Forza still doesn't seem to have grasped that feeling that you are participating in something bigger.
I'm not entirely sold on Sony's insistence on Blu-ray capacity being essential for gaming, but setting up Forza 3 really feels like going back to the Amiga days of multi-floppy disc installs. Let's just say it's not surprising that Microsoft chose to release a special edition Forza 3 console complete with 250 GB hard drive.
Having force-fed the 360 hard drive with nearly ten gigs worth of shiny vehicles you may think it's safe to assume you would have a smooth loading-free time, though nothing could be further from the truth. Waits between races are agonisingly long and really do beg the question – if there is more data available for instant access on my hard drive than there is on the disc, why is this taking so long?
Casting those irritating technical issues aside, it's only fair to ask what Turn 10 have changed in the two years since the critically acclaimed Forza 2. Forza is often dismissed as nothing more than Microsoft's Gran Turismo, and while that could be seen as much as a compliment as a slur, Forza 3 clearly plays to its strengths, building on the unique features that separate Microsoft's exclusive from Sony's. Forza has built a solid reputation for creating a strong community of racers and moders and Forza 3 has expanded this aspect greatly with the introduction of the store front.
The store front is an Xbox Live Gold-only option that allows petrol-heads and designers alike to pedal their wares to the Forza community. Forza 2 only permitted production models to undergo the paintwork-Picasso treatment while the third game is more than happy for you to take a 1989 Ferrari F40 Competizione and childishly scrawl dobbers all over it. If others in the Forza community share your interest in defiling million pound sports cars with phallic imagery, you can sell it for in-game credits that you can use to buy other logos and designs. There's even the option for eBay-style auctions and achievements for last-minute sniping.
While Gran Turismo 5 is getting ready to implement body-damage to cars, Forza has long since allowed such destructive desires to be indulged. It's only with this third iteration however that you can finally flip cars, which when you consider the sophistication of the physics engine, was painfully long-overdue. Further increasing realism options, the interior view puts you right in the driver seat, though the relatively minute dash-board dials still necessitate the HUD.
Technically the game has undergone positive changes, both over and under the bonnet. Turn 10 claim to have increased the polygon count on the cars ten-fold and with improved texture resolution and rock-solid 60fps frame rate, the game is quite a sight to behold. Track-side detail is still fairly unremarkable, which is possibly one area that could be improved for Forza 4.
Forza 3 is resolutely a driving simulation, though efforts have been made to cater for a range of play styles and abilities. Most significant of these is the rewind button, recently seen in Race Driver: GRID. A quick touch of back button rewinds the last five seconds of the race, leading to Prince of Persia-style "no, wait a minute. I didn't rear-end the Audi TT Coupe S-Line, it didn't happen that way" moments. This can be used without limitation, taking some of the risk out of throwing yourself into those corners. The auto-upgrade option also frees you up from time in the garage, and makes it easier on those who don't like to tinker under the bonnet, though the option is there for those who like to get their hands dirty.
The interface has also had a radical overhaul, with the new season-based calendar keeping you on-track to unlock the game's 405 cars and visit the 100 or so course variations. The softly-spoken guide eases you around the clean menu and the random race history trivia further reinforces the idea that this is attempting to be a racing lifestyle simulator, though if forced to make a comparison with Polyphony's opus, if would have to say it doesn't achieve the same success.
When playing Gran Turismo, you can almost smell the petrol, such is the intoxication of the frankly creepy level of affection Kazunori Yamauchi has for cars. While I don't doubt Turn 10's dedication to motor sports, Forza still doesn't seem to have grasped that feeling that you are participating in something bigger – it's not just a race or a season, but a lifestyle. There's no doubting Forza 3's status as the finest racing simulation on the 360, though it is still trailing in Gran Turismo 5's slipstream for the title of finest racing simulation ever.