. Arcade lets you hop onto any available track--with any available car--for a fun race against either the Xbox's artificial intelligence or a friend. Career is the meat of the game, and it will send you off to test your skills across 60 tracks. The mode differs a bit from the traditional career modes we've seen in other racing games because of its profile system. When you first start the game, you'll create a profile that you'll bind to one of three regions: North America, Asia, or Europe. This choice will affect both the cars you'll encounter in the game and their costs to you. For example, a player with a North American profile will have access to a broader array of American cars (that also sell at much more reasonable prices), whereas someone bound to Asia or Europe won't--and vice versa. The list of manufacturers in the game is extensive and reflects the development team's passion and/or obsession with the genre. You'll find 60 top manufacturers represented in the game, including Mazda, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, and Dodge.

You'll earn cash to spend on upgrading your ride by winning races. Besides shopping for new sets of wheels, you can also choose to upgrade your car via the system's insanely detailed customization feature. You'll find roughly 40 ways to tweak your car under the hood. You'll be able to take your car to the garage to either alter or install alternative engines, suspension kits, bolt-on superchargers, brakes, rims, racing slicks, fine-tuned gear ratios, fuel-mapping, forced induction pressure, tire temperature and pressure, and ignition timing.

Although this may sound daunting, the system is broken down into three logical chunks: engine & power, appearance & aero, and chassis & drive train. Each chunk will have a number of upgrade types (specific to its subject) that you can tweak to your liking. While the interface we saw was still placeholder material, each option will likely have some form of dyno curve that will change dynamically as you highlight different tweaks, which lets you know how your car's performance will be affected. The customization runs deep and will even let you swap engines between cars in the same class. As a result, you can pop an Acura engine into a Honda Civic for some extra muscle. Besides the meat-and-potatoes tweaking you'll do to buff up your car's performance, you'll be able to make sure it looks as good as it runs by doing some work on its exterior as well. You'll be able to trick out sport compacts with real-world body kits, rims, spoilers, decals, side skirts, fender flares, and hood scoops, or you can add motorsport decals and team paint schemes to supercars, GT racers, and exotics.

Multiplayer should provide a compelling experience that's equal to the offline single-player game thanks to two simple words: Xbox Live. While offline split-screen play is well and good, Forza's online play should have a lot to offer. While Microsoft isn't revealing everything about the mode just yet, it's dropped some tantalizing hints. Besides the standard versus-play options for up to eight players, you'll also be able to join or create your own car clubs or trade cars, and you can check your standings across a whopping 1,700 leaderboards. Finally, the free run and time trial modes let you hone your skills and garner the best times on various tracks, respectively.

It Looks Nice, But How Does It Handle?

As with any racing game worth its tires, Forza's appeal will hinge on its AI and control. While we've just seen work-in-progress versions of the game, Forza seems to be on a promising track. The team is spending quite a bit of time fine-tuning the game's handling and AI. The game mechanics will rely heavily on a custom physics engine that simulates authentic car performances. Cars actually incur damage and wear, which then impacts car performance. Advanced tire and suspension models respond to heat and pressure changes, as well as to weight transfers and aerodynamic loads. The input from Microsoft's research crew in Cambridge, Massachusetts, helps power the unique AI system. While the catchy name used for it--Drivatar--sounds as though it's some sort of prehistoric creature or lost Transformer, the concept behind it is a cool one. You can train your personal AI minions in the fundamentals of racing, or you can specifically show them how to race the way you do. At the same time, your opponents can make use of the same tech for their behaviors on the track, which lets them offer up tough challenges that will keep you sharp. (Otherwise they'll consistently hurt your feelings.)

While there's obviously still plenty of work to be done on these aspects of the game to ensure everything works well, what we've seen is solid. To keep the game accessible to players who aren't veteran speedsters, the team has included a number of optional driving assists in the game that will help less seasoned players competitively race. Ideally, the system will function as "virtual training wheels" for players so that they can hone their skills and eventually work their ways toward playing with the assists turned off.

The graphics in the game represent the impressive use of the Xbox hardware. As a result, the visuals end up being easy on the eyes, which is obviously an important element of Forza's gameplay. Given the internal experience with the Gotham and Rallisport franchises, it goes without saying that Forza's cars are among some of the best seen on the platform. The more than 200 cars in the game sport just about every major bell and whistle the hardware can crank out, including real-time reflections, specular highlighting, light blooming, lens flare, and heat shimmer. Even more impressive is the real-time-damage model that's being implemented. It lets you can take your set of wheels from factory-fresh to smashed-up junker if your driving isn't up to snuff. But while Forza is clearly all about its cars, the game doesn't skimp on the environments either. The 17 varied locales that are the settings for the 60 tracks in the game actually sport detail that's comparable to the cars in the game.

While all the trackside detail is indeed quite cool, Forza's graphics are actually more than just for show. Fine details, such as unique road textures, surface irregularities, persistent oil and skid marks, and scraped walls, will come in useful as you race by while pointing out potential trouble spots. For example, if you see a mess of skid marks on the road up ahead and you see paint smeared on the walls of the track, it's probably a good idea to think about braking. If the oil and tire marks on the track are consistent, you'll probably want to stick to the existing racing line to ensure that you stay competitive. Now all of the above sounds good, but, as racing aficionados know, pretty visuals don't mean much if you don't have a good frame rate. Thankfully, it appears that Forza should be a OK in this department, because the game has been running at a fairly smooth 30 frames per second since we first saw it earlier this year. Furthermore, the game does offer a good sense of speed. The whole package is topped off with some stylish touches that are provided by a variety of filters and camera angles designed to give the game a TV-style presentation that keeps the visuals cinematic. HDTV owners will be able to appreciate this aspect thanks to Forza's support of 480p and widescreen.

The audio in the game is coming together well and should be a fine complement to the impressive visuals. At the heart of the game's audio are the realistic car sounds that have been meticulously re-created thanks to extensive recordings of their real-life counterparts. Much like the visuals in the game, Forza's audio will do more than just sound good. Those with keen ears will be able to get a sense of their cars' handling based on the various audio cues provided by the realistic game sounds. As far as music goes, the game will feature a mix of tracks to accompany the action. Finicky players will also have the option of importing their custom soundtracks into the game, which is always nice to see. Players with a home theater setup will be especially pleased by Forza's audio, thanks to Dolby 5.1 support that ably throws you right into the middle of the action.

If you're a racing fan who's been longing for a meatier racing experience, Forza's what you've been looking for. The wealth of cars in the game and their customization options make for an engaging experience, and once you factor in the game's multiplayer and online functionality, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more fully loaded racer for the Xbox. Forza Motorsport is currently slated to ship early next year for the Xbox.