Forza Motorsport 4 Review

Sony and Polyphony Digital made Turn 10’s job a whole lot easier when it released the long-awaited but decidedly tepid Gran Turismo 5 onto the PS3 last year.
This time last year, Microsoft’s racing sim specialists’ challenge was to make sure that Forza 4 was better than GT5, but then GT5 finally came out and, well, it didn’t seem like much of a challenge any more.
If Forza 4 was just a GT5 beater, we have to admit that we’d have been a little disappointed. Fortunately, it’s rather more than that. It’s a brilliant game in its own right, and might just about be the best racing simulation ever made. Without doubt, Turn 10 has turned in its hottest lap yet.
It’s not a mind-blowing benchmark in the way the original Gran Turismo was in its day, but as a refinement of the driving sim formula that Polyphony Digital first laid down back in 1998 it’s difficult to see how Forza 4 could be much better.
We were huge Gran Turismo fans back in its early days – and we don’t even mind admitting that in front of any Xbox-aligned readership – but that series started to alienate us after the first couple of games, and we’re delighted to report that Forza 4 almost exactly represents the direction we always wished it would go in but never did.
The key here is that Turn 10 realises how broad the appeal of the driving sim genre is and has designed a game that seamlessly and organically allows you to get exactly what you want out of it.
It doesn’t have to be about ultra-realistic simulation; it doesn’t have to be about tight racing reflexes; it doesn’t have to be about customising and tuning the ultimate ride; it doesn’t have to be about amassing a huge collection of trophies, cars and cash; and it doesn’t have to be about slobbering over sensually lit, rezzed-up renders of cars you’ll never even see, never mind own in real life… But it can be one, some or all of the above, depending on what you want it to be. And all tastes are incredibly well catered for in Forza 4.read full review